A remarkably self-deprecating entry in the USA network's off-and-on
Ann Rule Presents
series of fact-based films,
The Stranger Beside Me
details how Ann Rule (Barbara Hershey), a smart and savvy veteran crime reporter, allowed herself to be bamboozled by baby-faced serial killer Ted Bundy (Billy Campbell). Working side by side with Bundy as a volunteer at a Seattle rape crisis center in 1971, Rule had no clue that the personable and charming young man was responsible for one the most terrifying sex-murder sprees of the 20th century. Even after suspicion fell upon Bundy, Rule was initially willing to give him the benefit of the doubt -- as, alas, were so many law enforcement officials of the era. But once the truth was known, Rule embarked upon her own
mea culpa
campaign by going after Bundy with every resource at her disposal. Based on Rule's 1983 bestseller of the same name,
originally aired March 21, 2003.