Serial killers

Ted Bundy

A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, usually in service
of abnormal psychological gratification, with the murders taking place over more than a month
and including a significant period of time between them. Psychological gratification is the usual
motive for serial killing but the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of
serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, and attention seeking. The murders
may be attempted or completed in a similar fashion. The victims may have something in
common, for example, demographic profile, appearance, gender or race.

Historical criminologists suggest that there have been serial killers throughout history, Some
sources suggest that legends such as werewolves and vampires were inspired by medieval
serial killers. The serial killers may exhibit varying degrees of mental illness or psychopathy,
which may contribute to their homicidal behavior. They were frequently bullied or socially
isolated as children or adolescents. For example, Henry Lee Lucas was ridiculed as a child and
later cited the mass rejection by his peers as a cause for his hatred of everyone. Often, they
have trouble staying employed and tend to work in menial jobs. The FBI, however, states,
"Serial murderers often seem normal; have families and/or a steady job." Other sources state
they often come from unstable families.

Juvenile serial killers are rare. There are three main categories that juvenile serial killers can fit
into: primary, maturing, and secondary killers. There have been studies done to compare and
contrast these three groups and to discover similarities and differences between them. Although
these types of serial killers are less common, oftentimes adult serial killers may make their
debut at an early age and it can be an opportunity for researchers to study what factors brought
about the behavior. Though it is rare, the youngest felon on death row is in fact, a juvenile serial
killer named Harvey Miguel Robinson.

Ted Bundy, in full Theodore Robert Bundy, American serial killer and rapist, was one of the
most notorious criminals of the late 20th centuryThe serial killer Ted Bundy was convicted of
one kidnapping and three murders before being sentenced to death in Florida.
Before his death, authorities say he confessed to murdering 30 people across the US. Some
experts believe that number could be much higher.
Bundy was a master manipulator, in part because he was able to blend in. Even as a child,
Ted Bundy showed some signs of disturbance and may even have started killing much earlier than
investigators first thought. "He had classic signs of conduct disorder as a child. There is one
instance where a female family member woke up and Bundy had arranged kitchen knives all
around her body,
Bundy confessed to murdering 30 women between 1974 and 1978. Five women are known to
have survived his attacks. He started his known attacks on January 4, 1974, with 18-year-old
Karen Sparks. Bundy beat her severely and sexually assaulted her in her bed, but she survived
with severe brain damage and no memory of what had happened to her, according to "Inside
Edition."
The victims we know about from Seattle are Lynda Ann Healy, Donna Gail Manson, Susan
Elaine Rancourt, Brenda Carol Ball, Georgeann Hawkins, Brenda Baker, Janice Anne Ott, and
Denise Naslund. After killing Susan Rancourt, Bundy also killed Roberta Kathleen Parks in
Corvallis, Oregon
Meanwhile, Bundy's longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer was one of four people who had
suggested Bundy's name to police as a suspect.
Kloepfer lived in Seattle but had roots in Utah, and had phoned SLC police when she first began
to suspect that Bundy might have something to do with the very similar tales of missing women
in the Seattle and Salt Lake City areas.
Another person who had put Bundy's name forward as a suspect was a former police officer
who would go on to become the well-known true-crime writer Ann Rule.
Rule had worked with and befriended Bundy while working at the Seattle Crisis Clinic. Under
contract to write a book about the missing women but not realizing at first that her friend Ted
had anything to do with it, Rule would go on to write "The Stranger Beside Me" about the Bundy
case.
On March 1, 1976, Bundy was found guilty of the kidnapping of Carol DaRonch
That's when Bundy escaped from prison for the first time.
Rather than hire a lawyer, Bundy intended to represent himself and so was given access to the
law library in the Pitkin County District Courthouse where his trial was to be held. According to
local paper, The Post Independent, he escaped by jumping out a second-story window in the
library.
People in the surrounding area were terrified. A June 9, 1977, front-page story in the Glenwood
Post read, "Since Bundy's escape, parents have been asked to pick up
their children at schools; the sale of guns and ammunition has been banned; people have been
asked to travel in pairs and not to go camping alone."
Bundy was caught in Aspen a few days later while driving a Cadillac he had stolen.
In 1978 Bundy fled to Florida, where he committed his final murders.
In the middle of the night of January 15, 1978, several residents at Florida State University's Chi
Omega sorority house were sleeping when Bundy struck.
He brutally murdered Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy while they slept, according to the Tampa
Bay Times. He also attacked Karen Chandler, Kathy Kleiner, and Cheryl Ann Thomas that night,
but all three women survived.
Three weeks after the FSU murders, 12-year-old Kimberly Leach disappeared from Lake
City and her body wouldn't be found until April 1978.
After two very public trials in Florida, Bundy was found guilty of two counts of murder for
Bowman and Levy's death and three counts of attempted murder on July 24, 1979. He was also
found guilty of the abduction and murder of Kimberly Leach on February 10, 1980.
Prior to his execution nine years later, authorities say Bundy confessed to the murders of many
of the victims whose names we know today. Many felt this was yet another attempt at
manipulation to delay the inevitable, but if it was, it didn't work.
Bundy was executed in the state of Florida via electric chair on January 24, 1989.
On the evening before his execution, Bundy reviewed his victim tally with Bill Hagmaier on a
state-by-state basis for a total of 30 homicides:

 in Washington, 11 (including Parks, abducted in Oregon but killed in Washington; and

including 3 unidentified)
 in Utah, 8 (3 unidentified)
 in Colorado, 3
 in Florida, 3
 in Oregon, 2 (both unidentified)
 in Idaho, 2 (1 unidentified)
 in California, 1 (unidentified)