Ted Bundy

Theodore Robert Cowell aka Ted Bundy, was one of the most prolific serial killers ever to walk the Earth. Known for his eerie, almost chameleon like way to blend into his environment, Ted Bundy reportedly killed a combination of at least 36 women and children without even blinking. However, most believed that he actually, in fact, committed around 100 murders, probably greater. The majority speculates that Bundy was just psychotic, but there actually might be more to it than that. In fact, if you look closely into this man’s life you’ll begin to see some signs and clues as to how Bundy grew up in the manner he did. Such as Bundy’s upbringing and childhood which may have been a major factor that turned Bundy into the person he was the day he
died. At the same time it wasn’t just his childhood, either, it could have been certain events that took place in his early years of adulthood.
Whatever the time it was when Bundy truly became the infamous Ted Bundy, one thought remains clear, Bundy was definitely more than what meets the eye.
Ted Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell. He was born on the 24th of November year of 1946 in Burlington, Vermont. His mother, Eleanor Louise, was only 22 years of age when she gave birth to him, and at that particular time, was unmarried so she was left to fend for Bundy all by
herself. That is until she moved with her son to her parents house in Philadelphia. However, once there, Eleanor’s parents thought it best to raise Ted as their own, and pretend that Eleanor was Ted’s sister. Bundy’s life with his grandparents or “parents” was actually subtle, which was surprising given the whole my “parents” are actually my grandparents and my “sister” is actually my mother and I just don’t know it situation. However, Bundy did show some disturbing signs such as having an extreme fascination with the macabre and knives. Once, when he was 3 years of old, he was placing a collection of knives around his aunt’s bed. When she awoke, she saw Bundy just staring at her with his dark and deep eyes, almost as if they were staring into her soul. As fortune would have it though, there were no more incidents or indications that showed Bundy’s true colors. His grandfather, Samuel, however, was a much different story. Bundy opened up years later about his grandfather, specifically that he was a “tyrannical bully” and a dog beater. He even threw his own daughter down the stairs just because she overslept a little. Even worse, it was rumored that Samuel actually raped his daughter(although there was no conclusive evidence), making him Bundy’s biological father. Despite all of these frightening occurrences, Bundy looked up to his grandfather and made him out to be an idol for him. With all of this information presented it’s not particularly difficult or trying to perceive why Bundy turned out the way he did. If I went throughout the extent of my childhood believing that my mother was my sister and my grandparents were my parents, only to devastatingly find out differently by my cousin because my mother and grandparents didn’t have the decency to tell me the truth, it would’ve thrown my mind through a loop as well.
As a result of Bundy finding out about his real parent, Eleanor moved out of her parent’s house, and took Ted to Tacoma, Washington. There, she met a man named Johnnie Bundy, whom she ultimately married and had several children with. Bundy never grew a bond with his stepfather and half siblings, not because he couldn’t, but because of the simple fact that he didn’t want to. To make matters worse, he still resented his mother for not telling him the truth, so he didn’t really have much of a family life or support for that matter. Despite this unfortunate predicament Bundy found himself in, he did relatively well in school, and was quite popular, and comfortable with social interactions. His demeanor changed though when arrived at high school. Bundy became distant with his friends and let his grades drop. He was no longer able to talk to people in a comfortable fashion, instead, he “appeared tongue tied” and lost all his “confidence”. Thankfully, this melancholy and awkward attitude changed when he met the “love of his life”in college. Stephanie Brooks was an attractive young woman who had straight dark hair(which oddly enough resembled Bundy’s later victims). Due to the age difference between them(she was older), she lost interest in Bundy and specifically stated that he was “a man going nowhere”. So as expected, she broke it off with him. After the break up Bundy was in a serious state of duress and his brother said that he “had never seen his brother so upset and moody”. Coincidentally, this is when the murders and rapes started, implying that this might have been the very reason Bundy went off.
Like all serial killers, Bundy had a specific type and “signature”.
He mainly liked to stick with women and little girls, most likely because of his mom and ex girlfriend’s betrayals. He would use a clever ruse such as luring his victims into his car by pretending to have an injury. This only worked because he completely changed his appearance and personality, now he was charming and charismatic and women fell right for his act. Once he had the women in his possession, he would brutally rape them before beating them to death. During the fall of 1974 Bundy moved to Utah to attend law school, there, more bodies followed him. One by one women continued to go missing, and it seemed like Bundy, who was in no hurry to quit, would never be stopped. However, as sure happenstance would have it, Bundy was arrested the following year, when the police pulled him over and found “burglary tools” such as: a crow-bar, face mask, rope, and a pair of handcuffs. Unfortunately for Bundy, even though the burglary tools did not seem like such a problem, they actually linked Bundy to more serious crimes. Later that same year, Bundy was arrested for the kidnapping of Carol DaRonch, who amazingly escaped Bundy’s “clutches”. He was convicted for the crime and received a drastic sentence of 15 years. Although his time in jail became a great deal friendlier, when he escaped from a courtroom where he was acting as his own lawyer for the death of a young Colorado woman, 2 years later. His freedom did not
last long though, he was captured only 8 days later and put back in jail. Again, though he managed to find a way to escape from the prison itself this time. He climbed out a hole that he had made in the ceiling of his jail cell, before he was able to do that though, he had to drop 30 lbs to fit through the small opening. Bundy had a considerable head start because authorities didn’t find out that he was missing until 15 hours after he had escaped.