Theodore Robert Bundy the Serial

Theodore Robert Bundy

The serial killer Theodore Robert Bundy, commonly known as Ted Bundy, is one of the most enduringly fascinating killers of all time, largely because he defied the commonly held beliefs of what it meant to be "evil." When Bundy came on the scene, many people believed in the concept that sexual predators were somehow distinguishable from the rest of society. Someone who engaged in the serial rape and murder of women would certainly not appear to be part of mainstream society, much less present as a desirable member of society. Bundy challenged those stereotypes. Considered good-looking by many people, Bundy was a volunteer, a law student, and seemingly successful in his personal relationships with women. Few who knew Bundy would have suspected that his normal facade hid a violent criminal.

The information about Bundy's early life is somewhat unreliable, though his childhood was unusual. He was born to Eleanor Louise Cowell, a single mother, on November 24, 1946, but he was raised by his grandparents as their son and did not know that his "sister" was actually his mother for much of his childhood. His accounts of his grandparents vary, but there is evidence that his grandfather was physically and emotionally abusive to Bundy and his mother. Bundy's adoptive father, his mother's first husband, appears to have treated him well, but Bundy was a loner in his childhood and his fascination with death and sexual violence began at a young age. However, Bundy was able to maintain a facade of normalcy. He attended the University of Washington, was a delegate to the 1968 Republican convention, worked as a volunteer at a suicide hotline, and volunteered on a political campaign. Bundy also got into law school. During his time at the University, Bundy also had several significant romantic relationships.

No one knows exactly when Bundy began raping and killing women. He may have been killing people while he was in his teens, and was almost certainly kidnapping and killing people by the early 1970s. However, his first proven homicide occurred in 1974 when he was 27. On January 4, 1974, Bundy entered the bedroom of a student at UW, bludgeoned her with part of her bed frame, and used a speculum to sexually assault her. That victim survived. A month later, Bundy broke into Lynda Ann Healy's room, beat her unconscious, dressed her, kidnapped her, and then took her to a location where he killed her and sexually assaulted her. Several other young women fell victim to Bundy while he was in Washington. Sometimes he faked an injury, specifically a broken arm or a broken leg, to get the women close enough to him to kidnap. When Bundy moved to Utah for law school in 1974, the disappearances in Washington stopped and a string of kidnappings, rapes and murders began in Idaho, Utah, and Colorado. While he used a variety of means to kill the women, most of them were bludgeoned to death.