my mom still refuses to drive alone at night
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My mom was in her early twenties when this happened.
She rarely talks about it, and when she does, she changes the subject almost immediately.
That time was a winter night in the mid-1970s, she was driving home after visiting a friend. The highway was nearly empty, and the closest town was still miles away.
As she rounded a bend, she noticed a man standing beside a small car parked on the shoulder. One of his arms was in a sling, and he waved politely, asking for help.
She slowed down.
He smiled, stepped closer to the window, and explained that he was having trouble loading something into his car. He spoke calmly, looked well-dressed, and didn't seem threatening.
Then my mom noticed something that made her uneasy.
The passenger door of his car was missing its inside handle.
She couldn't explain why, but every instinct told her to leave.
She apologized, said her father was expecting her, and drove away.
When she glanced into the rearview mirror a few seconds later, the man was still standing there, watching her car disappear into the darkness.
A few months later, newspapers across the region were filled with stories about several young women who had vanished under mysterious circumstances. Investigators believed the same unknown man was responsible.
And a few years later in 1976 my mother read in the newspaper that my mom saw the photo of that unknown man in that newspaper. who was asking for help A few years ago
She still remembers the man's face.
Whenever someone asks why she always locks her car doors the moment she gets inside, she simply says, "Some people look harmless until they aren't."
And that unknown man is not unknown but he is the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy who committed 30+ murders and he was accused of committing more than 100