How serial killer’s trial gave birth to reality TV
july 4, 1975
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile.
That was the title of this year’s movie about serial killer Ted Bundy.
It comes from presiding judge Edward Cowart’s remarks on Bundy’s murders as he sentenced him to death.
Cleverly, the likeable Zac Efron was cast as the killer who was often described as handsome and charismatic, traits he would use to gain his victims’ trust.
During his trial in 1979 and 1980, the first to be televised nationally in the States, Bundy handled much of his own defence, despite having several court-appointed attorneys.
It’s said that this created reality TV as American viewers sat, riveted to their screens, and it’s also said many viewers simply couldn’t believe the charming man in front of them could be guilty of such horrific crimes.
These included the kidnapping, rape and murder of many young women and girls, at least 12 of whom he decapitated and kept their heads as “mementoes” in his apartment.
It’s not known how many victims Bundy was responsible for but, after decades of denials, before he met his end in the electric chair, he confessed to 30 murders across seven states between 1974-78 though the true number is possibly higher.
Horribly, three of his murder victims might have been spared as he was actually jailed in Utah in 1975.
Bundy’s ruse was to pretend to be incapacitated in some way, wearing a cast over a “broken” limb, and asking his victim to help him move something into his tan VW Beetle.
One of these could well have been Utah woman Nancy Baird, who disappeared in July 1975.
With women disappearing at the rate of one a month, police decided to use the then-innovative technique of compiling a database. They fed information on classmates and acquaintances of each victim, VW owners named Ted and so on into a computer, looking for coincidences.
Bundy’s name was on four of the resultant lists.
He was arrested and officers found a “kidnap kit” in his Beetle, though Bundy later claimed they missed a hidden collection of Polaroids of his victims which he later destroyed.
The authorities were convinced they had their man but had no hard evidence of any murders, and Bundy was instead sentenced for kidnapping and assaulting an 18-year-old who managed to flee his car.
He was sent to Colorado to stand trial for another murder but escaped for six days after jumping out of a courthouse window, and then spent six weeks on the run after sawing his way out of his cell.
It was then that Bundy committed the murders of which he was finally found guilty due to overwhelming physical evidence, and he was put to death in 1989, aged 42.