In February of 1978, Bundy kidnapped 12 year old Kimberly Leach, who he brutally mutilated. A week after her disappearance, Police arrested Bundy in Pensacola, Florida while driving a stolen vehicle. They had witnesses at both the dorm and Kimberly's school identify Bundy. Additionally, they had evidence that linked Bundy to the three murders, including a mold of the bite marks found on one of the sorority victims.
Believing he could beat the guilty verdict, Bundy turned down a plea bargain, where he would plead guilty in the deaths of the two sorority women and Kimberly Leach, in exchange for three 25 year sentences.
On June 25th, 1979, Bundy was put on trial in the deaths of the sorority women. As the trial was televised, Bundy played up to the media, often acting as his own attorney. It did him little good, and he was found guilty on both murder charges and sentenced to death by electrocution.
Bundy went on trial for the death of Kimberly Leach on January 7th, 1980, this time allowing his attorney's to represent him. His attorney's mounted an insanity defense, the only defense possible with the evidence the State had stacked against him. Bundys' behavior was much different this time. During the trial, he was given to fits of anger, he slouched in his chair, and at times would glare at the jury. He was once again found guilty and received his third death sentence.
At his sentencing, Bundy called Carol Boone as a character witness and married her while she was on the witness stand. She was, at the time, convinced of his innocence. After the birth of their daughter, and sometime later, she divorced him, realizing that he was in fact guilty of the crimes he was accused of.
Bundy exhausted his appeals for a stay of execution in January 1989. Before he was put to death, he gave investigators detailed information on more than fifty women that he had murdered. He also confessed that at times he had kept several heads of his victims.
At approximately 7:13 a.m. on January 24, 1989, Theodore "Ted" Bundy was put to death while crowds gathered outside the prison walls cheering.
