Woman's chilling realisation as 'Good Samaritan' turned out to be notorious serial killer

On a cold, snowy day in the winter of 1972 Sotria Kritsonis, wearing a cosy woolly hat to shield her fresh haircut, set off on her way to college.

After waiting for a bus for nearly an hour, a pale yellow Volkswagen Beetle pulled up at the bus stop where Sotria was waiting on Seattle's Rainer Street and the driver signalled for her to hop in. Although she didn't recognise the man, she was thankful for his offer.

Podcaster Mr Ballen explains that Sotria was already running late for school and was excited to meet her friends. He said: "Despite that she loved her new hair, she had deliberately worn this big hat to hide her haircut because this would make the reveal to her friends at school that much better."

The 22-year-old student was delighted when the VW driver offered to drop her off at school, and she promptly hopped into the car. "Sotria sat back in the seat, enjoying the warm air blasting out of the vents and as she did she looked out her window at the familiar route passing by," Mr Ballen said.

However, alarm bells started ringing when the route became unfamiliar. The driver signalled to take a turn onto a bustling freeway, and just as Sotria was about to point out that they were headed in the wrong direction, the driver flashed a smile and told her: "You know it's a terrible idea to take a ride from a stranger," reports the Mirror.

"Even more worryingly, the man then started rummaging around underneath his seat, as if he was looking for something," Mr Ballen added.

Sotria even considered opening the car door and throwing herself out of the moving vehicle, but realised to her horror that the doorhandles had been removed from the passenger's side door.

The student got the strong impression that the man had found whatever it was that he was looking for, some heavy metal object that she never quite got a proper look at. "But then something strange happened," Mr Ballen said.

"The man's face changed from determined, and almost cruel, to confused. Sotria watched as his eyes darted up to the top of her head, and the man told her to take off her hat.

"With trembling hands she did as she was instructed, although she had no idea why he was asking. When the hat was off her head the man looked shocked and he dropped whatever it was he had found under his seat. Sotria heard it land with a heavy metallic thud."

Mr Ballen added: "There was a long tense silence and then when the man finally spoke he just said 'Why did you cut your hair?' Then, to Sotria's surprise and relief he turned around, and dropped her off outside her college, telling her that she was "lucky."

She attempted to dismiss the strange encounter from her thoughts, not even reporting it to the police at the time, as while the man's behaviour had been odd and unsettling he hadn't actually caused her any harm.

The incident had almost entirely slipped from Sotria's memory until a few years later, in 1975, when she she recognised a familiar face on television.

She increased the volume of the news broadcast to learn that the attractive man with wavy hair being led into a courtroom by police was named Ted Bundy. The notorious serial killer had enticed numerous young women into his VW Beetle before brutally attacking them with a tyre iron, violating them, and then mutilating their bodies.

Bundy eventually admitted to around 30 murders across the US, although the actual number of victims is suspected to be significantly higher. All of Bundy's confirmed victims were young white women, like Sotria, and most of them had long dark hair, parted in the middle.

To this day, Sotria believes that her hairstyle at the time saved her life.