In the summer of 1975, a 24-year-old white female named Shelley Kay Robertson was leading a life full of youthful adventure, having recently returned to Colorado after a year spent working in Alaska. She was known by friends and family as a free spirit, unafraid of hitchhiking to get where she needed to go. On July 1, 1975, Shelley failed to arrive for her job at her father's printing press in Golden. This was the last day she was reportedly seen alive.
One of the last sightings was by a police officer who noticed her at a service station in the company of a man with bushy hair and a beard, driving an old, beat-up red pickup truck. After that day, Shelley vanished, leaving her family to fear the worst as weeks turned into an agonizing silence.
The grim discovery of what had become of Shelley came on August 23, 1975. Two students from the Colorado School of Mines were exploring the abandoned Willie Mae Mine near Berthoud Pass when they were overcome by a strong odor of decomposition. Venturing deeper into the darkness, their flashlights illuminated a horrifying scene: the naked and badly decomposed body of a young woman. The remains were bound with duct tape, and it was later determined that she had been struck on the head. The body was soon identified as that of Shelley Robertson. The only personal effect found with her was a single earring, leaving few clues at the scene for investigators to follow.
The investigation into Shelley Robertson's murder quickly focused on one of the most infamous serial killers in American history: Ted Bundy. At the time of Shelley's disappearance, Bundy was active in Colorado and other western states, preying on young women who fit a similar profile. Investigators discovered that Bundy was in the Golden area around the time Shelley went missing, and credit card receipts placed him there. He was also known to alter his appearance by growing a beard and had owned an old pickup truck. Although he was never formally charged with her murder, the circumstantial evidence was strong. Years later, while on death row, Bundy reportedly made a vague confession to her murder to an investigator, stating, "I don't want to talk about that," when pressed about her case. While another serial killer, Ottis Toole, was briefly considered, he was quickly ruled out. To this day, no one has ever been arrested for the murder of Shelley Robertson, but law enforcement remains convinced that she was another victim of Ted Bundy's reign of terror.
