Life and Deeds of Ted Bundy - Essay Example

?Ted Bundy Ted Bundy Ted Bundy was born on November 24, 1946 to Eleanor Louise Cowell in Burlington, Vermont. He was born at the Elizabeth home for unwed mothers. His mother stayed at the home for eight weeks before moving back to her parents’ home in Philadelphia with her new born boy. His father is still unknown to date. His mother was twenty two years old and was not married, which went against her parents’ deep religious believes. Growing up, Ted believed that his mother was sister to him and his grandparents were now his parents. In 1951, Louise married Jonny Bundy, and they moved to Tacoma, Washington. Bundy expressed unusual fascination to knives at a tender age of three. During his teenage years, Ted was well behaved, attractive and performed well in school despite his meager surroundings and parental circumstances. From High school, he joined the University of Paget Sound where he felt uncomfortable with his wealthy peers but still performed well academically. He later transferred to University of Washington because of his uncomfortable feeling at Paget Sound caused by his financial inadequacy. The signs of his dark side were seen during his teenage years. Ted liked to peer through other people’s windows but not with the intent of stealing from them. In High School, his shyness led him to be socially awkward. Although he had friends in college, he did not bond freely into their social activities. He mostly kept to himself. Bundy met a pretty wealthy and sophisticated girl from California who turned out to be the woman of his reveries. She had everything he desired: money, class, influence and they shared the same hobby of skiing. Ted became affectionate with her and tried to win her endorsement with a scholarship to Stamford which he had won. However, she decided he was not a worthy husband for her. She later ended the relationship which broke Bundy’s heart. Ted’s preoccupation toward her haunted him for many years to come (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007). Due to the break up, Ted became extremely depressed. During this time, he became aware of the truth that the person he thought to be his sister was his mother and those he knew to be his parents were his grandparents. There were also accusations from his friends that he had become a thief. However, Ted turned his shyness into a false bravado participating in social and political activities, and he returned to college, excelled academically and got a bachelor’s degree in the field of psychology. He also got a letter of recommendation for his work in the campaign of the Republican Governor of Washington. He was later appointed to the Seattle Crime Prevention Advisory Committee. There are rumors that Ted had begun killing at this time (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007). In 1973, Bundy became the assistant to Ross Davis the chairman of the Washington State Republican Party and looked set in securing his political career. In 1974, there were reports that young women had begun to disappear from colleges around Washington. In one case, a young radio presenter called Lynda Ann Healy disappeared. In another case, two women at the park were approached by an attractive man named Ted, offered to take them to his boat, but they declined. The next day they were seen heading to his boat in his company. They were never seen again. The stories were that the victims were last seen in the company of a young, attractive young man, and he usually lured them to his car by pretending to be asking for help or injured. Later, bones were discovered in the Washington forest by hikers which were identified to be the missing women in the cases (Michaud & Aneysworth, 2000). Later in the fall of 1974 Ted Bundy moved to Utah where he studied Law at the University of Utah. Woman started going missing at this time. In one instance, a man dressed like a police officer attacked Carol Daronch in the mall. Fortunately, she managed to escape and gave the police his descriptions. A few hours later seventeen year old Debbie Kent went missing. At this time, investigators from the state of Utah and Washington linked the bones discovered in the Washington forest to a man named “Ted”. After investigations, authorities came up with a profile of the women who were going missing. The women were all white, slender and single. The women also had long hair and they disappeared during late evening hours. The bodies discovered in Utah had been hit on the head by a blunt object, sodomized and raped. This evidence gave the police an idea that they were dealing with a serialized killer, who travels from one state to another (Michaud & Aneysworth, 2000). These murders continued over the years until the arrest and trial of Ted Bundy from June 25, 1979 to January 17, 1989. Bundy was later electrocuted on January 24, 1989 and died at 7:13 am. By the time he was arrested, Ted had killed one hundred women and girls. This is according to the lawyer who represented him in the court proceedings. In an interview with James C. Dobson, Ted Bundy confessed that he was addicted to hard core pornography. He said that in all his murders, his motive was to warn the world about the dangers of pornography which had led to him killing young innocent women. His desire to kill was usually fueled by hard core pornography. Psychologist Dorothy Otnow, who examined Ted before his execution; concluded that he was manic-depressive, and he committed the murders during periods of deep depression. This depression was caused by his traumatic childhood experience and also the break-up with his first love. Ted’s grandfather also had depression disorders and his wife was obedient and timid. Ann Rule a biographer referred to him a sadistic sociopath who took another human’s pain as his pleasure. His also took pleasure in taking control of his victims until their painful death and even after his their death (Michaud & Aneysworth, 2000). There is little difference between sociopaths and psychopaths. However, they have nearly the same characteristics. This is in the way they perceive human life and engage in similar activities. Also in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, both sociopath and psychopath are listed under antisocial personalities (Ransom, 2010). In diagnosing the two, similar procedures are used. Despite these close similarities, the two can be differentiated. Some would differentiate psychopathic and sociopathic behaviors by what has caused them. It is believed that psychopathic characteristics are genetically acquired from a person’s parents. While sociopathic behavior is primarily caused by the surrounding social environment and how the victims respond to this environment (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007). Sociopaths are charming, extremely manipulative, have no remorse nor love, have multiple sexual partners, do not stay at one place for long, lack empathy, and they feel entitled to everything. On the other hand, psychopaths are charming, self-centered, and deceptive, have implosive lifestyles, have no remorse, have many sexual partners, attempt suicide but fail, and blame other people for their actions (Ransom, 2011). References Michaud, S. G., & Aneysworth, G., (2000). Ted Bundy: Conversations with a killer. Texas: Authorlink Press. Federal Burial of Investigation, (2007). Ted Bundy: The FBI Files. Washington. Government Press. Ransom, J., (2011). The Psychopath Test. London: Pac Macmillan. Read More