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OGDEN — Ted Bundy is a name instantly recognizable and one that brings fear to the minds of many. One Utah woman is coming forward for the first time about her attack.
Rhonda Stapley was a pharmacology student at the University of Utah back in 1974. On Oct. 11 of that year, she said she nearly lost her life at the hands of one of America's most notorious serial killers.
Stapley said it all started innocently enough.
"This tan Volkswagen came by and the driver rolled down his window and asked, 'Where are you going?' I said, 'I'm going to the (University of Utah).' He said, 'Me too.'"
Stapley said she didn't think twice about accepting a ride from the smooth-talking, handsome law student. She even believed him when he told her he needed to make a quick detour. That detour turned out to be Big Cottonwood Canyon.
"He leaned in close and I thought he was going to kiss me and he said, 'Do you know what? I'm going to kill you,’” Stapley remembered. "He put his hands on my throat and started squeezing."
Stapley said she was in and out of consciousness as Bundy beat and raped her.
"He had every intention of me dying," she said.
Before he could kill her, she saw an opportunity for escape.
"He was fiddling with something in the back of the car and he had his back to me," she said. "I was able to jump and run."
She said when she finally made it back to her apartment, she felt ashamed.
"I thought to myself no can ever know I did this stupid thing," she said. "I nearly got myself killed and I promised myself I would never tell a soul what happened."
In the weeks that followed, Bundy kidnapped and killed two Utah women. Stapley said she was in denial it was the same person as she watched news reports.
"Then I had this huge amount of guilt," she said. "I thought that if I had come forward, other women might not have been killed."
She kept the secret from her husband, and later her children, until 2012 when she says an event at work triggered PTSD. She knew it was time to come clean and seek therapy.
"The physical stuff heals eventually but the emotional parts need to be healed, too."
Now she's hoping to help other victims of rape who are too scared to come forward.
"If my story can help one or two other people, then it's worth it."
Stapley said she knows there are people who may doubt her story, and she's OK with that. She's written a book about her experience titled, "I survived Ted Bundy: The Attack, Escape and PTSD That Changed My Life."
Before the book was published, her timeline and specific details about Bundy were compared against the FBI's information. Those closely connected to Bundy's cases believe she's telling the truth.
On Tuesday she appeared on the "Dr. Phil Show" to share her story nationwide.
