The Phantom Prince: Staffer reviews Elizabeth Kendall’s book regarding her life with Ted Bundy

If you’re searching to take your emotions on a roller coaster, diving into “The Phantom Prince” by Elizabeth Kendall — with a contribution from her daughter, Molly Kendall — would be perfect for you. Elizabeth writes about her six-year relationship with notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy. Every book and movie about Bundy’s murders such as “Extremely Wicked, Shocking and Vile” starring Zac Efron and “Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes” are shocking, but this first-hand account adds even more chilling details. 

Elizabeth’s story was first told by director Joe Berlinger, who Elizabeth agreed to work with to produce the film “Extremely Wicked, Shocking and Vile,” where her experiences with Ted were played out by actors. While she does admit the film was done well, some scenes were cut out to fit the storyline. Because of this, Elizabeth wrote “The Phantom Prince” to share her detailed interactions with Bundy. 

The book starts when Elizabeth moves to Seattle in hopes of a better life for her and Molly. She meets Bundy at a bar and immediately hits it off with him, bringing him home that same night. From the dinner dates to nights at a ski lodge and Christmas mornings, the happy and domestic scenes of Bundy and Elizabeth’s relationship make it easy to momentarily forget the devastating crimes Bundy committed.

Despite his seemingly charming character, Elizabeth began gaining suspicion of Bundy. Between ghosting her for days, dodging marriage at all costs, having lovers in other states and matching every suspect description of recent kidnappings and murders in their area, Elizabeth grew skeptical — and I can’t blame her. I wanted to scream at her through the pages when I’d spot the biggest red flag in the history of red flags. I was eventually relieved when he was convicted as guilty of kidnapping — which by that point he had kidnapped and murdered numerous women — thinking she would finally lose her love for him. But the second he got out of jail, he came running back for her and she was left bamboozled yet again. 

Continuing with love letters back and forth from jail as Ted was released just to be sent back to jail, “The Phantom Prince” gives a 100% raw perspective of what a relationship with Ted was really like — manipulative. With the inclusion of a photo gallery of Bundy, I saw the interaction with Kendall’s daughter and Bundy’s uncomfortable-to-say-the-least hand placements on the child’s chest, which was incredibly disturbing. 

All in all, a great read, but do be ready for chills that shoot up your spine with the dramatic irony of knowing things poor Elizabeth didn’t.