Who is Stephanie Brooks from The Stranger Beside Me and what is their importance?

Stephanie Brooks relationship with and rejection of Bundy is believed to have provoked his heinous crimes. Ted met Stephanie in 1966 when they were students at the University of Washington in Seattle. Ted was immediately attracted to Stephanie, but he didn't see himself as a real suitor...... she was beautiful and wealthy, and he was a year younger.

Contrary to his beliefs, Ted was able to charm Stephanie over time, and the two entered into a romantic relationship. Although the couple came from vastly different socio-economic groups, they formed an unlikely attachment that lasted on and off for six years. Stephanie became the first real love of Ted's life. After graduation, however, Stephanie's thoughts turned to finding a man with marriage potential, and she returned home to California thinking that the distance between Ted and herself would cool Ted's intensity.

Ted was devastated by her rejection, which haunted him until he was able to convince Stephanie to enter into a relationship again a few years later. Sensing a new maturity in Ted, Stephanie agreed to marry him, only to be unexpectedly and cruelly rejected. Ted successfully manipulated her affections, and in turn, inflicted the same crushing rejection he experienced on Stephanie. This pattern will be enacted many times as Ted moves through life, murdering and committing crimes against young women whose physical characteristics resemble those of Stephanie Brooks.