Kriti Mehrotra
As a documentary series revisiting the way incarcerated serial killer Ted Bundy tried to get a stay on his impending execution, Hulu’s ‘Ted Bundy: Dialogue with the Devil’ is simply baffling. That’s because it comprises not only his life and crimes but also gives us an insight into his psychotic, narcissistic, and harrowing thinking to really underscore the fact that he was a predator. Amongst those to thus be featured in this original is none other than Carol DanRonch, one of his few survivors and the woman who knocked down the first domino of the line that ultimately led to his death penalty.
Carol DaRonch Was Kidnapped by Ted Bundy in Broad Daylight
It was in the late afternoon of November 8, 1974, when 18-year-old telephone operator Carol DaRonch was at the Fashion Place Mall in Murray, Utah, a few miles away from her parents’ home. She was approached by a strange man who identified himself as Officer Roseland of the Murray Police Department and told her he was investigating a break-in of her vehicle. She could smell alcohol on his breath and believed him to be a lot older than he claimed he was, but the fact that he had a badge and seemed confident enough to be a law enforcement officer reassured her.
Therefore, Carol agreed to accompany him to the local police station to file a complaint, only for him to attack her as soon as they were in his tan Volkswagen Beetle. He had a crowbar, was brandishing a gun, and doing his best to handcuff both her wrists, but she struggled, refused to even put on her seatbelt, and ultimately managed to get out of the car. She did so on the side of the road, less than half a mile away from the mall, and luck was on her side because while the police impersonator was trying to bludgeon her as they fought, a car approached them from the other direction.
Seeing her chance, Carol pushed him away and leaped in front of the oncoming vehicle, which stopped and didn’t hesitate to help her upon seeing her hysterical and desperate state. While Ted Bundy’s half on handcuffs dangled from her wrist as she went to a real police station to report the incident, he fled before killing 17-year-old Debra Kent the same night. According to reports, Carol didn’t hesitate in reporting her assailant because while she was traumatized, all she could think of was that she didn’t want anyone else to go through what she did. That’s what helped in his ultimate apprehension starting in 1974.
Carol DaRonch Showed Her Spirit By Testifying During All of Ted Bundy’s Trials
With Carol’s description, witness accounts, and a photo lineup from which she immediately identified Ted Bundy as her assailant on October 2, 1974, he was charged with aggravated kidnapping and attempted criminal assault. He stood trial for these charges in February 1976, during which Carol did not hesitate to relay what he did to her in complete detail to ensure the jury would see his guilt, which they did. At the time, many reports indicated she appeared fearful as well as tearful during her statements, and while she was terrified, considering she was merely a teenager at the time, she was also happy.
“I was totally happy to do it,” Carol once revealed in an exclusive People interview. “I thought that the sentence he got (for my kidnapping), the one to 15 years, I thought it wasn’t enough. I thought, ‘This monster tried to murder me, and he might be out in two years.’ I thought, ‘I will go and help them get a murder conviction and have him put away.’ So I never felt that I wouldn’t testify. I thought it was really important that I do.”
In fact, that’s why Carol also testified against him during his trials for three homicides in Florida, where he received three death sentences for each conviction over a period of two intense trials. “It made me angry to think that he thought he could just take me like that,” she has since confessed. “…I had to stick up for myself.” Therefore, by all accounts, her “relationship with him was purely to make him pay for what he had done.”
Carol DaRonch Leads a Comfortable, Happy Life Today
While it’s true that the entire ordeal left Carol traumatized, she actually made a conscious decision not to let the incident or her perpetrator take control of her life. She did become more cautious around strangers, made sure to always be aware of my surroundings, and grew a lot less trusting of new people in the aftermath of it all, but she also led a normal life. In fact, even while she was going back and forth from Utah to Florida for his trials, she continued her night classes for a Bachelor’s in Business Management, hung out with her boyfriend, and led the life any young adult at her age was leading. She even kickstarted a career in the corporate world.
“I was able to detach myself from an event that could have ruined my life,” Carol once candidly told People. “It may not be a reasonable solution for everyone, but it is how I have been able to move on.” Nevertheless, while she likes to lead a normal life and will always be fiercely protective of her personal experiences since the incident, she knows that sharing her story is important too. The telecommunications professional and proud family woman, still residing around Salt Lake City, Utah, believes that sharing her story will help others like her not feel alone while also underscoring Ted Bundy’s real nature, so she will take up any opportunity to do so.
The fact that Carol’s partner, as well as her son, not only support this but were actually the ones who pushed her to do so has also been significant for her because her priority now is their safety as well as privacy. That’s why she featured in ABC’s ’20/20,’ ‘Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,’ ‘Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer,’ and ‘Ted Bundy: The Survivors.’ We should also mention that whenever Carol is not working or spending time with family, she is either using her platform to raise awareness about serial killers and social political matters or enjoying her downtime by golfing, hiking, traveling, and immersing herself in the world’s natural beauty.
Read More: Rebecca Garde: What Happened to the Green River Killer Survivor?
