Ted Bundy and the Murder of Kimberly Leach

On the morning of February 9, 1978, a 12-year-old seventh-grade student named Kimberly Diane Leach left her first-period class at Lake City Junior High School to retrieve a purse she left in her homeroom. She never made it. The weather was cold and rainy in Lake City, Florida. Kimberly Diane Leach wore blue jeans, a fur coat, and a royal blue football jersey with her name and the number 83 on the back. By the end of the day, teachers realized she had vanished. Her mother, Freda Leach, and her father, Tom Leach, picked up her older brother Michael at 2:30 p.m. and searched the school grounds with the assistant principal. At 5:30 p.m., Freda Leach called the police.

The record shows that just weeks earlier, Theodore Robert Bundy escaped from the Garfield County Jail in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where he was awaiting a murder trial. He made his way to Tallahassee, Florida, by January 8, 1978. On January 15, he attacked women at the Chi Omega Sorority House, killing 21-year-old Margaret Bowman and 20-year-old Lisa Levy, before severely injuring 23-year-old Cheryl Thomas a few blocks away. The attacks caused female college students to walk in groups and lock their doors.

Three weeks later, Theodore Robert Bundy stole a white van from the Florida State University campus. He drove to Jacksonville, where he unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap a 14-year-old girl named Leslie Parmenter on February 8, before driving 60 miles to Lake City. He spent that night at a Holiday Inn. The next morning, Kimberly Diane Leach disappeared.

Eyewitnesses at the School

The investigation into the disappearance began on February 10, 1978. That same day, the FBI added Theodore Robert Bundy to the Ten Most Wanted List. Lake City Police Chief Paul Philpot told the press on February 14 that investigators were "working around the clock following every lead." Sheriff Glenn Bailey announced a 500 reward for information. A search party swept the area around the school three times.

During this time, multiple eyewitnesses reported seeing a white van near Lake City Junior High School. Clinch Edenfield, a crossing guard, noticed a white van driving slowly on Duval Street at 7:30 a.m. He saw the van again 30 minutes later and at 8:15 a.m. He noted the driver was "staring long and hard" at the school. He described the driver as a medium-built man between 30 and 35 years old.

Lieutenant Andy Anderson, an EMT with the city fire department, saw a white van blocking westbound traffic on Duval Street at 8:30 a.m. A clean-shaven man with wavy brown hair in his mid-30s emerged and led a young girl to the passenger side. Anderson noted the girl had long brown hair parted in the middle and wore a football jersey with the number 63 or 83. He reported she looked distraught. Another witness, Jacqueline Moore, stated a white van "nearly ran her off the road" on U.S. 90. She saw the driver looking down with his jaw slack and head bobbing repeatedly.

The Arrest in Pensacola

In the early hours of February 15, 1978, Patrolman David Lee pulled over a stolen car in Pensacola, Florida. The driver had his headlights off. Lee ordered the driver out of the vehicle and attempted to restrain him. The driver punched Lee in the face and ran. Lee fired a single shot. The man collapsed, but when Lee approached, the man grabbed Lee's revolver. Lee pistol-whipped the man three times and restrained him. During the drive to the station, the man said, "I wish you had just killed me."

The man identified himself as Kenneth Misner. Investigators found credit cards and documents belonging to Kenneth Misner in his possession. When detectives started asking about Lake City and Tallahassee, the man revealed his true identity as Theodore Robert Bundy in exchange for a phone call to his girlfriend in Seattle, Elizabeth Kloepfer.

Investigators asked Theodore Robert Bundy to help find Kimberly Diane Leach. Detective Norman Chapman implored him to reveal the location. Theodore Robert Bundy replied, "I cannot do that to you because the site is too horrible to look at." On February 21, Police Chief Paul Philpot told the media that Theodore Robert Bundy used a credit card to check out of the Lake City motel on the morning of February 9. Sheriff Ken Katsaris confirmed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Crime Lab found blood inside the white van.

The Discovery at Suwannee River

On April 7, 1978, at 12:36 p.m., a Florida Highway Patrol trooper was conducting a routine search near the Suwannee River State Park, about 45 miles from Lake City. He observed a run-down tin hog shed. As he approached, he saw a shoe resembling the one worn by Kimberly Diane Leach, along with a human leg and a bone.

The remains were completely nude except for a turtleneck shirt. The rest of her clothing was laid next to the body. Dr. Peter Lipkovic finished the autopsy on the morning of April 8. Due to extensive decomposition, he described the cause of death vaguely as "homicidal violence around the neck area."

Dr. Peter Lipkovic noted wounds to the groin and neck. He believed the death involved "copious bleeding" because flesh on the neck and groin was missing, indicating an instrument had torn the flesh. Medical examiners concluded she was raped at least twice before her genitals were mutilated and her throat slashed. A Jacksonville sporting goods store owner named John Farhat told investigators he sold a Buck knife to Theodore Robert Bundy for 26 on February 8.

The Physical Evidence

Prosecutors in Columbia County, led by George R. Dekle, Sr., worked with Leon County prosecutors to build the case. The Leon County trial for the Tallahassee murders happened first in Miami, concluding on July 24, 1979, with guilty verdicts and two death sentences. Pretrial hearings for the Lake City case began in Orlando in September 1979.

The physical evidence connected the white van to the crime scene. Investigators matched the bloodstain in the van to the blood of Kimberly Diane Leach. They noted sand was tossed on the large bloodstain on the van's carpet, suggesting an attempt to conceal it with soil from a river flood plain. Semen found on her panties matched the blood type of Theodore Robert Bundy.

Fiber examination provided the strongest physical link. Investigators found numerous fibers all over articles of her clothing, including her socks, jeans, bra, and purse, that matched the van's carpet. Blue wool fibers found on her jeans matched a blue blazer Theodore Robert Bundy wore.

The Orlando Trial

The trial for the kidnapping and murder of Kimberly Diane Leach commenced in Orlando on January 7, 1980. Defense lawyer Julius Africano called the prosecution's case a "chain of circumstances." The state called Freda Leach to testify about the day her daughter vanished. They also called eyewitnesses Jacques Moore, Andy Anderson, and Clinch Edenfield.

During the second week, Dr. Peter Lipkovic testified about the autopsy. Julius Africano cross-examined him, trying to undermine the conclusion of "homicidal violence in the neck region." Patrolman David Lee and Detective Norman Chapman also testified. The defense unsuccessfully tried to suppress the testimony of Patrolman David Lee.

The prosecution presented the fiber investigator, who showed the jury the turtleneck taken from the body, revealing a large bloodstain on the neck and chest. She showed the van's carpet and its bloodstain. She testified it was "probable" that his clothes came in contact with her clothes, "very probable" that his clothes came in contact with the van's carpet, and "extremely probable" that her clothes came in contact with the van's carpet.

Conviction and Execution

The defense claimed Theodore Robert Bundy was in another white van that day. During closing arguments, the prosecution displayed a chart showing he bought gas in Lake City on February 7 and spent the night there on February 8. After seven hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty on both counts.

The sentencing phase occurred on February 9, 1980, the second anniversary of the murder. Theodore Robert Bundy was sentenced to death for a third time. He stood up and shouted, "Tell the jury they were wrong!" During this phase, he acted as his own attorney and married his friend Carole Ann Boone while she was on the witness stand.

He appealed his sentences multiple times. In the mid-1980s, he began confessing to crimes to delay his execution, a tactic known as his bones-for-time strategy. He confessed to 30 murders across seven states to investigators like Robert Keppel and William Hagmaier, but he refused to talk about killing Kimberly Diane Leach. After a final clemency request was rejected, he was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison at 7:16 a.m. on January 24, 1989. As of November 2026, the trial transcripts and evidence logs remain in the public record. The timeline of February 1978 is documented. You can look at the physical evidence and the eyewitness accounts to see exactly how this case was closed.

Sources

1. Murder of Kimberly Leach
2. Ted Bundy
3. Kimberly Leach, The Last Victim Of Ted Bundy - All That's Interesting
4. How Ted Bundy Was Finally Convicted and Sentenced
5. 850 F.2d 1402 - Law.Resource.Org
6. Theodore Robert BUNDY v. FLORIDA | Supreme Court | US Law | LII / Legal ...

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