What to Know
- Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy died from their attacks while Karen Chandler and Miami native Kathy Kleiner, suffered serious injuries.
- One month after the brutal FSU killings, Bundy was captured just west of Pensacola in a stolen vehicle.
- . He was found guilty in the deaths of Bowman and Levy in 1980 after his trial was moved to Miami, receiving the death penalty.
An ominous anniversary hangs over the campus of Florida State University on Monday – four decades after two students were murdered in their sorority house by notorious serial killer Ted Bundy.
In the early morning hours of January 15th, 1978, Bundy – who was suspected of numerous disappearances and murders from Washington to the Rocky Mountains and had escaped from a Colorado jail while awaiting trial on various charges, including murder – entered the Chi Omega house on the Tallahassee campus.
Once inside, Bundy went into several different bedrooms where he beat and assaulted four female students before leaving. Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy died as a result of their attacks. Police said the 21-year-old Bowman was beaten with a piece of firewood while she slept and the 20-year-old Levy was beaten and sexually assaulted by Bundy.
Two other students in the house at the time, Karen Chandler and Miami native Kathy Kleiner, suffered serious injuries as a result of their attacks but recovered. Bundy went to another apartment near campus where he beat Cheryl Thomas, a Richmond, Virginia native, to the point she suffered permanent hearing loss.
Bundy would later steal a university van and attempt to kidnap the daughter of a Jacksonville Police officer before kidnapping 12-year-old Kimberly Leach in Lake City on February 9th, with officers finding her body seven weeks later.
One month after the brutal FSU killings, Bundy was captured just west of Pensacola in a stolen vehicle. He was found guilty in the deaths of Bowman and Levy in 1980 after his trial was moved to Miami, receiving the death penalty in both convictions and later adding a third one following his conviction in the trial stemming from Leach’s murder.
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After lengthy appeals, Bundy was finally executed by the electric chair on January 24, 1989 in Florida State Prison. His crimes continues to cloud the FSU campus in the years that followed, creating new measures to ensure student safety.
Bundy’s crimes also haunted college students across the state after Danny Rolling – who murdered five students in the Gainesville area in 1990 – said his motive was to gain the same notoriety that Bundy had.
The tragic murders will be featured in a new film called “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”, with Zac Efron slated to play the role of Bundy.
