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The untold story of what happened to serial killer Ted Bundy's daughter, Rose Bundy. 

 

Ted Bundy was a mass murderer, kidnapper and rapist responsible for the deaths of at least 30 people during the 1970s.

From his televised trial to his electric chair execution three decades ago, no serial killer has captured the world’s attention quite like Bundy did.

With the release of four-part Netflix documentary series Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and new movie titled Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile featuring Zac Efron, stories and details relating to Bundy’s life and crimes are back in the limelight once again.

But despite the influx of new content and information related to the serial killer, there’s one part of Bundy’s life that largely remains a mystery.

On October 24, 1981, two years after receiving his death sentence, Ted Bundy became a father.

Somewhere out there in the world, Bundy has a 37-year-old daughter.

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Ted Bundy confessed to 30 homicides. Image: Getty.
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Despite murdering dozens of women, Bundy surprisingly had a number of long term relationships with women throughout his life.

But it was Bundy's final relationship that would make him a father.

In 1974, Bundy met Carol Ann Boone while working at the Washington State Department of Emergency Services in Olympia.

Although the relationship initially began as strictly platonic, Bundy and Boone soon became romantically involved when the pair began exchanging long, elaborate love letters while Bundy was imprisoned in Utah in 1976.

According to The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy, Boone – who had been married once before and had a teenage son named Jamey – said of their initial interactions: “I liked Ted immediately. We hit it off well."

"He struck me as being a rather shy person with a lot more going on under the surface than what was on the surface. He certainly was more dignified and restrained than the more certifiable types around the office. He would participate in the silliness partway."

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Boone became so devoted to Bundy, it's alleged she even played a part in the serial killer's 1977 escape from prison, which led the killer to go on yet another violent killing spree before he was captured by police.

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As the years went on, Boone's devotion to Bundy grew even deeper, with Boone even testifying as a character witness on Bundy's behalf. Throughout it all, she always maintained that she believed he was innocent.

"Let me put it this way, I don't think that Ted belongs in jail. The things in Florida don't concern me any more than the things out west do," Boone can be heard saying in Netflix documentary The Ted Bundy Tapes.

Later on, while on trial in Florida in 1980, Bundy proposed to Boone in the court room.

Watch Ted Bundy propose to Carol Ann Boone in the court room below.

Due to a loophole in Florida law at the time, the pair were able to get married in front of the judge.

After their court room wedding, it is believed they conceived a child behind a vending machine in the visiting room as a bribed prison guard turned a blind eye. 

Up until 1986, Boone would bring the couple's daughter – known as Rose or sometimes Rosa – to visit Bundy in prison.

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The visits, which took place while Bundy was on "death watch" reportedly put a great deal of stress on the family.

Eventually, when Rose was around four or five years old, Boone chose to cut ties with her husband completely, divorcing him three years prior to his 1989 execution.

Boone and Rose never spoke to their husband or father again.

Ted Bundy, his wife Carole Boone, and their daughter Rose. Source: serialkillershop.com
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Following Bundy's death at age 42, Boone and her daughter reportedly changed their names in search of privacy away from the world's obsession with the compelling story of Ted Bundy.

In a 2008 reprint of Ann Rule's 1980 biography about Bundy titled The Stranger Beside Me, Rule described Rose as a "kind and intelligent young woman".

"I have deliberately avoided knowing anything about Ted's ex-wife and daughter's whereabouts because they deserve privacy," Rule wrote on her official website.

"I don't want to know where they are; I never want to be caught off guard by some reporter's question about them. All I know is that Ted's daughter has grown up to be a fine young woman."

Regardless, the speculation surrounding Rose Bundy's whereabouts has never faltered.

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Ted Bundy in the court room. Image: Getty.
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In a forum on Life on the Row, it has been suggested that a mother named Abigail Griffin, who lives in Oklahoma, was the little girl behind the prison glass once known as Rose Bundy.

In 2016, a user on Life on the Row wrote: “I won’t say much to protect their privacy, but Bundy’s daughter DOES use Facebook. Jamey Boone (Carole’s oldest son) has a FB page, which is linked to Carole’s FB page, which you can find her daughter through (her daughter and Jamey aren’t friends on FB) [sic]."

The post continued: "Her name isn’t Sadie or Rosa/Rose and she doesn’t live in Washington. Carole remarried after Ted, and her daughter took her stepfather’s name. She has grown into a loving and intelligent human being who works in special needs, and is a mum to an adorable daughter. Just goes to show that at the end of the day, genetics aren’t worth a penny.”

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is available to watch on Netflix now.

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