Carol M. Bundy

Carol Mary Bundy (née Peters; August 26, 1942 – December 9, 2003) was an American double murderer and suspected serial killer. Bundy and Doug Clark became collectively known as the Sunset Strip Killers after being convicted of a series of lust murders in Los Angeles during the late spring and early summer of 1980.

Early life Bundy had a troubled childhood, as both of her parents were abusive alcoholics. Bundy's mother died when she was a child and her father sexually abused her starting at the age of 11. After Bundy's father remarried, he put her in various foster homes. When Bundy was 17 years old, she married a 56-year-old man.

By the time Bundy met Doug Clark at the age of 37, she had just escaped a third marriage to an abusive man, by whom she had two young sons. Two days later, Bundy called police and confessed to shooting her lover, John "Jack" Murray, with her chrome Raven gun, five days before his body was found.

On March 3, 1981, the incomplete skeleton of an unidentified young woman was found buried in a shallow stream bed near the Bouquet Reservoir. Though only a few bones remained, investigators did recover a skull with a bullet hole. The firearm wound matched the description of the murder of a prostitute that Clark and Bundy had picked up, according to their own testimonies. Clark claimed Bundy had shot the young woman in the head, stripped her bare naked and instructed him to drive to a location in Green Valley, where they disposed of the body. Clark also declared that Bundy fondled the dying victim along the way. It was later revealed that Bundy confided in a fellow nurse about her involvement in the murders of Murray and that of the unidentified woman, though she alleged that Clark had fired the fatal shot.

Arrest and trial

Bundy was arrested on August 11, 1980, at her home in Burbank. Clark was arrested the same day.

Sealed documents of a court session on September 18 of that year revealed that Bundy killed Murray in an effort to prevent him from going to authorities after she told him that her roommate, Douglas Clark, committed the Sunset slayings. She also told the court that she had to cut off his head to prevent the bullets being traced back to her. Co-workers of Bundy testified that she confessed to being present during the murder of a young woman and helped dump her body afterwards.

On May 31, 1983, Bundy was sentenced to 52 years to life: 27 years to life for the murder of Murray, and another 25 years to life, to be served consecutively, for assisting in the death of the unidentified female.

Death Bundy died in prison from heart failure at the Central California Women's Facility on December 9, 2003, at the age of 61.

In Popular Culture Susan Priver plays Bundy in the 2026 biopic Sunset Strip Killers, directed by Chad Ferrin, to be released on July 14, 2026.