The book The Stranger Beside Me was published in 1980. It was a true crime memoir about the serial killer Ted Bundy written by Ann Rule in the 70s. But did you know that Rule and Bundy were friends before he was caught for the murders?
Ann Rule received a book deal to write about the ongoing series of murders. It turns out the killer was her friend and co-worker, Ted Bundy. She used their relationship to discuss the cases and write the memoir.
How Did Ann Rule and Ted Bundy Meet?
Ann Rule started as a writer for the True Detective magazine in 1968. She was in charge of telling the harrowing crime stories from Oregon all the way to the Canadian border. By 1971, she volunteered for the Crisis Center and coincidentally worked alongside the infamous Ted Bundy. Bundy, at the time, was a 24-year-old college student.
Because Rule’s schedule had to work around her writing time, she worked with Bundy more often than any other volunteer. They worked well together. When they felt that the caller was truly suicidal, they would signal each other to contact emergency services. Rule mentions this in her book, saying, Ted Bundy took lives, he also saved lives. (Source: The New Yorker)
The Stranger Beside Me: Ann Rule’s Interpretation of Ted Bundy
Ann Rule authored more than 30 books before she passed in 2015. Her most popular work was the memoir about Ted Bundy. The Stranger Beside Me was published in 1980 and sold more than 2 million copies worldwide.
Rule describes Bundy to be a very approachable person. Saying she had liked him immediately and that it would have been difficult to resist his charm. It wasn’t a secret that the two were actually friends before the book was published.
He brought me a cup of coffee and waved his arm over the awesome banks of phone lines. As far as his appeal to women, I can remember thinking that if I were younger and single or if my daughters were older, this would be almost the perfect man.
Ann Rule
(Source: NY Daily News)
The Bond Between Ann Rule and Ted Bundy
In the 70s, Rule was busy researching her book on the ongoing rapes and murders in Seattle. Police released information about a certain Ted driving a gold Volkswagen Bug being the suspect of these crimes. At the time, Rule had suspicions her friend Ted was the man authorities were looking for. She called tipped off the police after confirming that he drove the exact car the suspect did.
When Bundy was initially arrested, Rule could not believe that it was true. He didn’t seem like the person who would do such horrible things. After he escaped jail in Colorado and murdered another woman again, she acknowledged the fact that he was indeed the killer.
She continued to talk with Bundy even when he was locked away in Florida jail, awaiting his trial. She published her book in 1980, and Bundy was executed in 1989.
I felt sick when Ted was executed — but I would not have stopped it if I could. But he was going to get out, and he would have killed again and again and again.
Ann Rule
(Source: Jean Campbell)