Washington Woman Watched Her Cousin, Ted Bundy, Dance With Her Roommate. The Look on His Face Made Her Realize Something Was Wrong With Him
He deceived everyone with his charm.
Edna Cowell Martin, a cousin of Ted Bundy, spoke on the What It Was Like podcast (@whatitwaslikepodcast) hosted by Julian Morgans. She shared her experience growing up with the prolific serial killer and said that he came from a “really nice family.”
Martin explained that Bundy’s mother had him out of wedlock and was advised by Martin’s father to leave Philadelphia to start anew in the Pacific Northwest, where her family lived. Bundy was five years older than Martin and hung out with her brother, John, calling him his best friend.
“The thing about Ted, which again, goes against what you would expect about him, was that he was always a sweetheart to the little kids,” Martin said. Despite this contradictory profile, Martin also witnessed Bundy’s unreasonable bout of rage early in life. While Bundy and John were out in the bay, a girl John liked approached them with her boat, cut back, and drenched the boys.
“Now, this is the summertime, and it’s warm, and my brother thinks that’s the ultimate compliment,” Martin said. It was a playful gesture, but Martin noted that Bundy was “absolutely freaked out” by the act. She noted that her cousin got “really angry,” and her brother remembered the incident because of his “over-the-top” reaction.
Martin would eventually start attending school at the University of Washington as a junior college student. She got an apartment a few blocks from Bundy’s boarding house. At the time, Martin claimed she got closer to Bundy because of the proximity. She commented, “Here’s the irony of that whole situation—was that I was feeling more confident knowing he was close by.” Moreover, her parents looked up to Bundy and trusted him.
Ted Bundy seemed like the golden child
“We really looked up to him because he had graduated from University of Washington, and he was a rising star in politics,” Martin claimed. She added that Bundy worked for the Seattle Crime Commission and was putting together pamphlets to address violence against women and rape prevention.
Bundy was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder. He also confessed to raping his victims. But Martin and her family only knew of Bundy’s polished image then, and they looked up to him. Some things are not what they seem—just like the “job interview” this woman from London attended that turned out to be an active crime scene. The same goes for people, and Bundy also managed to charm those who were closest to him.
A glimpse of the beast
But one visit from Bundy stood out to Martin. He came with a bag of groceries and a bottle of wine, and Martin and her roommate Margie welcomed him into their apartment. They cooked dinner and had a party, with Steely Dan and Led Zeppelin playing in the background. When a slower song started playing, Martin looked back and saw her cousin and Margie dancing, with her head leaning back on his shoulder. Martin thought it was nice until she saw the look in Bundy’s eyes.
“He was looking down at the top of her head, and he had this really mean look on his face, and his jaw was clenched, and his blue eyes were totally black,” Martin recalled. The look on his face was so horrific that Martin could no longer recognize her cousin. She continued, “And I thought something was wrong with him.” Martin yelled to get his attention, and he didn’t budge until she killed the music.
“Hey Ted, what’s going on? Are you okay?” she asked, and Bundy shook his head. Martin said her cousin’s million-dollar smile reappeared, and he said he was fine. Martin said, “It was his eyes that really freaked me out because they were so black.” Bundy would leave shortly after the awkward encounter, and Martin shrugged it off. Then their friend, Lynda Healy, and other girls started disappearing on campus. Martin has since published her book, Dark Tide: Growing Up with Ted Bundy.
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