Women Who Survived Serial Killer Attacks
Celebrating women’s day!
As most of you know, I have a big fascination with true crime and serial killers; I spend most of my time reading or listening to podcasts about them; I like to study their cases and try to figure out what went wrong in their lives that they turned out the way they did.
This week’s blog aligned with women’s day, I wanted to write about women who inspire me but I couldn’t choose (all women inspire me), therefore I decided to talk about my two favorites; women and serial killers.
Fun fact; In 1974, the FBI special agent Robert Ressler coined the term ‘Serial killers’, which means a person who kills sequentially over periods of weeks or months with a cooling-off period between kills.
Enough chit-chat, let’s get started.
1- Carol DaRonch, escaped Ted Bundy:
On November 8th, 1974, Bundy was dressed as a police officer when he approached Carol. He was a good talker, he would lie and make up stories that most of his victims believed. When he told Carol that she needed to file a report about her almost-stolen car, she followed him to his bug Volkswagen and got inside. He quickly handcuffed her and tried to hit her with a crowbar, but she resisted and fled.
2- Karen Sparkes survived Ted Bundy as well:
Bundy was a lot of things, smart was one of them, but sometimes he made so many mistakes that fortunately resulted in the survival of some of his victims.
On January 4, 1974, the 18-year-old Karen was attacked in her bed, he bludgeoned her with a metal rod he removed from her bed frame then proceeded to sexually assault her as she slept (I read that he might have assaulted her with the same rod or a metal speculum). She was unconscious for 10 days, but she miraculously survived with permanent physical and mental disabilities.
3- Karen Chandler, Kathy Kleiner, and Cheryl Thomas all survived Ted Bundy on the same day:
On January 15th, 1978, the idiot entered a sorority house; around 2:45 am, he killed two women (Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy) before he reached Kathy and Karen’s bedroom; He broke Kathy's jaw and deeply lacerated her shoulder while Karen survived with a concussion, broken jaw, a crushed finger, and lost some of her teeth. All of this happened in 15 minutes! He then left and broke into Cheryl Thoma’s apartment. He dislocated her shoulder and fractured both her jaw and skull; she was left with permanent deafness, and she could no longer dance.
4- Whitney Bennett survived an attack by Richard Ramirez:
On July 5, 1985, 16-year-old Whitney Bennet was sleeping in her bedroom when Ramirez attacked her. He bludgeoned her with a tire iron and went to search for a knife in the house but without avail; he tried to strangle her with a telephone cord but was startled when electrical sparks emerged from the cord. When Whitney started breathing again, he fled the house believing that Jesus Christ saved her (I laughed so much at this). Bennett survived, but she needed 478 stitches to close her open scalp.
5- Corazon Amurao hid, and Richard Speck forgot about her.
Although Speck is not a serial killer, he is a mass murderer who attacked the home of nine female student nurses in 1966. His spree kill lasted for 6 hours, he robbed, raped, beat, strangled, and stabbed 8 of them while Corazon who had opened the door for him hid under a bed and played dead. Speck said that he had lost count of the women as he was intoxicated. She eventually fled and called for help.
My blog ends, but the list of survivors is endless. Each woman overcame a brutal attack and lived to help catch her attacker. They lived to tell their stories, and for that; I am very proud to say that these are my role models!
If you are interested in reading more about serial killers and the havoc they brought on their victims, there are a couple of books that are quite informative.
- Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. This book has inspired the TV show Mindhunter, and it’s quite informative. It mentioned big serial killers like David Carpenter, Edmund Kemper, Robert Hansen, and much more. Get it here.
- The Big Book of Serial Killers (An Encyclopedia of Serial Killers). This one has been on my to-read pile for a while now, and I know that I will enjoy it with all of my heart and get to learn much more. It’s like a dictionary, but for serial killers. Get it here.
Please note that I may earn a commission if you order the books I mention from Amazon. Make me rich ❤
Also read: 5 Books Written By Women You Should Read in 2023
Until next time.
