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Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Ted Bundy's Victims: Lynda Ann Healy


Lynda Ann Healy was abducted from her home in Seattle on January 31, 1974.
Ted Bundy once called himself the only man with a Ph.D. in serial murder. He was proud of the fact that he abducted, raped, and murdered approximately 30 women between 1974 and 1978. The true number of victims will never be known, but experts suspect there may have been up to 100. Lynda Ann Healy was one of them.


Ted Bundy's Early Life

Ted Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell to Eleanor "Louise" Cowell at the Lund Home for Unwed Mothers in Burlington, Vermont, on November 24, 1946. His father’s identity was never determined with any degree of certainty. However, some of Bundy’s relatives suspected he might have been fathered by Louise’s abusive father Samuel Cowell.
For the first few years of his life, Bundy lived in the home of his maternal grandparents Samuel and Eleanor Cowell in Philadelphia. They elected to raise him as their own son to avoid the social stigmas of their daughter having a child out of wedlock. The Cowell’s told him his mother Louise was his old sister. According to author Anne Rule, who wrote “The Stranger Beside Me,” Bundy found out about his true parentage around 1969 and harbored a lifelong resentment toward his mother for never mentioning his biological father.
Ted Bundy's parents Eleanor "Louise" Cowell and John Bundy in Washington. 
In 1951, Louise moved to Washington state and married John Bundy, who adopted Ted, giving him his name. Their family expanded, as Louise and John had four children together. Linda was born in 1952, followed by a son, Glen, in 1954. Another girl, Sandra, was born in 1956, and Richard, their last child, was born in 1961.
Ted Bundy's childhood home in Tacoma, Washington. 
When Ted was in the second grade, the Bundy family purchased a home at 658 N. Skyline Drive in Tacoma, fairly close to Narrows Bridge. About the time Bundy was graduating Wilson High School in the spring of 1965, the Bundy family sold the home on Skyline and moved into another home.
Author Anne Rule, who had become a good friend to Bundy, believes he began murdering in his teenage years. Bundy avoided this topic, refusing to tell authorities when he started his rampage.
A teenage Ted Bundy (right), with his mother and siblings.

Bundy displayed sexual deviancy throughout his childhood and adolescence. During his college years, Bundy would consume large amounts of alcohol and "canvas the community" late at night, looking through open curtains to watch women undress.
When recollecting his childhood in Tacoma, Washington, Bundy told biographers Michaud and Aynesworth that he would rummage through neighborhood garbage bins searching for pictures of naked women. During high school, Bundy was arrested twice on suspicion of burglary and auto theft. In addition, circumstantial evidence dating back to Bundy’s childhood connects him to the disappearance of his neighbor 8-year old Anne Marie Burr in Tacoma on August 31, 1961.
Bundy also showed a promising career in politics. After graduating from the University of Washington (UW) in 1972, Bundy joined Washington Governor Daniel J. Evans' re-election campaign. After Evans was re-elected, Bundy was hired as an assistant to Ross Davis, Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party. Davis thought highly of Bundy, describing him as "smart, aggressive, and a believer in the system."
Many of Bundy’s victims regarded him as charismatic and handsome, traits he exploited to win the trust of many of his young victims. He typically feigned a disability or injury to gain the young women's trust before overpowering them and abducting them to secluded locations.
With an almost mythical status, Bundy has long held the attention of the public.
During his televised court proceedings, people were captivated by the horrific nature of his crimes and by his strange fascination with his own psychology. During the trial, Bundy was like a cult leader, with women in the courtroom seeking just a glance at the Jekyll and Hyde who became known as America's most notorious serial killer.
Ted Bundy with his girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer in 1974.
America's most notorious serial killer
Bundy was not a gentleman and shouldn't even be described as human. A sexual pervert, Bundy would engage in mutilation and necrophilia with the corpses of his victims. Some victims he would visit for days after he killed them. Sometimes he cut off their heads with a hacksaw so he could admire their faces in his apartment. He then threw their heads into the forest once he tired of them. Bundy told detectives he even disposed of and burned one victim’s head in his girlfriend’s apartment fireplace when she was not at home.
Some of his victim’s bodies were badly decomposed when found by authorities, and the cause of death was hard to determine. However, on others, forensic evidence reflected he would keep his victims alive for days before he killed them. Some bodies were found with newly painted fingernails, washed hair, and fresh makeup.
No, Bundy was not a "gentleman killer" but a monster of the most sadistic and evil proportions.
Many books, documentaries, and movies about Bundy tell his side of the story, neglecting to highlight the truly horrific nature of his crimes. Many fail altogether to tell the stories of his victims. Who were they? What kind of people were they? Who might they have become had Bundy not become intertwined with their fate?
To keep a loved one’s memory alive after they have died, one must continue to say their name. Throughout this article, I will be referring to these young women by their first names.
Lynda Ann Healy
Lynda Ann Healy was Ted Bundy's first accounted victim, abducted from her home in Seattle on January 31, 1974.
Lynda Ann Healy was born in 1952 and was so beautiful she could have been a model. She had long auburn hair, sparkly big blue eyes, and a ready smile. Lynda was 21 years old and a popular student at the University of Washington (UW), majoring in psychology. She often worked with children with disabilities and loved the opportunity to help others.
According to the book The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy, Lynda had grown up in an upper-class comfortable neighborhood in the suburbs with her parents and two siblings. Described as an above-average student and talented musician, Lynda was described as full of life and self-assurance who went everywhere with her camera.
A dedicated student, who lived in an off-campus home in Seattle, Lynda was known for her morning weather and ski reports on a local radio station. She was bright and responsible and had her entire life before her.
The home at 5517 12th Street NE in Seattle, where Lynda Ann  Healy resided with her roommates.
The day before Lynda vanished was like any other day. Lynda got up at 5:30 a.m. and went to her job at Northwest Ski Reports to make her weather report. After work, she headed off to classes, and later that day had planned to attend the afternoon chorus practice on the UW campus.
Lynda had made plans the following day to make dinner for her parents and brother who were scheduled to come over to Lynda’s at 6:00 p.m. She had wanted to make a special meal. When she returned home, she borrowed a roommates’ car to go to the grocery store and returned to the house with her groceries at approximately 8:30 p.m. From there Lynda and several of her roommates decided to walk to Dante’s, a nearby tavern, to have a couple of beers.
According to the book Ted Bundy’s Murderous Mysteries: The Many Victims of America’s Most Infamous Serial Killer, in the weeks preceding, Lynda had complained about stomach pain, but that evening her friends describe her as “lively, talkative and feeling good. Their conversation was light—from psychology to music—not focusing on any specific subject.
Once they all got home from Dante's, one of her roommates would later recall to authorities that Lynda had come into her room at approximately 11:30 p.m. to talk, before heading to her own room in the basement of the home at approximately midnight.
Sometime during the night, Bundy walked up the steps of the home and gently tried the door. To his delight, he found it open. He would plan to return later.
The following morning, on Friday, February 1, 1974, Lynda did not show up for work to do her morning weather report. As usual, her alarm went off 5:30 a.m. and her roommate Barbara Little recalls hearing the alarm continue to go off, finding the room empty when she went in to check on Lynda. She assumed Lynda had already gone to work.
None of the roommates recall hearing anything the night before and initially, there wasn’t concern she was missing. However, Lynda’s employer soon called the house to ask why she hadn’t come to work. This concerned the roommates but they decided to wait for Lynda's father and brother to show for dinner to share their worry.
They explained to Lynda's family that they were concerned Lynda had missed work and that no one had seen her on campus that day. Lynda's mother immediately called the police. The Seattle Police Department responded to the home.
Crime scene photograph of the inside of Lynda Ann Healy's bedroom.
Police Investigation
Lieutenant Pat Murphy investigated Lynda’s room. “The room was very neat,” said Murphy. He also noted the bed had been “made up neatly.” Lynda’s roommates immediately found this odd as Lynda would not make her bed on days she went to work, and she never tucked the blanket with the pillow underneath. She always placed the pillow on top.
While searching Lynda’s room, Murphy turned back the bedspread and found blood on the pillow and head area of the sheets of Lynda’s bed. He found her nightgown, covered in blood around the neck neatly hanging in her closet. By interviewing the roommates, police then determined items missing from her room included the clothing she wore the night before, a pink satin pillowcase, her backpack, and her house keys.
Her roommates also found the back door open and found this very alarming. Normally, Lynda would let herself in the side door, park her bike inside on the landing, making sure to lock it again. They assumed the night before she had done nothing different.
Bob Keppel, a detective with King County Police said the unique crime scene continues to stand out in his memory. It appeared someone had broken into the house, attacked Lynda, redressed her, made the bed (unbelievable!), and carried her off without a trace into the chilly night.
A frightening incident happened about two months before Lynda went missing. Roommate, Monica Sutherland, told police that she recalled Lynda telling her that she was in the laundromat alone on the avenue near their home when she noticed a man in an orange pickup stop and begin to stare inside. The man then entered the laundromat without any clothing. He briefly fooled around with a machine before proceeding to check the back door of the laundromat as he was leaving. The man never talked to Lynda, but the incident frightened her.
Sutherland also told police about another incident that occurred about a month before Lynda vanished. Sutherland had come home and was alone inside the residence. She suddenly heard the neighbor’s dog start barking and peeked outside the front door to see a man standing on the lower step of her residence. He was holding the little dog around the neck, fiercely shaking it. She recounted how she ran outside and neighbors were yelling that the man—the man replied the dog attacked him and then fled on foot.
One of the only pictures of Ted Bundy and his infamous 1968 Volkswagen Bug he used to prowl for victims.
Was Bundy stalking Lynda?
We may never know if Bundy specifically selected Lynda or just chose a room at random.
Ted Bundy had lived approximately three blocks away from Lynda and frequented the Safeway store Lynda had gone grocery shopping the night of her disappearance.
Also, a coincidence not widely mentioned is Bundy’s cousin, Edna Cowell. She was also a student at UW and lived with two previous roommates of Lynda’s. It is not known if Bundy ever met Lynda through his cousin's affiliation with Lynda's circle of friends.
During the month of January, Ted Bundy had been attending night school at the University of Puget Sound Law School. His normal class time was on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Lynda went missing after midnight on January 31, a Thursday night when Bundy was not in class.
In addition, Bundy was living at 4143-12 NE, Seattle only 14 blocks away from Lynda at the time of her disappearance.
Yet another coincidence, during 1972, Lynda and Bundy were enrolled at UW where both were majoring in psychology. However, no investigation has concluded that Lynda and Bundy ever met.

Possible connection with Karen Sparks
After searching Lynda’s home, one of the detectives made an eerie connection between Lynda’s disappearance and another incident that occurred on January 4. Karen Sparks, an 18-year old dancer, and student at UW was involved in another incident in the University District of Seattle a few weeks earlier.
Karen lived on 8th Northwest, just 11 blocks from Lynda. She was attacked while in her bed on January 4. Someone had entered her basement room and brutally bludgeoned her about her head with a metal rod from her bed frame. She had also been sexually assaulted with an object penetrated so deep in her vagina that she experienced severe internal damage. The attack also caused significant brain damage causing her to forget everything about the incident. She remained in the hospital unconscious for nearly ten days.
Though a connection may have been made by police due to the case similarities, police were no closer to finding Lynda.
Entrance to Taylor Mountain Forest in eastern King County, Washington.
The case would continue to baffle police until 1975 when Lynda’s skull was found along with several other bodies just 23 miles east of Seattle in the Taylor Mountain Forest.
Still, there would be countless more assaults and disappearances before police would make a potential connection between Bundy, Lynda, and Karen.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Mother of Two Missing: Her Children Have Only One Christmas Wish

Jessica Ashmore vanished May 19, 2019, near her family property in Jonesville, South Carolina.

Mother of two, Jessica Ashmore, was last seen at her home in Jonesville, South Carolina on May 19, 2019.
At the time of her disappearance, Jessica, 34, had been living in a mobile home, on family property located on Jefferies Farm Road. According to the police, she was at the property at about lunchtime with her half-brother and several other family members.
“She and her half-brother had a disagreement in the driveway. She took a right out of the driveway and left on foot, saying she was going for a walk,” said Major John Sherfield of the Union County Sheriff’s Office. “She didn’t specify how long she would leave for,” Sherfield told Dateline.

Rural County Road
The road Jessica would have walked along is a rural country road with only a few houses scattered. A relatively safe town, Jonesville was established in 1770, with a population of less than a thousand people. It’s a beautiful forested place of history where plantations were many, and much has stayed the same.
Means House is a historic unrestored home on an isolated 20-acre property in Jonesville, South Carolina.
Jonesville is known for its history and the Means House. A historic property with unrestored Georgian architecture that sits on an isolated 20 acres in Union County. Land largely untouched since the 1800s.
People don’t go missing here in Jonesville.

The Unknown
According to investigators, Jessica didn’t take any money with her and her cell phone and asthma inhaler were also left at the home. Jessica's mother Angel Ashmore told police that her daughter would have never left without her medication.
“My son called me and asked me if Jessica had come by here, the day after she went walking because she had shown back up over there, at the mobile home. And I said no, she hadn’t been by here,” Angel told Dateline about the call she had received the day following her disappearance. “At that point, I wasn’t concerned because I just figured she was at a friend’s house and she hadn’t gone far.”
Initially, friends and family were not concerned about Jessica walking down the road alone, figuring she may have walked to a friend’s residence.
More than 48 hours later, Angel received another call saying Jessica was still not home. At that point, she called Jessica’s phone and nobody answered.
Angel said if Jessica’s phone wasn’t working, she would still have access to Messenger and always contacted her mother back right away. “But she wasn’t contacting me back. And I sent message after message and I wasn’t getting anything,” said Angel.

The Investigation

It wasn't until Saturday, May 25, when Angel called the Union County Sheriff’s Office to report her daughter missing. “That’s when I got [the case] and I’ve been working it ever since,” Investigator Coffer said. “We was already seven days behind the eight ball. We spoke to family members, her boyfriend, and close friends all on that Saturday night, but nothing turned up there.”
Flier for Jessica Ashmore, missing since May 19, 2019, from Jonesville, South Carolina.
Once Jessica’s mother made a missing person report and police were involved, Jessica’s mother and family also began making fliers, handing them out and searching the area for Jessica.
Deputies in Union County search for missing mother Jessica Ashmore in the area near Dawkins Road in Jonesville. Photo courtesy of Fox Carolina.
The Union County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted searches of the road and densely wooded forests. “There were a couple of cameras at a house up the road. We checked those and didn’t see her [walking along the road], Investigator Coffer told Dateline. “But there was another road she could’ve cut down before she got there – and there were no video cameras on that road.”
Police are handling the case as a missing person case and potential homicide.
“We don’t know if foul play is involved. We certainly hope not,” Major John Sherfield told NBC. “But we are treating it as such, just in case.”
As Union County Sheriff David Taylor sits with two large notebooks on his desk, he vows not to give up, but the truth is, this case has baffled everyone.
“Just like an unsolved murder, just because you get to a place where you’re not getting information, you still have to keep digging,” said the Sheriff.

A Mother's Desperate Search
Jessica’s mother Angel continues to hold onto hope in the aftermath of her daughter’s disappearance. From the beginning, Angel has pleaded to the public and continued to put out fliers of her daughter, vowing to continue until she knows what happened to her daughter.
Jessica Ashmore always kept in touch with her mother Angel on the cell phone and Facebook Messenger.
Angel and her mother are close. Angel describes her daughter as beautiful, loving and funny and says her daughter’s most wonderful accomplishments are her children, Gage, 17, and London, 5.
Angel told NBC, that her grandson knows his mother is missing and trying to put on a brave face. London, Jessica’s daughter, has been sheltered from the conversation until Angel knows what is going on.
Jessica has been missing for more than 200 days. “It actually feels like it has been 200 years, I don’t feel like it’s been 200 days,” On December 5, Angel told 7 News on December 5, “It feels like a lifetime.”
Angel told the reporter she looks up at the stars every evening wondering if her child has eaten, is cold, or dead. Either way, she can’t give up the search while there is hope that Angel may be out there somewhere.
Meanwhile, Angel is unable to eat or sleep and her mind is consumed with reruns of what could have happened to her precious daughter.
Prior to her disappearance on May 19, 2019, Jessica Ashmore is with her 5-year-old daughter.
For this grandmother, dealing with the painful ambiguity of not knowing where her own child is and the thought of her grandchildren spending Christmas without their mother is excruciating. For her grandchildren, only a Christmas Miracle will do.
“Getting up each morning and looking at the kids and them asking me ‘Is mom coming home today?’ And I don’t know, Angel said.
For Angel, she only has one Christmas wish.
“I would like Jessica to walk through the door,” she said. “That would be my gift.”
If you may have information about Jessica Ashmore, please contact the Union County Sheriff’s Office at 864-429-1611.