Eventually, Ted Bundy was "fried" on the electric chair in Florida in 1989. A local, shouted to the onlookers that crowded the prison gates that day: "turn off your coffee makers, all the electricity will be needed here today!"
Ted Cowell was raised in a perfectly fine, absolutely normal family, with loving parents and 4 other siblings. Well, according to him. However, the official version is a little bit different. He was born to a single mom, which at that time was considered to be despicable, thus, his grandparents, took him in as his son, and he grew up thinking that his mother was his older sister. After some time, in 1951, Ted and his 'older sister' move to Washington, where she meets Johnny Culpepper Bundy. That same year, Johnny and Ted's mother got married, leading to Johnny, legaly adopting Ted, thus giving him the last name Bundy. (Crime Feed, 2015)
Ted as child and a teen, was set on general American pattern of a youngster. First the scout, who began and conducted his day on a schedule, on week days and mowing the lawn on weekends. Later, a diligent high school student, a member of the athletics team. Then he even had a girlfriend. This same girlfriend and those who replaced her in Washington, where Ted was a law student, stated both during investigation and in court, that Ted showed sadistic tendencies in bed. He especially loved violent games, e.g. master and slave.
After school, Ted first went to Seattle University, but then transferred to Washington. However, in 1967, he abandoned his law studies, to attend an elective course of Chinese language at Stanford University. Frivolous and superficial, he was unable to undergo the routine of hard daily work.
In the end, Ted dropped out and went back to the West. In Seattle he spent the winter, surviving on odd jobs, including helping the Republicans in their election campaign. And then, in 1969, for no apparent reason went to Philly.
These often movements to new places are of great importance in the history of Ted Bundy. During his travels he realized how huge America is and how easily a person who committed a crime, can get lost in it.
In 1971, after returning to Seattle, he ironically worked as a consultant at a local centre for the victims of violence and suicide hotline. Ann Rule is one of those who knew Bundy at the time, sociologist and author of several best-selling books, based on real facts of the criminal history of America. In the early seventies she, along with Bundy worked on a hot line in Seattle. In connection with the Bundy Ann wrote, that when people asked her about Ted, she always emphasized, that the man she knew in Seattle was a cute, sweet guy. He was interested in politics, was able to talk on the phone, he was witty and charming. She was friends with Ted Bundy and could not assume that he would be a maniac. Ann Rule also mentioned, when she saw his face for the last time before his execution, she noticed the same scrutiny, the same tilt of the head, saying, "You can trust this man." (McDaniel, 2003)
While working in Seattle Bundy wrote a booklet on the topic of rape where spontaneously manifested his true nature in these lines: "Many rapists are not sick people. These are persons who believe that they may with impunity, impose their will on others."
It amounted to something like the instructions entitled: "women have to protect themselves from rapists". Here are his recommendations: "Never answer an unknown man, who starts a conversation with you; do not go anywhere with a stranger, even if he is charming, and do not get in his car. But if you find yourself in a bind, then you should only do one thing: do not resist, surrender to him, and try to remember the details: clothes of a rapist and the dialect in which he spoke.
Devastatingly beautiful, with deep expressive eyes, Theodore Bundy was a living embodiment of the dream of any woman (Chua-Eoan, 2007). Three naive words: "hi, I'm Ted" - opened him the way to their hearts. Blondes, brunettes, redheads, that is, the stacks fell at his feet. Bundy attracted women like a magnet attracts metal staples out of the box.
But these three little words were a death sentence to at least five dozens of women. Using his visual appeal, for as long as four years, Bundy was skipping down the length and breadth of the US, as a stray angel of death.
Ted made the first bloody step in 1974, when he was 28 years old. Her name was Lynda Ann Healy. She was beautiful: tall, long brown hair. When she died, she was only 21 years: Going to bed on the evening of January 31, Lynda Ann Healy, twenty-year-old law student of University of Washington in Seattle, set the alarm for seven o'clock in the morning. She had to prepare information on the status of the ski slopes for the local radio station and was afraid to oversleep.
That night she disappeared. 37 thousand students live in this semi-million city. No one knew where the girl was. Lynda was not in love with adventures, and Seattle was considered a relatively quiet city, in terms of crime levels. The girl was found only thirteen months later. Her grave in forest thickets, to the East of the city, was discovered by the students. In addition to Lynda, the identity of whom was identified only three days later, there were two more bodies - two dead girls. Near the grave of girls under a thick layer of fallen leaves were accidentally found three more corpses. So, six dead girls; six of the ten who went missing in Seattle in a short time. Residents panicked. Even though Lynda Healy is listed as Bundy's first victim, all the evidence show that she wasn't, in fact, Bundy himself, once told that at the point of time, when he killed Lynda, he felt, like he was moving on to a new level. (theodorerobertcowellnelsonbundy, 2012)
On the 12th of March of that year, Donna Manson came out of the Dorm and went to a school concert, which was held on the outskirts of the city. Nobody saw her again. Nineteen-year-old Susan Rancourt, on the 17th of April came out of the University building after class and went to the cinema. And also vanished. Behind her into the abis of unknown followed: may 6 - Robert Park, twenty-two years; 6th of June - Brenda Ball, same age; 16th of June - Georgina Hawkins, eighteen years of age. (Blanko, n.d.)
One of Bundy's favorite "hunting" sadistic tricks was to use a fake plaster cast. He wore it on his hand and in any not very busy place portrayed the attempt to raise a heavy object or to change the wheel of the car. Waited until a pretty woman will offer their help, he would say, "Hi, I'm Ted" And the prey was on the hook.
Among tens of thousands of sunbathers on the shore of the lake under Seattle on July 14, Bundy was a likeable young man with his arm in a sling. He walked over to the girl named Janice Ott, lying near the water, and politely asked: "could You please help me put a light boat on the roof of the car?" Twenty-three year old Janice took his clothes, a bike and went with a young man to his car. She was victim number seven.
On the same day, after lunch, Denis Naslund together with friends went to rest near rapid Creek, which flows into the lake. At four o'clock she came out of the water and went to a public toilet nearby.
Only two months later the group of quail hunters came across the remains of Janice and Dennis under the trees. The corpses were naked. Was not difficult to determine that the girl had died as a result of appalling sexual violence. When the detectives engaged in this case, it was found that on the day a nice young man with his arm in a sling, tried to speak to at least a dozen of women. And to all he spoke, he started with the words: "hi, I'm Ted!"
August 30, Bundy retired from state of emergency in Seattle, moved to salt lake city and got a job in law school at the University of Utah. Less than two months in Utah as the killing began.
October 2, 1974: missing 17-year-old waitress.
October 16, 1974: 17-year-old Melissa Smith, the daughter of a police officer, did not return from the pizzeria. A few days later the corpse of a naked girl with traces of rape found in a roadside ditch.
November 8, 1974: Debbie Kent, also 17 years old, had not returned home from school.
Finally, the missing 17-year-old Laura Aime; a week from now, storm drains found her battered corpse.
In the latter case, the police has identified one feature of Bundy, and it brought them closer to finding a pattern of the murderer: Laura Aime, and Melissa Smith, one of the previous victims, both had the neck tied with a nylon stocking. All the killings testified pronounced sexual deviations criminal. The FBI began the hunt for "nylon killer".
20-year-old Carol DaRonch miraculously managed to avoid death, making her a first alive victim. It was on November 27, 1974. He spoke to her, posing as a police officer, and asked to go with him to the Parking lot. Carol explaines, that in the Parking lot he demanded that she got in his car. Carol did not hesitate as he made a good impression on her. He was polite and charming. But suddenly the car swiftly drove off, and before she knew it, he handcuffed her. Called for help, but nobody heard the girl. She got away from Bundy, not without a struggle, of course. Then another car stopped, the driver helped Carol, as the Volkswagen sped away. (Blanco, n.d.)
Then the epidemic of killings spread from Utah to Colorado, Later Bundy claimed that during the period from late January to April 1975, he was guilty of killings of the four women.
His bloody rampage seemed limitless. And for the detectives who have lost their legs in search of a maniac in three States, it was the worst type of offender - a wandering killer. Fortune smiled upon the guardians of the law on the early morning of 16 August 1975. Traffic police Sergeant Robert Howard was driving a patrol car. With the shift ending in twenty minutes, he waited for it to be over. The Sergeant saw a brown Volkswagen pass by. The Sergeant followed him, and after 300 metres ahead of him, blocked his way and grabbed the gun.
Howard asked the detainee documents. Police noticed some strange facts. Right seat of the car was lifted and laid on the back seat. In the box for gloves he had found a ski mask, a nylon stocking, ice axe and handcuffs. Of course, the detainee found plausible answers to the questions of the Sergeant, but was still taken to the police station. Bundy was placed in a detention cell. The next day, police learned that Ted Bundy is suspected of numerous killings of women in Seattle, and now here in Salt Lake City. (Gehrke, 2002)
On the eve of trial Ted was allowed to prepare for the upcoming trial in the library. Seizing the moment, when nobody was watching, he jumped out the window. (FBI, 2013)
He was detained and placed in solitary confinement in a prison in Colorado. But no one was alerted by the fact that the prisoner refused to eat and has rapidly lost weight. After losing 30 pounds, Ted got out of the chamber through the ventilation shaft and fled again.
Once outside, he stole a police car. January 15th, 1977 was the bloodiest day in the calendar of crimes of Ted Bundy. In Tallahassee, the capital of the state of Florida, armed with a thick wooden baton and a ski mask pulled on the head, with holes for eyes and nose, Bundy penetrated the single-storey building, student dormrooms of Chi-Omega. Female students had just returned from the Christmas break. Diana Kassin, one of those who fortunately was not injured on that terrible evening, said that most of the girls, at bedtime, gathered in the living room to gossip and exchange news. Nita Neary and her friend Nancy were the ones to discover the dead girls that night. (Wilson, 2002)
As soon as the lights in the Dorm went out and all was quiet, Bundy went to work. He ran up the stairs to the second floor and opened the door to the first room. It was Margaret Bowman, twenty-one years. He had bludgeoned the girl to death, strangled her, and then chewed off large pieces of flesh from the buttocks. Then slipped into the room opposite and the same vile way finished with twenty-year-old Lisa Levy. That evening Bundy severely beaten two more girls - Karen Chandler and Kathy Kleiner. Only after that, he left the dormitory. Karen and Katie not only suffered abuse, experienced the indescribable horror, but to this day have make up to hide the deep scars on the faces from bumps and bites.
I could not hear a scream or call for help. A man with a ski mask on his face is what Nita had to remember. She accidentally met him that day in the hallway of their Dorm. She became one of the most important witnesses for the prosecution. (Wilson, 2002)
The public Prosecutor Larry Simpson got the real trump card - the hard evidence: two sets of bites. The fact is that the killer bit Lisa levy in the chest and buttock. The medical examiner confirmed that the dental traces of the teeth belonged Ted Bundy.
All the murders, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has accused Ted Bundy of, now had a clear pattern: the bodies of girls were naked; all the girls were killed using cudgels, and sometimes with an ice pick; all the corpses showed signs of sexual torture; all the girls were teenagers or in early 20s; all the girls were beautiful, slender and there was a nylon stockin tied around most of the girls necks.
February 8, Bundy killed the youngest of his victims, Kimberly Leach. It happened in the Lake City, Florida. On sadistically disposing of the girl, he left her mutilated body in a pigsty.
15 February 1978 police David Lee was able to restore the tarnished reputation of the authorities. Volkswagen headed from the Parking lot of the restaurant, which was closed for several hours, seemed suspicious to him. Instant check on the computer has allowed to establish that the car is stolen.
Lee set out a persuit. Seeing this, the driver of "Volkswagen" stopped, jumped out of the car and attacked the police officer utilizing his bat. However, David Lee got him under control. Recovering himself, the driver called himself Ken Miescher and murmured: "it would be Better if you killed me" Mentioned surname was one of many used by Bundy. All of these names on the list counted up to thirty-one.
The investigation into Bundy lasted long. Moreover, instead of accusing at least a dozen murders, he was convicted only of the murder of schoolgirl Kimberly. But the evidence was irrefutable. In particular, on the body of a little girl had traces of deep bites that can exactly match the teeth of the accused.
After recognition of guilt of the murder of Kimberly, Bundy lived another eight years under the shadow of the electric chair, claiming that he is innocent. Just when Ted realized that the end is inevitable, he admitted to almost forty murders. Making a terrible list of his victims, he said: "I have deserved this death." The victims of Ted Bundy died in terrible agony, girls have been subjected to ingenious forms of sexual violence. Ted was then called the werewolf, the vampire, repo. He killed, killed and killed again. Jerry Blair, the state prosecutor at one of the trial, thought that Bundy killed for the killing itself, he liked the process, just as well as he liked the quest of not getting caught. (Nordheimer, 1989)
During the trial Bundy received a letter with words of support, even marriage proposals from women. And, in fact, he did get married, in order to prolong the trial.
Established under the jurisdiction of the FBI, a special unit developed for the study of 'monsters' like Bundy, embarked on a sweeping study of maniac killers. Abilities of a psychologist-killer Ted Bundy were put to use here. His revelations were particularly instructive. He gave the detectives almost a course of lectures on the technology of the preparation and of the murders. Acting as a consultant, he helped uncover one chilling crime. In addition, Bundy reminded the police forgotten truth: the maniac often returns to the scene of a murder or a grave of his victim.
In his last interview, the one that took place a day before the execution, Ted Bundy shared his thoughts on the nature of serial killers. He said that every single person who has or has had troubles being abussive, mainly physicaly, got this way due to pornography. In his opinion, pornography is what shaped him and it is something that can influence anyone's phycho, no matter how strong.
Ted Bundy was and remaines one of the most notorious and deadliest killers in the history of serial murder. After 10 years of trials, on the 24th of January 1989, Theodor Robert Bundy had been executed by electrocution and at 7:16 am had been pronounced dead. (Nordheimer, 1989)
References
Blanco, J. Ted Bundy | Victims | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers. Murderpedia.org. Retrieved 13 July 2015, from http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b1/bundy-ted-victims.htm
Chua-Eoan, H. (2007). Crimes of the Century - TIME. TIME.com. Retrieved 13 July 2015, from http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1937349_1937350_1937464,00.html
Crime Feed Staff,. (2015). 6 Little-Known Facts About Ted Bundy That Every Bundyphile Should Know - Crime Feed. Crime Feed. Retrieved 13 July 2015, from http://crimefeed.com/2015/06/6-facts-ted-bundy-every-bundyphile-know/
FBI,. (2013). Serial Killers, Part 3: Ted Bundy’s Campaign of Terror. Retrieved 13 July 2015, from https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/november/serial-killers-part-3-ted-bundys-campaign-of-terror
Gehrke, R. (2002). A Wrong Turn Led to Ted Bundy's Twisted Road to Justice. latimes. Retrieved 13 July 2015, from http://articles.latimes.com/2000/sep/03/local/me-14716
McDaniel, M. (2003). True-crime writer Ann Rule sees Ted Bundy story as a warning. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 13 July 2015, from http://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/True-crime-writer-Ann-Rule-sees-Ted-Bundy-story-2113259.php
Nordheimer, J. (1989). Bundy Is Put to Death in Florida After Admitting Trail of Killings. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 13 July 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/25/us/bundy-is-put-to-death-in-florida-after-admitting-trail-of-killings.html
theodorerobertcowellnelsonbundy,. (2012). 1974 Lynda Ann Healy. Retrieved 13 July 2015, from https://theodorerobertcowellnelsonbundy.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/1974-lynda-ann-healy/
Wilson, A. (2007). Sisters In Grief. tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 13 July 2015, from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-01-23/features/8902270805_1_sorority-margaret-bowman-front-door
