Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

True-crime author Ann Rule dies at age 83

Ann Rule

Betty Udeson / The Seattle Times / AP

This July 2004 file photo shows true-crime author Ann Rule.

SEATTLE — True-crime writer Ann Rule, who wrote more than 30 books, including a profile of her former co-worker, serial killer Ted Bundy, has died at age 83.

Scott Thompson, a spokesman for CHI Franciscan Health, said Rule died at Highline Medical Center at 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Rule's daughter, Leslie Rule, said on Facebook that her mother had many health issues, including congestive heart failure.

Rule's first book, "The Stranger Beside Me," profiled Bundy, whom Ann Rule got to know while sharing the late shift at a Seattle suicide hotline.

Rule, who went to work briefly at the Seattle Police Department when she was 21, began writing for magazines like "True Detective" in 1969. A biography on her author website says she has published more than 1,400 articles, mostly on criminal cases.

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