Bundy's Mother Denies Son Killed Girl

TACOMA - She has come to accept that her son is one of the most infamous serial killers in American history.

But deep in her heart, Louise Bundy does not believe that Ted killed 8-year-old Ann Marie Burr of Tacoma.

"I resent the fact that everybody in Tacoma thinks just because he lived in Tacoma he did that one too, way back when he was 14," said Louise Bundy, 75. "I'm sure he didn't."

Bundy confessed to 35 killings and is widely believed to have committed many more. The Burrs and some investigators believe Bundy stole Ann Marie Burr from her bed on Aug. 31, 1961, and killed her. Her body was never found.

More than 200 people attended a memorial for the 8-year-old on Saturday at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Tacoma, where an evergreen tree was planted in her memory.

Her parents delayed holding a funeral service for years, always hoping they'd find their daughter. But clues never surfaced, and the mystery has gone unsolved.

The memorial stirred up the long-held suspicion that Ann Marie was one of the first victims of Ted Bundy, then living with his parents in Tacoma.

Bundy, who was executed in Florida in 1989, denied involvement in her death. In 1986, he wrote to the Burrs, saying, "I do not know what happened to your daughter Ann Marie. I had nothing to do with her disappearance.

"You said she disappeared Aug. 31, 1961. At the time I was a normal 14-year-old boy. I did not wander the streets late at night. I did not steal cars. I had absolutely no desire to harm anyone. I was just an average kid. For your sake, you really must understand this."

Louise Bundy clings fiercely to the belief that when he lived under her roof, her son was not the killer he would become.

"We were such a close family," she said. "He was living at home. All these other things happened when he was away."

Louise Bundy's brother lived near the Burrs, and Ted Bundy would often visit his uncle. But Louise Bundy said her brother and his family were out of town that summer, so her son would have had no reason to go there.

Investigators are split on who killed Ann Marie Burr. Tony Zatkovich, one of the original police detectives on the case, believes Bundy did not kill her - and that the real killer has gone free for 38 years.

But Bob Keppel, a former King County sheriff's detective who interviewed Bundy, doesn't believe Bundy's denials. He said Bundy may not have wanted to confess to killing a child, or to a crime that took place so close to his family's home.

Bundy did confess to killing 12-year-old Kimberly Leach in Florida, his mother points out.

She thinks her son was too small to have abducted an 8-year-old girl.

She can't believe, finally, that Bundy would hurt 8-year-old Ann Marie, who was just a year younger than Bundy's sister.

"He didn't have anything against little girls," Louise Bundy said. ". . . He just couldn't have done it."