Theodore “Ted” Bundy

One of the most prolific and elusive serial killers in history, Theodore Bundy unleashed his murderous rage on an estimated 35 women while maintaining the facade of the boy next door. He was handsome, charming, confident, and dangerous, qualities that enabled him to go undetected for years. From early 1974, the stranger called “Ted” hunted young women in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Florida. Bundy, a law student and Young Republican, sometimes wore an arm cast to appear vulnerable and helpless. He had a penchant for killing attractive young females with dark shoulder-length hair, parted in the middle. Once he enticed his victims to his car, he bludgeoned, raped, and tortured them.

Theodore Robert Bundy was born, illegitimate, in 1946, in Vermont. To avoid shame, the family pretended he was his mother's little brother. He never knew his father, and his mother later married John Bundy. At age 3, Bundy was found standing over his aunt's bed holding a butcher knife. Despite his intelligence in school, he was described as volatile and unpredictable. He was a compulsive masturbator and a voyeur or “peeping Tom,” also arrested on suspicion of burglary and auto theft. In 1972, Bundy graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Washington; he developed a program for offenders and designed a rape pamphlet for the county. He became adept at blending into his environment like a social chameleon.

Bundy's brutal crimes began in Washington, with Linda Healy. She was abducted and murdered on January 31, 1974. Another victim survived after being assaulted and bludgeoned. From March 1974 on, several young women vanished. In November of 1974, Carol DeRonch was attacked and miraculously [Page 68]escaped from Bundy's clutches. That same day, still driven to kill, he kidnapped Debbie Kent. The killings continued despite police efforts to establish the identity of the murderer. After Bundy moved to Colorado to attend law school, women continued to disappear. Then, on August 16, 1975, after being arrested for possession of burglary tools, he was identified by Carol DeRonch as the man who had attempted to kill her.

Theodore “Ted” Bundy, sexual predator and serial killer who, during the 1970s, murdered approximately 35 young women in the states of Washington, Colorado, Utah, and Florida.

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While awaiting trial in Colorado for murder, Bundy escaped from the courthouse and dodged police until he was recaptured, only to escape again from Garfield County Jail. In 1977, he moved on to Tallahassee, Florida; and in January 1978, he raided the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University. Before the massacre was over, Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy had been viciously raped and killed. Bite marks discovered on their bodies provided key evidence at his trial.

Weeks later, he stole a VW van and killed Kimberly Leach, 12, who was taken from her school in Lake City, Florida. Her body was found 2 months later in a state park. During his trial, in which he defended himself, an extremely narcissistic Bundy showed no signs of remorse. Asked why he had committed the murders, he claimed that pornography had snatched him from his childhood. He claimed to have killed over 100 women, but estimates are closer to 35. Bundy, the consummate psychopath and sexual predator, was electrocuted on January 24, 1989, at a Florida state penitentiary.

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