Ted Bundy: Serial killer case study and criminal psychology

Ted Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell on November 24, 1946. When he was four years old, Ted's mother moved with her son to Tacoma, Washington and remarried Johnnie Culpepper Bundy. Ted did not get along with his stepfather, although he would frequently babysit for his four half siblings.

Throughout his youth, Ted showed signs of poor social skills development and adaptation. As Bell points out, "Ted became increasingly uncomfortable around his stepfather and preferred to be alone. This desire to be by himself increased and possibly led to his later inability to socially interact comfortably with others." His shyness became a defining feature of Ted's early childhood, as he was "self-doubting and uncomfortable in social situations," (Bell). However, Ted seemed to come out of his shell in high school and was even described as being "attractive" (Montaldo) and "popular," (Bell). In spite of being bullied frequently at school, Ted earned good grades and went on to attend college at both the University of Puget Sound and the University of Washington. Bundy remained socially awkward at college, causing him some serious problems with interpersonal and especially intimate relationships. His first serious girlfriend broke up with him in 1968, and "his obsession toward her haunted him for years," (Montaldo). The breakup led to a bout of depression, during which Ted dropped out of school. At the same time, Ted learned a disturbing secret that would further shake his already fragile identity and emotional state. Until this time, Ted believed that his mother was his older sister. His mother had pretended to be his older sister in order to "protect" her son and her own reputation for having had a child out of wedlock. Perpetuating the lie until Ted was in his twenties undoubtedly had an impact on Ted's ability to trust others, his attitudes towards the value of human life, and his ability to control his thoughts and emotions. However, Bell points out that Bundy's criminal tendencies had begun before he discovered his mother's deception. He was known for petty thievery, and some of his high school and college friends accused Ted of being dishonest (Bell 3). Bundy's criminal behavior was linked to other forms of deviance. For example, Bundy often impersonated police officers. His most common method of attracting young women on college campuses was to garner sympathy from them by wearing a cast on his arm or leg and asking a woman for help.

Ironically, Ted started to hone his social skills around the same time of his emotional breakdown. He became someone who others described as "charming, articulate and intelligent," ("Ted Bundy: Getting Away with Murder for Five Years"). He "changed from a shy and introverted person to a more focused and dominant character," almost overnight, as if something in him "clicked." His newfound personal charisma was also channeled into politics. Bundy considered going to law school after years of studying psychology, and he also "worked on a campaign to re-elect a Washington governor, a position that allowed Ted to form bonds with politically powerful people in the Republican Party," (Bell 3). Ted also channeled his charisma into an area that gave him perceived personal power: seducing and abducting women.

According to the FBI, no one knows for sure when Bundy actually started to kill. Law enforcement only knows for sure that Ted Bundy had started abducting, raping, and murdering women by 1974. His victims were exclusively young and attractive females, and almost always college students. Bundy most likely began his five-year killing spree in Washington, but later moved on to Utah, Colorado, and Florida. Bundy displayed gruesome ritualistic behaviors. For example, he "displayed their lopped off heads in his apartment and slept with their corpses until putrefaction made it unbearable," ("Ted Bundy: Getting Away with Murder for Five Years").

Furthermore, Bundy proved to be a foil for law enforcement. The first time he was arrested was in 1975 in Utah, after officers pulled him over after observing suspicious behavior. Officers saw a number of items that gave them probable cause for his arrest on the charge of burglary. The following year, Bundy was arrested and convicted for kidnapping and assaulting a teenager. Finally, in 1976, Bundy was charged with murder in Colorado. Bundy escaped. The FBI began a full-scale manhunt and Bundy was located in Aspen. Bundy escaped yet again. This placed Ted Bundy on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on February 10, 1977. Each time Bundy escaped, he killed more people.

It was in Florida that Bundy was arrested for the last time, in 1978, after a brutal killing spree at Florida State University. He confessed to thirty murders, although officials do not know the exact number of Bundy's victims. Bundy would be tried and sentenced to death under Florida State law in 1989.

Ted Bundy's complete disregard for human life and the laws of society seem perplexing. What motived Ted Bundy to transform from someone who simply told a few lies and stole a few things into someone who kidnapped, raped, and murdered with no qualms? Ted Bundy's criminal behavior can be explained best using social control theory.

Social control theory suggests that a system of social controls effectively mitigate the stressors or triggers that might cause someone to commit crimes. The theory does not imply that social controls are the only thing that prevents a human being from committing crime, just that social controls minimize the motivation to commit crimes. In other words, everyone gets upset and sometimes people become upset enough to do bad things. Social controls inhibit the impulse to do bad things. This may explain why Bundy was already deviant when he started killing. His lack of strong social connections predisposed him to devaluing social norms and social order.