A Light in the Dark

Surviving More Than Ted Bundy

De: Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Kathy Kleiner Rubin

Narrado por: Roxana Ortega

THE FIRST BOOK BY A CONFIRMED SURVIVOR OF TED BUNDY, AND THE ONLY MEMOIR TO CHALLENGE THE POPULAR NARRATIVE OF BUNDY AS A HANDSOME KILLER WHO CHARMED HIS VICTIMS INTO TRUSTING HIM

In January 1978, I slept in my bed at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University as Ted Bundy stalked nearby. He grabbed an oak log from a stack of firewood, slipped through a back door with a broken padlock, and headed upstairs.He began twisting doorknobs. Room 9 was open, and he quietly and quickly killed one of my sleeping sorority sisters. Across the hall, he found another unlocked door and murdered again. Then, he turned the knob to my bedroom and found it was open. I remember the attack vividly.

Bundy bashed me once in the head with the log and then attacked my roommate. He heard me moaning and came to finish me off. He never let his victims live. But he stopped suddenly when a bright light filled the room. He fled the sorority house and the light disappeared. Bundy wasn’t my first brush with death, and he wasn’t my last.

I’ve long been a survivor. I was born into a Cuban American family in 1957 in Florida. I had a happy childhood until I received my first death sentence at the age of thirteen. Physicians weren’t sure why I was always so exhausted and running a low-grade fever. The prognosis was grim after my left kidney started to fail. Then, a physician from Cuba saved my life with a surprise diagnosis—lupus—and treatment plan: chemotherapy. I endured chemotherapy again in my early thirties when I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. This is my story of surviving three death sentences and finding love and happiness along the way. I was saved by a bright light, and I hope my story is one for people who are experiencing their own dark times. I am a victim, but I am also a survivor, and I want to speak up for all the women and girls whom Bundy murdered. He has become a legend, and our voices have been muted or ignored. It’s time we were heard.

©2023 Kathy Kleiner Rubin and Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi (P)2023 Recorded Books

Interesting detail

I have read a few books on this horrible man, but never from a victims standpoint. She was a very brave woman with courage to share her story. This will help other victims. I am a true crime buff and found this angle interesting and compelling

enlightening

I finished this one in a day.
I've always been intrigued by the terrible things humans do to one another.

I love that this story is an unlikely survivor's story. This woman, Kathy, literally looked evil in the face that night when she was attacked and has lived to tell the tale.

Written with a fiestiness that made me smile, I love how she debunks the Legend that is Bundy. She breaks it down into the miserable, less than average lil evil human he actually was.

I believe her.

Her story is filled with struggle, from illness as a child to being a survivor of a brutal attack as a young woman, to cancer as an adult. Yet, she lives. Even so, she speaks her truth.

This book served as a good reminder for me (an avid consumer of true crime) to be mindful of how and whom I support in the true crime world. The victims' memory and their families' well-being should ALWAYS be at the heart of the true crime entertainment we consume as true crime junkies. It's our responsibility.

I'm glad I listened to this one.
God bless this woman and her strength. ❤️

new insights

The book offers fresh insights on Bundy and I believe the author is correct in that his mythology is long overdue for a deeper look and a rewrite.

The strength to persevere

Kathy has shown a superior amount of grit and strength to not be over taken by her circumstances but instead, “dig her heels in the ground” and go on. I love that we finally get to hear from the victims perspective and her path to healing.

Thank you for sharing your story Kathy!

Great ways to focus on the ladies and not the criminal!!

I really enjoyed listening to this book, I especially felt a connection being a Chi O sister, but the more I listened the more I realized it was about more than that. I thank the author for sharing her story and for changing the focus.

Amazing book

Amazing what this wonderful lady has been through for her entire life. Victory in so much tragedy.

Remembering victims

Edit: My original review shows I gave the Story a 2. Nope! My intent was to give it 5! I tried to edit, couldn't, so I'm trying to make it right by writing it again.

Kathy has overcome so much to become the strong person she is. She has written an excellent, thought provoking book. Kathy said what I've thought for so long about Bundy. He was neither charming or intelligent. He was gross. I've always found the women that fawned over him at his trials sickening. He manipulated everyone that loved him. He did himself in with his narcissistic, arrogant, evil life. May his innocent victims rest in peace, and his survivors flourish.

Excellent point if view

Refreshing to cut thru the mythology.
Highlighting Bundy as the creep and complete failure the core of his being was. Con Artist Thief Murderer

Fascinating Perspective

This author presents a very unique and important point of view - that of the victim of a serial killer. I have often commented that I think it's very sad that most people know the names of the most prolific and/or publicized violent criminals, but rarely the names of their victims. The author has made herself totally vulnerable and shared a very interesting perspective. Independent of surviving her attack, she has lived an interesting life.
It's important to read this book to the end, as the appendices are meaningful.

Amazing story!! What a great survivor of everything life throws at a person!!

I loved this book!! I’m going to listen again! Thank you for writing this and sharing your life!! Get this book!!!