Lynette Dawn Culver

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Pocatello Police Department

Missing From:

Pocatello, Idaho

Summary:

Lynette Culver disappeared after leaving school one day during the spring of 1975. She never returned and was never seen or heard from again. Serial killer, Theodore “Ted” Robert Bundy, admitted to murdering Lynette before his execution in January 1989. Bundy stated he disposed of her body by dumping it in the Snake River, north of Pocatello. Her remains have never been found.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Lynette was last seen in Pocatello, Idaho on May 5th 1975. She left Alameda Junior High School during her lunch break and never returned. She was seen by friends at Hawthorne Junior High School boarding a bus which was heading for the Fort Hall area. Residents in the Fort Hall area reported observing Lynette hitchhiking towards American Falls on the day of her disappearance. She was last seen alive on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Police believe she ran away and went there for whatever reason when she initially disappeared in 1975. Several other girls vanished from the Pocatello area in the years following Lynette’s disappearance. They were all eventually found deceased after their disappearances but police have found no evidence to link any of them.

Additional Details:

For many years, police suspected that someone on the Fort Hall Reservation knew what happened to Lynette. In 1962, a sixteen year old Pocatello girl named Vickie Jo Quinn was murdered and buried on the same reservation. A Pocatello man was later arrested for her murder and convicted of the crime. However, his sentence was commuted. Police have never said whether they believe Quinn’s murder and Culver’s disappearance are related. In late January of 1989, an incarcerated serial killer about to be executed admitted to being responsible for Lynette’s abduction and murder fourteen years earlier. His name was Theodore “Ted” Robert Bundy, he was convicted of several murders in Florida for which he was sentenced to death. He’s also suspected of killing multiple young girls and women in several other states during the 1970s. Bundy stated he traveled to the Pocatello area at the time of Lynette’s disappearance with the sole purpose of committing a murder. He first attempted to find a victim at Idaho State University but his plans were thwarted when he entered a girl’s dormitory area and was stopped by security. Bundy left the university and drove to Alameda Junior High School where he saw Lynette. He coaxed her into his vehicle before he took her to his room at a Holiday Inn where he was staying. Bundy raped Lynette before drowning her to death in the bathtub. He stated that after killing Lynette, he dumped her body in the Snake River. Bundy was executed shortly after he made some final confessions to investigators about Lynette’s case and other crimes. Sadly, her body was never found.

Case Last Updated:

Dec 15, 2025