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Seattle true crime writer Ann Rule dies

Scott Thompson, a spokesman for CHI Franciscan Health, said Rule died at Highline Medical Center at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, July 26, 2015.

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Rule is perhaps most known for her first book, The Stranger Beside Me, an account of her time with notorious serial killer Ted Bundy.

Leslie Rule posted to Facebook that her mother “died peacefully” surrounded by family.

“She had congestive heart failure and many other health issues”, Leslie wrote. “She got to see all of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren”, she said.

She later wrote for magazines including “True Detective” in 1969 while working at the Seattle Police Department, and most of her writing was about criminal cases.

Ann Rule, a prolific true crime author, has died at the age of 83, as stated by Q13 FOX News in Seattle.

In a 1998 interview with the LA Times, Rule said she struggled with crime writing, seeing it as an ethical dilemma. They include Small Sacrifices, about the Oregon child killer Diane Downs, and her most recent book, Practice to Deceive, about a murder on Whidbey Island. But her books focused on victims, and she became an advocate for victims’ rights.

Her books, all of which were bestsellers and as stated by her publishers remain in print, largely drew on true crime cases around Washington state and the Pacific north-west.

She aided the Green River Task Force as that group sought another Seattle-area serial killer, passing along tips that her readers shared.

Rule’s grandfather was a sheriff in Stanton, Michigan.

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She was the mother of five children and the grandmother of five.

Ann Rule, prolific author of true crime novels, dies | Q13 FOX News - Q13.com