Abstract
Ted Bundy became one of the most infamous serial killers in history. Like most serial killers of his ilk, Bundy showed signs of having high intelligence in spite of his anti-social tendencies. An examination of Bundy’s past, his predilections, and his upbringing may provide some clues to recognizing the traits that cause some individuals to have a proclivity towards violence. However, the media has also aggrandized Bundy, making him far more famous than his victims. The story of Ted Bundy reveals the problematic fascination with serial killers: a strange obsession that continues to exist among the general public.

Introduction: The Early Years

Ted Bundy was born Theodore Robert Bundy in November 1946 in Burlington, Vermont. His childhood has been described as “difficult,” with “strained” relationships with his mother and stepfather (Jenkins, n.d., p. 1). The main reason for his strained relationship with his mother was that he was born out of wedlock; at the time and in his mother’s social and cultural milieu the pregnancy brought great shame upon the family (“Ted Bundy Biography,” n.d.). Bundy’s mother, Eleanor Cowell, had “deeply religious parents” who forced her to give birth inside an institution called the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers (“Ted Bundy Biography,” n.d., p. 1). After he was born, Ted’s grandparents pretended to have adopted him. Little Ted may very well have picked up on his being shunned, scorned, and unwanted from an early age: something that could have scarred him for life. Ted’s grandparents—his adopted parents—did not have a happy home life. Samuel Cowell, who was Ted’s grandfather and Eleanor’s father, was prone to violence, rage, and domestic abuse (Montaldo, 2019). In fact, Samuel Cowell may have been suffering from a serious but undiagnosed mental illness as he suffered from known hallucinations and extreme paranoia (Montaldo, 2019). 

In 1951, when Ted was five years old, his mother took her son and moved to Tacoma, Washington by herself. While the reasons for her move remain unknown, it is highly likely that her abusive father may have prompted the shift. Eleanor even went so far as to change her name for Eleanor Nelson as if she wanted to remain anonymous and prevent her parents from finding her. Shortly after moving to Washington, Eleanor met Johnnie Culpepper Bundy. Eleanor and Johnnie got married and officially adopted Ted as their own son.

 Even before the move to Tacoma, Ted had begun showing “an unusual interest in the macabre,” such as by playing with knives at the age of three (“Ted Bundy Biography,” n.d., p. 1). In his early childhood years at school, Ted started to show signs of being withdrawn and sullen. He had few friends and did not seem interested in close connections with his family members either. Eleanor and Johnnie had four children together, which may have exacerbated Ted’s feelings of isolation. While his parents may have believed he was just a shy kid, his extreme introversion is widely believed to be a factor implicated in his dysfunctional personality type. With five children in tow, the Bundy family did not necessarily have the knowledge or resources to realize any early warning signs that their son could be harboring extreme visions of violence.

Ted was smart and did well in school, too: another reason why his tendencies towards psychopathy might have gone unnoticed. He was also described as being “attractive,” as a teenager and began his criminal career with small pranks and petty crimes like stealing (Montaldo, 2019, p. 1). According to interviews with Bundy, he started stealing specifically so that he could save up money to go skiing (Montaldo, 2019). Bundy broke into homes and stole cars, but his juvenile criminal record would be expunged when he turned 18.

 After graduating high school in 1965, Bundy went on to college. He began his undergraduate career at the University of Puget Sound. Bundy’s social anxiety and awkwardness intensified in his new environment. In 1966, Ted decided to transfer to the University of Washington. While his social skills never improved, he did start dating while at the University of Washington and fell in love with a woman from a wealthy background. Bundy wanted to impress her but felt out of her league. He worked minimum wage jobs like bagging groceries and did not indicate any ambition for a future career. After several years, his girlfriend broke up with him, triggering a downward spiral of anger and depression. In fact, many of his rape and murder victims were college students with long dark hair like his first girlfriend (“Ted Bundy Biography,” n.d.). Bundy took some time off school and traveled around the country, even taking some classes at Temple University before eventually returning to the University of Washington to complete his degree.

Bundy graduated from the University of Washington in 1972, ironically with a degree in psychology. However, he began to consider a career in law. Bundy was accepted into a law school in Utah and worked in political campaigns to gain experience. By 1973, Bundy was working as the assistant to Ross Davis, Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party. At this time in his life, Bundy seemed to have overcome some of his psychological problems. He had a new girlfriend named Elizabeth Kendall, who later wrote a book about her relationship with Ted Bundy entitled The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy. She describes Bundy during this time of his life as being “confident,” as if he had totally turned over a new leaf (Montaldo, 2019, p. 1). It was also around this very same time that women in the Seattle area, where Bundy lived, started to go missing.

A Life of Ultra Violence

In 1974, on a roll in his career, Bundy moved to Salt Lake City to attend law school at the University of Utah. While in Utah, several more women went missing. Hikers in Washington coincidentally stumbled upon human remains in the woods. Authorities examined the bones and traced them to women that had been reported missing in both Utah and in Washington. Moreover, the women all had similar physical features. They were also killed in the same way, with a blunt object to the head, and were also raped and/or sodomized. Law enforcement began investigating the possible connections between crimes committed in disparate states.

One of Bundy’s Utah victims did manage to escape his clutches, though, and was able to provide...…What Does It All Mean?

Bundy seemed to waver between unapologetic arrogance for his crimes and extreme remorse, indicating that perhaps he cannot actually be classified as a true sociopath. Immediately before his execution, Bundy started to divulge more information about his crimes as if he relished the opportunity for emotional catharsis. He admitted to decapitating some of his victims and keeping their skulls as trophies, for example, and also to sexually molesting the bodies of his victims after death: necrophilia. Reports also indicate that Bundy in fact spent the entire night before his execution in tears and that his last words were “to give my love to my family and friends,” (Montaldo, 2019). Yet he had once referred to himself as “the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet,” (Paoletti, 2017, p. 1). Bundy may have suffered from a psychiatric illness that remained undiagnosed, as did his maternal grandfather. The story of Ted Bundy therefore draws attention to the need for early identification of mental illness, or at least of identifying risk factors in early childhood such as a fascination with knives and extreme self-isolation.

Because his friends and family have also given conflicting accounts of their time with Bundy, it is difficult to piece together a truly accurate picture of the man. Certainly he was disturbed beyond the realm of comprehension, but he also functioned fairly well at times. Bundy did not cope with stress or rejection well, evidenced by the way he started to kill almost immediately after two meaningful stressful life events: the breakup with his first real girlfriend and his learning the true nature of his identity. Learning that his own mother had been lying to him for most of his life was difficult, and the pain of that realization coincided with the anguish and rejection of losing the woman he loved. 

Also in retrospect, it is possible to use the story of Ted Bundy to improve efforts at law enforcement. Law enforcement did a good job using the clues Bundy left to piece together the facts of his crimes. While Bundy may be described as smart, he was not necessarily skilled in covering up his crimes and was often sloppy enough to leave clues that the police later used to arrest him. For example, Bundy should have realized that his credit cards would lead the authorities to his whereabouts in Colorado, or that leaving a crow bar and handcuffs in his car while driving recklessly might not be a good idea. Bundy seemed to act more out of rage or even a fugue state than he did commit calculated or premeditated crimes. After all, an intelligent serial killer would not have left identifying marks on his victims such as teeth marks or blood stains. Interestingly, one of the police officers who met Bundy in Seattle was none other than Ann Rule. Rule went on to publish several true crime books and made a good name for herself doing so, in part thanks to her biography of Bundy entitled The Stranger Beside Me. The story of Ted Bundy shows that serial killers could indeed lurk anywhere, and may in fact be the people closest to us.

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