Kathy Kleiner Rubin: Here's why Ted Bundy survivor refused to attend his execution
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: Kathy Kleiner Rubin, 65, narrowly escaped the clutches of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, who terrorized the nation by murdering at least 30 women between 1974 and 1976.
In her upcoming memoir, 'A Light in the Dark: Surviving More than Ted Bundy,' set to be released on October 3, Kathy recounts her harrowing experience as the only survivor of the serial killers' attack.
Kathy Kleiner Rubin's near-brush with death in Ted Bundy's gruesome attack
On the fateful night of January 15, 1978, Bundy broke into Florida State University's Chi Omega house, where he ruthlessly killed sorority sisters Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman in their beds. Kathy was seconds away from becoming another victim in this gruesome spree.
Bundy wielded an oak log that he had grabbed from a firewood pile, and with brutal force, he struck Kathy in the face as she lay asleep in her bed. "My responses were primal. I wanted to scream for help, but I could not."
"I didn’t yet know that both my jaw joints were broken and disconnected from my cheekbone. My chin was so badly smashed that it shattered, and my cheek had been ripped open as though I had been hit by a bullet," Kathy writes.
"My teeth were still in my jaw, but the intense force of the blow had pushed my molars forward. They were like cars on the highway that had been rammed forward in a massive, multicar pileup."
She even nearly bit off her entire tongue due to the pressure of the log Bundy smashed against her head. Bundy's rampage continued as he attacked Kathy's roommate in a similar manner, tripping over a trunk in their room while moving back and forth between the terrified young women in their beds.
How did Kathy Kleiner Rubin survive Ted Bundy?
Remarkably, the roommates had slept with their curtains open, allowing natural light to flood their room during the day. This decision proved crucial, as that morning, around 3 am, a Chi Omega member's car pulled into the driveway of the sorority house, flooding the room with light and startling Bundy, who fled the scene.
The arrival of other sorority members led to a call to the police, who, upon arriving at the scene, initially believed that Kathy had been shot in the face due to the severity of her injuries.
Kathy's mother, aware of the traumatic event and her daughter's condition, took extraordinary measures to shield her from the news of Bundy.
"I wasn’t able to broach the subject on my own given that my mouth was wired shut and my tongue was split nearly in two," the survivor writes.
"The surgeon had decided to allow my tongue to heal naturally and said the tissue would renew itself over time. Until then, I had to experience the disgust of feeling that shredded muscle in my mouth."
Kathy Kleiner Rubin reveals Ted Bundy's true nature
In her memoir, Kathy sheds light on Bundy's true nature, dispelling the myth of the charming and handsome serial killer.
"He killed because he wanted to keep their souls," she emphasizes. "He would have sex with the bodies afterward. He'd go and put makeup on the dead corpses. But then tomorrow, he could be a charming person. He was very manipulative. He wanted to be what he wanted to be when he wanted to," as per Fox News.
Kathy said that Bundy did not confront most of his victims because "he was a coward."
The title of Kathy's book, 'A Light in the Dark,' reflects her remarkable journey of survival, not only from Bundy's attack but also from her childhood battle with lupus, an armed bank robbery during her time as a bank teller, breast cancer, and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with her husband in August 2005.
Further, Kathy defied doctors' predictions by having a son, even after they told her she would never have children due to her lupus.
Bundy was ultimately sentenced to death by the electric chair in a Florida prison in 1989. While she was invited to witness his execution, Kathy chose not to attend.
"I had married months after Bundy was executed. I boxed up my memories, moved to a new state, and pushed forward with my life," Kathy stated in her memoir.
"More than thirty women and girls never did the same. Bundy viciously cut their lives short. I often worried that these women had become nameless shadow figures while Bundy had become legendary."