Ted Bundy: Prolific Serial Killers of All Time - Essay Example

Ted Bundy Ted Bundy was one of the most prolific serial killers of all time. He admitted to killing forty women, but some fear that there were many more deaths he committed. Ted Bundy scared Americans because he was so normal on the outside. He was a Republican, student of psychology and the law, and a handsome man. There are numerous women that trusted Ted Bundy, only a few survived. This paper will discuss Ted Bundy’s childhood up until his death on Florida’s death row. Ted Bundy was born in Burlington, Vermont on November 24, 1946 and named Theodore Robert Cowell (Lohr). His mother was unwed, while his father disclaimed him. Ted’s grandparents ended up raising him; with the belief his mother was an older sibling (Lohr). When Ted was four, his biological mother took him to Tacoma, Washington and changed his name to Theodore Robert Nelson. After marrying a man in the service named Johnnie Culpepper Bundy, Ted became Ted Bundy (Lohr). Louise Cowell and Johnnie Bundy had four more children (Schum). Ted’s chaotic childhood made Ted an angry person. An FBI analyst, Dr. Robert Keppel, observed, “Ted’s anger-driven monster was a desperate creature who informed on Ted’s every action (Keppel and Birnes, 293). As a younger child, Ted was withdrawn and shy. Getting along with people was problematic. However, Ted was bright. He stood out academically through out his whole school career, even becoming popular in high school (Lohr). After high school, Ted enrolled in college, worked for the Republican Party, and volunteered at a suicide prevention hot line. One of the workers at the suicide prevention hot line was Ann Rule. Ann Rule is a famous true crime writer, but more importantly was once a police woman. Ann trusted Ted implicitly. She trusted Ted so much, that spent night after night locked in an upper office answering phones with him (Rule, 35). She was one of the few women to trust Ted Bundy and survive. Around the time Ted began college, joined the Republican Party, and answered calls with Ann Rule, he met the love of his life. This woman partly triggered something evil in Ted. She had long brown hair parted in middle, a common hairstyle in the sixties. When the woman, Stephanie, broke up with Ted in 1968, he was devastated, dropping out of college (Schum). Many of Ted Bundy’s later victims had long brown hair parted in the middle. Another factor happened in 1969 that sent Ted down the path of destruction; he found out his sister was really his biological mother (Lohr). These two events sent Ted on a hunting spree leaving women dead across American, from Washington to Florida. Finding out about his true origins seemed to invigorate Ted, sending him back to college. Ted also began dating Meg Anders. This relationship seemed to get Ted together, leading him to graduate from the University of Washington in 1973 and accepted into the Law program in Utah (Lohr). Around this time he began seeing Stephanie and Meg at the same time. The pressure seemed to overwhelm Ted. During this period, he committed his first known attack, and then murder. The first woman Bundy attacked survived, barely. “On January 4, 1974, 18-year-old Joni Lenz became Bundy’s first victim” (Lohr). Lenz was sexually assaulted with a bed post (which was found still in her vagina), beaten with a crowbar, and left in a coma (Dunder). Because of her injuries, “she was left with brain damage” (Rule, 55). Ted attacked another Washington Law student, Lynda Ann Healy, at the end of January, 1974 (Lohr). All that was left of Lynda Ann Healy was a blood soaked bed and a bloody nightgown (Rule, 57). There was nothing to suggest that Ted Bundy had committed these acts; yet anyway. Ted went about doing normal things. The only abnormal event in his life was suddenly breaking up with Stephanie after proposing marriage (Lohr). It almost seems like once Ted killed his first victim, he no longer needed to prove he was worthy of Stephanie. Another possibility is that this behaviour was a pattern of Ted’s. In school, he observed other children and transformed himself into someone popular by high school. Stephanie wanted someone focused and going somewhere in life. Ted turned his life around, graduated from college, basically becoming what she wanted. Yet, with Stephanie, it seems Ted wanted to prove he could have her. After proving he could have her, she was no longer any use to him. Women began disappearing in Utah, Oregon, and Washington in the months following Stephanie and Ted’s break up (Lohr). Oddly enough, these women resembled Stephanie. At first, the women only disappeared at night, but then two women at Lake Sammamish disappeared (Lohr). Witnesses at the park described a handsome man, with a cast, VW Beetle, and named “Ted” (Rule, 90-91). By the time the bodies were discovered four miles from the lake, Ted was already in Utah (Schrum). Ted took pains to hide most of his victims’ bodies. The only ones left were his first and last ones. One expert states, “Bundy didnt leave his victims out in the open where they could be found, until he got to Florida. In Washington, Colorado, and Utah, far from leaving his victims exposed” (Keppel and Birnes, 23). When Ted hid his victims, he clearly proved he was not insane. Ted knew right from wrong. Like most serial killers, Ted got sloppy. After moving to Utah on November 8, 1974, he “attempted to kidnap 18-year-old Carol DaRonch from a mall in Salt Lake City” (Lohr). She escaped, giving police an excellent description of Ted Bundy. Ted was arrested and convicted of kidnapping on June 30, 1976 (Dunder). Ted’s conviction was not only based on Carol DaRonch’s testimony and eyewitness account. In Ted’s car, the seat had been removed for the passenger side, plus the door jam had been tampered with. Also found in Ted’s car was a crowbar, ski mask, cuffs, and other various items that a burglar would use. The tan VW Beetle was also evidence. Not only had women in Utah disappeared in the proximity of a tan bug, but investigators in Washington remembered the eyewitnesses from Lake Sammamish. Police had gotten wise to Ted, preparing a case for murder. Ted escaped before he could be tried, police quickly apprehended him, but he once more escaped in December of 1977 and fled Utah (Dunder). Ted was only free for a few months, but the murders he committed during this time landed him on death row. Ted resurfaced in Tallahassee, Florida in February 1978 (Schrum). At a sorority in Tallahassee, Ted murdered two women and seriously wounded two others (Dunder). His last victim did not fit his pattern of attacking sixteen to twenty something women, his last victim was only twelve years old (Dunder). “On Feb. 9, 12-year-old Kimberly Leach was reported missing by her parents” (Lohr). Ted stole an orange VW Beetle; an alert police officer pulled him over and arrested him (Lohr). Ted Bundy went on trial in Miami in 1979 (Rule, 282). The evidence against him was strong, especially the bite impression left on Lisa Levy’s left buttock (Rule, 334). Not only had forensic scientist matched his bit impression to Lisa Levy, a witness saw Ted leaving the sorority house that night (Rule, 334). There was also blood evidence, not as sophisticated as DNA, this was 1979 after all. However forensic scientist at that time could identify blood types and if they were secretors or not, Ted’s blood type was all over the crime scene. He was found guilty, and sentenced to death. In the first trial Ted’s defence attorneys were “assistant public defenders, Lynn Thompson, Ed Harvey, and Margaret Good. They were all young, all determined to do their best, and all woefully inexperienced” (Rule, 314). Ted took over half way through the case. Ann Rule explains the judges warning: Cowart said he would agree, but warned Ted that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. Ted responded, "Ive always taken that particular axiom like someone who works on his own car has a fool for a mechanic. It all depends on how much you want to do by yourself. (339) Ted did not listen. He decided for his next trial, the murder of Kimberly Leach, Ted would act as his attorney again. Ted even asked his girlfriend Carole to marry him, while she was on the witness stand (Dunder). Needless to say he was convicted and sentenced to death once again. While on death row, Ted Bundy talked extensively to doctors and psychologists, helping them track current serial killers. He spoke with Dr. James Dobson, stating a prophetic statement: “We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow” (Lohr). Ted tried to bargain for more time, by confessing to unsolved murders. It did not work; he was executed on January 24, 1989 (Dunder). Ted is unique in that he could control his impulses. He chose not to control the impulse to murder and torture. Keppel explains, “This is volition, not compulsion, and the same can be said for Ted Bundy, who successfully knew when to start and stop so as to elude the police during his career” (298). This is what made him so dangerous. Everybody wants to kill somebody in their lifetime, but most people know right from wrong and resist the impulse. Keppel has another explanation, “in early childhood, the lives of signature killers represent a total series of decisions directed exclusively toward self-indulgence” (291). This is what makes Ted Bundy different from normal people. His lack of impulse control made him a monster. Ted Bundy woke America up to the reality about serial killers. Not all serial killers look like Charles Manson, wild hair and crazy eyed. The scary aspect of Ted Bundy is the unseen evil that lurked within was only witnessed by girls in the last seconds of their life. References Dunder, Jonathan. Ted Bundy Biography. n.d. The Free Information Society. 12 Dec. 2006 http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=499 Keppel, Robert D. and William J. Birnes. Signature Killers. New York: Pocket Books, 1997. Lohr, David. “Ted Bundy: The Poster Boy of Serial Killers.” Crime Magazine. 6 Oct. 2002. Rule, Ann. The Stranger Beside Me. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. Schum, Kate. The Life of Ted Bundy: Death Himself Ironically. 22 May 2006. Associated Content. 12 Dec. 2006 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/32955/the_life_of_ted_bundy.html Read More