The real American Psycho: the many faces of serial killer Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy’s murder spree in the 1970s left a generation of women terrified – but it seems his greatest weapons were his charm and charisma. So was he…
At a glance, he looked like an ordinary man. Attractive, well-kept, charming and charismatic. But beneath the smile and boyish good looks was a terrifying serial killer, who butchered 30 young women – probably many more, according to police.
The horrific attacks began, it is widely believed, in January 1974, when 18-yearold Karen Sparks was found bludgeoned and sexually assaulted with a metal rod her attacker took from her bed frame. The brutal attack left the dancer and student in a coma for 10 days. She survived, but suffered severe brain damage.
Less than a month later, Lynda Ann Healy, 21, was abducted from her apartment, where blood was found on her sheets. More women began to disappear…
On 1 June, 22-year-old Brenda Carol Ball vanished after leaving a tavern. She was last seen in a car park talking to a brown-haired man with his arm in a sling.
The following month, two women – Janice Ott and Denise Naslund – were abducted from a beach at Lake Sammamish State Park, Issaquah, Washington. Witnesses spotted them talking to an attractive man – again, with his arm in a sling.
All the women who had disappeared were young, beautiful college students with long hair, parted in the middle.
The disappearances continued in Washington, before a spree in Utah and Colorado – where Bundy had moved to attend law school.
Carol DaRonch was abducted from a mall, but she managed to fight off her kidnapper and give the police a good description of him. Caryn Eileen Campbell, 23, was the next to vanish, her naked body reappearing a month later.
In August 1975, Bundy was stopped while cruising a residential area. A search of the vehicle found ladies’ tights, handcuffs, a crowbar and other burglary tools. The car also matched a description in the DaRonch kidnapping.
Initially, the law student with political aspirations seemed the most unlikely of suspects. His friends found him to be captivating and engaging, and his family were firmly in his corner. ‘Ted doesn’t go around killing women and children!’ his mother, Louise, later said. ‘And I know this, too, that our faith in Ted – our faith that he’s innocent – has never wavered. And it never will.’
But he was still charged with Carol DaRonch’s kidnapping and sentenced to 15 years.
Then, in June 1977, further evidence meant he stood trial for the murder of Caryn Campbell but, during a recess in court, he escaped by jumping from a window and going on the run for six days.
After his capture, he escaped from prison again. He fled from Colorado to Florida, where on 5 January 1978, he crept into the Chi Omega sorority house and beat Margaret Bowman, 21, with a piece of firewood before strangling her. He then battered 20-year-old Lisa Levy to death, strangling and biting her before sexually assaulting her.
By now, Bundy was unstoppable. He attacked Kathy Kleiner, 20, and Karen Chandler, 21, before beating Cheryl Thomas, 21, in her home. He left all three women with severe injuries.
When he was finally caught, he represented himself in court, even firing some of his defence team during the trial. It was televised, and Bundy became an object of national fascination.
‘It was all about him. He wanted as much attention as he could possibly have,’ Bob Deke, the state attorney who prosecuted Bundy said. ‘He wasn’t right, but he wasn’t mentally ill. He knew the difference between right and wrong.’
He approached the court case like a performance, complaining about prison food and the dim lighting in his cell.
But the jurors saw through him, returning their guilty verdict in July 1979 on two counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and two counts of burglary.
Yet, even Judge Cowart, who sentenced Bundy to death, seemed to have fallen a little under his spell, saying, ‘ You’re a bright young man. You’d have made a good lawyer. I’d have loved to have you practice in front of me. But you went another way, partner.’
Six months later, Bundy was back in court, this time charged with murdering 12-year-old Kimberly Leach. To add further spectacle to the trial, Bundy married his girlfriend, Carole Anne Boone, in the courtroom simply by stating their desire to do so in front of a judge – all because of a loophole in Florida law.
Bundy was given the death penalty again and in October 1981, Carole gave birth to their daughter, Rose. This fascinated people even further as conjugal visits were not allowed in prison. Carole would visit Bundy with Rose until 1986, when she divorced him and relocated.
Over the following years, Bundy’s death sentence was appealed, but they all failed. As the day of his execution approached, Bundy confessed to killing dozens of other women. He reportedly told police to ‘add a digit’ to the figure they had. He talked about decapitating his victims, necrophilia and revisiting the crime scenes.
Theodore Robert Bundy was executed at Florida State Prison by electric chair, aged 42, on 24 January 1989. He looked the witnesses in the eye and smiled before the chair was switched on – one final performance.
Hundreds of people had gathered outside, chanting, ‘Burn, Bundy, burn!’ He was cremated, and had requested that his ashes be scattered over Washington’s Cascade Mountains – where the remains of at least four of his victims were found.
Even to this day, people remain fascinated by this murderer. The Netflix series Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and the new film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, starring Zac Efron, have reignited the captivation with the killer.
But he was just that – a killer. Perhaps that’s what makes him so terrifying… that he could charm people into believing he was a good guy, all while raping and murdering innocent women.
A true American Psycho? It would certainly seem that way.
Bundy looked the witnesses in the eye and smiled before the chair was switched on