Ted Bundy Research Paper

Serial murder is one of the most baffling crimes that occur in the U.S. and all over the world. Knight (2006) defines serial murder as the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period. The cooling off period may be weeks, months or even years long. Researchers have proposed various psychological, biological and sociological theories that offer a partial understanding of the nature of serial murder. Some propose that the basis for criminal behavior is a predisposition to violence as well as a mix between environment, personality traits and biological factors. Serial killers are predominantly male. Only 3 percent of serial murders are committed by women (U.S. News and World Report,

Serial killers are a relatively rare, yet commonly publicized, part of our society. The media portrayal of serial killers skews the opinions and creates a stereotype of murderers for the public. James Knoll, MD states in his article, “Serial Murder: A Forensic Psychiatric Perspective”, that no evidence supports the idea that serial murder is a “growing epidemic” as people believe it is (qtd. in Johnson-Sheehan & Paine, “Writing Today”, pg 332). This misperception of serial killing was exhibited in the way the media portrayed the “Hillside Strangler”, a murderer who was killing women in the Los Angeles area by strangling them and leaving them nude in the hilly areas in 1977. The articles reporting the

Throughout history, serial killers and murderers have received a significant number of news articles dedicated to them and have attracted audiences all around the world; however, the question that nobody can seem to answer is, “Why?” What causes people to grow up with the desire to kill and what can we do to prevent others from becoming serial killers in the future? “All serial killers are murderers, but not all murderers are serial killers,” as stated on The Undergraduate Times. A serial murder is defined by Encyclopedia Britannica as “the unlawful homicide of at least two people, carried out in a series over a period of time,” while mass murder is the

Serial killers can be defined as a person who kills multiple people over a long period of time. American media spreads stereotypical information about serial killers. The media portrays serial killers as either a monster or a charming guy next door (Forsyth 868). Serial killers cannot be fitted into the medias cookie-cutter definition. Everyone has experienced unique events throughout their life that shapes their personality and serial killers are not an exception. Ronald Dominique, a serial killer suffered a traumatic event while in jail; he was raped, and this event triggered his serial killings. “Serial murderers like those who kill only once, fit into no single profile; and create too wide a burden to be explained with one idea. They do seem to have one similar characteristic –that is; to blend into society and appear normal” (Forsyth 872).

Ted Bundy is one of the most famous serial killers in United States History. There are many theories behind what made him become a serial killer. Many believe he was born that way, with a darkness inside of him to which he could not control. Others believe he is a victim of circumstance and had no chance from the very beginning of life. Ted killed fourteen plus women and girls, his earliest victim thought to be when he was just fifteen years old, with only one known survivor. I believe Ted made the choices he did, not because of his family circumstances or his dark passenger, but because he felt entitled and liked control. What more control is there then to decide who lives and who dies? I do believe there are circumstances that may have been the perfect storm to bring Ted to his killing path and in this paper I will discuss how I feel Ted came to be what he was.

There are many people who choose to do bad things and break the law; however, there are people known as serial killers who take breaking the law and harming others to an unbelievable level. Murder is a very serious crime. Murders happen for many different reasons such as turf wars and drugs for gangs, by having an argument with another person and not being able to control your anger, or murdering because of a troubled past. Serial killers often come from a troubled past and seek some sort of revenge to what happened to them when they were younger. Serial killers are people who murder over and over again. There are many different types of serial killers. There are serial killers who choose to rape their victims, choose victims whom they know, choose victims because they are a different gender, choose their victims because of some fantasy that they have, or some even choose their victims to prevent them from going through what they had to go through as a young teen. There is no set description of what a serial killer looks like or if they are a woman or a man. Women serial killers tend to be more alluring with their crimes. Women tend to choose victims they may know but murder in a less heinous way. However, there are more male serial killers then women. The male serial killers tend to keep to the more violent and heinous murders. Although not all serial killers have something happen to them in order

The stereotype that exists for individuals who commit serial murder is one that mainly includes males of a specific race. However, it is now known that white males are not the only individuals who commit serial murder. Men and women from all racial and ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic statuses have been found to be serial murderers. Although this information has been presented to society, the cultural schema of the white male serial killer is still prevalent. The assumptions that involve serial murderers often include two aspects, the serial murderer is male and the serial murder is a type of “lust murder”, often involving sexual crimes by a sadist (Keeney and Heide, 1995). Keeney and Heide (1994) define serial murder to be the

There is a collective amount of murderers in society, and have existed throughout history. Each murderer has a backstory, with different reasoning on why they committed their crimes, and what influenced their motives. For some instances it was outside influences, and some cases were of genetic or mental disorders. From extensive research, majority of these influences that created these murderers are by their environment/upbringing.

Ted Bundy was born in Burlington, Vermont on November 24 1946. Ted was an illegitimate child, his mother was not married and she was in her early twenties which was socially looked down upon. Her mother and he then moved in with his mother’s grandparents. Ted was then told a lie that her mother was her sister and the grandparents was his parents. In 1951, his mother married and had several children, which in that point everything looked normal. During his adolescent years he was teased in school, never really fit in school. It was also during this time that he was told the truth about the lies that he is an illegitimate child, his mother lying about being his sister and his parents are actually his grandparents. Up until he enrolled into University of Washington in 1966, he ran into trouble with the law but nothing very serious to be concerned about.

Murder is known to be an incident where someone kills another person with willful intent. In more specific terms, this type of murder is known as a homicide. In such cases of someone killing another human being without intent is known as a first-degree murder. Usually, many murders are identified with gang activities, types of weapons used and the relations between the victim and the criminal. Sometimes, homicides are committed by people of close relation to the victim(s), such as a husband, wife, daughter, son, etc.

Theodore “Ted” Bundy was an infamous, coast-to-coast American serial killer who kidnapped, assaulted, and raped numerous of young women. He faked injuries and posed as state officials to lure female victims, raped them, and used strangulation and/or blunt trauma as primary killing methods. Bundy was first convicted in 1976 after Carol DaRoach, who he failed to kidnap, identified him in a police lineup. He was sentenced 1 to 15 years for attempted kidnapping in Utah. Bundy was later transferred to Colorado to stand trial of the first-degree murder of Caryn Campbell; her frozen nude body was found near a rural area road a month later from her disappearance at the Rocky Mountain resort. During the trial, Bundy is also being investigated on the disappearance of eight other women. However, on June 7, 1977, Bundy managed to escape at the Pitkin County Courthouse. He was again apprehended a week later when police officers pulled over the cadillac he stole. In

“We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow,” is what serial killer, Ted Bundy responded with when an interrogator was shocked how casually he talked about hating women. The Oxford Dictionaries define serial killing as, “A person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, or predictable behavior pattern.” People hear the term ‘serial killer’ and several questions pop into their heads such as; what kind of person can commit such terrible crimes? Or what drives a person to that point of insanity?

Theodore Robert Cowell, better known as Ted Bundy is one of the most well-known serial killers of the 20th century. Bundy took advantage of his good looks and charming personality to lure countless women. His regime began in Seattle, Washington in1974, until his arrest in 1978. The estimated murder count was from 30-100 victims. However, the final number is unknown until today.

Necrophiliac, narcissist, and pedophile are three words many would use to describe Ted Bundy, a man who has lived his life while taking others. Many would say he was always a beastly, vulgar man destined to be a murderer. Even though his time on earth was extremely limited, he quenches his blood thirsty instinct by murdering thirty-six innocent

Sadly, this is when Theodore’s behavior seemed to take a turn for the worse. On January 5, 1974 Theodore Bundy viciously attacked a woman referred to as Joni Lenz, a pseudonym used to protect her true identity, in her basement apartment, beating her severely and then brutally raping her vaginally with a piece of her metal bedframe. The high from this outburst did not last long however, and on February 1, 1974 Theodore Bundy’s first confirmed kidnapping and probable homicide victim, Lynda Ann Healy, was reported missing, her body was never found. After this first confirmed victim of kidnapping and suspected murder, a flood of women disappeared, all eventually attributed to Ted, who took his victims approximately once a month. Donna Gail Manson, Susan Elaine Rancourt, Robert Kathleen Parks, Brenda Baker, Brenda Carol Ball, Georgeann Hawkins, Janice Ott and