DNA could finally link Ted Bundy to 1961 murder
Aug 1, 2011, 7:43 AM | Updated: Oct 10, 2012, 7:28 am
Convicted serial killer Theodore Bundy is seen in 1979 at Florida State Prison. Bundy confessed to killing 11 women in Washington state. Investigators were able to identify eight of them. The other three victims remain a mystery. (AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
Detectives in Tacoma wonder if their oldest, cold case murder might be linked to serial killer Ted Bundy. They hope to have a final answer, soon.
Bundy has long been a suspect in the 1961 death of Ann Marie Burr, who was 8-years-old when she disappeared from her north Tacoma home. Her body was never found.
Bundy was 14-years-old at the time and Burr would likely have been his first victim. Bundy subsequently confessed to 30 murders before he was executed in 1989 for killing a 12-year-old girl in Lake City, Florida.
A detective reexamining the Burr case was surprised to learn that Bundy’s DNA was not in the FBI’s national data base. The Tacoma-native was prosecuted before national DNA data bases were established.
A search of police agencies in Florida turned up a vial of Bundy’s blood in evidence and that produced a DNA profile. Officials in Florida are working to have Bundy’s DNA profile uploaded into the FBI’s national database by mid-August.
Tacoma Police tell the News Tribune they’re sorting through evidence from Ann Marie Burr’s case, hoping to find something that they can match against Bundy or anybody else in the national data base.
Having Bundy’s DNA in the national database could also shed light on other unsolved cases in Washington and other states, where he preyed on young women and girls.
Bundy was executed in Florida in 1989.
Bundy confessed to killing 11 women in Washington state. Investigators were able to identify eight of the women, but the other three victims remain a mystery.
