On February 9, 1978, Kimberly Leach was in class at her Lake City, Florida school when her homeroom teacher called and asked her to come get a purse she'd left behind — and as she walked to another building on campus to retrieve it, she was abducted by Ted Bundy.
Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions and/or images of violent, disturbing, or otherwise potentially distressing events.
How It Really Happened/CNNKimberly Leach was just 12 years old when Ted Bundy assaulted and murdered her in 1978.
In April 1978, about two months after she went missing, the body of Kimberly Leach was found in a shed near Florida’s Suwannee River State Park. The 12-year-old girl was the final victim of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, a man who once described himself as “the most cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch you’ll ever meet.”
Less than a month before Bundy abducted Leach in Lake City, Florida, he had gone on a rampage at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University, attacking multiple young women and killing two, Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy. In what could only be described as a psychopathic frenzy, Bundy then went on to assault another FSU student named Cheryl Thomas, leaving her with permanent disabilities, before stealing a van and driving off into the night.
Bundy had been responsible for dozens of murders throughout the 1970s and escaped prison twice before finally being caught (for the last time) in February 1978. His trial and subsequent execution sparked a media frenzy as people across the country struggled to reconcile the handsome man before them and the horrific crimes he had committed.
Ted Bundy is still a focal point of true crime enthusiasts and mental health professionals to this day. He has been the subject of dozens of books and films, but for those who knew his final victim, his name doesn’t invoke the same morbid curiosity. Instead, it is a cruel reminder of the innocent lives he took — and a reason to keep Kimberly Leach’s memory alive.
The Horrific Crimes Of Ted Bundy
In the early 1970s, Ted Bundy kept a low profile. He was a law student, incredibly intelligent, and deceptively charming. To most people, he seemed normal. But, in truth, he was a psychopathic killer and serial rapist who later admitted to the murders of at least 30 young women across seven states — though there may have been even more.
Public DomainSerial killer Ted Bundy admitted to 30 murders, but some experts believe the actual number may be closer to 100.
He was arrested and faced trial for some of these crimes between 1975 and 1977, but he managed to escape twice, and by January 1978, he’d made his way to Florida. Before he kidnapped Kimberly Leach, however, he broke into the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University on Jan. 15 and killed 21-year-old Margaret Bowman and 20-year-old Lisa Levy. He also attacked two other sorority members and a fifth FSU student before fleeing from Tallahassee in a van he stole from the school’s campus.
He wasn’t seen again until Feb. 8, when he approached a 14-year-old girl named Leslie Parmenter in Jacksonville. Before Bundy could act, however, the teen’s older brother arrived and began questioning him, so he fled once again, this time driving 60 miles to Lake City.
The following day, Ted Bundy abducted Kimberly Leach from Lake City Junior High School.
The Abduction And Murder Of 12-Year-Old Kimberly Leach
Kimberly Leach had arrived at school as usual on Feb. 9, 1978. The 12-year-old girl had recently been nominated for her school’s Valentine Queen Court and was looking forward to going shopping with her mom that afternoon to buy a dress for the upcoming Valentine’s Day dance.
While she was in her first class, her homeroom teacher summoned her because she’d left her purse behind that morning. She walked back to the classroom, which was in a separate building, to retrieve it — but she never returned. When she failed to meet up with her friends at their typical spot that day, they knew something was wrong. Kimberly wasn’t the type of girl to skip class.
According to court documents, a man named Clarence Anderson was driving by the school on the morning of Feb. 9 when he saw a white van stopped in the middle of the road. As he was waiting for it to move, he looked to the side and saw a man leading Kimberly Leach to the vehicle. “He got the impression that the little girl had gotten into trouble at school and that her father had come to pick her up,” the brief read.
This testimony was controversial, as Anderson had to undergo hypnosis to recall the details of the day. Still, it was the last time anyone saw Kimberly. Tom and Freda Leach reported their daughter missing when they couldn’t find her after school, and a massive search ensued.
A week later, on Feb. 15, Ted Bundy was arrested in Pensacola after a traffic stop. It was discovered that he was driving a stolen car and was in possession of multiple IDs and credit cards that didn’t belong to him.
Wikimedia CommonsTed Bundy’s infamous 1968 Volkswagen Beetle.
Meanwhile, the hunt for Kimberly Leach continued. On April 7, a search party was exploring an area near the Suwannee River, some 45 miles from Lake City, when a police officer came upon a tin hog shed. He looked inside and spotted human remains. They belonged to Kimberly.
Court documents stated that she “died of homicidal violence to the neck region of the body,” and she had been sexually assaulted. Bundy was officially charged with her murder in July 1978 after fibers and cigarette butts connected him to the scene. He faced trial in January 1980 and was found guilty.
Because Kimberly Leach’s murder was “heinous, atrocious and cruel in that it was extremely wicked, shockingly evil, vile and with utter indifference to human life,” Bundy was sentenced to death, and he was executed via electric chair on Jan. 24, 1989.
YouTubeTed Bundy immediately after learning that he’d been sentenced to death for the murder of Kimberly Leach.
In the decades since, the media focus on Ted Bundy hasn’t died down much. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for his last victim.
Bob Dekle, the lead prosecutor in the Kimberly Leach trial, told ABC News in 2019, “In all the TV shows, all the movies, very little has been said about the murder of Kim Leach, the murder of a 12-year-old. You can’t have a glamorous serial killer if you look at that last killing… He’s nothing more than a monster.”
How Loved Ones Have Tried To Keep Kimberly Leach’s Memory Alive
Despite the fact that Kimberly’s story has faded into the larger conversation surrounding Ted Bundy’s crimes, her friends have worked for years to honor her memory.
“I don’t want people to focus on Ted Bundy, the monster that… came to visit our lives for such a short time but had such profound impact,” Kimberly’s close friend and classmate Lisa Little told ABC News.
In reflecting on that time, it’s clear that the people who knew Kimberly were impacted greatly by her — and the Lake City community was forever changed by her murder.
Personal Photos via The TimesSome of the known victims of Ted Bundy.
“She must’ve been horrified and so scared,” Kimberly’s friend Sheri McKinley said. “You don’t understand. Even when you hear the details, you can’t comprehend it as being a 12-year-old and this is your classmate, who was just innocent… You don’t realize how incredibly horrible it is until you get older and then understand what it was they were talking about when we were children.”
“I want everyone to remember the angel, Kimberly Leach, that was with us, that shared her life with us, her smiles with us, her hopes and dreams with us,” said Little. “I would like for people to remember that she is who needs to be remembered and not him.”
After reading about Kimberly Leach, Ted Bundy’s last victim, learn about his girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall and what happened to her. Then, read about his wife, Carole Ann Boone, and the child they had together while he was on death row.
