Ted Bundy, the 1969 Memorial Day Weekend Murders, and the Composite Sketch of Suspect

Author: Shane Lambert
The original time of publication: January 7th, 2021

Susan Margarite Davis and Elizabeth Perry, both 19 years of age as of the Memorial Day Weekend in 1969, were murdered on May 30th of that year outside Somers Point, New Jersey. The area they were found in was about 100 kilometers from Philadelphia. At the time of their murders, Ted Bundy was a student at Temple University and he has been considered a suspect in the case for several years now.

Bundy was not consistent when he told stories of his first crimes. However, apparently, he told Art Norman, a forensic psychologist, that his (Bundy's) first murders were of two women in the Philadelphia area. This admission was in a roundabout way: Bundy appeared to be talking about himself in the third person.

Mon, May 31, 1993 – Page 60 · The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) · Newspapers.com

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The case against Bundy in these two murders is not rock solid. But Richard Larsen, a Bundy biographer, is one prominent individual who knows a lot about the life and times of Bundy that has expressed belief in Bundy being the Memorial Day Weekend 1969 murderer.

One point pertaining to these murders that has not gotten enough attention in my view is that there was a composite sketch of a young man that was wanted for questioning in the murders of Davis and Perry. In my opinion, Bundy, who would have been 22 at the time of the murders, resembles the composite sketch.

Sat, Aug 9, 1969 – Page 1 · Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pennsylvania) · Newspapers.com

Ted Bundy's photo from the 1965
yearbook for Woodrow Wilson High School.

There is about a four-year gap between the composite sketch and the photo above. Bundy is definitely in the ballpark of resemblance, in my view. The sketch was taken from the description of two witnesses who claimed that they saw the suspect near the victims' car.

Mon, Aug 11, 1969 – 1 · The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pennsylvania) · Newspapers.com

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