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Ted Bundy survivor bringing new memoir to Georgia

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Published  January 10, 2024 10:20am EST
Good Day Atlanta
FOX 5 Atlanta

Ted Bundy survivor talks new memoir

Ted attacked Kathy Kleiner Rubin in her Florida State University sorority house. Now, 46 years later, she's telling the story of his brutal rampage and her survival in a new memoir.

EATONTON, Ga. - Type the name "Ted Bundy" into any streaming service, and it’s clear: stories about the notorious serial killer are in high demand. But there’s one story you haven’t heard yet … one that can only be told by Kathy Kleiner Rubin.

"It was very important to me to make known exactly what he was. Not the charismatic, handsome guy, but he was a loser," she says. "That usually is not shown in the documentaries and the movies."

Forty-six years ago, Bundy attacked Kleiner Rubin in her Florida State University sorority house. The story of his brutal rampage — and her incredible survival — is finally being told in the new memoir, "A Light in the Dark: Surviving More Than Ted Bundy." 

"What [usually] isn’t focused on are the women and victims," says the author. "And that was very important to me, to find something about each woman and bring it to life. To give them a voice."

This Friday and Saturday, Kleiner Rubin will be the special guest at Crime & Wine in Eatonton, presented by the Georgia Writers Museum and hosted by cold case investigator Sheryl McCollum.

"Her story could not have been written until now," says McCollum about the book. "Because every single thing that she went through is encapsulated in that book to help people at every junction of their life … it’s an incredible testament."

McCollum brought the Crime & Wine idea to the Georgia Writers Museum in 2022, pitching the ongoing series as a way to involve the community in cold case research.

"Immediately we jumped on it, and we said, ‘Great, let’s get more cases in front of more people.’ We’ve gotten a lot of Georgia cases in front of the public, and we’ve generated some leads from it," says museum executive director Melissa Swindell.

Crime & Wine featuring Kathy Kleiner Rubin will start at 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday at the Plaza Arts Center in Eatonton. Tickets are $45 per person, and proceeds support both the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute and the Georgia Writers Museum. For more information on the event, click here.