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Speaker 1: Ted Bundy is a name instantly recognizable and the one

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Speaker 1: that brings fear to the minds of many. Rhonda Stately

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Speaker 1: was a student at the University of Utah back in

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four, but she nearly lost her life at

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Speaker 1: the hands of one of America's most notorious serial killers.

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Speaker 1: This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Then this ten

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Speaker 1: Volkswagen came by and the driver rolled dannagmindow and said,

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Speaker 1: where you going. I said, I'm going up to you.

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Speaker 1: He said, me too. Hop In she said, she didn't

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Speaker 1: think twice about accepting a ride from the smooth talking,

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Speaker 1: handsome law student, the leand in clothes, and I thought

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Speaker 1: he was gonna kiss me. He said, do you know what,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to kill you. In the weeks that followed,

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Speaker 1: Bundy kidnapped and killed two Utah women. She kept the

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Speaker 1: secret from her husband and later her children until two

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Speaker 1: thousand twelve. If my story could help one or two

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Speaker 1: other people, then it's it's worth telling. For thirty even years,

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Speaker 1: she kept a terrible secret, a horrible secret. The secret

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Speaker 1: is that, as a twenty one year old University of

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Speaker 1: Utah co ed, she was raped. She blamed herself thought

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Speaker 1: it was all her fault. She should have known better,

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Speaker 1: she thought, than to take a ride from a stranger.

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Speaker 1: She was also afraid if her mother found out, her

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Speaker 1: mom would pull her out of school. She didn't want that.

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Speaker 1: At that time, she was a young Mormon, also a virgin.

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Speaker 1: Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. Only

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Speaker 1: later did she realize her attack her was ted Bundy.

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Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace, this is crime Stories. Thank you for

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Speaker 1: being with us, and a special thank you to that

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Speaker 1: then young girl now coming out breaking her silence as

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Speaker 1: she did in her book, Rhonda Staple is a thus Ronna,

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Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. Thank you Nancy for

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Speaker 1: inviting me. I want to go back, as I'm sure

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Speaker 1: you've tortured yourself with this story for all these years.

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Speaker 1: What happened that day, Well, that day was in October

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Speaker 1: of nine and I was a student at the University

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Speaker 1: of Utah. I was at a downtown city park waiting

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Speaker 1: for a bus to take me back up to campus.

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Speaker 1: Instead of waiting for the bus, which was kind of late,

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Speaker 1: U Tan Volkswagen drove by and the Q driver offered

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Speaker 1: to drive me up to the campus and I got

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Speaker 1: in Instead of driving me to campus, he drove me

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Speaker 1: up one of several canyons that's around Salt Lake Valley

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Speaker 1: and I was assaulted and nearly murdered, managed to escape.

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Speaker 1: You are referring to the Volkswagen that we have all

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Speaker 1: heard so much about, because that Volkswagen was used in

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Speaker 1: other crimes. When you saw him? What was your Emperor

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Speaker 1: Russian of ted Bundy? What about him? I know it

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Speaker 1: can be very charming. What about him? Maybe you think, okay,

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Speaker 1: I'll hop in. Well, first of all, I've been to

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Speaker 1: the dentist and my mouth was sore, and so I

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Speaker 1: was trying to hurry and get home where I could

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Speaker 1: get some aspirins or something. And so so I'm waiting

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Speaker 1: for for the bus, and the bus isn't coming. My

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Speaker 1: mouth is getting more sore and more sore, and I'm

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Speaker 1: thinking maybe I need to go find a different bus route.

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Speaker 1: And then he drives by. So the timing was just

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Speaker 1: right that I was wishing I had a ride up

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Speaker 1: to campus. And here he's comes, this nice looking young

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Speaker 1: man and says, where you going? And I told him

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to get to the university. He said, I

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Speaker 1: am going that same place you know hop in I'll

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Speaker 1: take you, and and that there was um. You know

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Speaker 1: this is people are not afraid of helping people, and

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Speaker 1: people are not afraid of allowing people to help them.

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Speaker 1: So I got in expecting him to take me to

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Speaker 1: the You guys with me is Rhonda Stately who is

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Speaker 1: breaking US islands and verbalizing her assault at the hands

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Speaker 1: of Ted Bundy. She was nearly another one of his

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Speaker 1: murder victims. Now tell me the name of your book, Rhonda.

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Speaker 1: The book is called I Survived Ted Bundy, The Attack, Escape,

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Speaker 1: and post traumatic stress disorder that saved my life, That

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Speaker 1: changed my life. Sorry, I don't even know the name

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Speaker 1: of my book. Now tell me something, Rhonda Staply. You

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Speaker 1: stated that he was attractive. What about him was attractive? Oh?

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Speaker 1: I had nice his clean cut, didn't have long shaggy hair,

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Speaker 1: was um longer than LDS missionaries would be wearing. But

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Speaker 1: he was clean cut, and his car was clean, and

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Speaker 1: he his hair was combed. He had on a nice

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Speaker 1: pull over sweatish sweatshirt. Many told me that he was

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Speaker 1: a law student, and he looked exactly like I would

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Speaker 1: picture a law student on his way to her from

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Speaker 1: a class. Then what happened. And then he turned a

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Speaker 1: direction that I didn't didn't think was the normal route

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Speaker 1: to campus, and a question about that, and he was

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Speaker 1: very very polite, and he's he just said, well, I

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Speaker 1: have a little short errand to run up by the zoo.

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Speaker 1: Would you mind? You know, I hope you don't mind

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Speaker 1: if I had this little errand to run And I

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Speaker 1: didn't mind. I was I was twenty one year old,

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Speaker 1: single college girl with a single college um law student.

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Speaker 1: I thought I was having a good day, and but

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Speaker 1: instead of taking me to campus, he drove me up

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Speaker 1: a canyon and that's where I was assaulted and nearly murdered.

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Speaker 1: Ted Bundy takes Rhonda to an isolated canyon picnic spot. Now,

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Speaker 1: according to you, Rhonda, this good looking guy who offers

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Speaker 1: you a ride and his v W gives his name

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Speaker 1: as Ted, he gives his real name and announces he

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Speaker 1: means to kill you. Yeah. The first thing we did

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Speaker 1: when we got to the canyon is he pulled off

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Speaker 1: into isolated picnic area and I thought I was going

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Speaker 1: to need to send off a romantic advance. Um. I

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Speaker 1: thought he was going to try to to make out

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Speaker 1: and I wasn't really a makeout kind of a girl. Instead,

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Speaker 1: he leaned in really close, and I thought he was

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Speaker 1: probably going to kiss me, but instead he said, very

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Speaker 1: politely and quietly, do you know what I'm going to

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Speaker 1: kill you? And he started strangling me as you're sitting

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Speaker 1: in the passenger seat of the v W yes, And

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Speaker 1: then I went unconscious and he moved me out of

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Speaker 1: the Volkswagen and the attack continued outside of the Volkswagen.

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Speaker 1: How did you get home? How did you survive? Ronda? Well?

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Speaker 1: Ted Bundy liked to like watch you go in and

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Speaker 1: out of consciousness, and so he would choke me until

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Speaker 1: I was unconscious and then kind of revive me and

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Speaker 1: let me breathe a little bit, and and then he

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Speaker 1: would repeat that over and over, just so that he

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Speaker 1: could kind of smile and why to me nearly die? Um.

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Speaker 1: The last time that I came became conscious after being unconscious,

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Speaker 1: he had moved several feet away and was over by

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Speaker 1: the Volkswagen doing something in the back seat of the car,

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Speaker 1: and I just jumped and ran. I happened to be

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Speaker 1: right next to right along the river bank. There's a

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Speaker 1: swift moving mountain river right there. And when I jumped,

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Speaker 1: because my pants had been in a water around my ankles.

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Speaker 1: I tripped and fell into that river that swept me

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Speaker 1: away from him and is essentially what saved my life. Ronda,

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Speaker 1: I'm just trying to imagine from there, I just decided

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Speaker 1: to walk home and pretend it never happened. Oh my stars,

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Speaker 1: I'm just imagining what you went through and falling into

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Speaker 1: the water and that river literally saving your life because

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Speaker 1: you know he would not have let you live. So

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Speaker 1: when you got home, how far did you have to

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Speaker 1: walk to get home? Well, the camp ground is about

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Speaker 1: the picnic area was probably four miles up the canyon,

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Speaker 1: and then from the bottom of the canyon back to

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Speaker 1: the university is probably another twelve miles. Fifteen to sixteen miles.

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Speaker 1: I walked home, took me all night, and during that

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Speaker 1: walk I decided that, UM, nobody would ever know what

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Speaker 1: happened to me. I would just suck it up and

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Speaker 1: pretend it didn't happen and go on with my life.

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Speaker 1: When you got home, what happened. I'm high showered and

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Speaker 1: changed my clothes, and UM tried to pretend it never happened.

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Speaker 1: I wore long sleeve shirts and high neck collars and

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Speaker 1: wore a baseball hat kind of shade my eyes. And

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Speaker 1: I just tried to get back into the groove of life. Um,

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Speaker 1: but it's kind of changed my life, so I became

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Speaker 1: less involved with my community and my school work. And

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Speaker 1: who are you living with? At the time, I was

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Speaker 1: living with some college roommates. Um. There's a a fourteen

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Speaker 1: story apartment building on campus, and I was living on

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Speaker 1: the fourth floor the of the fourteen story apartment building.

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Speaker 1: I had some roommates, but they were out of town happily,

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Speaker 1: and that gave me um some solitary time to clean

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Speaker 1: up and and and rest. I was exhausted after that

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Speaker 1: experience and walking all night and ah. I made some choices.

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Speaker 1: I thought about who should I tell, or what should

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Speaker 1: I tell? And how can I tell? And I decided

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Speaker 1: that it was just if I went to the police,

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Speaker 1: the police would ask me for details that were just

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Speaker 1: too personal that I was not able to give them.

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Speaker 1: At that time. I thought if I went to my mother,

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Speaker 1: she would make me drop out of school and go home.

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Speaker 1: I thought that if I told my roommates, they would

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Speaker 1: treat me differently and things would just be awkward and weird.

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Speaker 1: I imagine strangers pointing at me and saying that's her,

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Speaker 1: that's that girl that was raped. I just I couldn't

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Speaker 1: go there, so I decided the best thing for me

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Speaker 1: to do was just to suck it up and pretend

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Speaker 1: it didn't happen, which I since learned is what they

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Speaker 1: didn't mind of women do. Did you ever feel like

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Speaker 1: it was your fault because you got in the car

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Speaker 1: with him. I didn't feel exactly that it was my fault,

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Speaker 1: but I thought that people would judge me, and I

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Speaker 1: think it was my fault. I should have known better

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Speaker 1: than to get in that car. Um. I shouldn't have

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Speaker 1: gotten into such a dangerous situation, and that was really stupid. Um.

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Speaker 1: I thought that people would think I was stupid. I

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Speaker 1: know it's hard to believe, but you are not all wrong.

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Speaker 1: It's about blaming the victim. It's all about blaming the

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Speaker 1: victim one by one. You hear reports of other Utah

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Speaker 1: women who have gone missing. When you heard those reports,

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Speaker 1: what did you think, Well, at first, I was denying

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Speaker 1: that they could be related. I just thought, wow, that

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Speaker 1: was really strange that bad things are happening in our

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Speaker 1: safe little city. But I didn't really connect them that

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Speaker 1: they were farther away from the university, and some of

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Speaker 1: the girls were younger, and UM, I didn't really connect

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Speaker 1: it until there were had been UM three other murders

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Speaker 1: and and one attempted kidnapping, And when Carol Durranch was

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Speaker 1: was kidnapped, she gave police a description of him in

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Speaker 1: his car, and then I knew that my bad guy

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Speaker 1: was everybody's bad guy. And that's when the guilt really

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Speaker 1: hit me. I thought that had I come forward sooner,

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Speaker 1: maybe he would have been arrested or people would have

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Speaker 1: been warned to stay away from nice looking guys in bolkswagons.

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Speaker 1: You know, you may be right about that. If you

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Speaker 1: had come forth, maybe it would have said somebody else.

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Speaker 1: But the guilt is not on you. It's on him.

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Speaker 1: He did this thing. You're the victim. You were not

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Speaker 1: mentally or emotionally able to come forward at that time period. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it's true. Maybe if you had come forward, maybe he

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Speaker 1: would been stopped earlier, but maybe he wouldn't have. But

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Speaker 1: at that time you were not capable of doing that.

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Speaker 1: You've got to believe that you could not do it

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Speaker 1: for whatever reason. And I pray to God in heaven

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Speaker 1: you're not still carrying that around. This is not your fault.

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Speaker 1: This is his fault. No, I've I've had some therapy

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Speaker 1: and I'm feeling better about that now. It's a miracle

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Speaker 1: you even lived, Ronda. I really believe you were saved

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Speaker 1: by that running water. You didn't need to fall into it,

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Speaker 1: but you did. You were saved by a force much

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Speaker 1: greater than yourself. I will go to my grave believing

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Speaker 1: that you lived that day. So when you finally realized

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Speaker 1: this was the guy, did you see his face on TV?

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Speaker 1: I mean, is that what happened? When he was arrested

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Speaker 1: for Carol's kidnapping, That's when I saw his face. Actually,

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Speaker 1: But I had seen her drawings, the police drawings of

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Speaker 1: um according to his description, and heard her telling her

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Speaker 1: description of him, and and I kind of knew knew

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Speaker 1: it before he was arrested. But when he was arrested

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Speaker 1: in August of the following year, that's when I, uh,

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Speaker 1: I knew for sure. And I felt really good that

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Speaker 1: they had caught him and the world was now safe,

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Speaker 1: except that it really wasn't. Now. Amazingly, after all of this,

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Speaker 1: you became kind of consumed with Ted Bundy. And when

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Speaker 1: you've heard that he had escaped from custody. What happened, Well,

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Speaker 1: I started running. I think I was running trying to

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Speaker 1: get away from from my thoughts and my fear. But

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Speaker 1: it totally tipped my my wagon back over. And I

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Speaker 1: was in a panic and depressed and feeling all that

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Speaker 1: guilt and things that he had been put away for

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Speaker 1: several months, and I was getting my life back. All

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Speaker 1: of a sudden, He's escaped from jail, which is impossible,

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Speaker 1: nobody can do that in this day and age, and

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Speaker 1: and yet he had. And I imagine that he could.

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Speaker 1: If he's smart enough to escape from jail, he's smart

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Speaker 1: enough to find me, and he can kill me, and

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Speaker 1: he can kill other people. And it's it's I took

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Speaker 1: an overdose of medication, is what I did. And then

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Speaker 1: I felt guilty about that. Um, I was active LDS girl,

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Speaker 1: and and you're not supposed to try to take your life.

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Speaker 1: You're supposed to handle whatever challenges come along. And and

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Speaker 1: I had taken this handful of sleeping pills. So I

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Speaker 1: phoned a a crisis hotline, and the I talked to

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Speaker 1: a counselor there who had the line changed, and paramedics

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Speaker 1: and people sent to to my rescue, and I didn't

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Speaker 1: want rescuing, So I became angry at that psychologist turned

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Speaker 1: all my anger to him. I thought that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm a I'm a pharmacist by now, and and

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Speaker 1: I'm doing things with medication that I shouldn't be doing

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Speaker 1: with them, and it's probably gonna ruin my career, and um,

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Speaker 1: I turned all that anger towards that psychologist. You know, Alan,

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Speaker 1: do you remember reading about or hearing about when Bundy escaped?

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Speaker 1: Do you remember? Yes, Actually he escaped two times. The

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Speaker 1: second time, unfortunately, he made us. He made his way

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Speaker 1: all the way down to Florida and killed again. Now,

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Speaker 1: one time he starved himself down and got thinner and

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Speaker 1: thinner and thinner and escaped, I guess it was through

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Speaker 1: a heating heating shaft. And the other time, as I recall,

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Speaker 1: he jumped through a window at the courthouse. Was that

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Speaker 1: how it went? At the library, he was acting as

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Speaker 1: his own lawyer, and so they would allow him to

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Speaker 1: visit the library and he ran away. That's exactly correct.

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Speaker 1: So we're talking about Ted Bundy, one of the most

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Speaker 1: prolific serial killers in history. He has confessed to killing

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Speaker 1: over thirty women across seven states, and I imagine that

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Speaker 1: there are others that he did not include in that figure.

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Speaker 1: Finally apprehended after murders in Florida. When you look back

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Speaker 1: on Ted Bundy, Rhonda, what do you recall about him? Well?

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Speaker 1: I recall mostly his eyes. People talk about Bundy's eyes

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Speaker 1: being what specifically pretty and also being black, and they

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Speaker 1: were both of those. They were very nice, right shining eyes,

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Speaker 1: and then they could just turn a really creepy black.

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Speaker 1: During his attack on you, was he talking did he

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Speaker 1: say anything? Yeah? This went on for quite a while,

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Speaker 1: and he did talk to me. Well. One time he

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Speaker 1: had strangled me unconscious with his hands, and sometimes he

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Speaker 1: would put his hand over my nose and mouth and

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Speaker 1: stop me from breathing, and and sometimes he would just

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Speaker 1: sit on me really hard until, you know, crushing me

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Speaker 1: so that there was no room for my lungs to

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Speaker 1: expand and get air. And one time, right after he

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Speaker 1: had let me breathe again he said, how was that

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Speaker 1: for you? Did you like that? Which way do you

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Speaker 1: like it better? Do you like it better like this?

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Speaker 1: And he put his hand over my mouth and nose

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Speaker 1: again and stopped me from breathing. And then he says,

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Speaker 1: or or do you prefer it like this? And he

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Speaker 1: sat on me really hard again, and or do you

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Speaker 1: like it better like this? And he put his hands

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Speaker 1: around my throat and choked me again. He's like he

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Speaker 1: just enjoyed watching me die. You know, just hearing you talk,

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Speaker 1: just me chills just run up and down me to

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Speaker 1: thank you were that close to being murdered, and by

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Speaker 1: some miracle you were in fact saved. Do you ever

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Speaker 1: look back on that and realize it was a miracle. Yes,

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Speaker 1: I do realize that was a miracle and I was

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Speaker 1: saved for some reason. I haven't figured out why, but

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Speaker 1: maybe it's this book. Because I've heard that my book

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Speaker 1: is helping other people who have been victims of violent crimes.

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Speaker 1: What do you mean, Well, I'm getting messages from an

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Speaker 1: emails and letters and things from other people who have

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Speaker 1: been victims and also kept its secret because that's what

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Speaker 1: most of the victims tend to do, is not tell anybody.

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Speaker 1: And there um I'm able to kind of encourage them

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Speaker 1: to tell their story, which might help prevent PTSD from happening.

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Speaker 1: It's one of the main risk factors for developing PTSD

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Speaker 1: is holding those emotions and feelings inside and never sharing

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Speaker 1: them with people. Tell me how this whole thing you're

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Speaker 1: attacked by Ted Bundy has changed your life. Well, it

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Speaker 1: changed the kind of mother I was. I have two daughters,

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Speaker 1: and when they were um teenagerich age and starting to

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Speaker 1: want to ride busses and things, I wasn't really willing

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Speaker 1: to let them do that. I would drive them to school,

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Speaker 1: and I would drive them to wherever they needed to

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Speaker 1: go rather than letting them take city buses or even

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Speaker 1: school buses, or I would be the mom it went

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Speaker 1: to all of the all of the field trips with them.

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Speaker 1: When they would want to have sleepovers, I encourage them

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Speaker 1: to have them at our house instead of at someone

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Speaker 1: else's house, so I could kind of keep track of them,

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Speaker 1: know where they were. Probably a bit more cautious than

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Speaker 1: most parents were. Guys with me as Rhonda staplely survivor,

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Speaker 1: one of the strongest women I know and the author

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Speaker 1: of a book explaining why she did not come forward

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Speaker 1: after being kidnapped and raped by Ted Bundy and her

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Speaker 1: incredible story of survival. You know you said that you

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Speaker 1: were guilty, you felt guilty, you didn't come forward, but

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Speaker 1: by telling your story now so so many other victims

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Speaker 1: here it you have no idea the strength that you

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Speaker 1: were giving, not just them, but me. It just encourages

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Speaker 1: me to keep going and to go on and do

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Speaker 1: what the Lord us here to do, whatever that may be.

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Speaker 1: Because you know, Rohnda, you could have stopped, you could

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Speaker 1: have given up, You could have given in to that

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Speaker 1: desire to kill yourself, that urge when it all just

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Speaker 1: became too much for you. But you did not. You survived,

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Speaker 1: and now you were telling a story that will inspire

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Speaker 1: other people to survive. And I'm just proud to know you.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad to speak to you and so grateful that

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Speaker 1: you are speaking on our podcast today. And I want

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Speaker 1: to thank you Ronda so much. Well, thank you Nancy's.

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Speaker 1: It was a pleasure talking with you. And again, give

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Speaker 1: me the title of your book. It's an awesome title,

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Speaker 1: by the way it says it all. It's I survived

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Speaker 1: Ted Bundy, the Attack, escape and PTSD. That's that changed

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Speaker 1: my life. Now, where could I get your book for

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Speaker 1: people that want to read your full story? Can I

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Speaker 1: get it on Amazon? Yes, it's just on Amazon. It's

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Speaker 1: also at Barnes and Noble, do other places, but those

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Speaker 1: are the main places where it can be easily gotten.

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Speaker 1: As I always say, you know, Rhonda, I always say this,

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Speaker 1: God has a plan even when I don't, which is

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Speaker 1: most of the time. Somehow, out of the horror that

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Speaker 1: you lived through, you are changing people's life. You are

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Speaker 1: affecting people. I mean you're affecting me right now, and

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Speaker 1: you're inspiring me. And I'm super grateful. Thank you Ronda

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Speaker 1: Stately with us today, survivor and author. And I also

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Speaker 1: want to thank Simply Safe, who sponsors our podcast. And

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Speaker 1: I'm proud that they are our sponsor because today, this day,

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Speaker 1: they have let Ronda Stately tell her story again to

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Speaker 1: inspire other people, to warn other people, and to empower

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Speaker 1: other people. So Simply Safe not only acting homes across

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Speaker 1: our country, but now allowing this story to be told.

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Speaker 1: So thank you, Simply Safe. Allan always always thank you

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Speaker 1: for being with me. To everyone crime stories. Nancy Gray's

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Speaker 1: signing off, Goodbye friend,