On the night of January 31st 1974, Ted Bundy broke into the home of Lynda Ann Healy, a University of Washington Senior, and abducted her from her room. It is widely believed that Ted Bundy spotted Lynda and her roommates at the nearby Dante’s Tavern (which has since burned down), and likely followed them back to their home. He waited until all of the women had fallen asleep before entering the home, hitting Lynda over the head to subdue her and carrying her outside to his car.

Around 5am on February 1st, one of Lynda’s roommates awoke to Lynda’s alarm going off. Lynda usually woke up early because she would give the morning ski report on the college radio station, but she had never let her alarm go off before. Her roommate checked on her room, turned off the alarm but didn’t see Lynda. She figured Lynda had likely left early and forgotten to turn the alarm off before she left, so she didn’t think much of it.

Throughout the day Lynda’s family and roommates became more concerned as she missed work and other scheduled meetings. Her roommates investigated their house to find that the back door was unlocked and there was blood on Lynda’s bed. They called the police during the evening hours of February 1, but by then it was too late. Although we may never know the details of what exactly happened to Lynda Ann Healy, her skull was found by forestry students on Taylor Mountain a year later along with the skulls of 3 other victims of Ted Bundy.

Lynda Ann Healy was Ted Bundy’s first confirmed murder. Although he had violently attacked another University of Washington student, Karen Sparks, less than a month earlier, she had miraculously survived the brutal attack.