An Introduction to the Life of Ted Bundy

The most distinguishing factor of a serial killer is multiple victims—generally four or more. A serial killer will continue killing until he is made to stop. Serial killers differ from mass murderers. A mass murderer may open fire in a bank and kill several people, making him a mass murderer. A serial killer does not kill several people in a matter of hours alone. The killer goes through phases: he claims a victim, has a cooling-off period, and then claims another victim a week or a month later.

A serial killer may even wait years before claiming another victim. These killers go through a cooling-down period but will invariably kill again. Serial killers are most often white men between the ages of 25 and 35. Serial killers, in most cases, work alone. The murderer most often does not know his victim nor have they had any previous contact with each other. A serial killer’s motivation is death. He needs to kill as others have a need for food. A serial killer can appear “normal” to neighbours and friends.

Ted Bundy is known as one of the most notorious serial killers. He was born in November 1946 to a 22-year-old unwed mother, Eleanor Louise Cowell. Ted’s father, whom he never knew, was an air force veteran. After Ted was born, his mother moved him from the home for unwed mothers to her parents’ house in Philadelphia. Bundy later referred to his grandparents as his mother and father, and his natural mother was known to him as his sister. Bundy grew up believing his mother was his much older sister. When Ted was four, he moved with his mother to Tacoma, Washington to live with relatives. A year after the move, Ted’s mother married an army cook, Johnnie Culpepper Bundy. Ted assumed the last name, which later became synonymous with murder.

Ted spent much of his youth babysitting his four younger siblings. He remained distant in his relationship with the man who became his stepfather. His new father tried to raise him as his own. Ted, however, never really related to him. He thought of himself more as a Cowell and less of a Bundy. He missed his “parents” in Philadelphia.

Growing up, Ted was known as a shy classmate who often became the butt of pranks and jokes by other schoolmates. Classmates recall Bundy as being smart, well-dressed, and well-mannered. He was well-respected in high school and maintained a high grade point average. Although he became more confident and popular with the transition from junior high to high school, he did not date and took little interest in the opposite sex. His interests lay in politics and skiing.

After Ted graduated from high school in 1965, he won a scholarship to the University of Puget Sound, later transferring to the University of Washington. There, he developed an intensive interest in Chinese and his interest in politics flourished. Although Ted maintained a high-grade point average, he was less consistent with his jobs. He took low-paying, entry-level jobs to pay for school. His work habits were poor, and he never stayed with one position for very long. His focus remained on his studies until 1967. That year, Ted Bundy began a relationship that would forever change his life. Ted met a beautiful, sophisticated young woman, Stephanie Brooks. She was from an upper-class family in California, and Ted was madly in love with her. They had little in common with each other aside from skiing. It was during skiing trips that the two fell in love. Although Stephanie felt strongly towards Ted, she also felt he had little ambition and didn’t see him in her future. Ted was completely infatuated with her. She was his first major relationship and the first woman he was sexually intimate with. Ted tried hard to impress her and keep their relationship from going sour. However, Stephanie didn’t believe he would permanently fit into her lifestyle. Stephanie graduated from the University of Washington in 1968 and broke off her relationship with Ted. Something that he never got over. Depressed over the breakup, he dropped out of school. He had trouble keeping interest in anything after his true love left him. They kept in touch through letters, but Stephanie made it clear she did not want to be together. This breakup would lead to a spiraling obsession.

To make matters worse, Ted learned in 1969 that his “sister” was really his natural mother and his “parents” were actually his grandparents. This revelation elicited another change in Bundy’s personality. He took on an icy demeanor, no longer the shy introverted person he had been. He became more focused, but in a more aggressive, dominant way. He was driven to prove himself to the world, and more importantly, to Stephanie Brooks. He re-enrolled in college to study psychology. Bundy excelled this time around, becoming an honors student and was well-liked by his professors. Additionally, during this time, Bundy met another woman. Meg Anders, a young secretary, and single mother fell deeply in love with Ted. Ted maintained a cool attitude, and Meg knew he didn’t feel as strongly for her as she did for him. She was unsure if she was the only woman Ted was seeing. She was also unaware of his former girlfriend and their continuing correspondence. Ted remarked that there was a difference in his feelings for Meg. Stephanie would remain the one true woman he ever loved.

Between 1969 and 1972, Ted’s life changed dramatically. He had high hopes for his future. He began filling out law school applications and rekindling an interest in politics. It was through this interest that Ted met up with Stephanie Brooks again. He worked on a campaign to re-elect a Washington governor. In a 1973 trip to California for the Washington Republican Party, Ted met with Stephanie for a night out. Stephanie was impressed with the noticeable change in Ted. He was much more mature and less aimless. Unknown to Meg, the woman Ted was living with, he met with Stephanie several times.

Again, Stephanie fell in love with Ted. During the fall and winter, they met for many intimate rendezvous, even going so far as to discuss marriage. But then, an interesting thing happened. Unlike their previous courtship, where Ted lavished his attention on Stephanie, this time he was cool to her. At times, he seemed despondent and indifferent. It seemed as if Ted had lost all interest in Stephanie. Stephanie was confused by the change and even more so when, in February of 1974, Ted ended all contact with Stephanie with no explanation. It was as if he intentionally did to her what she had done to him years earlier. Stephanie never heard from Ted again.

In the winter of 1973, the first of Bundy’s victims was found. His victims all had striking similarities. All were white, thin, young, single, and were wearing slacks at the time of their disappearance. He used police impersonations and fake casts to lure his victims. Most of the women were crudely sexually assaulted. All died from blunt force to the head, probably due to a crowbar. He may have killed over 40 women. He confessed, before being executed, to murdering 36 women.

Events that altered Ted Bundy’s life more than anything happened within the same timeframe. After suffering a broken heart from his first love, his family reality also shattered. The people he believed to be his biological parents were actually his grandparents. His mother, who had posed as his sister for so many years, now revealed she was his natural mother. This devastation, along with the fact that the events overlapped, may explain the rage he harbored towards women. Some of his victims were sexually assaulted with hairspray bottles and bedposts. Nearly all of the victims were raped, or sodomized, or both. The bodies were brutally beaten and strangled. It was as if he was releasing his frustrations from the two women who hurt him most on women he never even knew. These two events, I believe, directly affected his violent spree of killing and also the victims he chose. Perhaps it was a way for him to seek revenge on Stephanie over and over again. The two women he was closest to betrayed him in the worst possible ways, and it was something from which he never recovered. This led to his deviant behavior against women.

Ted Bundy especially interested me because he had been so successful in eluding the police. He moved quickly from victim to victim and left little or no physical evidence. He escaped from jail twice and killed more than 30 women in two years’ time. I also found it interesting that he was such a productive part of society. This was not a seedy man from the wrong side of the town. He was a college graduate, participated in local politics, and even volunteered on a crisis line in his spare time. He was an attractive man whom police thought posed little harm. Five people called to turn Ted Bundy’s name into the police after seeing a composite sketch. But police found it hard to believe the apparently respected man could be responsible. Ted Bundy seemed, for a time, to be one step ahead of the police. His escapes and his role in the community interested me. The fact that such a respected, intelligent, attractive man could be a serial killer intrigued me.

As stated earlier, a serial killer needs to kill. He will kill and kill until someone stops him. I don’t believe there is any hope for rehabilitating these people. Their pattern has already been set. The serial killer follows a cycle, and when it comes full circle, he kills again. This behavior cannot be changed. To a serial killer, their need to kill is as simple as our need for water and food. It is a desire they must fulfill and will do what they have to achieve their goal. Ted Bundy escaped twice to continue his cycle. I don’t believe there is a chance for a positive change in such people.

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