Interesting twist in the Ted Bundy story

Ted Bundy has been dead since 1989, but as recently as 2002 there was new information in one of the cases he'd been accused of.

As something of a true-crime buff, you'd think I'd've heard of this before now, but somehow I missed it. In general, most sources have considered Kathy Devine, who was killed in 1973, as Bundy's first victim. In her (deservedly) acclaimed book "The Stranger Beside Me," author Ann Rule - who knew Bundy - speculated that his first victim might actually have been 8-year-ol..., who disappeared in 1966, when Ted was only 15. But because the case for his involvement in Barr's disappearance is purely speculative, Devine has most often been seen as the start of his string of murders.

In 2002, that got stood on its head when DNA from Devine was matche... According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

According to court papers, that evidence includes an account by one witness that Cosden had what appeared to be bloodstains on his shirt early in the morning on Nov. 26, 1973. That sighting came at the Restover Truck Stop in Tumwater, just off Interstate 5. Cosden worked at the truck stop, which was owned by his father. The truck stop was a focal point for hitchhikers in the 1970s, court papers said.

In addition, late in the day on Nov. 25, 1973, the day Devine disappeared, another witness saw what appeared to be bloodstains inside Cosden's truck. That truck caught fire and burned just after midnight on Nov. 26, 1973.

Devine was last seen getting into a pickup truck.

In 1986, Thurston County detectives interviewed Cosden in prison, during which he denied having anything to do with Kathy Devine's death. The detectives, armed with a court order, took a blood sample, but DNA technology wasn't available then.

Last year, that blood sample and a vaginal swab taken from Devine during her autopsy were sent to the state crime lab. Cosden's DNA was identified from the swab.

Detectives returned to talk to Cosden, who insisted he knew nothing of the girl, even after he was told of the DNA match. Detectives returned a few days later. Cosden then admitted he'd had sex with the girl, but denied killing her, according to court papers.

Even so, Cosden appeared surprised by his arrest in Devine's death, and had an angry reaction, said Edwards, the Thurston County sheriff.

Cosden was sentenced to just over 32 years in prison in 1976 for rape, according to the state Department of Corrections. He was sent to two different "pre-release" facilities in late 1989, but returned to prison because of "disciplinary problems" of some kind, said department spokeswoman Mary Christensen.

He last appeared before the state's Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board in May of 1999. The board declined to grant him parole, in part because he wrote "some kind of rambling, pornographic discourse" while he was in jail, indicating he may not be rehabilitated, said board Chairman John Austin.

Edwards said Cosden is a person of interest in other criminal investigations, but declined to provide details.

The article also notes that:

Unknown to Devine's family, Cosden remained a chief suspect in her death since the beginning, but until now, investigators say they never had enough evidence to take him to trial. Cosden was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the rape and murder of a young female in Maryland in 1967, a case that has similarities to the death of Devine, authorities said. He was released after three or four years there, prosecutors said.

It should be noted that when Bundy began confessing to murders as his execution date drew closer - hoping the confessions, and the possibility of even more confessions, would earn him a stay on his execution while officials checked out his stories, Kathy Devine's death was one he would never admit to. Oddly, it seems Bundy was actually telling the truth there.
It would have been very easy for officials to say "oh well, maybe he wouldn't confess, but he must have done it, so we can file it away," but they didn't, and her family finally got to know the truth of what happened to their daughter.