Ted Bundy as a Serial Offender - Research Paper Example

?Introduction Ted Bundy was a serial killer, kidnapper, rapist and necrophile hailing from America. He was accountable for killing and murdering girls along with young women during the period of 1970s. He was also responsible for carrying out numerous instances of homicides that numbered to 30 in several states of America throughout the period 1974-1978. He was quite charismatic in nature for which the victims easily got trapped under him. He was able to perform such hideous crimes as he possessed the ability to lure his female victims into his trap. Most hideous crimes that reflected from his part were the serial killing of the female victims in the most inhuman and torturous manner. Serial killer is defined as an entity or a person who is responsible of murdering more than three people in a time period of over a month. A serial killer is prompted for undertaking such activities due to the possession of psychological gratification by a greater level. This aspect or state of mind is generally developed by way of increased amount of hatred for a particular gender or a class of people. The aspect of serial killing strongly relates to the conduct of high extent of illicit and unethical activities that seem to provide greater threats to an entire society (Hickey, n.d; AETN UK, 2013). With this concern, this paper will highlight the factors associated with the criminal behavior of Ted. In addition, a particular theory of criminal behavior linked with the criminal activities that performed by Ted will be taken into concern. Background of Ted Bundy Ted Bundy was born in Burlington, Vermont wherein he and his mother resided. There are no whereabouts of his father till now. During his childhood days, Ted was considered to be a good student and also performed various activities through participating in Boy Scouts and local churches. He was a bit of shy in nature but he seemed to perform criminal activities before finishing his high school. It can be viewed that at an early age, he got engaged in performing various sorts of illicit activities such as theft, shoplifting along with portrayal of con images and was also quite fascinated towards images of violence along with sex. Ted grew up and became matured as a young attractive man. He worked for the Washington State Republican Party. During that period, Ted was in a relationship with a girl named Stephanie Brooks. But due to Ted’s casual attitude towards his life and ambitions along with immaturity, things did not turned up to work much well between the two. Eventually, she ended the relationship with Ted. After few years, Ted turned out to be a completely new man with a different professional attitude. As he was viewed to be a part of the law school, he had something to show about his integrity and dedication towards a professional. Considering this aspect, he approached his lost love once again and finally got accepted by Stephanie. After a short duration of time, Ted himself dumped Stephanie due to certain indifferences in their behavior and they finally broke up. After this particular incident, he started to indulge in conducting all sorts of inhuman activities that mostly represented human torture. He started to perform different sorts of homicidal rampage that continued to last for almost three years. His prime targets comprised the women who were tortured dreadfully in an inhuman manner. It was ascertained that most of Ted’s victims had strong facial resemblance matched with his former girlfriend. Moreover, his victims had long hairs divided in the middle like that of Stephanie (AETN UK, 2013; Murderpedia, n.d.). Factors Associated with Ted’s Criminal Behavior In relation to the instances of the crimes and the cases of homicides that reflected from the part of Ted, there were numerous factors that can be associated with his criminal behavior. From a tender age itself, Ted was fascinated towards performing illicit activities. By the time he finished his high school, he already developed the habit of conducting theft alongside other illicit activities like portrayal of con images and shoplifting among others. He had a strong connection with engaging in conducting illegal activities. This can be regarded as one of the major factors which can be well associated with his criminal behavior. As per the analysis of his background, it can be understood that Ted did not had a better and long lasting affiliation with his ex-lover. Moreover, they seem to have differences in their thought processes that eventually created disagreements between them. It was also observed that Ted did not like to be rejected from his girlfriend i.e. Stephanie. And based upon this particular situation, he might reject Stephanie by himself when she accepted him after few years. It can be affirmed that the series of criminal instances that took place was primarily because of his ex lover and Ted’s grudge against her. He also had a very strong urge towards conducting activities linked with violence and based on this aspect, he started indulging in torturing the females in a very outrageous manner. Based upon such factors, Ted eventually became a serial killer. It can be apparently noticed that Ted had started to engage himself in performing illicit activities during his early childhood days only (Murderpedia, n.d.). This can be justified with reference to the fact that when Ted was around 15, he was convicted of killing an eight year old girl named Ann Marie Burr. However, no such proper evidences were found proving his involvement in the murder (Sullivan, 2009). Instances of Crimes and the Victims Ted was responsible for carrying out numerous serial killings and the number summed up to a total of 30, out of which all of them were young females. He got fully engaged in conducting all sorts of criminal activities when he reached at the age of twenty seven. A girl named Joni Lenz who was basically a student in her teen age was a victim of Ted. Ted was responsible for causing serious injuries to the girl as she was attacked by an iron rod several times in her head. The attack was so gruesome that she ended up with having full time brain damage and complete loss of memory. Lina Ann Healy who was also studying at the University of Washington became the next victim of Ted. She was simply carried away from her bedroom in an unconscious state and her beheaded body was found after a year by the police. In an another act of hideousness, Bundy was found to be responsible for kidnapping and murdering one nineteen year old girl named Donna Gail Manson. Later, he was also found to be liable in conducting similar instance in which a girl named Susan Rancourt became the prime target. Bundy’s next victim was Georgeann Hawkins, who was strangled to death in a very violent manner. He used a piece of cord to commit the murder. During the first half of 1974, the number of murders committed by Bundy was stood at 8. The rampage that was created by Ted was devastating and he was continuing to perform series of murders in a well planned approach. The rate of performing illicit activities by Ted was rising considerably but the rampage did not seem to end and the instances continued for several years. Amongst the most brutal murders, the case in which Bundy was convicted for abducting and murdering Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy seem to generate great amount of shocks. Both of them were in asleep at the time when the attack was made to them by Ted. It can be viewed that Levy’s collar bone was broken as a result of a very strong blow probably made with an iron rod. The torture can be regarded as much violent because of the involvement of tearing away of the teeth followed by deadly bites. Bowman was hit continuously in her head with an iron rod in a repeated manner. The blows to the head were so vicious that broke Bowman’s skull and the pieces of her skulls got deeply penetrated into her brain (Sullivan, 2009). Evidences of these acts indicate that both these women were in no condition to defend them as there were no such evidences such as finger marks or broken nails noticed in the dead bodies. This reveals that the victims were definitely had their hands tied up while they were tortured by Ted. Bundy’s last victim was an innocent twelve year old girl named Kimberly Leach who was also illicitly killed by the serial killer. There were various attempts that were made by the police to hold him responsible for the crimes committed by Ted (Hickey, n.d.). In the year 1975, Bundy got arrested for kidnapping Carol DaRonch who was able to flee from the clutches of Bundy. Bundy was thus convicted and entitled a one-to-fifteen-year jail sentence for the case of kidnapping. After a period of two years, Bundy was accused committing murder of a young Colorado girl. Though he was a determined individual and a lawyer, he decided upon to defend himself and act as his own lawyer in the particular case (Hickey, n.d; AETN UK, 2013). Years Spent after the Death Sentence In the end, all of the efforts of Bundy did not provide him much to save him from the sentence. He was considered to be a recognized public figure for many for the conduct of negative activities. In this similar concern, one of the renowned actors namely Mark Harmon played his role in a much realistic manner which was released in the year 1986 titled as ‘The Deliberate Stranger’. In order to avoid the sentence, Bundy made several variable efforts. In this regard, he tried to take the case to the Supreme Court of the United States but he was refused in several ways. Bundy was also found to provide information pertaining to certain unsolved murders for avoiding electric chair, but he was unable to delay justice (AETN UK, 2013; Hickey, n.d.). On January 24’ 1989, he finally met with his fate in the Florida State Prison. He got an Electric Chair treatment which caused his death. Prior to his death, he admitted that he was responsible for a sum of thirty-six killings, but there are certain evidences which revealed his direct involvement in murders nearing the number of one hundred. Even after his execution, it did not stop the public's interest in relation to the image portrayed by Ted Bundy. His life event had eventually become the theme of countless documentaries and books that were mostly targeted to shed radiance on the crimes committed by the vicious killer (AETN UK, 2013). A Theory of Criminal Behavior Associated With Their Criminal Activities There lay various sorts of theories related to criminal behavior that can be linked with the criminal activities that perform by such entities such as Ted. Based on the instances of crimes and other illicit activities that reflected from the part of the convict, the theory concerning psychological criminal behavior can be associated with that of Bundy. This particular theory mainly represents about how certain personality behavioral attitudes or traits are much conducive towards criminal behavior strongly focusing upon the aspects like temperament and intelligence. After acquiring a brief idea about the theory of psychological criminal behavior, it can be affirmed that this theory can be associated with the criminal activities that performed by Ted because all those instances of crimes that conducted by Ted was due to psychological indifferences towards opposite gender. It can be affirmed from a broader outlook that Bundy’s psychological disability urged him to perform extensive illegal activities and therefore he became the ultimate serial killer (Keppel, R. (2010; Murderpedia, n.d.). This type of gruesome behavior is unleashed when the psychological condition of an individual is not in a stable position. Such aspect of abnormal psychological behavior can be combined with hideous acts that were discharged by Ted especially to physically hurt someone. In Bundy’s case, same instance of psychological frustration seem to appear and eventually he decided upon to start rampage that ended up in the killing of numerous innocent women. Thus, after a thorough analysis of the case, it can be stated that psychological theory of criminal behavior was strongly associated with Bundy’s criminal activities. Conclusion From the above analysis, it has been ascertained that Ted Bundy had an aggressive attitude combined with psychological dissatisfaction since his childhood. In addition, he had strong fascination towards several negative elements that mostly reflect violence. It can be affirmed that all those factors which have been discussed above combined with the problems of Ted’s girlfriend Stephanie made Ted to follow the path of destructing the lives of mass number of women. It is worth mentioning that Ted used to kill those particular women who possessed similar facial resemblance with Stephanie. It was apparently observed that Ted eventually became a serial killer and was responsible for killing women in the most dreadful manner. The instances of mass killings continued for several numbers of years and during this particular period, the rate of conducting crimes or various other sorts of illicit activities gained much momentum. It has also been realized that Ted’s rage and repetition of the murders did not continued to persist for a very long time. He eventually got caught in Florida and in the year 1989, and got the punishment that he deserved. Numerous measures of avoiding the punishment that was adopted by Ted did not provide any good to him and finally ended his life through the incorporation of electric chair treatment. The criminal activities that performed by Ted can be regarded as the most notorious crimes that took place in history. References AETN UK. (2013). Ted Bundy biography. Retrieved from http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/ted-bundy.html Hickey, E. W. (n.d.). Serial murderes and their victims. United States: Cengage Learning. Keppel, R. (2010). The riverman: Ted Bundy and I hunt for the green river killer. United States: Simon and Schuster. Murderpedia. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved from http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b1/bundy-ted-victims.htm Sullivan, K. M. (2009). The Bundy murders: A comprehensive history. United States: McFarland. Read More