Another Ted Bundy Essay

Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy's Trail of Terror From the Beginning of Taking Life Until The End of
His Life

Serial killers tend to be white heterosexual males in their twenties and
thirties. While it is impossible to predict who will become a serial killer
there are traits that appear to be similar in all killers. These behaviors
include cruelty to animals, bedwetting, lying, drug and alcohol abuse, and a
history of violence. According to Robert Ressler et al., "serial homicide
involves the murder of separate of separate victims with time breaks between
victims, as minimal as two days to weeks or months. These time breaks are
referred to as a cooling off period." Because homicides involving multiple
victims is gradually becoming more commonplace, and to facilitate an
understanding of the aforementioned definition, it is helpful to differentiate
serial murder from other types of murder, such as mass murder, which
involves,"four or more victims killed within a short time span," and spree
killings, which Ressler et al. defines as "a series of sequential homicides
connected to one event committed over a time period of hours to days and
without a cooling off period."

Ted Bundy is one of the worst serial killers in history. His antisocial
personality and psychotic character made him feared across the country. After
all was said and done Ted left behind a trail of bloody slayings that included
the deaths of 36 young women and spanned through four states. The biggest
question in many people's mind was how could someone as intelligent,highly
accomplished, and praised as Bundy do such a thing?
Theodore Robert Bundy was born November 24th, 1946 in Burlinton, Vermont
to a 21 year old mother. Ted's mom never told him much about his father except
that he was in the armed forces and they had only dated a few times. Ted was
left in foster care for two months while his mom and parents decided what to do
with him. In 1946 an illegitimate child was extremely looked down upon by
society. Once they decided to keep Ted his grandparents told everyone he was
their adopted son. Ted knew who his biological mom was, but outsiders were told
that she was his sister.
Ted adored his grandfather. His grandfather was also particularly fond
of Ted. He remembered camping and fishing trips he and his grandfather would go
on. Other family members describe his grandfather as an ill-tempered tyrant. He
was racist, intolerant, and a perfectionist. He expected everyone to meet his
demands. His grandfather was also verbally abusive toward other family members
and physically abusive toward his wife. He also physically mistreated animals
including the family pet.
Ted's grandmother suffered from depression. It got so bad that she was
eventually treated with electroshock therapy. She also suffered from agoraphobia
and never left the house.
When Ted was three years old, his Aunt, age 15, said she awoke to find
him slipping butcher knives into the bed beside her under the covers. She told
him to leave and took the knives back. She said no one in the family did
anything about this. (Time Life)
The older Ted got, it became more difficult to hide his family's
identity and his secret mother. With this his mother moved to Washington where
she met and married John Bundy. At the time Ted was four years old. He was
adopted by John and his new parents had four children together.
From the beginning Ted did well in school. His teachers complimented him
on his good grades. But they also commented on Ted's inability to control his
violent temper. Friends recall Ted as one who would usually avoid fights,
though when provoked could explode with frightening violence and anger. Ted was
active in Boy Scouts and attended church regularly. He also held a part-time job
and made excellent grades. Ted just dated once during high school and was
described as shy.
It was around this time that Ted began sneaking out of the house and
peeping into windows. He became a "Peeping Tom." He occasionally disabled a
woman's car to make her more vulnerable, without actually doing anything to
her(Time Life). He found these behaviors sexually arousing and masturbated while
doing them. He also began shoplifting for expensive items and told his mom that
they were gifts. He was picked up at least twice by juvenile authorities for
suspicion of auto theft and burglary, but nothing came of it.
While Ted was on death row he once told an interviewer that he knew he
was different from other people. He was quoted as having trouble knowing what
appropriate social behaviors were. His own needs and desires were all that
mattered. Ted recognized that he did not have remorse the way other kids did so
he learned to mimic normal emotions.
Ted participated in many respectable behaviors that helped make it so
unbelievable to accept his guiltiness. He caught a purse snatcher and was given
a commendation from the police department. He also saved a drowning toddler once
by diving into a lake after him. Ted also worked for a suicide prevention
hotline talking others out of killing themselves. He also wrote rape-prevention
books and became active in politics gaining the attention of very important,
highly known people.
Ted worked many low paying jobs to pay for college. He was a busboy at a
hotel, a messenger, and clerks at various stores. He left most jobs after only a
few months. Some employers said he was a good worker while others gave him less
than favorable comments.
It is likely that Ted killed his first victim while in his teens. A
young schoolmate disappeared at this time. He is said to have begun his serial
killings in his late twenties in 1974. However many people believe that he
started earlier than this. He is said to be the suspect in numerous unsolved
murders (Wellard).
In January of 1974, an 18 year old student was found unconscious in her
bedroom. Ted had beaten her with a metal rod and then inserted it in her vagina.
The woman survived but was in a coma for several months and had no memory of the
event at all. A month later he abducted and killed a 21 year old woman named,
Lynda Ann Healy. When police entered her room they found blood all over her bed,
her nightgown stiff with blood, and her clothes and backpack from the night
before were missing.
Six weeks later, a 19 year old college student never arrived at a jazz
concert she was going to. The next month a freshman girl disappeared on the way
to a movie. Three other women disappeared over the next two months (Time Life)
Ted would use fake casts, splints, and crutches to get his victims to
help him. He would use little things like how he needed help to carry his books
or load up his car. In July of 1974 though, he was able to convince a young
woman to help him load a sailboat up at his parent's house. The girl was never
seen again. That same day he abducted an 18 year old secretary while at a park.
Ted had now abducted two people in broad daylight using his real name.
People would not believe that a killer would actually use his real name. This
lead the press to call these cases the "Ted" cases. In 1974 the first pieces of
bodies were slowly being found. The police began to discover the severity and
scope of the killer.
Ted Bundy had now moved to Utah where he became a dormitory manager at
the University of Utah. Here in Utah he killed 16 year old Nancy Wilcox. Three
weeks later he killed 17 year old Melissa Smith. Ted had killed at least 11
times in Utah and nearby Colorado.
In August 1975 Ted was stopped for driving suspiciously. When the trunk
was searched the police found an ice pick, ski mask, a mask made of pantyhose,
rope and handcuffs. These are the items Ted used in his "rape kit."
Ted was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to prison. Unfortunately
his parents bailed him out. In 1977 he was transported to Colorado to stand
trial for one of the murders when Ted escaped out of the courthouse. Ted was
picked up a few days later for driving recklessly and taken back to jail. It was
in December of that same year when Ted again managed to escape and took off
toward Florida. It was January when Ted committed the Chi Omega murders.
Upstairs in the sorority house the police found one woman with her nipple bit
off her breast and bite marks on her buttocks. Two women were dead from blows to
the head while the other two were barely alive. Right after these clubbing Ted
attacked another woman in her apartment down the road from the Chi Omega house
and left her for dead.
Ted Bundy's last victim was a 12 year old girl he had taken from school.
Her body was found two months later in April of 1978. When Ted Bundy was brought
to trial he acted as his own lawyer. Ted managed to have the original judge
removed due to prejudice, he won a change of venue from Tallahassee to Miami,
and he managed to have his leg shackles removed so he could walk around the
courtroom. In the end Ted was found guilty and sentenced to die.
While on death row Ted conducted many interviews. Ted seemed surprised
at the anger about the killings and that the women he had killed were mourned so
deeply."What's one less person on the face of the earth anyway?"(Time Life)
In October of 1982 Ted's daughter was born while he was on death row. It
would be seven years later before Ted would die though. On the eve of his
execution Ted told an evangelist that watching pornography had led him to commit
his crimes. Theodore Robert Bundy died January 1989. His last words were "I'd
like you to give my love to my family and friends."(Time Life)
Using the DSM IV Ted Bundy can be diagnosed as having Antisocial
Personality Disorder. One criteria used to determine this is showing behavior
that could be grounds for arrest, but usually are not. Examples of this criteria
are met when Bundy would peek into the women's rooms and masturbate. This is
trespassing and invasion of privacy. While you can be arrested for this, people
are usually not. Another part of the DSM IV criteria is lying and conning. Ted
was constantly doing this. Every time he picked up a victim he was guilty of it.
He lied to women in order to pick them up using his fake splints and casts or
when he needed help loading his sailboat. Picking up women also fits the other
criteria of charming. Those who knew Ted stated the he was indeed charming. You
would have to charming to some extent in order to pick up over thirty women.
Another criteria Ted met was,"consistent irresponsibility, as indicated
by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial
obligations." Bundy's odd jobs and reports from employers hold this to be true.
The final criteria Bundy meets for antisocial personality disorder is,"Lack of
remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt,
mistreated, or stolen from another." Bundy most clearly sums this up when he is
quoted as saying,"What's one less person on the face of the earth anyway?"
Besides his antisocial personality disorder Bundy also shows signs of
going through the seven phases of a serial killer. The aura or fantasy phase is
the one phase I cannot find any evidence of Bundy going through. For this phase
there is a withdraw from fantasy and Ted does not appear to do this anywhere.
The trolling phase is when Ted would stalk and pick his victims. He went through
this stage because the majority of his victims came from college campuses. Bundy
was a master at the wooing phase. Most of the time his victims went with him
voluntarily. The capture phase really cannot be applied to Bundy. Sometimes he
was sudden about his crimes and sometimes he was not. Bundy always carried out
the murders and he also kept body parts to preserve the high he got from the
killings. This would be the totemic phase. Bundy went through depression phase
because he was not able to quit. He began to kill as soon as he got to Florida.
It is truly sad that a person with such great potential to do good
chooses to take a different path.(Holmes) As Judge Cowart said to Bundy
immediately after he passed the death sentence,"It's a tragedy for this court to
see such a total waste of humanity"(Rule,1980:394).