Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy was stalking one of his teenage victims — even pretending to be her boyfriend — months before her naked, badly beaten body was discovered in Utah, her family said.
Laura Ann Amy, 17, was targeted by a mass killer who womanised her until she disappeared from a Halloween party more than 50 years ago, with cops confirming earlier this month that Bundy was “beyond a reasonable doubt” responsible for the killing.
“It appears that Ted Bundy stalked my aunt several times before he actually killed her. He approached her several times,” said Tora Stuckey, Amy’s niece. The sun.
Bundy, who admitted to killing 30 women between 1974 and 1978 in multiple states, is known to have preyed on his victims, who were often young, mobile females.
Stucki, 30, obtained files from a private investigator looking into her aunt’s death that revealed that Bundy had been preying on Aime for more than just a roadside encounter, as he had been socializing with her at school.
Bundy’s first known interaction with Aime was when he jumped to protect the minor during a schoolyard incident.
“These kids were throwing leaves on her shirt. He came up to her and put his arm around her and said, ‘Leave my girlfriend alone,'” Stuckey said.
The outlet added that Amy looked like Bundy, who was around 27 years old, before telling him, “I’m not your girlfriend.”
Stuckey had known about Bundy’s predatory targeting of her aunt for years, but she found solace when officials got involved Utah County confirmed He killed Amy.
“So, I always knew that, but then to see that he was actually stalking her, it’s crazy to me because most of his victims, it’s like he just picked them up.”
The 17-year-old was last seen leaving a Halloween night party in Lehi, heading to a convenience store to purchase some items.
Two college students discovered Amy’s body in American Fork Canyon on Thanksgiving, a month later.
Officials believe Amy’s body was dumped several feet off the side of the highway, and was found severely beaten and without clothes.
Amy’s father, Stuckey’s grandfather, was unable to recognize his daughter by her face due to the severity of the injuries.
“This time she was thrown from her horse into a barbed wire fence and had scars on her. That’s how her father ended up identifying her body,” Stuckey said.
Amy is believed to be at least the third victim of Bundy – who was studying at the University of Utah at the time.
She is also one of the only people Bundy is known to have pursued before killing her, Stuckey said.
Before his execution in 1989, Bundy verbally confessed to killing the teen, but prosecutors kept the murder case open for decades until investigators obtained evidence to back up the brutal killer’s words.
Stuckey was relieved to learn that officials were still investigating her aunt’s death more than half a century later.
“They made us feel like family. They called her the Daughter of Utah County, which was crazy to think that people still cared about her, and 52 years later, she’s still remembered,” Stuckey said.
Officials revealed that Amy’s case had many similarities to the other Bundy murders, but several inconsistencies and other issues delayed investigators from making a formal decision, even considering other suspects until they pinned it on Bundy.