Name: Theodore Robert Cowell - At the age of 5 years old, he took his step-father, John Bundy's name.
Born: November 1946 - (Vermont)
Died: January 24, 1989
Cause and Effect:
While in college, Bundy met Stephanie Brooks, who had long dark hair that was parted in the middle. As Bundy became obsessed with her, she lost interest in him and when she left for college, she broke it off with him. His obsession with Stephanie Brooks and his devastation at losing her would explain why his victims had long dark hair parted in the middle. This could also explain why his most violent spree was in a sorority house.
The Killing Spree:
On February 1974, in Seattle, Ted Bundy killed Lynda Healy, whom he had abducted from her basement flat. Over the next few months, Bundy went on to kill five more women. All with long dark hair, parted in the center. On July 14th, Ted Bundy killed two more women, Janice Ott and Denise Naslund. Bundy liked to place his arm in a cast and act innocent as he asked women to help him do something at his car.
When witnesses came forward, one of whom was a young woman who had declined to help him, police put out a description of him and calls began to come in. One of these calls was from Meg Landers who feared it was her boyfriend who had alarmed her with his sudden interest in violent sex and bondage. Her boyfriend was Ted Bundy. However, when the police investigated him, Ted being a young republican law student, seemed to harmless and the lead was dropped. Over the next few months, the bodies of Denise and Janice were found with a third unidentified woman. The following month, two more bodies were found.
Ted Bundy then moved to Utah where he abducted and killed three more women in the month of October. Then on November 8th, he tried to abduct Carol DaRonch from a shopping mall in Salt Lake City. Impersonating a police officer, Ted lured her to his car, but when she became suspicious of his car being a Volkswagen Beetle, she struggled then escaped. Later that night Bundy abducted and murdered 17 year old Debbie Kent.
The Arrest:
In the new year of 1975, Ted Bundy moved again, this time to Colorado. In the first 6 months he killed four more women. Just before the fourth body was found, a police officer stopped Bundy in Salt Lake City and finding a stocking mask and handcuffs, he arrested Ted Bundy. Carol DaRonch who had escaped him at the shopping mall was brought in and picked Bundy out of a police line-up. The evidence was enough to convict him of attempted kidnapping. As evidence came up to link Bundy to other murders, he was taken to Aspen Colorado and tried for the murder of Caryn Cambell.
The Escape:
Then during a court appearance, Ted Bundy escaped and spent 8 days hiding out in Aspen before being recaptured. Then Bundy managed to escape yet again as he cut a hole in the roof of his cell and crawled out through the ceiling, cutting another hole and dropping into a janitors room to simply stroll out of the jail unchallenged.
Bundy fled to Tallahassee, Florida and two weeks after his escape he killed again. Subtlety aside, Bundy simply broke into a college sorority house and brutally raped and murdered two young women and left another badly injured. The following month, Ted Bundy murdered his final victim; 12 year old Kimberly Leach.
The Final Capture:
Three days after killing Kimberly Leach, Ted Bundy was caught again and convicted of 1st degree murder. The overwhelming evidence against him was the matching of his teeth to the bite marks in his victims. In July of 1979, he was sentenced to death by the electric chair.
Celebrity Status:
Being a law student, Ted Bundy launched several appeals and began to gain some celebrity status. While he was in prison, he confessed to over thirty murders. Women began to propose marriage to him. One woman even succeeded in exchanging marriage vows with him when she appeared as a defense witness at an appeals hearing.
On January 24th, 1989, Theodore Robert Bundy was put to death. He was 42 years old.
Total Kills:
Confirmed - 20
Confessed - 30
Possibly as many as 100
Evil guy (Bundy), no question. Our legal system does not perpetuate justice, but instead perpetuates keeping people from getting sued or being fired.
ReplyDeleteI think I was attacked by Ted in Crestline, Ohio in the August of 1971. I was followed from a local bar, he stopped my car and said I had a flat tire, than dragged me out of the car, beating me with a tire iron, and biting my back. I escaped by jumping out of his moving car. He had a butch haircut than and a definite Northwest twang to his speech. The police never found a suspect. Crestline is located on 30N which was than major E/W road. Several years later I saw an article in time magazine detailing his crimes and was astonished to see that his victims looked exactly like me, long dark hair parted in the middle wearing glasses. His crime spree may have spread well beyond 4 states and I alway felt like I may have been responsible for his adoption of handcuffs, since i got away by jumping out of his moving car. It was either that or be killed by him,
ReplyDeleteGod bless you for getting away. Ted only was responsible for using handcuffs. It is not your fault.
DeleteI call bullshit ^^
ReplyDeleteNot so sure about BS. Don't know where Crestline is, but I'm from Hillsboro and I swear when I was 11, which would have been in 1977, I was offered a ride from him and I actually got in a jeep with him. Not smart, obviously, but I was 11 and it was 1977. He was supposed to take me two blocks to my grandparents house, whom he said he knew. But we drove right by. I became very nervous and decided if we drove past a certain street, which was the last one before we hit open road, then I was jumping out. Had my hand on the door handle ready to go. I think he realized it and at the last second, turned onto that street and u-turned back to the house. I truly believe it was a very close call.
ReplyDeleteIn 1973, in Novato, CA I was a student going to college in San Francisco. I got on the bus everyday in Novato to commute to college. One day a man who parked in FRONT of the bus offered me a ride. He parked so that he had to learn over the passenger seat with the window rolled down to ask me. I said no and got on the bus. He left right after I got on the bus. He did this for almost a week. You see my father dropped me off across the street from the bus stop and I walked across the cross walk to get to the bus. One day I was walking across the crosswalk and a car came into the crosswalk. It was that same man, only he was in a different car and he was laughing at me. I was extremely upset and hurried to the bus. Told the bus driver and they called the transit authorities. I told my father after school. He told me to point him out the next morning. I did. He went through his routine, asking me for a ride, I declined and before I got on the bus. I looked at my father across the street and pointed at the car as he was driving off. My dad forced his car off the road and I could see my dad yelling at him through the guys window. I never saw the guy again. Until I saw a picture of Ted Bundy in the papers a few years later. I freaked out. It is something you never forget although you want to. Ted Bundy was in California I tell you and he probably killed someone here. During that time 101 highway went right through Novato. Yes, I had long hair, parted down the middle and was carrying books for college. But although he was supposedly smart, he was dumb with me. I had bus tickets and he still asked me if I wanted a ride every day for that week. He was good looking but there was something about his eyes.
ReplyDeleteHello J Ken Ester,
ReplyDeleteTed Bundy was born in 1946
He met Anne Rae Rule in 1971 ... she was 15 years his senior - intelligent & a crime writer - the older woman - the mother figure - a surrogate mother /older sister perhaps - his mother had abandoned him.
Ted Bundy began his killing spree in 1974 - 3 years after he met Ann Rae Rule.
No man is an island AND sharing is caring.
In watching several video clips of Ted on youtube - he was a friendly - attention seeking man - he is insistent that he had a normal life - that he was at all times a wholesome all American / applypie & mom type boy - and that indeed he came from a wholesome family environment.
* MIND FICTION - WHY YOUR BRAIN TELLS TALL TAKES - NEW SCIENTIST.... this article is such an interesting & enlightening read.
Ted Bundy did not do this alone - no man is an island - he needed a woman to talk to, to explain 'things' to him - about women, about why he killed, he needed a man to brag to - a father confessor - he neeeded absolution or he would not have been able to kill again after the first victim.
Ted talked to may people about his 'escapades' & saught inspiration & support from them - though they may not have known exactly what he was actually talking about & /or what he as doing.
And then he got caught and like a dog guarding his territory he never allowed anyone else take any glory for his works.
How does that grab you Kenneth .../?
Criminal Psychology have got it horribly wrong everytime - that the police got it wrong everytime also is never going to be a surprise to us - hey.
The trule of thumb is - NO MAN IS AN ISLAND and a GAME WORTH PLAYING IS WORTH PLAYING WITH FRIENDS OF LIKE MINDS.
Cheers
Mira