KATHY Kleiner Rubin was in her second year at university when she was mercilessly attacked with a log by depraved serial killer, Ted Bundy.
The Florida-born author is one of the few women to have survived an encounter with the sadist, who was later found guilty of rape, necrophilia, and murder.
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Among his victims were 21-year-old Margaret Bowman and 20-year-old Lisa Levy, who were murdered just minutes before the 33-year-old launched his assault on Kathy.
Bundy was executed in 1989, when he admitted to murdering at least 30 women in his four-year-long reign of horror.
But his notoriety has lived on, with books and films often depicting the sadist as a charismatic killer who lured his victims with his good looks.
Decades later, Kathy has revealed how she has found peace by giving a voice to his victims and exposing Bundy’s “true” nature.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, she described him as a “loser and a sociopath” who craved the world’s attention.
NIGHT OF THE ATTACK
When Kathy was attacked, she was a second-year student at Florida State University, living in Chi Omega sorority house with girls “who felt like sisters”.
She had spent the afternoon at a church friend’s wedding but decided to head back early with her dormmate, Karen Chandler, to study for her calculus exam the following Monday.
The pair’s room was not dissimilar to any other dorm room: two single beds pushed against opposite walls, separated by a small trunk and a large bay window with curtains that remained open “all the time”.
When they turned the lights off at around 11:30pm, Kathy fell straight to sleep.
In the early hours of the morning, she awoke to the “swish” sound of the carpet.
“I remember squinting into the dark, not wearing my glasses, and seeing this black shadow standing above me, looking at me.
“I was just waking up a little bit and he had that log in his hand.
“I can close my eyes and I can see my room. And I can see him standing over me. And this is something I’ll never forget,” she said.
Wielding the same log he had used to kill her two much-adored sorority sisters, and which he had stolen from the house’s fireplace, Bundy struck Kathy’s jaw.
The sheer force shattered the bone and splintered her chin – exposing her teeth and almost severing her tongue.
“When he hit me, my first feeling was like hitting a bag of potatoes. You know, it didn’t hurt,” she added.
But it wasn’t long before adrenaline turned to agonising pain.
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“It hurt so bad. The most intense pain I have ever felt,” she recalled.
Moments later, a rustle in the neighbouring bed turned Bundy’s attention to Karen.
Tripping over Kathy’s trunk, he stumbled to his next victim, before mercilessly bludgeoning her too.
In a stroke of immense fortune, the pair were saved when a couple returning home parked up beside the sorority house.
I thought I was yelling and screaming for help but all I was doing was making gurgling sounds from all the blood in my mouth
Kathy Kleiner Rubin
The headlights flooded the room with light, startling Bundy, who ran away.
Kathy said: “I was moaning and groaning and I thought I was yelling and screaming for help but all I was doing was making gurgling sounds from all the blood in my mouth.
“He came back over to my side of the room so I tucked myself into the smallest ball. I thought if he didn’t see me, he wouldn’t kill me.”
“He looked at me. He raised his arm up over his head, but just as he was about to hit me again, a bright light shone through our window,
“He got real antsy and started moving around. Then he ran out of the room.”
I thought if he didn’t see me, he wouldn’t kill me
Kathy Kleiner Rubin
Whimpering, Kathy tried calling for help but managed no more than a few “gurgling sounds” through all of the blood.
Karen was able to stumble to get help as Kathy passed out from the pain.
She recalled: “I woke up and a police officer was standing at the head of my bed looking at me.
“I touched my face and it was warm with blood. I was in excruciating pain – it felt like daggers and knives. But he just told me ‘it’s going to be OK.’”
“I knew, having been so scared that this person was going to take care of me.”
PATH TO HAPPINESS
Kathy never returned to university and spent the next nine weeks with her jaw wired shut at her parents’ house in Miami.
Therapy wasn’t an option for the young girl who was raised by Cuban parents, where sweeping problems under the rug was the “done thing”.
Instead, her parents did all they could to help her physically recover and protect her from the trauma of what happened.
“My mum wanted to shield me from the news and hearing about my sorority sisters so she would take the newspaper and cut all of the articles out that would mention Bundy,” she said.
One day they were a victim and the next day they became a survivor
Kathy Kleiner Rubin
Meanwhile, Kathy took “baby steps” to heal from the psychological wounds left from Bundy’s attack – but also from the anger and sadness of leaving behind her freedom and friends at university.
She said: “I walked outside and felt the sun on my face and looked up at the trees and saw each individual leaf, that’s part of the branch, that’s part of the tree.
“And looking at the bugs on the ground and seeing how they interact. That’s life.
“And I wanted to be part of life. I wanted to be part of what was so natural.”
Kathy recognised exposure therapy would be crucial in her path to recovery so she got a job working at a lumber yard, where she would be surrounded by men everyday.
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While she grew progressively less scared, dark thoughts of a figure standing behind her lingered.
Leaning on her faith, she imagined herself walking away from the darkness – each day, taking one step closer to the “light” at the end of the road.
She has since co-authored a book with writer Emilie Lebau-Luchessi, in which she revisited in painfully vivid detail the events of that night.
Although challenging, Kathy said sharing her story with the world has helped her heal and connect with other survivors.
“They just need to know that one day they were a victim and the next day they became a survivor.
“That survivor has to live the rest of their life and they can talk about it and they can feel it but they shouldn’t dwell on it.
“They need to move on and and not let this put them in a box but just take baby steps to heal themselves,” she said.
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