Characteristics Of Ted Bundy

Crime occurs every day, all over the world. Most crime is unreported or is unknown to the vast majority of the populations. Over time, crime has grown to become a normal part of society and typically people are not surprised to hear that a crime has been committed. Most crimes are dealt with and forgotten, however a few crimes grab the media’s attention and are highly publicized, ultimately giving the criminal their 15 minutes of infamy. Ted Bundy was one of these criminals. Bundy was a law student in Utah and during the 1970’s, he assaulted, raped and murdered at least 30 known women with some criminologists suspecting as high as nearly 100 victims. The tactics he used along with the extent of his killings is how Bundy acquired his long lasting infamy and notoriety as one of America’s top 10 most wanted during his time. Our true focus here is explaining why these murders occurred; truly understanding the motivation behind Bundy’s actions and finding the roots of causation which could lead a person to commit such serious crimes.

Throughout history, criminal investigators have encountered different forms of serial killers. One of the many famous serial killers in the twentieth century was Theodore Robert Bundy (Ted Bundy). Ted Bundy was responsible for the Chi Omega killings and many more. When people think of serial killers, they visualize some dirty, crazy, looking individual that would stand out from everybody else. In Ted's case this was different. Ted Bundy was a very smart individual who had attended college at various colleges, studying law and finally receiving his degree in psychology from the University of Washington. He had volunteered for the Republican Party in California for a Governor campaign. His family and friends considered Bundy as

“Ask a psychopath what love is and he’ll go on and on, but he has never felt it himself…If you catch him lying, he’ll just shift gears and go on as though nothing had happened” (Goleman). Ted Bundy was one of the most famous psychopaths in the history of the country (Nordheimer). People say he was the perfect killer- handsome, intelligent, witty, and charming (Boynton 25). Bundy was the complete opposite of what people thought a serial killer looked like, so his victims did not fear him (“Ted Bundy”). Robert Keppel, an expert on serial killers, stated, “He taught us that a serial killer can appear to be absolutely normal, the guy next door (“Serial Killers and Mass Murderers”). At one point he was working for a suicide hotline; a friend

Ted Bundy is known for charismatic personality, good looks, and charm; he is also known as the most organized murderer to have lived. Bundy would lure woman to his car using a number of excuses; he was handicap or else lost. Because he was so charming women would feel at ease around him and go where he asked. Once at his car, Bundy would grab and restrain the woman. He would then drive to a different location where he would beat and rape the woman until death. Finally he would drive to yet ANOTHER location to dispose of the body. In February 1978, Ted Bundy was finally captured and interviewed. As a child, raised by his grandparents, he showed no signs of previous abuse or neglect. He was raised well and sociable during high school where classmates report that he was well liked. After further analysis, Bundy was presumed to have low activity to his orbital frontal cortex; this is the part of the brain in charge of the conscious, and the “right or wrong” factor. This is not to say that Bundy had a deficiency that prevented him from knowing what he was doing. Just merely a common abnormality that should be noted. Bundy’s case supports the idea that an individual’s makeup can have an effect on their actions.

Looking into Bundy's life, many of the facts and images from his early life stand in stark contrast to the vicious killings he engaged in. The young many Bundy was well behaved and "grew up an attractive teen" that was "generally liked and who performed well in school," according to Charles Montaldo writing in About.com. When he enrolled in the University of Puget Sound, he did very well in his schoolwork but he was embarrassed that he had so little money and the students around him were far wealthier, so he transferred to the University of Washington

Ted Bundy attended college at the University of Puget Sound and the University of Washington. During this time, he took on various low-level jobs, such as being a busboy and a shoe clerk. Generally, he did not stay in one position for very long, which caused employers to view him as unreliable. He was always very focused on his studies and grades. In spring of 1967, he entered a life-changing relationship with his “dream woman,” a classmate of his at the University of

Serial killers are the byproduct of many different things: trauma, death of loved ones, abuse, neglect, adoption, and even witnessing abuse (Are Serial). Serial killers have had to endure a massive amount of something such as trauma or abuse to an unimaginable extent to become what they are; the extent of the abuse, the trauma, the psychological damage they endure is incomprehensible to many. The destruction of one’s innocence can occur at any given time in his or her life, but he or she is more impressionable in his or her youth by the negativism of someone else’s actions (Scott, Shirley L. What Makes Serial Killers Tick ~ Childhood Event). People are susceptible to what they endure in their adolescence, and cruel upbringings, such as

Based on the general idea of Ted Bundy’s background, psychological theory can be applied to his cases of murdering. Psychological theories focus on human’s mind and behavior and the assumption is problems are rooted in unconscious mind and symptoms are manifestations of hidden disturbances or conflicts. According to his childhood circumstances, Ted Bundy’s childhood trauma and abuse played an important role in his serial murders. His father disappeared before he was born and his whole started with the loss of parent. Not only he was living without his father, his mother did not take the full responsibility of him neither. Ted’s mother pretended to be his sister and let his grandparents to be their parents. Although Ted Bundy was

However, there are a select few as we saw within Ted Bundy’s case that they did not come from an abusive background. He grew up in a very loving home, with two very loving, and caring parents, so why did he still become a “monster?” From the studies, and interviews with him, he says that it is because of the pornography he was introduced to when he was young that put the thoughts of rape into his head. Yet, even though he personally said that it was the porn that enticed his interests, it is still argued that he may have been born with some sort of flaw within his brain. From the information that was found of his grandmother and her psychological problems may show that it can be a genetic problem. By these accounts, it would seem as if Ted Bundy would fall in between both the nature and nurture theories. He had psychological problems as well as, different encounters when he was younger, and when he was a teen that worked together to create his horrid ways.

One of the first things that come to people’s minds when they hear the word psychopath is Ted Bundy. Bundy spent most of the 1970’s killing 30 or more young woman who happened to resemble his ex-girlfriend in some way. The exact time and number of Bundy’s kills will likely never be known. Ted Bundy is what is considered a successful psychopath. Psychopathy is a form of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Not every person with ASPD is a psychopath, but every psychopath has ASPD. No one knows exactly what causes this disorder, but there has been some speculation over the decades. The two main ideas is that an genetic influence causes psychopathy or an environmental influence causes psychopathy. The neurotransmitter MAOA has been linked to several brain structural differences in the brains of a psychopath when compared to the brain of a non-psychopathic person. Multiple studies have linked childhood abuse to the psychopathy development. Both of these causes have been shown to influence psychopathy development but it is my hypothesis that genetics hold

Eventually, Bundy would figure out the truth because one of his cousins would show Ted a copy of his birth certificate after calling him a “bastard” (Ramsland, K. 2013, p. 2). This resulted in Bundy expressing a lifelong resistant toward his mother forever because she hid this fact from him leaving him to have to find out for himself. Evidently, this ties quite well with attachment theory because the relationship between his mother and him would never be the same after that unfortunate day.

This research paper will explore the life of a serial killer named Ted Bundy. We will look at the cause and effects of him becoming a serial killer. We will also discuss the different criminology theories behind Ted Bundy’s actions. Based on what was discovered in the research no one theory can explain the action of Ted Bundy as a serial killer. The remainder of the paper is laid out as follows: biography of Ted Bundy, introduction, discussion of crimes and theories, and the conclusion.

controls he had over his victims, to the point of death , and even after."

Ted Bundy, infamous serial rapist and murderer, was first arrested for kidnapping and was sentenced for time in prison. He escaped two years later, and was recaptured eight days later. But he did not give up, again December 1977 he escaped and the authorities did not discover till fifteen hours later, giving him a head start to Florida, where he was headed. The following January one night, he attacked four girls and killed two of them, his last ones because in July 1979, he was convicted of murderer twice for those last ones. As he was investigated more, he has confessed to thirty six plus murderer, and investigator still suspect it to be much more, nonetheless, he killed people for his own satisfaction. Did he deserve the death penalty? Did he deserve to die when he kill only almost 40 people? It may be a little too late to ask that because on January 24, 1989, he died in Florida’s electric chair as he consewuence. Nonetheless,and as unfortunate as it it, people like bundy exist today, some yet to be discovered.

He found it difficult to engage with people after breaking up with his girlfriend. This serial killer suffered from Antisocial personality disorder. without any empathy at all, Ted Bundy killed and raped at least 36 people, most of them were college students with brown long hair. Bundy was becoming better on the outside; a murderous rage was building on the inside of him. In other words, Ted’s superficial was charming, engaging, and he was intelligent. He took advantage of people who trusted him because of his appearance. He used double personalities when he was seducing women. The Charming Evil Bundy used to wear a cast on his arm and ask beautiful women to help him with his books to the car, after that he hit them with his crutches and push them into his car. He usually brutally beat, rape, and murder those women without any reason. Ted Bundy was untruthfulness, insincerely, and lacking empathy. Bundy was unable to have an interpersonal relationship because he did not understand the intrapersonal