Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy was a renowned person in American because of the crimes he committed in the course of his lifetime (Schmid, 2005). From around 1974 to 1978, he was an American rapist, serial killer, and kidnapper. Bundy was also found to possess necrophilia because he murdered women and assaulted their dead bodies. He was naturally charismatic and handsome, which enabled him to win the confidence of a number of young and attractive ladies (Schmid, 2005). According to Nelson (1994), Bundy used the approach of impersonating an authoritative figure or feigning disability when he approached young women in public places before he assaulted and murdered them at a secluded place. He could keep revisiting the crime scenes with an intention of having a sexual relationship with the dead bodies until subsequent interaction was impossible when corpses decayed altogether. Bundy beheaded a number of his victims and preserved their heads for many years as mementos. Sometimes, Bundy broke into other homes at night and assaulted them as they slept. In this discussion, Ted Bundy’s life will be considered since his youth, the crimes he committed and the course that his criminal conduct followed.

Ted Bundy’s early life

Ted Bundy was initially called Theodore Robert Cowell. He was born to Eleanor Louise in Burlington, in 1946. Bundy grew up not having a clear knowledge about who his biological father was. He showed a lifelong bitterness towards his biological mother as she lied to him regarding his parentage. The bitterness started when Bundy discovered his parentage for himself following various events such as being called a bastard. Ted Bundy was brought up by his grandparents who he loved a lot. However, Bundy’s grandfather was a very severe man and hated Italians, blacks, Jews, and Catholics (Schmid, 2005). His temper is evidenced when he threw his daughter down the stairs because she overslept. Bundy told a biographer that he respected, clung to, and identified with his grandfather. His grandfather kept an enormous collection of pornographic materials, which Bundy and his cousin used to peruse through during their free time. Ted’s grandmother underwent depression for a long period of time following her husband’s inhuman behaviors. She kept undergoing an electroconvulsive therapy periodically to release the accumulating depression. Ted started exhibiting inhuman behavior when he was three-years-old as he put knifes around his aunt while she was asleep.

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Therefore, Ted’s behavior was really influenced by his grandfather who he respected a lot. Later on, Ted’s mother was married and Ted was formally adopted by a stepfather. Ted was aware that his mother’s husband was not his biological father and therefore remained distant from him. He described his stepfather as not making much money and that was not a very bright man. Ted could not be controlled by his stepfather and as a result he kept roaming his neighborhood, searching for pictures of naked ladies in trash barrels. While an adolescent, Ted browsed libraries and bookstores in search of crime novels, detective magazines, and commentaries for real crimes. He liked those stories that involved sexual assault acts, particularly when they were accompanied by photos of maimed or dead bodies. Ted started to consume alcohol seriously which triggered him to exhibit antisocial behaviors in the community. He started intruding into other people’s homes at night due to the desire of observing ladies undressing though open windows. While in high school, Ted enthusiastically pursued snow skiing using fake lift tickets and stolen equipment (Schmid, 2005). Because of various crimes such as auto theft and burglary, he was arrested more than twice during high school. However, the details of Ted’s criminal offences were removed from his record when he was eighteen years old.

Ted Bundy finally graduated from high school and was admitted to university. While in University, he started an intimate relationship with his classmate who later on ended their relationship after she had been frustrated by Ted’s lack of ambition and as he kept exhibiting antisocial behaviors (Schmid, 2005). Ted was really frustrated his girlfriend rejected him and decided to drop out of school. Later, he joined a different university and continued with his studies.

Ted’s criminal offenses during adulthood

Ted committed numerous murders, as well as sexual assault, acts in his adulthood, particularly from 1974 to 1978 (Schmid, 2005). Most of his victims were young and beautiful ladies who he sexually assaulted and murdered, and sometimes beheaded their heads which he kept for mementos. In 1974, battered an eighteen-year-old lady in her bedroom and used a speculum to sexually assault her, causing internal injuries. The lady survived the incident but her brain was permanently damaged. Bundy was initially accused and convicted of attempted criminal assault and exacerbated kidnapping in 1975. He was linked to an increasingly longer list of unresolved murders in about six states. In Colorado, while he was facing murder indictments, he dramatically escaped and committed several criminal assaults and additional homicides in Florida before he was ultimately recaptured in 1978 (Schmid, 2005).

Arrest and trial

Ted was first arrested as an adult in 1975 in Granger by a highway patrol officer when he failed to follow the traffic rules (Schmid, 2005). After his car was searched thoroughly, a number tool was revealed which he used to commit criminal offences. Among the revealed tools were handcuffed, a ski mask, a crowbar, trash bags, ice picks, rope, and many other items that he likely used during the burglary. Ted was released on his recognizance. He charged of an attempted criminal assault and exacerbated kidnapping in the case of DaRonch. However, Ted was freed on a bail of about $15,000 that acquired from his parents, but spent most of his time between being accused and tried in Washington. Ted stood trial in 1976, giving up his right to a jury following the advice of his lawyer, John O’Connell because the case was highly publicized (Schmid, 2005). The trial took four days and the judge found Ted Bundy guilty of assault and kidnapping. He was therefore sentenced to a prison term of fifteen years from June in the same year. In October, the authorities of Colorado judged Ted with the murder of Caryn Campbell of which he resisted for a while before he accepted. Ted was therefore transferred to another jail in Aspen within Colorado, in 1977.

In June 1977, Ted was transported to a County Courthouse in Colorado for a case hearing. During this time, Ted served as his own lawyer and was therefore, the judge excused him from wearing leg shackles or handcuffs. In the course of a recess, Ted requested to visit the law library of the courthouse and do research on his case. Ted Bundy hid himself behind bookcases during which he escaped through a window by jumping from the second floor. He was captured after some days and was taken back to jail in Glenwood Springs. While in jail, Ted devised another plan to escape. He obtained a blade of hacksaw from his fellow inmate and cash money that amounted to about $500 from his visiting friends . Ted used the hacksaw to make a hole in the ceiling through which he escaped. His escape was discovered after about seventeen hours when he was in Chicago.

Ted travelled further and was finally in Florida. While in Florida, he tried to look for a legitimate employment opportunity and refrain from committing crimes . However, he was asked to produce his identification documents which did not do. For purposes of supporting himself financially, Ted reverted to committing crimes such as stealing credit cards and shoplifting . He committed several crimes in Florida including battering and sexually assaulting young women, as well as murdering them. Ted was arrested when the police identified the car he was driving as a stolen car . He was transported to jail. He stood trial in 1979 and was found guilty of two murders, burglary, and attempts to commit first degree murder. The judge imposed death convictions because he was found guilty of committing murder offences. Ted was finally died in electric chair and his dead body was cremated.

Conclusion

It is possible that Ted’s behaviors were influenced his grandfather who exhibited violent behavior when Ted was young. The pornographic materials that the grandfather kept also encouraged him to develop a desire of watching naked women. He came to discover his parentage later when he was a grown up. Ted showed a lifelong bitterness towards his biological mother as she lied to him regarding his parentage. This possibly contributed to his habit of murdering women. He rapped, kidnapped, and murdered numerous young women from 1974 to 1978. Ted was found guilty of many murders, attempted murders, and burglaries. The judge imposed death convictions and he was executed in electric chair.