Two Sides of the Same Coin 1

Two Sides of the Same Coin

Nissa Fuller

Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Keith Johnson

 Two Sides of the Same Coin 2

Throughout human history, there have been all kinds of serial killers from Jack the

Ripper to Richard Ramirez and many in between these two. Since it is human history, killing has

been an action committed by people for numerous reasons like religion, revenge, their country

and even just for fun. However, it could be argued that there has always been a common attitude

towards killing that sees it as something immoral. The action of taking the life of another is a

permanent decision that some people choose daily for whatever reason. Depending on who the

person is, it may not be a burden on their heart as it might be for others. Though, there is an

interesting breed of people who enjoy killing or who feel overcome by a compulsion to commit

murder. So, serial killers have been an interesting topic for those in the academic field and even

regular people who hear about gruesome killings on the nightly news. This is often the feeling

and atmosphere that serial killers create: sudden shock and intrigue. Serial killers would often

appear out of thin air and cause shock to those around them. People often make the mistake of

believing that “nothing bad can happen” to them until they are left staring the truth in the eyes.

This attention has created much curiosity around serial killers and the lives they live.

When thinking about serial killers and how they come about, we often think about the

possible societal conditions that allow them to thrive. Haggerty and Ellerbrok state that the

development of society has changed drastically from everyone knowing each other to a society

of strangers (Haggerty & Ellerbrok, 2011). This is an interesting point as most serial killers

thrive on the premise of no one knowing who they are or crowded areas. While people are not

completely trusting of strangers they do not immediately believe that someone wants to harm

them. This is a grave mistake. Likewise, the curiosity of serial killers can also be applied when

you look at serial killers as a whole. While there are many killers it is interesting to think about
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how they are alike and in what ways. It is the day old question of nature versus nurture and what

makes someone become who they are and why they choose to do the things that they do.

Essentially, this paper will look at the origins of infamous serial killers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey

Dahmer to compare and contrast their stories.

To begin, it is necessary to define what a serial killer is and what criteria possibly counts

to being labeled a serial killer. A more broad definition would be the killing of two or more

people with a specific motivation. The problem is that most academics would be apprehensive to

consider this definition as truth. Technically speaking, by this definition, many types of killers

would fall under the serial killer category. For instance, there are mass killers which are people

who kill in open and crowded areas (Miller, 2014). There are spree killers which are people who

go on killing sprees in seemingly random bursts (Miller, 2014). You could even count gang

members as serial killers.

However, the issue with these kinds of killers is that they are not what we usually picture

when thinking about a traditional serial killer. Usually, serial murderers are depicted in the media

as someone who is charming and your everyday normal guy who has a disturbing evil side. They

pick specific victims for specific reasons and most important there is a cooldown time (Miller,

2014). Unlike spree or mass killers, a serial killer will “take breaks” in between kills for various

reasons (Miller, 2014). The logical reason would be to take time to stay out of the spotlight of the

police but it could also be that their compulsion to kill was satisfied. So, this distinction of a

cooldown time that could last for weeks or months is what sets serial killers apart from the

standard killer. The killers that this paper will be discussing fit into the definition of what a serial

killer is as both Bundy and Dahmer had cooldowns during their killing careers. While it may be a
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small cooldown (a few weeks), it is still time where no lives are being needlessly lost. Though,

these cooldowns provide a bit of a challenge and yet an opportunity to look at the killer's actions

and patterns. One of the more interesting questions about serial killers is how they approach their

victims versus how they live their everyday life when they are not killing.

Ted Bundy was an infamous serial killer in the 1970s with an aspiration of being a

lawyer. Those who knew him saw Bundy in different ways that would make an outsider believe

they were talking about entirely different people. During the time of his accusations, there was a

person who saw no fault in him without any questions: his mother. Like any loving mother,

Bundy’s mother could not believe her child would do something so horrid as murder. She was

often reported by newspapers and stations that she never lost faith that he was innocent

(Ramsland, 2013). Bundy’s mother saw him as thoughtful, responsible, and practically the best

son in the world (Ramsland, 2013). Despite his mother’s support, there was a relative of Bundy

who told a story that seemed harmless at first but could actually allude to some future truths. His

aunt told a psychiatrist that she awoke to knives under her covers placed by her nephew, Bundy

(Ramsland, 2013).

Now, this was shoved off as something harmless but it could possibly be a marker to the

unusual behavior showed by Bundy as he got older. In addition to this, many friends and

acquaintances of Bundy saw him in polarizing ways. Some saw him as cold and distant or patient

and caring. Many noted that he was always trying to impress his peers and seem like he was in

control of his life(Ramsland, 2013). However, as his killings came closer to a halt people saw

him as immature and belligerent (Ramsland, 2013). This behavior of both charms and

immaturity could be seen in his approach to murder.

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Unlike Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer was completely opposite of the suave persona that Bundy

tried to pull off. Dahmer was a serial killer through the 70s and 90s who was a loner by

definition (Davis, 1998). Classmates of Dahmer saw him as a loner who could not fit in with his

“normal” peers and would resort to alcohol and marijuana throughout the school day (Davis,

1998). Through the research of Dahmer, it seems like most did not know what was going on in

his life or what to make of it. It probably did not help that no one cared to provide guidance to

him as a child and so when he reached adulthood it was too late. In an attempt to see any

similarities between Bundy and Dahmer, it is important to think about how others viewed them.

This could directly relate to their own style of luring victims and killing.

Bundy being the suave and charming personality, at least most of the time, would lure his

victims by pretending to be in need of help (Canter, Alison, Alison, & Wentink, 2004). This type

of behavior would lead some to believe Bundy to be an organized killer as he would bring a

weapon with him and take it when he found his victim (Canter et al., 2004). An organized killer

is also characterized as someone with average to high intelligence and socially competent. These

traits can all be seen in Bundy as most saw him as charming and intelligent. A more detailed

explanation of the kind of killer that Bundy would be is a power-oriented killer who seeks total

control of his victims(Simon, 2015). He can also be classified as an organized nonsocial type

who seeks total submission from his victims (Simons, 2001). This category of a killer is someone

who does not particularly care about others but is able to seem charming and amiable to others

(Simons, 2001).
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However, it is important to note that as he got closer to the end of his career as a killer he

became disorganized. His crime scenes were a lot messier and killed more opportunistically

(Canter et al., 2004). So as a result, he could be categorized as a “mix” of the two when the

situation called for it.

On the other hand, Dahmer fits neatly into the box of organized as he would find his

victims at shopping malls and gay bars (Davis, 1998) or use a ruse. He followed a procedure of

inviting men to his apartment that would eventually lead to sex but he could not let that be the

end of the interaction and chose to kill them instead (Davis, 1998). This type of structure helped

him execute certain fantasizes of his that would require a meticulous approach. Dahmer more

specifically is classified as a hedonistic killer who finds pleasure and thrill from killing (Simon,

2015). Nothing more. In a more detailed analysis of the type of killer that Dahmer is would

reveal that he fell into the thrill-oriented category (Simons, 2001). This individual enjoys the act

of killing and will use methods to enjoy as much as they can (Simons, 2001). In the case of

Dahmer, he would take pictures and keep body parts of his victims (Davis, 1998). Another

difference between the two killers is their family environment which can be a marker for future

deviance. Whenever you speak about the origins of a person’s personality and all its faults tend

to land on the parents and the environment around them. Issues like parental brutality,

humiliation, and neglect are most seen trauma that serial killers faced as young children (Stone,

2001). Much research has shown that most serial killers experienced abuse as children whether

that be psychologically, physically, or sexually (Leary, Southard, Hill, & Ashman, 2017). This

toxic environment later defined the killer and his motives. Other risks factors and markers for

serial killers include abuse, trauma, insecure attachment, loss or abandonment (LaBrode, 2007).
 Two Sides of the Same Coin 7

Serial killers as children usually engage in deviant behaviors like fire-starting and killing small

children (LaBrode, 2007). In general, the children will just seem “off” (LaBrode, 2007).

For these reasons, many people were curious about the childhood of Bundy to which they

would find no answer. Bundy himself stated that he had a normal childhood and came from a

loving household (McClellan, 2016). This does not match up with the troubled childhood that is

assumed that serial killers went through. Bundy was functional as a young person who played

sports and received good grades. However, as Ted got to high school he began to experience

alienation from those around them specifically unable to connect emotionally. In contrast,

Dahmer experienced a more difficult childhood where he experienced neglect and isolation. As a

young child, Dahmer was interested in dead animals, another marker, and even had an animal

cemetery (Davis, 1998). In his teenage year, his parents were in a horrible divorce where they

blamed the other when in reality, they both were awful to their kids (Davis, 1998). During this

time of extreme neglect from his mother after she won the custody battle, Dahmer was

completely changed (Davis, 1998). Thoughts of death, violence, and murder engulfed his mind

and eventually lead him to commit his first murder (Davis, 1998).

In general, though, Bundy and Dahmer both would qualify as sexual serial murderers

which are killers who have a need to engage in sexual acts with their victims. Serial murder, in

general, is seen as an expression of power which is amplified with sexual homicide. Sexual

homicide is an act that satisfies the needs of the offender that is emotional, physical, and

psychological (McClellan, 2016). Specifically, Bundy explored his sexual intentions through

necrophilia and took his time with his victims where he could exercise the control he lacked in

his daily life (McClellan, 2016). This is similar to Dahmer as he spent his time with his victims
 Two Sides of the Same Coin 8

as corpses. He performed oral or anal sex on the corpses and took pictures of the dismembered

bodies (Davis, 1998). Bundy and Dahmer engaged in paraphilic behaviors like necrophilia which

is normal for most serial killers do too. Usually, serial killers engage in multiple paraphilias

through their killing careers with Bundy and Dahmer being no exception (Stone, 2001).

Paraphilias that they both engaged in include bondage, necrophilia, pedophilia, cannibalism,

sadism, and strangulation with orgasm (Stone, 2001).

That leads us to Bundy and Dahmer style of killing and their victims which differed

greatly. Dahmer targeted young regular homosexual males at places like malls and gay bars

(Davis, 1998). His victims were mostly Black males who were smaller than he was at the time

but he also committed acts of pedophilia with victims as young as 14. His weapon of choice was

strangulation as Dahmer developed a need to be intimate with his victims since he would kill

after sex (Davis, 1998). Compared to Bundy, the two serial could not be further apart. Bundy’s

victims were young beautiful women who were educated and seemingly belong to a finer

lifestyle than most (McClellan, 2016). This was usually the case for Bundy who would chase

those out of his reach. It would be later speculated that Bundy’s victims resembled an old flame

of his that left him (McClellan, 2016). His weapon of choice were things like blunt objects, for

example, crowbars were used a lot (McClellan, 2016). He also engaged in rape, biting, and

slashing (McClellan, 2016). Since Bundy and Dahmer are both sexual murderers, they did

similar things like dismemberment and cannibalism (McClellan, 2016).

Another commonality between Bundy and Dahmer is losing their victims or the victim

successfully escaping. Bundy had one woman escape from him and she lived to tell the story.

Rhonda Stapley was a young college student who was swooned by the handsome and charming
 Two Sides of the Same Coin 9

Ted Bundy and for some reason trusted him (Truesdell, 2016). Bundy offered her ride when he

decided to take a turn into a canyon, where he strangled and raped her (Truesdell, 2016).

Fortunately, Rhonda regained consciousness and ran off into a river that led her away (Truesdell,

2016). Terrified by the experience, Rhonda never told a soul what happened to her for 37 years

for fear of judgment and shame (Truesdell, 2016). The victim’s description of Bundy matched

what others thought of him: he seemed normal until he was not. Bundy appeared to Rhonda as a

normal and quiet college student who at the same time exudes confidence (Truesdell, 2016).

After such a horrible experience, she moved on with her life trying to remember that no one

could take her life away from her (Truesdell, 2016).

Unfortunately, some of Dahmer’s victims were not as lucky. A 14-year-old male had

managed to escape from Dahmer’s apartment naked with cuts and bruises (Davis, 1998). The

victim managed to run into the police who brought him back to Dahmer’s apartment (Davis,

1998). Due to some faulty police work and a story told by Dahmer that they were roommates and

lovers, the police let it go (Davis, 1998). Supposedly, Dahmer showed the police officers pictures

of the victim in his underwear and the officers written the traumatized kid off (Davis, 1998). This

seems to be a common theme with the law enforcement back then because of how easy it was to

trick them and how lazy they acted. It could also be because people could not believe that such

horrible things actually happened. The same can be said for Bundy who managed to escape from

the custody of law enforcement not once but twice (Ramsland, 2013).

Besides the mistakes of law enforcement, we should think about the core of killing:

motivation. What were the motivations and fantasies of Bundy and Dahmer? Are they similar?

Well, to start the motivations would be moving in a similar direction as both were sexual serial
 Two Sides of the Same Coin
10
killers. It could also be speculated that both Bundy and Dahmer dealt with issues surrounding

abandonment which reflected in their killings. Mentioned before, parental neglect is considered

abuse and which allows for negative emotions and thoughts to fester. Dahmer had mentioned

that it was during that time of extreme abandonment where he was left with nothing that he

began to obsess about killing people (Davis, 1998). This pattern would later be seen in his killing

where he would lure a person back to have sex. However, whenever they would try to leave he

would kill them (Davis, 1998). It was expressed many times by Dahmer that he committed acts

of cannibalism because he wanted a sense of intimacy with his victims (Davis, 1998).

The could be said of Bundy whose victims all resembled a woman he dated who ended

up leaving him (Lachmann & Lachmann, 2006). This holds even more significance because the

woman represented everything that Bundy wanted for himself: wealth and status. So, when he

was rejected it was as if the people he wanted to feel a sense of belonging with also rejected him.

From that point on, it could be concluded that every time he killed that he was also letting out his

anger at the class of people he would never belong to. Although, what is even more interesting is

the fact that Bundy got back together with his first love only to reject her (Lachmann &

Lachmann, 2006). Showing how upset he was and the abandonment he felt from the relationship.

While both Bundy and Dahmer had many close calls with the law enforcement it would

eventually come to a stop with them being arrested. After some time in court and somehow

legally representing himself, his fate was decided. Bundy was executed by electrocution and his

some of his final thoughts were that pornography was to blame for his actions (“Ted Bundy,”

n.d.). Dahmer was arrested as he was luring a victim who proved to be no victim and used

justified violence to escape (“Jeffrey Dahmer,” n.d.). At the end of a two week trial with an
 Two Sides of the Same Coin
11
attempt at an insanity plea, Dahmer was sentenced to 15 life terms and later was beat to death by

a fellow inmate (“Jeffrey Dahmer,” n.d.).

In essence, Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer were horrible people. They committed

terrible and unimaginable acts of violence against people who did not deserve it. While they

went through their own troubles, it can not be justified by the damage they did. After looking at

both serial killers, they actually seem more alike than before. Bundy and Dahmer experienced

abandonment and abuse which eventually lead them to commit murder. They shared the

compulsion to physically and sexually dominate over their victims to fully satisfy themselves.

Despite the similarities between these serial killers, their existence teaches all a valuable

lesson. Be wary of strangers and blindly trusting someone because they seem charming or can

offer you sex. The mistake that people make most often is believing that they are safe from

danger and having the mentality that “bad things don’t happen to people like us”. It becomes the

responsibility of people to take those extra precautions and to not be so naive to what is

happening the world.

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References

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