How Carol Daronch saved herself from Ted Bundy as a teenager
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How Carol Daronch saved herself from Ted Bundy as a teenager

This incident happened on 8th November 1974 when Carol Daronch went to a fashion mall in Murray, UT after finishing work. Although Carol Daronch was usually taken around the city by her elder sister. Today Carol Daronch went out alone because recently Carol Daronch had bought her new car.

Carol Daronch told in an interview that when Carol Daronch got out of her car that day and went to the mall, while shopping at a bookstore, a man came to Carol Daronch. That man introduced himself to Carol Daronch as Officer Roseland and told Carol Daronch that someone has been caught breaking into her car near her car.

Carol Daronch tells that the man was not wearing any police uniform. But that officer read out the license plate to Carol Daronch. That man confirmed that the car he was talking about was Carol Daronch’s. The officer asked Carol Daronch if she could accompany him to the parking lot to find out if anything was stolen from the car. Carol Daronch agreed to go with him.

Carol Daronche says that the man was not an officer but a serial killer named Ted Bundy. Ted had killed 11 other people before targeting Carol Daronch.

Carol Daronche says that when she came to the parking lot with the officer and checked her car, she did not find anything stolen from her car. Bundy then asked Carol Daronch if she would go with him to the police station because the police officer was catching the man who had been caught breaking into her car. At this point Carol Daronch says that at that time she felt that something was wrong.

At that time Carol Daronch was feeling a little uncomfortable and she could also smell alcohol. Then Bundy took out his wallet and took out the badge and showed it to me. Then Carol Daronch felt that everything was correct.

Convinced by the police badge shown by Bundy, Carol Daronch agreed to go with him to the police station. When she saw that he was taking her with him in a Volkswagen Beetle, Carol Daronch assured herself that this officer was not on duty and was an undercover officer. Carol Daronch says in her interview that it was strange that the officer was not driving a police vehicle but she wanted to help that officer and she was confident that Carol Daronch could trust that officer.

Later Carol Daronch also found out that just three weeks before Bundy had kidnapped another victim Melissa Smith from the same mall. A few days later that victim was found dead on October 27, 1974. Carol Daronch says that once Carol Daronch got into Bundy’s car, Bundy drove his car away from the mall.

Carol Daronche’s abduction and rescue

Bundy drove Carol Daronch away from the mall in his car and drove around for a while. Bundy asked Carol Daronch to put on her seat belt, but Carol Daronch refused to do so. Bundy then suddenly turned onto a side street and jumped off the curb next to an elementary school. Carol Daronch said that growing up in Murray, Carol Daronch knew that they were not around police. Carol Daronch then realized that the man was not a police officer.

When Bundy stopped his car, he grabbed Carol Daronch’s arm and quickly put a handcuff on her wrist. When Carol Daronch resisted and refused to let him put the handcuff on her other arm, Bundy pulled out his gun and threatened to shoot Carol Daronch.

After this, Carol Daronch says that she had never been so scared in her entire life as she was at that time. Carol Daronch knew that she had only two options, either to resist this man or let him do whatever he wanted to do. She thought so because Carol Daronch thought that if she obeyed him, he would let her live.

After this, Carol Daronch resisted Bundy because she had never worn a seat belt. Carol Daronch opened the passenger door of the car and let herself out of the car. Bundy came behind her and now he had an iron rod in his hand. Bundy was trying to hit Carol Daronch’s head with that rod. Meanwhile, another car came in which Wilbur and Mary Walsh were in the car. Seeing Bundy going behind Carol Daronch with a rod, both of them stopped their car. Meanwhile, Carol Daronch came near their car and sat in their car. Seeing this, Bundy left his car there and ran away from there. Wilbur and Mary Walsh noticed Carol Daronch was wearing a handcuff. Carol Daronch says she was happy to be safe, but Bundy escaped at the same time and killed another teenager that night.

Utah police search for Bundy

The same night Carol Daronch escaped Bundy’s clutches, Bundy kidnapped and killed 17-year-old Debra Jean Kent. Kent was attending a play at her high school with her parents. Kent was never seen again after she left during intermission to pick up her younger brother from an ice skating rink.

When Carol Daronch heard that Kent had been missing that evening, she told police about the kidnapping. Police had been searching for several young women since Carol Daronch’s attack. When Autumn Kent disappeared in 1974, police became suspicious that Kent had also been kidnapped. Many police officers were already searching for Bundy. A year after Carol Daronch’s kidnapping, the police somehow arrested Bundy. After this, when Carol Daronch was called to identify Bundy, Carol Daronch recognized that this was the same Bundy who had tried to kidnap her.