Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy
Bundy in 1978
Born	Theodore Robert Cowell (1946-11-24)November 24, 1946 Burlington, Vermont, U.S.
Died	January 24, 1989(1989-01-24) (aged 42) Florida State Prison, Raiford, Florida, U.S.
Cause of death	Execution by electrocution[4]
Other names	Chris Hagen Kenneth Misner Officer Roseland Richard Burton Rolf Miller[3]
Alma mater	University of Washington (BA)
Spouse	Carole Ann Boone ​ ​ (m. 1980; div. 1986)​
Children	1
Motive	Control Possession Necrophilia
Conviction(s)	First-degree murder (×3) Attempted first-degree murder (×3) Aggravated kidnapping Burglary
Criminal penalty	Three death sentences (two in 1979, one in 1980)[1] 1 to 15 years in prison (1976)[2]
Escaped	June 7, 1977 – June 13, 1977 December 30, 1977 – February 15, 1978
Details
Victims	20 confirmed 30 confessed 36+ suspected
Span of crimes	1974–1978
Country	United States
State(s)	California Colorado Florida Idaho Oregon Utah Washington
Date apprehended	August 16, 1975

Theodore Robert Bundy (né Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped, and murdered dozens of young women and girls during the 1970s. After more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 murders. The total number of his victims is likely to be higher.

Bundy's modus operandi typically consisted of simulating having a physical impairment to convince his target that he was in need of assistance or duping her into believing he was an authority figure. He would then lure his victim to a vehicle parked in a more secluded area, at which point he would bludgeon her unconscious, then restrain her with handcuffs before driving his victim to a remote location to be sexually assaulted and killed.

Bundy frequently revisited the bodies of those he abducted, grooming and performing sex acts on the corpses until decomposition and destruction by wild animals made further interactions impossible. He decapitated at least twelve of his victims, keeping their severed heads as mementos in his apartment. On a few occasions, Bundy broke into homes at night and bludgeoned, maimed, strangled and sexually assaulted his victims in their sleep.

In 1975, Bundy was arrested and jailed in Utah for aggravated kidnapping and attempted criminal assault. He then became a suspect in a progressively longer list of unsolved homicides in several states. Facing murder charges in Colorado, Bundy engineered two dramatic escapes and committed further assaults in Florida, including three murders, before being recaptured in 1978. For the Florida homicides, he received three death sentences in two trials, and was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison on January 24, 1989.

Biographer Ann Rule characterized Bundy as "a sadistic sociopath who took pleasure from another human's pain and the control he had over his victims, to the point of death and even after."^[5] He once described himself as "the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet,"^[6][7] a statement with which attorney Polly Nelson, a member of his last defense team, agreed. She wrote that "Ted was the very definition of heartless evil."^[8]