Ted Bundy Essay

Ted Bundy: America’s Most Infamous Serial Killer

Abstract 

While Ted Bundy is neither the most prolific nor the most horrific serial killer in America, he is one of the best known of American serial killers.  This essay explores the reasons for Bundy’s infamy.  It will explore Bundy’s normal guy persona and how that not only helped him gain his victims’ trust, but also helped foster public fascination with Bundy.  Bundy committed crimes across multiple states, which helped create national awareness of his crimes at a time when crime reporting was still often confined to local areas.  He had multiple successful escapes, which not only created news while authorities searched for him, but also helped support the mythology of Bundy as a genius.  His antics during the trial, where he represented himself, were focused on engaging the press in an attempt to win public support.  Finally, after he was convicted, he attempted to use the possibility of confessions to prolong his life.  In this article, the author explores how these factors combined to create public fascination with Ted Bundy.

Introduction

Theodore “Ted” Robert Bundy is a criminal who is often considered the most notorious serial killer in America.  For people unfamiliar with his crimes, this designation can be puzzling, because he was not the most prolific serial killer in American history, and, while horrific, his crimes did not have some of the elements, like lengthy torture or cannibalism, which would make other serial killers household names.  However, once captured, Ted Bundy seemed to court infamy, and used opportunities to introduce himself into the average American household.  Part of the fascination was due to the contrast between Bundy’s true criminal self and the persona he presented to the public.  However, this was not the only reason that Bundy became famous.  Unlike many killers who confined their actions to a single state or geographic area, Bundy committed crimes in various parts of the United States, literally spanning from coast to coast by committing crimes in Washington State and Florida.  Once captured, Bundy escaped from jail on two occasions, which received national attention.  His trial was a press spectacle, not only because of the charges Bundy faced, but also because he represented himself at trial.  Even after he was convicted, Bundy continued to manipulate public perception of him, by offering to reveal the locations of bodies and identities of victims as a way to get a stay of execution.  When combined together, all of these factors helped fashion Bundy as America’s first celebrity serial killer.

Body

While many serial killers are described as outcasts, Bundy was often described as a handsome and charismatic man.  In college he was active in groups, including activity as a young Republican with aspirations of one-day running for office.  He was a successful psychology student, and even became a law student, though much of his law school career would actually consist of Bundy playing the role of student, but not actually being at school.  He could be charming and was able to develop some friendships and even long-term romantic relationships.  His good looks and ability to play the role of a nice guy are believed to have played a role in helping him get victims.  He would often pretend to be injured in order to gain sympathy and seem less threatening, then harm victims while they were helping him.  His victims only realized too late that the nice-looking man was anything but nice.  

However, while Bundy is often described as a deceptively normal killer, that description ignores some of the early impressions of Bundy.  As a child, Bundy was described as being very bright and a high achiever in school, but also as shy and someone who did not do well with his peers (Garrity, 2019).  His family life was interesting.  For the first several years of his childhood, he was raised as his grandparents’ adoptive child and told that his mother was his sister, because his mother had given birth to him as an unwed mother (Biography Editors, 2019).  However, his mother eventually married and raised Ted as her own.  There are no reports that either Ted’s mother or stepfather were abusive to him, which many people believed was critical component in creating a serial killer.

However, underneath the surface of Ted’s seemingly normal childhood, there were signs of the monster he…

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…made him seem disrespectful to the judge and to the jury.  He put his girlfriend on the stand and asked her to marry him, which resulted in them being legally married in the state of Florida due to an archaic Florida law.  This may have been designed to make him seem more sympathetic, but was definitely unusual enough to get public attention.  His behavior as his own lawyer was not simply flamboyant and aimed at trying to get attention or public sympathy.  When asking about the crimes that were committed, Bundy seemed to derive enjoyment from hearing details about the crime scenes and crimes, which undermined his desire to seem like he had not committed the crimes.  

Bundy was convicted of the sorority girl murders, and then convicted for the murder of his 12 year-old victim.  However, Bundy was not content to fade away from the public.  He gave interviews to news outlets, psychologists, and even criminologists who were determined to find out information about him and his crimes.  He maintained his innocence for years, even while working with authors who would write books about his crimes.  However, he enjoyed playing games with these people.  He would engage in hypothetical discussions about what a serial killer might do in order to have discussions about his crimes.  Eventually, when his execution was approaching, Bundy began confession to his crimes.  Most people see these confessions as Bundy’s attempt to get a last-minute stay for his execution.  

Conclusion

While there are many reasons that Ted Bundy captured the attention of America, there can be little question that the fascination with Bundy would usher in a strange era of serial killers becoming celebrities.  While he may have been the first American serial killer to become a household name, he was certainly not the last.  On the contrary, Americans have kept their fascination with true crime, particularly the work of serial killers.  Many people think that this fascination suggests that people are drawn to crime and to criminals.  While that may be true for many people, the author believes that the fascination with Bundy actually reveals something very different.  Before Bundy, many people believed that evil had a…