Hey. New to this group. I am an evidence-driven person and I'm seeking to close the gaps of Bundy's whereabouts after stealing his last VW Bug in Tallahassee and heading towards Pensacola. It's been close to 50 years so time is really of the essence. If there are any others who saw him in the area during those 72ish hours before he was arrested in Pensacola, will you please let me know? Here is my story:
So, it was during the afternoon either the day before or two days before he was captured. I grew up in the tiny town of Jay, Florida, which is about 30 miles north of Pensacola. I was 8, my sister was 6, my mom was 29. My dad was down the street at work. I remember that it was a pretty day, pretty warm. We were all wearing shorts. Mama had been out working in the yard, as she did any chance she got but now we were all three in the house milling around. The front doorbell rang which was very odd. Everyone we knew knew to come to the back door. I was right beside my mom when she opened the door.
This man stood there, very thin, wearing some kind of dress slacks and a turtleneck. He immediately smiled and said something like Hello, ma'am, took a big step into the living room and started jabbering about selling encyclopedias. The thoughts that came to my little girl mind were, he's creepy, he talks funny. My mom, however, as an adult, knew he was more than creepy and that she'd just made a big mistake by letting her guard down for a second and letting him in. She said in her "I mean business" voice, "Girls, go to your room". I whined and she snapped at me, "Go!" and she flicked her hand and mouthed something to the effect that made me realize she wanted me to lock the door, so I did.
So, after that, my memory is of after we got in our room and locked the door. We jumped over our double bed to look out the front window to see what this "salesman" was driving. The VW Bug was shockingly gross to me (our car was always clean and immaculate) It was full to the rim of all kinds of crap. It looked just super grimy. Then the man was jogging down the sidewalk from the front door, opened the walkthrough gate of our chain link fence, jumped in the car and took off down the street. Then my mom was banging on the bedroom door yelling for us to open the door, open the door! We did and she scooped us both up to her and held us really close. She wasn't crying but her heart was pounding so hard and she was shaking. She told us we were NEVER to tell our dad about this. That she should never have let that man in the house but now he's gone...Never...tell your Daddy...
So, the next morning I remember getting out of bed and walking to the kitchen like always and Mama stopped me and got down to my level. I remember exactly where I was standing....she said "Remember that man that came to the door? Well, he was arrested in Pensacola last night and he was a very bad man. Do not tell your Daddy." We rarely talked about it again until 1989. I was home for break from college. His execution was all in the news, and I asked her, Mama, please tell me what happened after we went to our room. She said she had never heard of Bundy. Didn't know there was a manhunt going on. She thought she was going to be raped. So she told him she couldn't buy anything without her husband's approval and he was right next door working so she'd call him. She turned to go two steps to the phone on the wall and knew he was either going to grab her or run, and he ran. ......
So, that's it. This is the first time I've ever put my story out there. When I was growing up, I did just exactly what my mom said. I didn't ever talk about it until his execution year. I told my dad about it finally, two years ago, when he was 88.