On Feb. 15, 1978, while working the midnight shift, Pensacola Police Officer David Lee was working the Brownsville area. While he was checking buildings, he noticed a Volkswagen Beetle behind Oscar's Restaurant on West Cervantes Street.
Almost immediately, the driver pulled the car onto Cervantes and drove to "W" Street, where he turned North with Officer Lee behind him. Lee ran a check on the tag and discovered that the Volkswagen had been reported stolen. Lee pulled it over outside city limits at W and Cross streets near Catholic High School. He ordered the driver out of the car and made him lie down.
When Lee approached, the man attacked him and tried to take his gun. It was necessary for Officer Lee to use force to subdue the man. He was then placed under arrest and taken to the Pensacola Police headquarters.
Detective Norman Chapman was assigned the case. Chapman interviewed the man and immediately made a connection with him. Chapman sensed there was something different about this man, something unusual that the man was hiding. Chapman established a relationship with the man which would last for many years. The man was very personable and extremely intelligent. However, he was proud of himself. This is the element that Detective Chapman focused on, acting as if he was fascinated with the man's intelligence. After a period of time, the FBI identified the man through his fingerprints.
The man was Theodore Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer the world has ever known. During the hours that Chapman interviewed Bundy, he made statements that were to prove significant in the murder case of Kimberly Leach, a 12-year-old girl who was murdered in Lake City and buried in a shallow grave nearby. Bundy was subsequently found guilty of this crime and sentenced to die in the electric chair.
The information which Bundy related to Detective Chapman was more than he ever gave to anyone else, before or after his conviction. As Bundy's date with "Old Sparky" neared, he requested that Chapman come to visit him on death row. Chief Chapman knew that Bundy wanted to tell where more bodies were buried. It was obvious that Bundy wanted to extend his life by having additional charges brought against him, therefore postponing his execution. Chapman refused to see Bundy, who was subsequently put to death.
Information courtesy of Pensacola Police Online.
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