Kimberly Diane Leach (October 28, 1965 – February 9, 1978) was a 12-year-old American student in the seventh grade who was kidnapped from her school and subsequently murdered by serial killer Ted Bundy (November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) on February 9, 1978, in Lake City, Florida. Her remains were found on April 7, approximately 30 miles west of Lake City.
Only weeks before Leach's murder, Bundy escaped from jail in Aspen while awaiting a murder trial and fled to Florida. On the day of Leach's disappearance, multiple eyewitnesses came forward and claimed they saw a white van circling around the school, and that they saw an adult man leading a young girl to the van and driving off. Bundy was arrested six days later in Pensacola for driving a stolen car and attempting to evade a police officer, and was quickly connected to Leach's disappearance.
Her mummified remains were discovered nearly two months later in an abandoned hog shed approximately 30 miles west of Lake City. In 1980, Bundy was eventually convicted of Leach's kidnapping and murder, for which he was executed on January 24, 1989. Despite years of denial, on the eve of his execution, Bundy confessed to killing Leach.
Background
Ted Bundy is believed to have murdered at least 30 young women between 1974 and 1978, across several states, including Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Idaho and Florida. His modus operandi typically consisted of luring his victims to his Volkswagen Beetle while wearing an arm sling or cast under false pretext; such as helping him carry books or load a sailboat, before rendering them unconscious, often by bludgeoning them with a crowbar, then driving them to a pre-selected secluded area to be sexually assaulted and killed. Bundy frequently revisited his victims' bodies to perform further acts of necrophilia.
1974
Beginning in early 1974, young women began disappearing at an alarming rate in Washington, starting with 21-year-old UW undergraduate Lynda Ann Healy in Seattle on February 1, followed by 19-year-old Evergreen student Donna Gail Manson in Olympia on March 12 and 18-year-old Susan Elaine Rancourt in Ellensburg on April 17. On May 6, 21-year-old Oregon State University student Roberta Kathleen Parks vanished in Corvallis, followed by 22-year-old Brenda Carol Ball in Burien on June 1, and 18-year-old Georgann Hawkins in Seattle on the night of June 11. The Washington disappearances ultimately culminated on July 14, when two women–23-year-old Janice Ann Ott and 19-year-old Denise Marie Naslund–vanished within four hours at Lake Sammamish State Park. The disappearances of Ott and Naslund generated significant media frenzy, as witnesses came forward stating they were approached by a man with his arm in a sling, asking them to help him load his sailboat onto his car. They all claimed he introduced himself as "Ted" and had a slight British accent.
In the summer of 1974, Bundy moved to Salt Lake City as a law student at the University of Utah, where, over a span of five weeks, he murdered four more victims: 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox in Holladay, 17-year-old Melissa Smith in Midvale, 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime in Lehi, and 17-year-old Debra Jean Kent in Bountiful. Several hours prior to Kent's disappearance, Bundy also kidnapped 18-year-old Carol DaRonch in Murray by impersonating a police officer, though DaRonch managed to escape from his car and flag an oncoming vehicle.
1975 In 1975, Bundy murdered another five victims: three in Colorado, one in Idaho, and another in Utah. On January 12, he murdered 23-year-old Caryn Campbell, a nurse from Dearborn, Michigan in a Wildwood Inn in Snowmass Village as she vacationed with her fiancé and two children. She disappeared after taking the elevator up to their room as her family waited for her in vain in the hotel lobby. Two months later on March 15, Bundy abducted and murdered 26-year-old Julie Cunningham in Vail, Colorado, then on April 6, he kidnapped 24-year-old Denise Oliverson from Grand Junction and killed her in a secluded location. A month later, on May 6, 12-year-old Lynette Dawn Culver vanished in Pocatello, Idaho. Bundy later confessed to abducting the girl and killing her in his motel room. On the night of June 27, 15-year-old Susan Curtis disappeared in Provo, Utah as she walked home from a banquet. Although Curtis's body was never found, Bundy confessed to killing her on the eve of his execution.
Bundy was first arrested in the early hours of August 16, 1975, in Granger by Utah Highway Patrol Sergeant Bob Hayward, for evading an officer. Hayward's suspicions about Bundy only increased when he discovered the passenger's seat of Bundy's car missing and when he found what he initially thought was a burglary kit inside Bundy's gym bag, containing rope, a ski mask, a pair of gloves, a crowbar, a panty hose with holes cut out for eyes and nose, one ice pick, and a pair of handcuffs. On October 2, Bundy was charged with the aggravated kidnapping of Carol DaRonch after she identified him in a line-up. By this point, the sheriffs from neighboring counties, including those in Washington, suspected Bundy of being responsible for the string of murders of the young women in 1974.
1976 Due to the heightened media presence at the trial, Bundy requested a bench trial, which began on February 23 and concluded a week later. The case of the prosecution primarily relied on the testimony of Carol DaRonch and Bob Hayward. On March 1, Bundy was found guilty of aggravated kidnapping and was subsequently sentenced to 1 to 15 years in prison. In early October 1976, Bundy was charged by Colorado authorities with the murder of Caryn Campbell.
1977 In late January 1977, Bundy was extradited to Colorado to stand trial for the murder of Campbell, where he was held in Garfield County Jail in Glenwood Springs. He had pleaded not guilty and acted as his own attorney. The preliminary hearing for Bundy's trial started in early April 1977 and lasted for several weeks, before Bundy escaped during court recess on June 7 by leaping out of the second-floor window of the Pitkin County Courthouse and running to the mountains. He was captured six days later in Aspen after stealing a car. Exhausted and hungry, Bundy spent the six days wandering aimlessly in the wilderness, before returning to town early on June 13. Six months later, Bundy made his second escape on the night of December 30, by breaking through the ceiling and then into a jailer's closet, stealing his clothes and walking out of the front gate. After driving a stolen car to Denver, he flew to Chicago and then traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan, by train.
1978 After arriving in Michigan early on January 1, 1978, Bundy drove a stolen car to Atlanta, from where he traveled by bus to Florida, reaching Tallahassee on January 8. Seven days after arriving in Tallahassee, in the early hours of January 15, Bundy entered the Chi Omega Sorority House through a rear door armed with a wooden log he had taken from a woodpile outside. He bludgeoned 21-year-old Margaret Bowman and 20-year-old Lisa Levy to death and severely injured two more sorority sisters before fleeing the house, after which he entered a house on Dunwoody Street, located approximately four blocks west of Chi Omega, and then bludgeoned the sleeping 23-year-old Cheryl Thomas with the same weapon.
The attacks in Tallahassee had sparked a moral panic, particularly amongst female college students, who were advised to walk in groups and to lock their doors. Three weeks later, Bundy stole a white van from the parking lot of the Florida State University campus and initially headed for Jacksonville, where he attempted to kidnap a teenage victim, but to no avail, before driving to Lake City, where he spent the night of February 8 in a Holiday Inn.
Murder
Disappearance
Kimberly Leach was driven to Lake City Junior High School on the morning of February 9, 1978, by her mother Freda. She was wearing a royal blue football jersey – which bore a number "83" and her name above – blue jeans, and a fur coat, due to the cold and rainy weather. After briefly meeting her friend, 12-year-old Elaine Hendricks, Leach left for her first period as the first bell rang, planning to meet Hendricks again the next period during P.E. As the first period began, Leach was sent back to her homeroom to retrieve her purse that she'd left there. A student later reported seeing a white male in his mid-30s outside of the school, slim and with his hair unkempt.
Leach was headed for the homeroom to retrieve her purse, but she never made it there. By the end of the day, the teachers realized Leach had essentially vanished during first period and called Leach's mother to ask her if she had seen her at all that day, initially suspecting Leach of skipping school. At approximately 2:30 p.m., Freda and her husband Tom drove to the school and picked up Leach's older brother Michael. The three then searched the school grounds together with the help of the assistant principal, but to no avail. After Leach had not returned by 5:30 p.m., Freda called the police.
Investigation The investigation commenced on February 10, the same day Bundy was officially added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. The disappearance caused an uproar in Lake City and had subsequently become the main subject in the media in the following weeks. Police Chief Paul Philpot addressed the media on February 14, stating they were "working around the clock following every lead", that a search party had been formed, and that they'd discredited the possibility that Leach ran away from home. The following day, Sheriff Glenn Bailey announced a $500 USD reward for information about Leach, as the search party completed a third sweep around the school. On February 16, Philpot assigned the case to a six-man investigation team, erroneously telling the media all the leads they'd received so far "had been futile".
During the investigation, multiple eyewitnesses came forward and claimed they saw Leach on February 9. The crossing guard near the junior high school, Clinch Edenfield told the authorities he noticed a white van driving slowly on Duval Street and "staring long and hard" at the school at approximately 7:30 a.m. He stated that he saw the van again 30 minutes later and then again at 8:15 a.m. Each of these times the driver was staring hard at the school, and he looked to be between 30 and 35 years with medium build. Lieutenant Andy Anderson, an EMT with the city's fire department, claimed that at approximately 8:30 a.m., he saw a white van blocking the traffic westbound on Duval Street before a man in his mid-30s emerged, leading a young girl to the passenger side of the van. Anderson said the man appeared to be clean-shaven and had wavy brown hair, and the girl appeared to be 12 or 13, with long brown hair parted in the middle and a football jersey with the number "63" or "83" on the back. Anderson also said the girl appeared to be distraught and upset. However, Anderson, not wanting to get involved, waited six months before reporting the sight to the authorities. Another eyewitness, Jacqueline Moore, came forward in mid-February and stated she was heading eastbound on U.S. 90 when a white van "nearly ran her off the road". She claimed that the driver, who appeared to be a white male, was looking down at something, with his jaw slack and head bobbing repeatedly.