Ted Bundy's apartment in Salt Lake City

Serial killer Ted Bundy lived at 565 1st Avenue in Salt Lake City, Utah.

He rented a second-floor room at the house in September 1974, after enrolling at the University of Utah Law School.

After he moved to Salt Lake City, women began disappearing across Utah, Colorado, and Idaho.

Bundy remained here until September 1975, when he moved to Douglas Street to live closer to the university campus.

House

The property is a rooming house with shared facilities. Bundy occupied Room 2 on the second floor, directly above the porch.

Witnesses described the room as "immaculate."

To the right of the building is a fire escape, which provided access to his room.

While living here, Bundy had a casual relationship with a woman on the first floor. During one of their conversations, he described stealing a portable television from a store.

Bundy was friends with a tenant named James Dunn, who lived across the hall. Dunn later asked Bundy to be his best man at his wedding.

Marguerite (Margith) Maughan, the daughter of a Utah Supreme Court judge, lived in the basement apartment.

Maughan said Bundy would creep along the side of the house to stare through her window. He remained silent until she noticed him. Although his behavior made her uneasy, she assumed he was "playing games."

Following his arrest in August 1975, Bundy consented to a search of his residence. When police inspected the apartment, they found a book containing illustrations of bondage and torture. They also discovered a program for the high school play that 17-year-old Debra Jean Kent had attended on the night of her abduction.

Another significant find was a ski guide for Colorado, which had an "X" marking the Wildwood Inn in Snowmass, the hotel where Caryn Campbell disappeared.

Another significant find was a Colorado ski guide with an "X" marking the Wildwood Inn in Snowmass, the hotel where Caryn Campbell disappeared.

Cellar

An entrance to the cellar was located on the left side of the house.

Neighbors recalled hearing Bundy opening and closing the cellar hatch late at night. This did not raise suspicion at the time, as Bundy served as the landlord's property manager and performed maintenance in exchange for reduced rent.

A persistent urban legend claims that Bundy used an old cellar on Emigration Canyon Road to torture his victims. However, this location is unconnected to the case. It is not mentioned in any police file, interview, or confession.

This myth likely originated from the cellar at his Salt Lake City rooming house. Over the years, the location was conflated with the site on Emigration Canyon Road.

Confessions

Hours before his execution, Bundy confessed to having brought two victims back to this address.

Bundy claimed he kidnapped Kent, brought her to the house, and kept her in his room for a "period of time" before disposing of her remains 100 miles away at a site near Fairview Canyon.

He also claimed to have held Nancy Wilcox captive at the apartment.

However, many researchers doubt these claims. Taking a victim to his apartment would have been extremely risky, as a tenant lived directly across the hall.

Furthermore, the base of the fire escape is approximately five feet above the ground. Carrying an incapacitated person up this ladder would have been difficult.

Given Bundy's history of lying, he was likely manipulating investigators.