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Saying Goodbye to Real Evidence

Kevin Sullivan

Author Kevin Sullivan

Saying Goodbye to Real Evidence

Most folks who’ve read (or will read) my book on serial sex killer, Ted Bundy, have no idea that it was an odd fluke the book was written in the first place. It wasn’t a biography I was intending to write, and in fact, in my mind, there wasn’t any reason  to be writing anything about this dead killer. For me, there wasn’t any real connection, except that I would talk about him occasionally with my friend, James Massie, as Massie was a personal friend of Jerry Thompson, the lead detective for the Bundy case in Utah. At least that connection made the subject a bit special.

However, my interest in the case picked up quite a bit in 2005, when Jerry and his wife came to town for a couple of days, and I was able to sit down with them over dinner. It was a good meeting, just the four of us, and because Jerry had brought Ted’s murder kit to Louisville to show it to Jim (who allowed me to see and handle it prior to our dinner), I was already in my own little surreal world concerning the Bundy case. But what I didn’t know, and never would have suspected, was that before the Thompsons left for Utah, Jerry handed Jim one of the large Glad Trash bags from Ted’s murder kit, and then also handed one to me!

After thanking Jerry profusely, I asked the retired detective if he’d write us a letter of authentication and he said yes. Jumping up from the table in the lobby of the hotel, I quickly grabbed a sheet of paper from the Breckenridge Inn front desk, and Jerry wrote out a brief note confirming the provenance of the item, and then signed it.

Ted Bundy's Murder Kit, May 2005

Ted Bundy’s Murder Kit, May 2005

Now, dear reader, I am about to say something that might shock you: The ONLY reason I began a book on Ted Bundy was because of the Glad trash bag; that, plus having his entire murder kit on my dining room table the night after we met the Thompsons (yes, God forgive me, I tried on the mask while it was here, lol!). It wasn’t about meeting Jerry that caused me to launch myself into an in-depth and intense project lasting over two years. It was having real evidence within my hands that propelled me forward towards something that would produce not only a very good book about the killer, but unearthed vital and never before published information about some of the murders.

For the last ten years, the Bundy Glad trash bag has been sitting in a bank box, along with the signed letter from Jerry Thompson and some of the photos I took the night the murder kit was in my possession. Outside of occasionally sending out four or five small swatches of the bag to some of my true crime writing buddies, who usually frame such an odd and extremely rare piece of true crime history, it’s been sitting in the darkness of the bank vault. And only recently, did I decide this ought to change.

Of course, I’d been told by more than one person, that I could sell the bag and make a good deal of money from it. Or better still, I knew that I could cut the bag up into maybe a couple hundred swatches and sell them by providing each swatch with a copy of the letter of authentication. Oh, how lucrative it would be! But that isn’t me.

Believing it should go back to an institution in Washington State, I began searching for a proper home for it in the state where all of these terrible crimes began. True, it’s a macabre piece of history, but one worth preserving for future generations to view. In Washington D.C., Ted Bundy’s VW is on display at the crime museum in that city; and again, there’s nothing quite like real evidence to remind a forgetful public how real these things once were in our lives.

And it is for this reason that the new home of the Bundy Glad trash bag, taken from the killer’s car on August 16, 1975, will be the Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum in downtown Seattle. And considering Bundy’s connection to the city, I think it’s the best place for this artifact to be.008

I did keep a couple of small swatches for myself, as well as the small piece of the Glad box that came detached on the night I had the murder kit in my home, on what turned out to be the most surreal night of my life.

Filed Under: Kevin Sullivan, True Crime Tagged With: CSI, Evidence, Kevin Sullivan, Kevin Sullivan Book, Murder, Ted Bundy, True Crime, WildBlue Press
June 14, 2015 By Kevin Sullivan 10 Comments

Comments

  1. Kailyn Hill says

    July 5, 2018 at 1:59 am

    I have a piece of wood from the cellar of the house in owned in Utah. They say there was around 16 female bodys found in the cellar.

    Reply
    • Kevin Sullivan says

      July 5, 2018 at 4:50 pm

      Hi Kailyn,

      Are you speaking of the rooming house where Bundy lived at 565 First Avenue in Salt lake City? If so, no bodies were found there or in any other home where Bundy lived during his time of committing murder. He did, however, keep bodies or body parts for a time in most if not all of them.

      Thanks for the contact, Kailyn…

      Kevin

      Reply
      • Marilyn says

        May 3, 2019 at 3:27 pm

        How can you know that for sure?

        Reply
        • Kevin Sullivan says

          May 3, 2019 at 3:54 pm

          Hi Marilyn…know what for sure?

          Reply
          • Marilyn says

            May 3, 2019 at 5:41 pm

            That he kept body parts in most of the homes? I’ve just never read about that.

          • Kevin Sullivan says

            May 3, 2019 at 7:48 pm

            Well, he admitted to Bill Hagmaier that he severed a dozen heads (he said on tape half a dozen, but Hagmaier said Bundy wrote the number 12 on a piece of paper at the same time), and that he carried some of these heads home to his Seattle rooming house. I mean, he took the heads somewhere. Also, he admitted to taking Debra Kent home “to his apartment”, which was at 565 First Avenue in Salt Lake City,Utah, and keeping her for a day there. Plus, investigators also believe Bundy had other victims here alive (but probably unconscious), and had them here for a number of days. In any event, it’s clear he had some bodies and body parts in places where Bundy lived. It’s indisputable, unless Bundy was lying and I don’t believe he was.

          • Marilyn says

            May 4, 2019 at 4:11 pm

            I believe I replied in the wrong spot. Anyway, thank you so much for clearing that up for me! I just got your new book and I’m getting ready to read it. I’m so excited! I have enjoyed all of your books, very much! Thank you for taking the time to answer my question !

  2. Kevin Sullivan says

    May 4, 2019 at 5:10 pm

    Thanks so much for the good words about my books, Marilyn, as they’re greatly appreciated! 🙂

    Reply
  3. A.C. McCray says

    May 10, 2019 at 8:47 am

    I have seen pieces of the bag come for sale only once I can think of. If you ever let go of any more, my fiancee and I would love to talk to you – we are in the process of collecting dark history items to open a museum to show the side of history people fear. Everything from killers to war criminals and more. We’d love to at least have you speak when we open it – estimating 2020 late year or 2021.

    Reply
    • Kevin Sullivan says

      May 10, 2019 at 9:17 am

      Hi A.C.,

      Send me an email at the following address, and I’ll get back with you: [email protected]

      Thanks for the contact!

      Kevin

      Reply

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The Encyclopedia Of The Ted Bundy Murders

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Buy Kevin Sullivan's The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive HistoryThe Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History
"Despite the multitude of books about Bundy, The Bundy Murders offers fresh material and ideas about Bundy's predatory movements. Well researched and highly recommended, for Bundy scholars and true crime fans alike."--Katherine Ramsland, author of The Human Predator and The Devil's Dozen.

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In this Notorious USA collection, Death of a Cheerleader, New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen and true crime journalist Kevin M. Sullivan write about notorious crimes in the Bluegrass State. In a scene right out of Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” a young woman vanishes from a beach on a summer day and a neighbor views the abduction through his telescope. A newlywed disposes of his bride but doesn’t know what to do with her head. Selling tickets at a drive-in movie theater proves deadly. And a parent’s worst nightmare becomes reality – their young daughter disappears from a sleepover.

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Richard Allan Fox, author, Archaeology, History, and Custer's Last Battle

Buy Kevin Sullivan's The Amish Schoolhouse Murders (coauthored with Gregg Olsen)The Amish Schoolhouse Murders (coauthored with Gregg Olsen)
New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen and true crime journalist Kevin M. Sullivan travel down a bizarre trail of murder into notorious Pennsylvania. A seemingly normal husband father of two decides to kill young girls after storming an Amish schoolhouse, and sex many have been the prime motivator. A young high school student has a secret desire for murder, and decides a middle of the night visit to his best friend’s house will do nicely to satiate his hunger to kill. A seedy individual living in an even seedier part of Philadelphia decides to populate his basement with kidnapped women for sex and the bearing of children, and it is death to those who do not submit.

Buy Kevin Sullivan's Unnatural Causes (coauthored with Gregg Olsen)Unnatural Causes (coauthored with Gregg Olsen)
From the dark and bloody ground of Kentucky, to the peaceful Amish communities of Pennsylvania, to the cities and towns crisscrossing Ohio, murder and mayhem has been a part of it all. Within the pages of this latest volume in Notorious USA's New York Times bestselling series you'll discover how the unsuspecting succumbed to the evil that caught them by surprise, and what the authorities had to do to stop the madness.

Buy Kevin Sullivan's Angel of Death (coauthored with Gregg Olsen)Angel of Death (coauthored with Gregg Olsen)
New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen and true crime journalist Kevin M. Sullivan travel down a bizarre trail of murder into notorious Pennsylvania. A seemingly normal husband father of two decides to kill young girls after storming an Amish schoolhouse, and sex many have been the prime motivator. A young high school student has a secret desire for murder, and decides a middle of the night visit to his best friend’s house will do nicely to satiate his hunger to kill. A seedy individual living in an even seedier part of Philadelphia decides to populate his basement with kidnapped women for sex and the bearing of children, and it is death to those who do not submit.

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Saying Goodbye to Real Evidence