Abstract
Ted Bundy, a known sexual psychopath and serial killer who murdered fourteen women in the 1970s is perhaps one of the best known criminal profiling cases ever known. Profilers proclaimed him to be a middle-aged Caucasian who would only take Caucasian women who were young themselves. He would be charming and calm prior to criminal activity before showing little restraint concerning his rage and sexual activity after secluding them at an undisclosed location. The profile also suggested he had transportation and was intelligent, but insecure. Law enforcement understood they were looking for a man who murdered based on trauma he experienced earlier in life due to a woman. While the profile was accurate in many ways, Bundy was caught because one of his victims escaped and he was no longer able to continue calculating his crimes in the same fashion he once had.
During the initial investigation of Bundy’s murder victim’s it was easy to conclude many things about his state of being. For example, he took over fourteen victims between the years of 1973 and 1979 in generally the same fashion, making him a serial killer. As such, he would likely have past trauma and a sociological pattern he would follow before each murder, as well as a ritual he may follow after each murder . The primary characteristic of each crime was rape, and the victims were female. Typically, they were girls and young women. His preferred method of murder was beating and strangulation, suggesting heightened and intense bouts of rage, according to his profile .
A more in-depth criminal profile analysis suggested the serial killer, later known as Ted Bundy, would have been a troubled child who grew into a predator in order to protect his smaller self; essentially, he would have been harmed or abandoned by a woman . The women he was able to successfully lure away and murder left few clues. There were also no witnesses. This did not necessarily suggest calculated murdered, but it did lead profiles to believe Bundy was charismatic and charming to an extent. He was classified as a High Factor 1 Psychopath in police records, signifying he was significantly intelligent and was a relatively normal child with few developmental issues early in his life . Now, as he became a serial killer, he was assumed to be a pathological liar, have assumed a grandiose sense of person, no remorse for his actions, no empathy, and a knack for manipulating his targets . There was evidence to suggest he would have had difficulty accepting real responsibility or his actions.
Police received information primarily from the trail of bodies left by Bundy. It was clear he had a specific type of woman he would target; they were single, thin, and Caucasian, like himself . The trail of victims shows later that he only chose women who lived in states different than his own, which would tell law enforcement he had access to transport in order to stalk them, as well as dump their bodies. Eventually, on November 7. 1974, one of Bundy’s victims was able to escape, giving law enforcement direct intelligence on him. Carol DeRonch, age eighteen, was leaving a mall in Utah when approached by a man who informed her somebody had attempted to steal her car. DeRonch believed him to be a police officer and it is now understood this had happened to Bundy before, as he was able to produce a badge later to show her . She informed law enforcement that he was helpful, charming, and warm as he asked her to check the car, making sure if anything was stolen. He insisted they go to the station in his car, a Volkswagen, to make a statement. He pulled over and, after forcing handcuffs on DeRonch, she was able to struggle out of the car and get away, eventually giving the authorities information on his appearance and demeanor which proved invaluable. Many of their assertions when profiling Bundy had been correct. The profile has surmised he was Caucasian, based on his victims, and middle-aged. His demeanor prior to and during the criminal act was also aligned with the criminal profile, as he was charismatic and doleful in order to lure DeRonch away from the mall, and abrasive and violent after driving away.
Because the profile was accurate, police were able to make an arrest nine months later on the grounds of aggravated kidnapping. However, because no other evidence was found, they were not able to link him to the several other murders that had occurred at this point. He escaped twice while in custody, fleeing to Florida. While in Florida, in 1978, Bundy brutally attacked four women after forcibly entering the Chi Omega Sorority House. Two women were murdered, the others brutally injured; an hour later he entered another home, once more beating a woman with a blunt object. The women were Caucasian, young, and did not live in his state of residence, which aligned with his criminal profile. The age of the women, however, and the intense rage with which he beat them caused profiles to wonder if a college girlfriend had not triggered the rage left by Bundy’s biological mother. The breakup had depressed Bundy immensely during his college years, while his mother, who he believed for most of his childhood to have been his abusive sister, may have been the cause of the originating trauma . After the attacks, a sorority resident was able to identify Bundy. He had beaten three of the women with a tree branch, which he used as a club. One of their skulls had been split open. He had but one of the victims with such rage he had left a bite mark later used to help convict him. Later he was also convicted of the rape and murder of a twelve-year-old girl in Lake City, Florida, resulting in the death penalty.
Many aspects of the Bundy’s criminal profile were accurate. Profiles were able to ascertain his relative age and ethnicity, as well as whether or not he had transportation. They were also able to understand how he was likely to act in public before taking a victim based on the way in which they were taken, as well as how they were murdered. Law enforcement knew they were looking for a middle-aged Caucasian man who was charming and polite in public. The man would be targeting young Caucasian girls. Sometimes he would even be targeting Caucasian female children in the same manner. It was only after getting them alone that he would lose all inhibitions, suggesting his lack of remorse and inability to accept responsibility.
His actions toward only young women suggested trauma caused by a woman earlier in his life, but the way in which he was able to approach women also classified him as a High Factor 1 Serial Killer; he had normal developmental prospects as a child and it was not until later that he began to experience the traits of a psychopath. After Bundy was caught, most of these proved to be true, though there is still substantial debate on whether the Bundy’s mother was the cause for his psychopathy, or whether he was a psychopath at all; some believe he was a sociopath . Despite this, the accuracy of the profile did not help or hinder the investigation. It was the escape of DeRonch that led law enforcement to catching Bundy for the first time. While he was able to escape the second time, it was then his unbridles rage and inability to mitigate his actions that led to his final arrest and eventual execution.
Many factors led to the accuracy of the profile. Profiles were able to surmise his ethnicity based on the ethnicity of his victims. It was unlikely he was a different race because the skin of the victims was not marred. He committed rape, and often beat or strangled his victims, suggesting his issue was specifically centered on young, white women. The way in which he acted out his rage was prepubescent, which also led investigators to assume the anger was centered on a woman the assailant had known earlier in his life, likely a mother. In Bundy’s case, he had spent most of his childhood thinking his mother was his sister. Eventually, investigators learned Bundy was also very shy around the opposite sex in situations he could not control and relied on them heavily for validation. He feared that women would humiliate him in certain circumstances, especially in intimate relationships, and it was thought this was a reason for his rage, as well, sometimes stemming from the breakup he experienced in college. The profile stated he would have a difficult, if not impossible time taking responsibility for his actions, the reasons being that he was either paying women back for what they had done to him, or that they legitimately deserved what he did. This was thought to be due to the unrestrained rage with which he beat his victims.
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