Story of the Serial Killer Ted Bundy - Research Paper Example

Ted Bundy Introduction Serial killers catch the eye of the public, for their notoriety in the number of murders they commit, before the long arm of the law catches up with them. Theodore Robert Bundy was one such serial killer in the United States of America. He will be remembered by his more common name of Ted Bundy and for him being among the most prolific serial killers in America. A significant aspect of Ted Bundy is that the world will never know how many murders he really committed or exactly when he actually started his killing spree (Biography for Ted Bundy). However he was a white male in his early youth, who had a childhood that could be described as not typical to American children, and in a span of three years killed several young women to fit the description of a serial-killer (Bentley, 2008). Parentage of Ted Bundy Like many aspects of Ted Bundy, which remain a puzzle, who his father was remains elusive. Ted Bundy was born as Theodore Robert Cowell on November 24, 1946 at the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mother’s, to Eleanor Louise Cowell. Having an illegitimate could give rise to social; stigma in those days and so his maternal grandparents created the impression that he was their child and that his mother and her sister were really his sisters. The truth that the woman he considered his sister was really his mother was not known to him in his early days and he discovered this truth only when he was at high school or during his early period at college (Bentley, 2008). Who his father was will probably be never known. The reason for this lies in his mother not providing clarity on this issue. She has provided two different versions about who his father might be. In his birth certificate she has provided his father’s name as Lloyd Marshall, but later on she was tom discount this by saying that she had been seduced by a war veteran by the name Jack Worthington. Whether she did this to give a better image to herself and her child out of wedlock cannot be ascertained. There is another element that adds to the uncertainty of the identity of Ted Bundy’s father, and that is in the possibility of Louise’s own father Samuel, being the biological father of Ted Bundy. Some members of the family have through their assertions raised this doubt. Ted Bundy’s maternal grandfather was mentally unstable and a violent and abusive man, who got very angry whenever anyone raised the question of Ted Bundy’s biological father (Bentley, 2008). As a child, Ted Bundy believed that his grandfather was his father and had witnessed him demonstrating violence and a sadistic nature. He had witnessed Samuel abusing the house dog and had also seen him swinging the neighbourhood cats by their tails. This may have had an impact on Ted Bund developing a fascination for torturing animals when he was a child. His fascination for knives at a very young age is confirmed by his mother’s younger sister, when she woke up from a nap at home to find herself surrounded by knives and a smiling three year old Ted Bundy by her side (Bentley, 2008). Life of Ted Bundy Ted Bundy spent the first five years of his life with his mother and her parents, believing that his mother’s father Samuel was his father and a witness to the violent and sadistic nature of Samuel. His mother moved to Washington and in 1951 met Johnny Culpepper Bundy and married him. The name Theodore Robert Cowell name was thus changed to Theodore Robert Bundy or Ted Bundy in short, and he moved to stay with them (Ted Bundy, The Serial Killer). His stepfather tried to integrate him into the family, but was met with strong resistance, with Ted Bundy refusing to allow any kind of emotional bonding. This situation became worse, as four children were born to Johnny and Louise Bundy. Instead of developing any kind of relationship with the children, Ted Bundy went into isolation, preferring his own company. In spite of this issue at the home front, Ted Bundy did well at school and with his good looks; he became popular, which was good for his self-esteem (Ted Bundy). In addition to doing well at school, Ted Bundy was also associated with the Boy Scouts of America club, but he remained shy and introverted probably from his lack of understanding of social interaction, for he wondered why people were attracted to one another. His criminal tendencies began to show when he was at high school through being a habitual liar, shoplifting and stealing and voyeurism. He was arrested twice, but his juvenile records were expunged (Bentley, 2008). He graduated from high school in 1965 and joined for a graduation course in Psychology at the University of Washington. During his student period at the University of Washington, he fell in love with fellow student Stephanie Brooks. However, for wealthy Stephanie there was nothing serious about the affair and in 1968 this relationship came to an end suddenly. It is believed that this relationship had a strong influence on Ted Bundy for the rest of his life and the murders that he committed, for many of his murder victims had physical similarities to Stephanie (Ted Bundy). The break up caused him to drop out of college for a while and during this period he discovered his true parentage. Two psychological blows at around the same time, and to recover from this he returned to college and plunged into studies and became an honours student in psychology. After he graduated in 1972 he developed an interest in politics and started campaigning and became a political activist of the Republican Party (Ted Bundy). During this period he developed a relationship with Meg Anders, who was a divorcee with a daughter and this relationship lasted for about five years. In spite of this relationship, his obsession for Brooks continued, and their romance was rekindled in 1973, when they met again. The sea change in Ted Bundy and his fortunes made Brooks the passionate one this time, but just as she thought their relationship was headed for marriage he broke off the relationship with her, in a manner similar to what she did when they were in college. Both Brooks and Anders did not know anything about one another during the time he Ted Bundy maintained a relationship with one another (Ted Bundy). The Crimes and the Trials The first victim of Ted Bundy will never be known definitely. There is only speculation on this aspect and it is with respect to Ann Marie Burr. Ann Marie Burr was an 8-year old girl, who disappeared on August 30, 1961, when Ted Bundy was a mere boy of 14 years. There would be no connection between her disappearance and Ted Bundy, who lived three miles away, but for the incident of Ted Bunty’s final interview prior to his execution with a Seattle detective Robert Keppel. During this interview he confessed many killings, and lowered his guard to say something that brought back the image of Ann Marie. When questioned on it directly he denied any role in it, which some put down to serial killers being reluctant to admit to the killing of innocent young girls, Like other aspects of Ted Bundy shrouded in mystery, the identity of his first victim will remain a mystery, but for an extraordinary killer like Ted Bundy, killing Ann Burr and disposing of her body at the young age of 14 cannot be taken as improbable (Tesh, 2006) January 4, 1974 Joni Lenz became a victim of Ted Bundy, and one of the very few victims to survive his vicious attack, but the vicious rape left her with permanent physical and psychological damage. On January 31, 1974 Lynda Ann Healy disappeared, followed subsequently by another seven female students with similar physical appearances disappearing. The bodies of two of these students Janice Ott and Denise Naslund were found. Later that year Ted Bundy moved on to Utah, where between October and November he claimed another four victim all bearing the characteristics of his handiwork of rape, sodomy and blunt force trauma. The first break the police got in linking these victims to Ted Bundy came when his messed up his attempt on DaRonch at a Utah in November 1974 resulted in the police getting blood samples of the attacker. Later that he snatched his next victim Debby Kent. Then till January 1975 there were no more victims. On January 12 1975 another victim was found in Colorado with Ted Bundy’s call signs and investigations led the police to understand that Taylor Mountains was a favourite haunt of Ted Bundy in disposing of the bodies of his victims. They found another three bodies there. The net was closing on Ted Bundy and on August 16, 1975 he was arrested (Ted Bundy). He was initially tried only for the aggravated kidnapping of DaRonch, with insufficient evidence for the charge of multiple murders. He received a jail sentence, which did not make the investigators happy and so they next charged him with murder of Caryn Campbell in Colorado. Knowing that there was sufficient evidence to sentence him, attempted to break out from jai, but was arrested eight days later. His second attempt at escape in 1977 was successful, and he fled to Chicago and then on to Tallahassee in Florida. Old habits die hard. .Four students were found sexually assaulted and killed on January on 14 1978. Ted Bundy had become even more vicious in his attacks. On February 8, 1978, Ted Bundy struck for the last time. His victim was 12-year old Kimberly Leach. On February 15, 1978 Ted Bundy was arrested and finally had to face the legal retribution for his crimes. He was sentenced to death. He attempted to delay his execution by trying to confess to more crimes, but on 24 January 1989 he was executed at seven in the morning. He took with him another secret to the grave and that is the exact number of victims (Ted Bundy). Analysis of Ted Bundy What exactly were his objectives in these multiple crimes or what caused him to do it we do not know. We can only speculate on it. Sexual satisfaction was and is likely the objective in his multiple crimes as all his victims were violently raped. It also looks like his mind was sexually depraved taking into consideration the torture and agony he put his victims through. Such a perception of his objective gains strength from his words to his interviewer psychologist James Dobson, just before he was executed, “there is no way to describe the brutal urge to do that, and once it has been satisfied, or spent, and that energy level recedes, I became myself again” (Pornography and sex: Ted Bunty’s fatal addiction) . In this interview he blames pornography for be the driving force behind his actions. He was attracted to pornography from a young age and pornography destroyed his souls. No one is sure how true this is. His traumatic childhood watching a vicious man, who he believed was his father, the lies about his parentage, the psychological trauma being left by his first love may have all been contributory factors, though he lays all the blame on pornography (Pornography and sex: Ted Bunty’s fatal addiction) . Conclusion We may never know who Ted Bundy’s actual father was. We may never know who his first victim was or the actual number of his victims. We may never know his objectives or why he did it. What we do know is that Ted Bundy was one of the most vicious serial killers in the history of American and the world was better off without him Literary References Bentley, M. P. (2008). 10 Weird Facts About Ted Bundy’s Childhood, Retrieved Aug 20, 2009, from, Quazen Web Site: http://quazen.com/reference/biography/10-weird-facts-about-ted-bundys-childhood/ Biography for Ted Bundy. Retrieved Aug 20, 2009, from, The Internet Movie Database Web Site: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0120421/bio Pornography and sex: Ted Bunty’s fatal addiction. Retrieved Aug 20, 2009, from Web Site: http://www.tldm.org/news6/bundy.htm Ted Bundy. Retrieved Aug 20, 2009, from, Web Site: http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/400:821/1/Ted_Bundy.htm Ted Bundy, The Serial Killer. 2008. Retrieved Aug 20, 2009, from, Quazen Web Site: http://quazen.com/reference/biography/ted-bundy-the-serial-killer/ Tesh, J. (2006). TED BUNDY’S FIRST VICTIM: THE VANISHING OF ANN MARIE BURR. Retrieved Aug 20, 2009, from, CLEWS Web Site: http://www.laurajames.com/clews/2006/10/ted_bundys_firs.html Read More