Ted Bundy: Serial Killer Profile, Crimes, and Legacy

Introduction: The Early Years

Ted Bundy was born Theodore Robert Bundy in November 1946 in Burlington, Vermont. His childhood has been described as "difficult," with "strained" relationships with his mother and stepfather (Jenkins, n.d., p. 1). The main reason for his strained relationship with his mother was that he was born out of wedlock; at the time and within his mother's social and cultural milieu, the pregnancy brought great shame upon the family ("Ted Bundy Biography," n.d.). Bundy's mother, Eleanor Cowell, had "deeply religious parents" who forced her to give birth inside an institution called the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers ("Ted Bundy Biography," n.d., p. 1). After he was born, Ted's grandparents pretended to have adopted him. Little Ted may very well have picked up on his being shunned, scorned, and unwanted from an early age — something that could have scarred him for life.

Ted's grandparents — his adopted parents — did not maintain a happy home life. Samuel Cowell, Ted's grandfather and Eleanor's father, was prone to violence, rage, and domestic abuse (Montaldo, 2019). In fact, Samuel Cowell may have been suffering from a serious but undiagnosed mental illness, as he was known to experience hallucinations and extreme paranoia (Montaldo, 2019).

In 1951, when Ted was five years old, his mother took her son and moved to Tacoma, Washington. While the reasons for her move remain unknown, it is highly likely that her abusive father prompted the decision. Eleanor even went so far as to change her name to Eleanor Nelson, as if she wanted to remain anonymous and prevent her parents from finding her. Shortly after moving to Washington, Eleanor met Johnnie Culpepper Bundy. Eleanor and Johnnie married and officially adopted Ted as their own son.

Even before the move to Tacoma, Ted had begun showing "an unusual interest in the macabre," such as playing with knives at the age of three ("Ted Bundy Biography," n.d., p. 1). In his early childhood years at school, Ted started to show signs of being withdrawn and sullen. He had few friends and did not seem interested in close connections with his family members. Eleanor and Johnnie had four children together, which may have exacerbated Ted's feelings of isolation. While his parents may have believed he was simply a shy kid, his extreme introversion is widely considered a factor implicated in his dysfunctional personality. With five children to care for, the Bundy family did not necessarily have the knowledge or resources to recognize any early warning signs that their son might be harboring violent impulses.

Adolescence, Education, and Early Criminal Behavior

Ted was smart and did well in school — another reason why his tendencies toward psychopathy might have gone unnoticed. He was also described as "attractive" as a teenager and began his criminal career with small pranks and petty crimes such as theft (Montaldo, 2019, p. 1). According to interviews with Bundy, he started stealing specifically so that he could save money to go skiing (Montaldo, 2019). Bundy broke into homes and stole cars, but his juvenile criminal record was expunged when he turned eighteen.

After graduating high school in 1965, Bundy went on to college. He began his undergraduate career at the University of Puget Sound. His social anxiety and awkwardness intensified in this new environment. In 1966, Ted decided to transfer to the University of Washington. While his social skills never improved markedly, he did begin dating and fell in love with a woman from a wealthy background. Bundy wanted to impress her but felt out of her league. He worked minimum-wage jobs such as bagging groceries and showed little ambition for a future career. After several years, his girlfriend broke up with him, triggering a downward spiral of anger and depression. Notably, many of his later rape and murder victims were college students with long dark hair — much like his first girlfriend ("Ted Bundy Biography," n.d.). Bundy took some time off school, traveled around the country, and even took classes at Temple University before eventually returning to the University of Washington to complete his degree.

Bundy graduated from the University of Washington in 1972, ironically with a degree in psychology. He then began considering a career in law, was accepted into a law school in Utah, and worked on political campaigns to gain experience. By 1973, Bundy was working as the assistant to Ross Davis, Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party. During this period, Bundy appeared to have overcome some of his psychological difficulties. His new girlfriend, Elizabeth Kendall — who later wrote a memoir about their relationship entitled The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy — describes him during this time as "confident," as if he had completely turned over a new leaf (Montaldo, 2019, p. 1). It was also around this very same time that women in the Seattle area, where Bundy lived, started to go missing.

Conclusion: What Does It All Mean?

Bundy seemed to waver between unapologetic arrogance for his crimes and extreme remorse, suggesting that he may not fit neatly into the classification of a true sociopath. Immediately before his execution, Bundy began divulging more information about his crimes as though he relished the opportunity for emotional catharsis. He admitted to decapitating some of his victims and keeping their skulls as trophies, and to sexually molesting the bodies of his victims after death — necrophilia. Reports also indicate that Bundy spent the entire night before his execution in tears, and that his last words were "to give my love to my family and friends" (Montaldo, 2019). Yet he had once referred to himself as "the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet" (Paoletti, 2017, p. 1). Bundy may have suffered from a psychiatric illness that, like his maternal grandfather's, went undiagnosed throughout his life. The story of Ted Bundy therefore draws attention to the need for early identification of mental illness, or at least for recognizing risk factors in early childhood such as a fascination with violence and extreme self-isolation.

Because friends and family have given conflicting accounts of their time with Bundy, it is difficult to piece together a truly accurate picture of the man. He was clearly disturbed beyond easy comprehension, yet he also functioned fairly well at times. Bundy did not cope with stress or rejection effectively, as evidenced by the timing of his crimes — he began to kill almost immediately after two significant stressful life events: the breakup with his first serious girlfriend and the revelation of the true nature of his birth. Learning that his own mother had been deceiving him for most of his life was deeply painful, and that realization coincided with the anguish of losing the woman he loved.

In retrospect, the story of Ted Bundy also offers lessons for law enforcement practice. Investigators did a commendable job of using the clues Bundy left behind to piece together the facts of his crimes. While Bundy was by many accounts intelligent, he was not particularly skilled at concealing his actions and was often careless enough to leave evidence that police were later able to use against him. For example, he failed to account for how his credit card records would place him in Colorado, and he drove recklessly with a crowbar and handcuffs in plain sight. Bundy seemed to act more out of rage or a dissociative state than from careful premeditation. Truly calculated killers, after all, do not leave identifying marks such as bite impressions or blood stains on their victims. Interestingly, one of the police officers who encountered Bundy in Seattle was Ann Rule, who later became a prominent true crime author. Her biography of Bundy, The Stranger Beside Me, is among the most well-known works in the genre. The story of Ted Bundy ultimately demonstrates that serial killers can lurk anywhere — and may, in fact, be the people closest to us.