Psychological Profiling: Ted Bundy

When criminologists build criminal profiles, they think about how the killer gained access to the victim, what the killer did to the victim, if the killer tried to cover his or her tracks and how, what about the victim attracted the killer to target them, and what motive or fantasy drove the killer to hurt the victim how and where they did.

As stated before, Bundy had killed over 30 women. This vast number of killings would qualify him to be considered a “serial killer”. Although serial killers are not common among society, the act of killing another person intentionally, or homicide, is fairly common. Homicide is a crime that usually always shocks the public when they hear of it because it is not

Looking helpless and using his good looks and charms Bundy was able to lure in his victims and would knock them out with a foreign object or would handcuff them in his car. Once he had the victims he would proceed in kidnapping, sodomizing, raping, and killing them in a brutal manner. In Ted Bundy case agencies from different states worked together in the apprehension of Bundy. The conviction of Ted Bundy was credit towards good criminal investigation; with police cooperation, forensic evidence and the witnesses' statements.

Ted Bundy was an American born rapist, a necrophile; a serial killer and a kidnapper who assaulted and murdered several young women during the 1970’s. The criminal kept on denying the charges for more than ten years and later confessed of having committed the thirty homicide crimes in seven different states before his execution (Rule, 2009). Bundy’s handsome and charismatic appearance made it possible for him to easily win the confidence of young women who were always his targets. He broke into the dwellings of his victims at night and bludgeoned them as they slept. He also approached young women in public places where he impersonated as an authority figure or feigned injury on his victim before empowering and assaulting at a

Theodore Bundy was an infamous American serial killer who preyed upon numerous young women during the 1970s and possibly earlier. He was associated with at least 30 counts of homicide and suspected of an estimated one hundred or more. Beyond homicide, he also made it apparent that he was capable of other sinister crimes such as rape, kidnapping, and necrophilia. His most frequent method of killing was an attack with a blunt weapon to the head. However, he did not merely kill his victims; evidence concludes that each were also sexually assaulted and sodomized. It is reported that he even revisited his crime scenes to further engage in sexual acts with the decomposing corpses. Moreover, at least 12 of his victims had been decapitated .

Ted Bundy killed women in Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Florida, And Washington. To capture his victims, Ted would fake an injury to get help from them. Once they Agreed to help him, he would proceed to knock them unconscious. His method of murder was noted as being with a metal bar and strangulation. “Bundy would often rape his victims before beating them to death.”

His killings seems to follow a unpleasant pattern, he would rape the women before killing them and the most disturbing part about it is all his victims looked similar to his ex girlfriend he dated while in college. His true victim count is unknown, and his reasoning for killing, ‘’I just liked to kill. I wanted to kill. ’’ - Ted Bundy. He had a troubled relationship with his mother and the young girl from california, living with his grandfather who abused him and his difficulty of socializing and relating to others.

Ted Bundy would pretend he was a cop and he would persuade these females in to thinking they were in danger and they needed to go with him. Ted Bundy, who was convicted of 30 murders, was often described as attractive, charismatic and articulate. ( BY SHANNA FREEMAN 2017) In an article Ted Bundy said he would get a thrill out of seeing these females suffer. Serial killers are a variety of different personalities and mental states.

Ted bundy killed at least 36 people that were mostly women. He did so without feeling any senses remorse or empathy to the victims or their families. After undergoing different kinds of psychiatric assessments, the original diagnosis was bipolar disorder with multiple personality disorder. Later on they scratched that and learned that had antisocial personality disorder. Oddly as well, when he was awaiting his trial he got tons of love letters and even marriage proposals and pictures of naked women, proving the kind of twisted manipulative person Bundy was.

The unit that focuses on crimes like serial and spree killers is now known as BAU-2. Robert Ressler worked alongside Douglass interviewing serial killers. The serial killer that disturbed Ressler the most was Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy was active between 1974 and 1978, known for his good looks, charming personality, and violence. It is thought that Bundy killed around 30 women but the total number of victims will remain unknown.

In Dahmer’s case, he kidnapped, strangled, raped, and dismembered seventeen young boys and men over the span of thirteen years. After being caught, he pleaded guilty due to insanity. The jury, however, saw him for what he was, a thrill driven serial killer thanks to the evidence of numerous trophies he kept to remember his victims. These trophies ranged from entire heads to mutilated genitals in jars (Jeffery Dahmer). Although Dahmer remained actively killing between 1978 and 1991, his past and repeated offenses before his killing spree would have been clear indicators of his underlying intentions.

The objective of this case study is to examine the personality of one of the most notorious serial killers in modern history, Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy was alleged to have humiliated, tortured and murdered at least 50 women. Possibility more, but the true number will never be known. Because Ted Bundy kept the true number of his victims to himself and refused to inform authorities of the exact number of his horrific deeds, before he was executed on January 24, 1989 (Wikipedia, n.d.).

He was connected to 36 murders, which he had confessed to committing. However, many believe that he was guilty for committing at least one hundred different murders. Ted Bundy was a very stereotypical serial killer and fit into the general profile that we think of when we think of the word “serial killer”. He was a very charming and intelligent white male who attended and graduated with a degree from University of Washington, and who later attended law school in Utah. With his charming and confident stature, he was able to lure in his victims

Ted Bundy’s criminal behavior Bundy’s victims were young women between the ages of 12 and 26. They were middle class and attractive with short dark hair parted in the middle. Before selecting a victim, Bundy would first meticulously plan his attack and study his victim, sometimes by even entering their homes. Bundy had the uncanny ability to detect and choose the suitability of his victims, though they seemed to meet a specific physical trait, it held no significance but, based on their body languages as a social predator he was adaptive to his victims demeanor, which allowed him to quickly hone in on their vulnerability and they become “easy” victims (Book et al., 2013).

In law, law enforcement relies on a variety of approaches to solving crimes. One method of doing so, is criminal profiling. Police use criminal profiling as an aid to identify the typology of individuals most likely to fit the suspect profile. In this approach, evidence of a crime is used to identify the characteristics of the criminal in relation to their personality and psychological state of mind. As well as demographic variables, such as age, race or geographic location, Investigators might use profiling to narrow down a field of suspects or figure out how to interrogate a suspect already in custody (Criminal profiling: the reality behind the myth (Winerman, L.2004). As the use of criminal profiling increases, empirical questions concerning its validity, reliability, and legal questions regarding its acceptability arise (Pinizzato, A.& Finkel, N.1990). In a survey conducted, several psychologist and psychiatrist were asked about their views towards the validity of criminal profiling. The results of this survey found that only ten percent of psychologist and psychiatrist surveyed reported having any profiling experience and twenty five percent, considered themselves knowledgeable about profiling (Greene, E., & Heilbrun, K. 2014, p.148). Fewer than twenty-five percent of the individuals surveyed, believe that criminal profiling was scientifically reliable or valid (Greene, E., &