Katie Ring

That was the real Ted Bundy, the one he'd been struggling to contain all his life.

And now he was ready to embrace it.

The first step of Ted's plan was to find another steady girlfriend.

In September of 1969, he met a divorced single mother named Elizabeth Klepfer at a bar.

24-year-old Elizabeth was smart and mature.

She had to be to take care of her three-year-old daughter all on her own.

From the moment they started dating, Elizabeth was clear she was looking for something serious.

So if Ted expected to stay with her, he would need to get his act together.

That played right into Ted's hands.

He told Elizabeth he was planning to go back to college, then law school after he graduated, and Elizabeth took him at his word.

She had so much faith in him, she even paid his tuition when he went back to the University of Washington in 1970.

Ted's twisted plan had finally given him the motivation he needed to succeed.

He became an honor student, got involved in local politics, and was seen as a rising star in the community, which was exactly what Ted wanted people to think.

Nobody suspected that this clean-cut, respectable young man was going out at night, watching young women in bars and following them home.

Sometimes he went up to his targets while they were still at the bar and took them out on dates if they were interested.

He cheated on Elizabeth constantly with multiple one-night stands.

On top of that, he loved to steal from people just for the thrill of it.

He robbed homes and shoplifted from businesses taking things like clothes, stereos, and even an eight-foot tree from a local nursery.

Elizabeth never knew about the cheating, although she did pick up on the rampant theft.

It bothered her, but she mostly dismissed it as a small flaw in her otherwise perfect boyfriend.