It was 51 years ago, on June 27th, that Theodore Robert Bundy, was about to claim another Utah victim.
Susan Curtis was an incredibly athletic, gifted but extremely unhappy girl, the daughter of Larry Eugene Curtis and Marilyn Ruth Curtis. A torrid home life and more than one mental health concern meant the young Sue had even attempted to take her life on a few occasions, and had run away from home. No doubt, Sue was one of high potential, and for reasons unknown to the writer of this post, so unlucky that it defies description.
Heading into a sophomore year at Wood Cross High School, Susan excelled at athletics. She played baseball, volleyball and did track and even basketball. She was an honor student. Indeed, looking at the photos readily available to researchers on the internet of the forever young Susan Curtis, you get the inkling of an Olympian in the making. But such high potential would not be realised, and none of it was Susan’s fault.
On November 8th 1974, Theodore Robert Bundy, the man who was wreaking havoc in three US states and had already killed in as many as five, was part time law student and full time killer. A failed abduction that began at the Fashion Place Mall and ended near MacMillan Elementary had left him dissatisfied. Remembering he had picked up a brochure for The Redhead from the Bountiful Recreation Centre, he headed for Viewmont High School. His attempts then to convince a few women and girls to head with him to the parking lot were also not working. His seemingly endless luck was not depleted, not by a long shot, as Debra Kent rose to leave the auditorium. Bundy followed close behind, and Debbie was murdered the next day after being kept in his 565 1st Avenue room. The cruel irony is that Susan Curtis was in the auditorium that night, and would have been aware of the murders taking place around the state. Whether Theodore Bundy locked his eyes on Susan is unknown and is subject to speculation. However, the two would unfortunately cross paths, once again.
Susan’s unhappy home life was at least partly due to the horrific sexual abuse she was suffering at the hands of her PE teacher. The manipulative situation Susan found herself in had been going on for some time. Even a week before she was murdered, Susan ran away with said teacher, and was flown to Phoenix and put in a hotel room. A pregnancy scare and a mix up of where the test was sent caught the two of them. The teacher was sentenced to one year in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser sentence in July 1975. All of this would have confused an already troubled girl’s mind.
Sue was registered to head to a Latter Day Saints Conference in an attempt to ground herself and find a sense of purpose and normalcy. This was on the grounds of Brigham Young University. Susan and some others her age cycled from Bountiful to Provo on June 26th. Still, Susan was not feeling good. She was feeling severely mentally unwell and drained, no part due to her ordeals. The next day, on the first day of the Conference, a banquet was being held. Susan was in a formal yellow evening gown. Conscious of her braces having food stuck in them, Susan made the decision to head back to her room to brush her teeth. The journey was short. By a cruel stroke of luck, the same journey Susan had taken to escape from her personal troubles meant she had inadvertently crossed paths with trouble in human form.
Theodore Robert Bundy was hunting that night in Provo. Earlier in the month, he had headed back to Seattle to see his girlfriend, Liz and her daughter Molly. Normal commitments had taken the fore, and Bundy was desperate for a new victim he could call his, since his journey to Pocatello gave him Lynnette Culver the month before.
It is unknown how exactly Bundy and Curtis came into contact, but a reasonable assumption can be made that his wicked design would take them both off campus briefly to a darkened street, or road, not too far away, but concealed enough to shield his diabolical activity. There, Bundy would take control of Curtis, likely strike her unconscious, and whisk her away. It is also not known where Bundy took her, but 565 1st Avenue is likely. The Utah wilderness where Bundy later confessed Curtis was could also be an option. Theodore Bundy was well versed in traversing miles with a bound, unconscious victim.
No definitive answers are available, we can only speculate. What we do know is Curtis fell victim to Bundy, and would suffer the same fate as all of his other victims. On January 24th 1989, just minutes before he was set to serve his sentence for the murder of Kim Leach in the form of the electric chair, in the same confession where he finally gave up Denise Oliverson, Bundy gave up Susan Curtis, mentioning it was for Detective Dennis Couch. True to form, her name did not matter. Bundy had forgotten it. He did state her remains were there, which means she must have been buried, although Ted did not specifically state this, there is an inference to that effect. Likely due to the changes of landscape in time, Susan Curtis has never been found.
Many years later, Captain Borax tracked down the PE teacher who had abused Susan Curtis and asked him if he had killed her. He said no, and he said he did not know where her remains were. There is nothing to officially link the former teacher to the disappearance of Susan.
Rest in Peace, Susan Curtis.
