On a Sunday afternoon, April 6, 1975, in Grand Junction, Colorado, 24-year-old Denise Lynn Oliverson had an argument with her husband. To clear her head, she decided to go for a ride on her yellow ten-speed bicycle to her parents' house. When she didn't come home that evening, her husband assumed she had decided to spend the night at her parents' home. However, Denise never arrived at her destination. The following day, her bicycle and sandals were discovered under a viaduct near a railroad bridge, a location along the route she would have taken.
The disappearance of Denise Oliverson was one of several unsolved cases involving young women in Colorado around that time. For years, her family was left without answers as the case grew cold. A significant development came just before the 1989 execution of serial killer Ted Bundy. During a confession, Bundy admitted to her murder. He claimed to have abducted her during her bike ride, killed her, and then disposed of her body in the Colorado River, about five miles west of Grand Junction. Gas receipts from a Grand Junction gas station placed Bundy in the area on the day Denise disappeared. Following this confession, the Grand Junction Police Department reclassified her case from a missing person to a homicide in 2019 after reviewing the confession tapes and speaking with investigators who had interviewed Bundy.
Despite the confession, Denise Oliverson's body has never been recovered. She is remembered by friends as a great and kind person. Ted Bundy's confession brought a painful answer to her family, who reportedly learned of it through news reports following his execution. The case stands as a somber reminder of the many lives affected by his crimes. The Grand Junction Police Department continues to hold the case file for Denise, a young woman who went for a bicycle ride and never returned.
Last Seen: Apr 6, 1975
