The American serial killer who kidnapped, raped, and murdered at least thirty young women, Theodore Robert Bundy, did not fit the usual profile for a man who was a murderer.

The charming, intelligent, attractive young man had an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Utah and was attending Puget Sound law school, when he committed his first brutal murder of many. A member of his last defense team, Polly Nelson, wrote that ‘Ted was the very definition of heartless’, he crafted a cruel sociopathic reputation for himself. Ignoring this, many women at the time of his trial were completely infatuated by him, in total disbelief that he could ever do something so shockingly evil and vile.

Bundy himself said he was ‘particularly fond of looking at things in a chronological way; times, dates and places.’ And so, to truly dissect the case, the chronology is key.

Born on 24th November 1946, Bundy was brought up by his grandparents in Vermont, describing his childhood as normal, allegedly never without ‘playmates’. This is where the compulsive lying began. A childhood friend came forward and recounted the killer as being odd from the beginning, never quite fitting in or wanting the same things as the other children.

At a summer camp when Bundy was an adolescent, the other boy scouts were learning knots. He, however, crafted a ‘tiger trap’ and watched as a young girl fell in, slicing open her leg against the sharp stick that Ted had carefully carved to a point. But still he insisted he was nothing but normal. Introverted, but not a psychopath.

Later, in an interview, he contradicted this, saying he was ‘unable to understand interpersonal relationships’, suggesting he was in fact alone as a child and teenager. This isolation gave him time to get drunk by himself, perusing the neighborhood he lived in for open windows to watch women get undressed and examine magazines and novels that involved sexual violence, particularly ones with maimed bodies.

This is what Ted Bundy attributed his inspiration to; allegedly it was the cruel world around him, showing him these disturbing sexual photos that enticed him into these vicious murders. The average profile for his victims was young, university-aged girls. Bundy would feign an injury or disability or impersonate an authority figure to gain the trust, pity, or obedience of his victims, often luring them to his signature car. Copying his colleague, Ted drove a yellow 1968 Volkswagen Beetle that would ultimately lead to his arrest and subsequent downfall.

Once at the car, Bundy would knock his victims unconscious and take them elsewhere to strangle, beat and rape them. The killer would sometimes even revisit his victims, grooming, and performing sexual acts on their bodies until they were completely decomposed. The pure repulsiveness of this man and his crimes caused panic to ripple through America.

After being pulled over by high patrol Sergeant Bob Howard, Ted Bundy was arrested for the first time on the 16^th August 1975. Howard opened the boot of the yellow Volkswagen Beetle to find a suspicious collection of items splayed across the back; a ski mask, a crowbar, an ice pick, and handcuffs. On the basis of lingering and evading the police, Bundy was detained but not for long and he was soon released.

Just less than 2 months later, the serial killer was surprisingly identified from a police lineup by 3 girls and charged with attempted kidnapping. This was not a shock as the man was indeed guilty of these crimes, but rather because Ted Bundy was clever, hiding his identity subtly by changing his appearance over and over.

Changeably having long hair, facial hair, different eyebrows and clothes, Bundy was something of a shape shifter, adhering to his surroundings and aimed to fit in. However, regardless of what he looked like, the common message that remained constant was that Ted Bundy was attractive, an alluring ordinary young man who gained a lot of popularity amongst young women at the time of his trial.

After finally being charged with murder in the first degree in October 1976, Bundy escaped from the court library. In the time it took to be recaptured, Bundy committed 2 more murders. Later, he escaped once again pretending to be a prison worker and was caught for good in 1978, Bundy’s famous televised Florida trial beginning 25^th June 1979. While you would think a convicted serial killer, disturbed Ted Bundy, would be hated by women, many were infatuated with the murderer.

Women pretty much dominate the ratings for true-crime narratives, whether that is books, movies or shows. This is an odd finding as women prevail as the clear majority of the victims of such crimes. This can also be applied to the heavily publicised case of Ted Bundy.

Bags of fan mail arrived at the Florida prison addressed to Ted Bundy, including love letters, marriage proposals and all the writers begging for a reply. Throughout the trial, young women that fit the criteria of his victims were enthralled by the man, obsessed with the case, many insisting on his innocence. One girl interviewed said “he just doesn’t look like the type to kill somebody.” A similarity between most of Bundy’s victims was their hair was dark and parted in the middle, left down and many wore hoop earrings. The unhinged groupies who came to his trial copied this look; a couple even dyed their hair to appeal to him.

Mid-way through the trial determining whether Bundy would be given his first death sentence, acting as his own attorney, he proposed to Carole Ann Boone. Giggling, the 32-year-old woman accepted, seemingly flustered with excitement. In an interview, she said she “liked Ted immediately” after they met, solidifying the alluring persona that made him such a heartthrob to the girls. The unlikely couple managed to conceive a child; Boone gave birth in 1982, making Ted Bundy a father.

Bundy received 2 death sentences overall and was convicted of 20 murders.

After a desperate attempt to prolong his life, Bundy finally confessed to 30 murders and did an interview days before his death in hopes of earning even a couple more days of life. This did not work, as Ted Bundy was put to death by the electric chair on January 24th, 1989, at around 7 am, at age 42, living nearly 4 times longer than his youngest victim.