Who is Carole Ann Boone? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Ted Bundy (m. 1980–1986)

children: James Boone

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Early Life

Little to no information is available on where and when Boone was born and raised. By the summer of 1974, she was working at the Washington State Department of Emergency Services, in Olympia, Washington. Known to be a “lusty-tempered free spirit”, Boone was smart, witty, and very competent at her job, even if her personal life was in disarray.

Her former co-workers recalled her as a sister/mother figure who was very capable at her job. However, at the same time, she could easily descend into much silliness along with others in the office, such as starting a rubber-band fight or marshalling a few of her colleagues to a three-hour afternoon drinking session in the Voodoo Room at the nearby Bailey Motor Inn.

When Boone met Bundy, one of her uncles had recently passed away. She had been newly divorced and was desperately trying to raise her teenage son, Jamey (James, according to some sources). Furthermore, she was in a messy relationship with “a large, unpleasant man”.

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Meeting Ted Bundy

Theodore Robert Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell in November 1946 in Burlington, Vermont, the USA. There is no conclusive information about when he started killing as he never revealed the specifics about his earliest crimes, telling different things to different people. However, he had already become a seasoned murderer and criminal when he came to Olympia and took a summer job at the Washington State Department of Emergency Services.

During this period, Bundy was in a relationship with a divorcée named Elizabeth Kloepfer (known in Bundy literature as Meg Anders, Beth Archer, or Liz Kendall), whom he met in the fall of 1969 in Utah.

Bundy’s employment at the DES caused a significant stir as both men and women working there found him intriguing. As for Boone, she was immediately charmed. She found him to be an introvert and thought that he carried himself with a certain dignity.

She later stated that Bundy had expressed his desire to date her right at the beginning. However, initially, there was simply a friendship between them. Bundy continued to date Kloepfer and several other women, many of whom were eventually murdered.

Bundy was caught the first time on August 16, 1975, in Granger, Utah and was facing charges of aggravated kidnapping and attempted criminal assault. As the time went by, he was named as a possible suspect in numerous unsolved murder cases.

Investigators in Washington, Utah, and Colorado worked together and came to the conclusion that Bundy was indeed the murderer they were all searching for. In 1977, he twice escaped from prison before he was ultimately apprehended in Florida. By then, he had committed three more murders.

It was during his trial in Florida in 1979 that Boone and Bundy grew very close. Many believe that she had helped him in his second escape from prison. They were steadily exchanging letters. Boone even relocated to Florida with her son to be close to Bundy.

Marriage to Ted Bundy

Boone served as his character witness multiple times during his trial. Bundy was part of his own defence team, having studied law in the past. In 1980, she told him that she wanted to get married. He subsequently petitioned the prison, stating his desire to marry Boone. The jail authorities denied the request.

Undaunted, Bundy decided to use an obscure law in the legal books of Florida. On 9 February 1980, during the trial for murdering Kimberly Leach, Boone had been called to the witness stand. Bundy asked her if she would marry him. She accepted and as it occurred in front of the presiding judge, they were legally married. A day later, he was given the death sentence (for the third time) by electrocution.

Boone gave birth to Rose or Rosa Bundy in October 1982. There are speculations about whether Rose is indeed Bundy’s daughter, and if she is, how she was conceived. Although conjugal visits were prohibited at Raiford Prison where Bundy was kept, the inmates were known to bribe the guards for private time with their female visitors.

Boone continued to visit her husband, often taking Rose with her. In 1986, Bundy was designated to death watch which forbade any physical contact between Bundy and his family. According to various sources, this upset Rose as she was denied the hugs she used to get from her father and often threw major tantrums. Eventually, Boone made the decision to stop visiting her husband altogether.

Bundy was executed on January 24, 1989, in Raiford electric chair. By then, Boone had completely vanished. It is likely that she changed both her and Rose’s names and relocated somewhere else.

In Popular Culture

As a quintessential part of Bundy’s story, Boone has been regularly mentioned in the literature associated with the serial killer. She has been portrayed several times on films and television. British actress Kaya Scodelario is set to star as Boone in the upcoming thriller film ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’, in which Zac Efron is portraying the role of Bundy.

Carole Ann Boone Biography