Theodore Robert Bundy
By: Bred • Essay • 704 Words • December 4, 2009 • 1,058 Views
Essay title: Theodore Robert Bundy
Theodore Robert Bundy born November 24, 1946, Burlington, Vermont, U.S. died January 24, 1989, Starke, Florida Ted Bundy: Alias: Chris Hagen. Serial murderer and rapist, one of the most notorious criminals of the late 20th century in the US.
Bundy was born out of wedlock and spent his early years ih Vermont living with his grandparents. After his mother took custody of him and remarried she raised him as her younger brother. He grew up in the north end residential area of Tacoma, WA where he was a Boy Scout. He had a difficult relationship with his stepfather; and his shyness made him a target of bullying. Bundy's killer instincts may have started when he was a 14-year-old paperboy. Ann Marie Burr, an 8-year-old girl, mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the night and has never been found. After he graduated from the University of Washington he attended the University of Washington Law School while doing charity work and campaigning for the US Republican Party. He developed a series of normal relationships with women.
Between 1974 and 1978 he raped and killed young women in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Florida. He confessed to 28 murders, but estimates make him responsible for hundreds of deaths.
Bundy became a celebrity, following his escape from custody in Colorado in 1977. His charm and intelligence drew public attention. His case inspired a series of popular novels and films devoted to serial murder; which outraged feminist criminologists, who felt Bundy was romanticized by the media.
Following a well-publicized trial, in 1979 he was sentenced to death for the murder of two college students; the following year he was sentenced to death, for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl. Bundy gave his only death row interview to founder of Focus on the Family, a California-based ministry that later moved to Colorado Springs. He was put to death in Florida's electric chair on Jan. 24, 1989, for the sex slaying of Kimberly Leach, 12, hours after he told Dr. James Dobson, that unless society deals with pornography that depicts violence "lots of kids . . . are going to be dead tomorrow."
Bundy's known victims are as follows:
Joni Lenz, severely beaten in her bed on January 4, 1974. She survived.
Lynda Ann Healy, 21, disappeared from her basement bedroom in the University District on February 1, 1974. Healy worked at a radio station broadcasting ski reports.
Donna Gail Manson, 19, disappeared from the campus of Evergreen State College on March 12, 1974.
Susan Elaine Rancourt, 18, disappeared from the campus of Central Washington State University in Ellensburg on April 17, 1974.
Roberta Kathleen Parks, 22, disappeared from the campus of Oregon State University on May 6, 1974.
Brenda Carol Ball, 22, last seen in a tavern in Burien on June 1, 1974.
Georgann Hawkins, 18, disappeared from behind her sorority near the University of Washington on June 11, 1974.