The campus where Susan Curtis was abducted

Crime Scene Location Provo, Utah

This is the college campus where serial killer Ted Bundy abducted Susan Curtis.

It is called Brigham Young University, and it is situated on Campus Drive in Provo, Utah.

On June 27th, 1975, Curtis attended the Bountiful Orchard Youth Conference at the Wilkinson Student Center.

Following dinner, she told her friends that she was going back to her dorm to brush her teeth. At the time, the 15-year-old had new dental braces that she needed to keep clean.

After exiting the Wilkinson Student Center, she set off across the BYU campus by herself.

Her destination that evening was a dormitory building called Helaman Halls, which was 0.6 miles to the northwest. Judging by Google Maps, it should have taken her roughly 10 minutes to walk between the two locations.

Curtis' route — Her chosen route is unknown. Although Google Maps indicates that the orange route is the quickest, there isn't much of a difference between them.

Despite the short distance, Curtis never returned to the banquet.

At some point during her journey, she crossed paths with Bundy, who was likely hanging around BYU in search of his next victim. In the past, he had successfully abducted Donna Manson, Roberta Kathleen Parks, and Susan Elaine Rancourt from their respective campuses.

When you consider his behavior in other cases, it stands to reason that he strategically parked his vehicle in the most secluded parking lot he could find, one that was within walking distance but slightly off the beaten track.

This would explain why no one witnessed the attack.

This aerial photograph of the BYU campus was taken in September 1969. The Wilkinson Student Center is circled in blue. The red circle highlights Curtis' dorm. We have marked some of the parking lots in the area with an orange X. As you can see, there were several places where Bundy could have parked his car.

After convincing Curtis to help him carry something back to his Volkswagen, it is likely that he struck her over the head with a crowbar. He then hurriedly lifted her into his car and drove away.

Her destination was Helaman Halls. Notably, there was a parking lot near the dorm buildings.
Google Maps shortcut

At first, the police did not suspect foul play because Curtis had a history of going missing for days at a time.

Susan Curtis — A BYU professor claimed he saw Curtis attempting to sell a textbook at the back of his classroom. This mistaken sighting, combined with her history of running away, led police to conclude that no foul play was involved.

In November 1974, Curtis attended the same high school play that Bundy abducted Debra Jean Kent from.

This means that she was unlucky enough to cross paths with him on two separate occasions.

One month after Curtis went missing, Bundy was arrested during a traffic stop in West Valley City. From that point on, he quickly became the prime suspect in the murders and disappearances of several women in the Pacific Northwest.

Although he maintained his innocence until the very end, he eventually agreed to come clean in a desperate bid to delay his execution.

In 1989, he confessed to Curtis' murder and attempted to describe the location where he buried her remains.

He claimed that he buried her remains roughly five miles south of Price, Utah, before the Green River. He said that he turned left onto a side road approximately 5-10 miles south of Price.

Then, about a quarter of a mile down the side road, he took another left turn onto a dirt road.

Bundy claimed that he dumped her body about 50–200 yards on the left side of the dirt road. Although a large search operation was carried out, no trace of the missing teenager was ever found.

Bundy's confession occurred nearly fourteen years after Curtis was murdered. This meant that local wildlife had a significant amount of time to interfere with her remains.