I attended Brigham Young University straight out of High School. I bagan in June directly after having graduating high school in May. I chose to have a double major; Interior design and Architecture. I chose these majors because I knew whatever course my life may take I would be able to support myself from the comforts of my home. These tow majors took many "tools", most of which were available at the campus bookstore. There were a few items that had to be purchased off campus. I did not have my car in Utah. While I attended school I had a ten speen bike, I rode a bus or walked where I needed to go.
This particular day I had to purchase some large tools off campus. I originally walked to the little strip mall where the store was located. It turned out that the walk was a lot farther than I originally thought. I did my shopping and bought my "required" item and of course bought a skirt and some shoes because they were cute. The package numbers and size made me give concern for the extremely long walk back to my dorm room; I chose to wait for the bus. Not knowing the bus schedule I decided to sit on the bus bench and just wait. The mall area was rather deserted and I began to worry that the last bus may have already run. After waiting a long period of time a little yellow Volkswagon beetle pulled up in front of me. There was a fairly nice looking fellow at the wheel with a cast on one arm. The fellow smiled and told me he was from around that area and knew that it would be a few more hours before the last bus came. He said if I lived fairly locally he would take me home.
My father always taught us to trust no one no matter how nice they appeared to be, so I politely declined his offer. He talked a little longer and renewed his offer a few more times but after a few more times of politely and firmly declining his offer he went along his way. I was not exactly friendly but pointedly polite. A few hours later the bus did indeed come and I wrestled my packages onto the bus for the ride back to my part of town. Mission accomplished.
An odd incident a few months later upset me. At the time I was dating a tall slender fellow who was a returned missionary. Tom wore his old missionary trench coat at night when it was cold. Late one night when Tom and I returned from a date and stepped into my apartment to say goodnight the police energetically knocked on my door. When I answered a breathless officer asked Tom who he was and why he was there. Tom told him and I vouched for him. After the police spoke to Tom a little longer he left and told us to lock our door behind him. The officer told Tom to stay for another hour before leaving for my home, which he did. We both found the situation oddly unsettling but complied.
Years later there was a special on a mass murderer named Ted Bundy; I was going to be up late waiting for Rob to come home from school so I watched the program. As I watched the confessed murderous spree Mr. Bundy had perpetrated, I noticed the fellow looked familiar. It turns out that he had been in Provo Utah in 1975 trying to pick up a victim. He was driving a yellow Volkswagon beetle and had a fake cast on his arm. He said the cast tended to make women feel safer. He picked up a BYU co-ed from the very strip mall I was waiting for the bus. He said he spoke to a few women before he got one to accept a ride. It occurred to me that he have targeted me but as I did not go with him he found another young lady that did go with him and he killed her in an horrific manner.
It also turned out that it had been him the police were searching for in my neighborhood the night the police stopped Tom and I. Ted Bundy had been running through my neighborhood wearing a dark trench coat just like Toms. He was built similarly to Tom as well and had the same hair color.
I researched his murderous trail and realized I ended up having two VERY close encounter with Ted Bundy not knowing at the time who he was or that he was a serial killer. True story! How thankful I am that my father taught me to never accept rides from strangers and to be firm but polite about it. I think it may have saved my life!
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