This is the witness testimony of Charles and Rosemarie Shearer, a young couple who lived across the hall from Ted Bundy at 565 First Avenue in the summer and fall of 1975. They testified for the prosecution on Thursday, February 26, 1976.
DIRECT EXAMINATION OF CHARLES SHEARER BY MR. YOCOM:
Q: State your name and address please.
A: Charles A. Shearer, 414 Creek Road, 3040 South.
Q: Here in Salt Lake City?
A: Yes.
Q: Mr. Shearer, I will ask you: in the summer months and fall of 1975, where did you reside?
A: 565 First Avenue, Apartment 4.
Q: And what months did you live, or what period of time did you live at that particular address?
A: From about the end of May until about the first of November.
Q: Of 1975?
A: Yes.
Q: During that period of time, did you become acquainted with one Theodore Bundy?
A: Yes.
Q: And how did you become acquainted with him?
A: Just met him, partied together, just acquaintances.
Q: Where did he live at that time, do you know?
A: Across the hall from me.
Q: And who was residing with you at that time?
A: My wife and my sister-in-law.
Q: And their names, please?
A: Rosemarie Shearer and Anita Chavez.
Q: Now, during that period of time, did you have any contact with Mr. Bundy in a social manner?
A: Yes.
Q: And did you see him on various occasions as a neighbor?
A: Yes.
Q: And would this be over the entire period of time that you lived there?
A: Yes.
Q: Were you acquainted with the type of automobile he drove during that period of time?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you have an opportunity to examine the vehicle with regard to the condition of the upholstery in the back seat over that period of time?
A: Yes.
Q: Would you describe that for us?
A: There was a big tear across the back, in the back seat, and rust spots that he had—
Q: I just asked you about the upholstery.
A: And the front had a little tear on the passenger’s—no, it was the driver’s side.
Q: I was just asking you about the back.
A: Oh, just the back seat had a big tear in it across the top.
Q: I show you Defendant’s Exhibit 28, and ask you if you can compare with your memory as to those months of June, July, August, September and October of 1975?
A: Um-hmm.
Q: Compare what is exhibited in the photograph with what you saw in regard to the back seat of Mr. Bundy’s car.
A: It was the same.
Q: And would that be true of the entire period of time that you were acquainted with him?
A: As far as I know, yes.
Q: Did you have a chance to examine that tear in the back seat during this period of time?
A: Yes.
Q: Would you describe for us what it was, what you saw, if you can?
A: Well, it was just ripped apart across the top where the sun had shown through the window, the plastic had, you know, curled up and the cotton or whatever it is that was stuffed in was sort of yellow from the sun. It had been there for a period of time.
Q: Have you noticed a degree of brittleness of the upholstery?
A: Oh, you could tell it was dried out from the sun.
Q: Could you tell whether or not that was an old rip or a new rip?
A: Old.
MR. O’CONNELL: I object unless we lay some foundation, Your Honor, I think.
THE COURT: Sustained.
Q: Have you had that particular problem in a car you owned, Mr. Shearer?
A: Yes.
Q: Specifically, the sun beating on the back window and ripping the upholstery?
A: Yes.
Q: How did that compare with what you observed about Mr. Bundy’s rip?
A: The same thing. Yellowish cotton from the sun beating through the window. The upholstery had dried out, you know, from the sun.
Q: Now, is the individual that lived across from you during that period of time that I have been calling Mr. Bundy, is he present in the courtroom today?
A: Yes.
Q: Will you point him out where he is seated and what he is wearing?
A: Right there in the blue suit.
Q: Now, Mr. Shearer, did you have occasion during these months from June to November to observe Mr. Bundy in a for lack of better definition, in a dressed-up manner?
A: Yes.
Q: How many times would you observe him in a suit coat or suit, sport coat?
A: Four or five times that come to memory.
Q: What days, was there any particular day you would see him dressed up in this manner?
A: Usually on Sunday.
Q: Did you have an occasion to observe the type of shoes that he was wearing?
A: Yes.
Q: Would you describe that for the Court?
A: Black patent leather, shiny black.
Q: Is there any particular reason why you would notice that, Mr. Shearer, and remember it?
A: I don’t like the shoes.
Q: Patent leather shoes particularly?
A: Yes.
Q: These Sundays you observed him, where would you be?
A: Usually sitting on the front porch.
Q: And he would be entering and exiting the apartment, walking alongside of you?
A: Yes.
Q: Have you had any particular experience with VW automobiles, specifically removing the front seat on those cars?
A: Yes, I have.
Q: And have you or anyone that you are acquainted with ever owned a VW automobile?
A: Yes.
Q: Who was that?
A: My mother.
Q: Did you have an occasion to remove the seat in that car, specifically the front seats?
A: Yes.
Q: How is that done?
A: There’s a little latch on all cars, you pull it, it slides the seat forward. On a Volkswagen, you completely slide the seat right off the rail.
Q: Any difficulty doing that in a VW?
A: Sometimes it’s a little hard, you know, to pull it, but there’s really no difficulty to it.
Q: Slide it forward and it comes off the runners?
A: Um-hmm.
MR. YOCOM: No further questions.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. O’CONNELL:
Q: Mr. Bundy, will you show Mr. Shearer the shoes you are wearing now?
(The Defendant walked in front of the counsel table.)
Are those the shoes you mentioned, Mr. Shearer?
A: No.
Q: What did the ones you saw look like?
A: Plastic, like patent leather shoes.
Q: And you’d seen him wear those on Sundays?
A: Yeah. Other days too. Not particularly on Sundays.
Q: Do you live at 414 Creek Road?
A: Um-hmm.
Q: How long have you lived there?
A: About two weeks, week and a half.
Q: Where did you live before that?
A: With my mother-in-law; Montana, more or less. Stayed with my mother right after I got back, and moved down there.
Q: How many addresses have you had in the last—since, say, October of ’75?
A: Four.
Q: Are you employed?
A: Yes.
MR. YOCOM: Objection, Your Honor. Totally beyond the scope and immaterial.
THE COURT: The objection is overruled.
Q: Where are you employed?
A: Mountain States Caulking.
Q: For how long?
A: About a year and half.
Q: Weren’t you up in Montana for—were you employed by them up in Montana?
A: No.
Q: How long were you up in Montana?
A: I was up there about three weeks—four weeks, close to a month.
Q: Now, it’s your testimony that over the period of May through October that this back seat tear did not change a whit?
A: Not that I know of, no.
Q: Did you go out—how often did you check it?
A: I seen it once.
Q: You only seen it once?
A: Well, paid attention to it once, checked the car out once.
Q: Did you notice another tan Volkswagen with a torn back seat that was parked in front of that same apartment house?
A: No, not that I can remember.
Q: What were you checking his car out for?
A: He was selling it.
Q: So this was in—when?
A: Summer months, around July or so. I’m not positively sure.
Q: Do you have any cases pending against you?
A: (Shakes head no).
MR. YOCOM: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MR. O’CONNELL: Looking for—well, he’s answered, so.
THE COURT: Is that all?
MR. YOCOM: That’s all.
THE COURT: You may step down, Mr. Shearer.
DIRECT EXAMINATION OF ROSEMARIE SHEARER BY MR. YOCOM:
Q: State your name and address please?
A: Rosemarie Shearer. I don’t know exactly the address we are staying at—it’s 414 Creek Avenue, 3040 South, Salt Lake City.
Q: You have got to keep your voice up, Rose. You have a very weak voice. Everyone must hear. Ok?
A: (Nodding yes).
Q: Rose, in the summer months and fall of 1974, where were you living?
A: 565 First Avenue.
Q: And who were you living with at that address?
A: My husband, Chuck Shearer, and Anita Chavez, my sister.
Q: And where did you live at that particular address?
A: Apartment 4, I think. I can’t remember exactly.
Q: And did you become acquainted with—first of all, when did you move into that address?
A: Oh, July, pretty sure July, or June.
Q: June or July?
A: This year, yeah.
Q: And after moving into that apartment complex, Apartment 4, did you become acquainted with one Theodore Bundy?
A: Yes.
Q: And where did he live at that time? Do you know?
A: He lived across the hall from us.
Q: Directly across?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you have an occasion to come in contact with him in situations or occasions where he would be dressed up, wearing a suit and tie or sport coat?
A: Yes.
Q: When did those usually occur?
A: Oh, a couple times.
THE COURT: Can’t hear you, Mrs. Shearer. You are going to have to keep your voice up so they can hear you at counsel table.
A: Okay. Well, a couple times when he said he was going to church I have seen him dressed up, and job interviews, you know, and different times.
Q: And when would that have taken place over this period of time?
A: I don’t understand what you mean.
Q: Okay. You say you met him in July. How long had you lived there?
A: About four or five months.
Q: Okay. And how many times did you see him over that period of time in a dressed-up fashion?
A: How many times?
Q: Yes.
A: Several, I guess.
Q: Did you have any occasion to notice the type of shoes he wore when he was dressed up?
A: Well, he wore different types of shoes. I remember those black or dark-colored patent leather shoes. I remember those, because—
Q: Why do you happen to remember those, Rose?
A: Well, Chuck said he didn’t like them.
Q: Chuck said he didn’t like them?
A: He didn’t like those kind of shoes, yes.
Q: Do you recall on any particular occasion where you were when you noticed him wearing those shoes?
A: He was on the porch. We were sitting on the porch.
Q: Did you notice any other type of shoes that he owned?
A: Well, he owned loafers and tennis shoes, you know.
Q: You say you were sitting on the porch?
A: Yes.
Q: He would exit and enter next to you?
A: Yes.
MR. YOCOM: No further questions.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. O’CONNELL:
Q: How many times did you see him with these patent leather shoes?
A: Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t pay attention every time, but I have seen him in them before.
Q: I couldn’t hear the last part of your answer.
A: I have seen him in, you know, them before. I don’t know how many times. I didn’t pay, you know, count how many times I seen him in them, you know.
Q: Well, more than once?
A: Yeah, more than once.
Q: And all these times you would be sitting on the front porch?
A: No, not all the times.
Q: Well, he’d come over to your place and say, I’m going to church?
A: No, he said—well, I know he’d go to church on Sunday, and I’d see him on Sunday dressed up, you know, in a suit.
Q: Do you know James Dunn?
A: Who?
Q: Jim Dunn?
A: No.
Q: Do you know Margerith Maughan?
A: Yes, I know Margerith.
Q: What kind of shoes does Margerith wear?
A: She wears, oh, what do you call them—oh, wedgies, she wears those, and different kind of shoes.
Q: Describe the different kinds of shoes.
A: Loafers, high-heeled shoes.
Q: Any of them patent leather?
A: No. Not that I can recall.
Q: Did you ever see him wearing these patent leather shoes other than on a Sunday?
A: No.
MR. O’CONNELL: That’s all.
MR. YOCOM: No further questions.
EXAMINATION BY THE COURT:
Q: Did these shoes appear to be new, or relatively new?
A: Yeah, I guess.
Q: Could you tell?
A: No. I didn’t look at them that close. I just know they were patent leather shoes. They weren’t in bad condition, I know they weren’t in bad condition. I know that.
Q: They weren’t?
A: Uh-uh.
THE COURT: Any further questions?
MR. YOCOM: No questions.
MR. O’CONNELL: No questions.
THE COURT: Thank you, Mrs. Shearer, you may be excused.