Survivors: Carol DaRonch
Ted Bundy is the poster-demon for American serial killers. Calm, handsome, and barbaric, Bundy obtained infamy by being one of the most methodical and brutal serial rapists, killers, and necrophiles. Even his attorney said that Bundy was “the very definition of heartless evil.” Bundy was brazen, but he managed to elude capture for years, years during which he may have killed more than 35 women.
Of all of his numerous young, beautiful victims only one managed to escape, Carol DaRonch. In November 1974 Bundy approached the 18-year-old DaRonch. He presented himself as a police officer and told DaRonch that her car had been broken into and the she needed to accompany him to the police station in order to file a report. When DaRonch noted that Bundy was driving away from the police station, rather than toward the station, he stopped the car, pulled a gun, and tried to handcuff the terrified woman. Bundy mistakenly placed both cuffs on the same wrist, and DaRonch managed to tumble out of the car onto the roadside. She wasn’t out of danger yet, though. As she scrambled to her feet Bundy approached her, raising a steel crowbar over his head. The quick thinking DaRonch kicked Bundy in the crotch, giving her the slight opening she needed. She quickly ran to another car and requested help. Bundy vanished, only to reappear that night and successfully trap a different victim.
