Rhonda Stapley breaks her silence about escaping the clutches of infamous serial killer.
A woman who says she escaped serial killer Ted Bundy is now breaking her silence.
Rhonda Stapley says she was a 21-year-old University of Utah student in 1974 when Bundy offered her a ride in his tan Volkswagen.
Read: Man Arrested for Abducting, Murdering Teen Who Went Missing On Her Way to Church
“The cute driver leaned over and rolled down the passenger window and asked me if I wanted a ride,” Stapley told Inside Edition.
Little did she know, the handsome man behind the wheel would rape and murder at least 36 young women.
She said Bundy drove her to a secluded area. “I thought he was going to kiss me,” she said. “Instead he leaned over very quietly and said ‘You know what? Now I am going to kill you.’’’
Bundy repeatedly choked her into unconsciousness. “It was a game. He liked watching me die,” she said.
He raped her and punched her, she said.
But when he turned his back on her to get something from his car, she says she jumped up, with her jeans around her ankles, and stumbled into a nearby raging river.
“The river swept me away and probably saved my life,” she said. She said she was afraid to call police, or tell her family.
Read: Family of Teen Who Killed Parents With A Hammer Says He Deserves His Punishment
“I felt ashamed, embarrassed. I felt stupid. I thought that my mom would make me drop out of school and go home,” she said.
Now, she has gathered her courage and written a book titled “I Survived Ted Bundy“ as a way to deal with demons that still haunt her from the attack.
She says Bundy told her, “You don’t have a right to whine and cry at me. You should be thanking me that you are still alive. I can kill you anytime I want.”
Watch: Family of Mom Murdered in Church Pleads With Her Killer to Come Forward
