Ted Bundy kidnapping victim shares story of 1972 kidnapping -- and how she escaped

SEATTLE — It’s been 46 years since Sotria Kritsonis traveled down Rainier Avenue in South Seattle.

She will never forget the ride she took down that Seattle road with Ted Bundy, one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history.

It was a snowy day in 1972, and Kritsonis was 22 years old. She had been waiting for a city bus to take her to school for more than an hour.

A Volkswagen bug pulled up to the curb and the handsome young man behind the wheel politely asked her if she wanted a ride.

“He goes, 'I’ve come down Rainier Avenue and that’s a long way and there’s no bus in sight. Would you like a ride?'” Kritsonis recalled.

Scroll down to continue reading.

>> Watch never-before-seen footage from the day Bundy abducted and killed two women at Lake Sammamish State Park in summer 1974.

As the car took off, Kritsonis says it became suddenly clear he was headed in the opposite direction -- driving south on I-5 toward Tukwila, not to her school in Renton.

“He just started yelling at me, ‘Why did you take this ride? Why did you even think about taking this ride? You’re never going to make it to school.”

Kritsonis told KIRO 7 she thought about jumping out of the car, but when she reached down to open the door, she realized there was no handle on the passenger side.

“He said, ‘don’t even think about that. You’re not making it. I told you that before,'” Kritsonis recalled.

Then, Kritsonis said Bundy made a bizarre demand.

“He goes, ‘take your hat off.’ And I said, ‘what do you mean, take my hat off … what for?’”

That’s when Kritsonis realized Bundy may have seen her somewhere before.

“I took my hat off and he saw that something was different about me,” said Kritsonis. “He goes, ‘Why did you cut your hair?’”

Kritsonis said she had gotten her hair cut a week earlier.

“I keep thinking, did he stalk me? Did he see me somewhere?” Kritsonis wondered. “Was he waiting for me, or was he watching me?”

About an hour into their drive, Kritsonis said Bundy dropped her off in front of her school, shoved her into the ground and told her she was lucky.

She said she told her family about what happened, but didn’t call police.

“I didn’t talk about it, because I was a little bit embarrassed,” Kritsonis said in an exclusive interview with KIRO 7.

It wasn’t until about a year and a half later, while watching TV that she realized she had been picked up by Bundy, who later admitted to killing 30 women in multiple states.

Police believe he killed many more.

“I knew 100 percent that was the guy,” said Kritsonis. “I’m more than lucky. I just thank God I’m alive, every day.”

>> See where dozens of Bundy evidence photos are stored as part of the police and King County Sheriff’s Office investigation files.

Cox Media Group