- Ted Bundy was executed by Florida State Prison’s electric chair 30 years ago for his notorious killing sprees.
- Bundy admitted to killing 30 women prior to his death, but the actual number of victims remain unclear.
- Netflix is set to release video footage and audio recordings of Bundy Thursday
Serial killer Ted Bundy, who admitted to murdering 30 women, was executed by Florida State Prison’s electric chair on Jan. 24, 1989 — 30 years ago.
Bundy was known to act helpless by putting his arm in a sling or walking on crutches to get attractive women to help him carry objects to his car. When they least expected it, Bundy would hit the victims with a pipe or crow bar before raping or murdering them, according to Crime Museum.
Pictured is a man using a crowbar to hurt his victim. SHUTTERSTOCK/Photographee.eu
Bundy murdered women in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Florida between 1974 and 1978, Britannica reported.
Bundy would also mutilate or have sex with dead corpses until he couldn’t due to their rotting state, according to Crime Museum.
The executive producer for True Crime Productions, Steven Booth, described Bundy to The Daily Caller News Foundation as a “psychopath” who was “a mess,” despite the media’s portrayal of the killer as a charming, handsome, put-together man.
“He could barely finish his undergraduate degree, he never finished law school, in some cases he could barely hold down a job as a bus boy in a restaurant,” Booth said over email. “He had personal relationships which went well for him only if he could control the outcome of each interaction. If he lost control of the conversation or relationship, or if he interacted with someone too long, the cracks in his armor could be seen.”
Bundy’s childhood could have some role in his desire to kill as psychopathic traits can develop from a young age, Booth said over email. Bundy isolated himself from the rest of the family when his mother remarried.
It did not help that the relationship with his stepfather was strained, according to Britannica.
Such children tend to play or spend time alone without disturbing others to keep themselves entertained, Booth said to TheDCNF over email.
“They begin entertaining themselves through private activities and fantasies,” Booth said. “There is little moral oversight to these activities and fantasies, because they take place where no one is watching.”
Booth added that psychopaths do not consider what others want or feel in their fantasies because they lack empathy. Sexual gratification can become one of the obsessions for psychopaths as teens.
Serial killers like Bundy view violence as “an acceptable solution to gaining cooperation” if the “object of attraction” does not want to comply, Booth said.
Booth emphasized that despite environmental conditions, “Serial killers create themselves.” (Retired Detectives Say Gang Of Serial Killers Is Responsible For At Least 70 ‘Accidental Drownings’)
Florida Department of Corrections press secretary Patrick Manderfield said to TheDCNF the facility could not discuss Bundy’s medical conditions due to a federal privacy law.
Bundy was first arrested in 1975 in Utah, though he escaped custody when transferred to Colorado in 1976. Bundy was caught in a week, but escaped custody again in December 1977 and continued murdering people before getting caught in 1978, the Crime Museum reported.
The number of actual victims remain unclear.
Bundy was one of two people executed in Florida in 1989, according to the state’s Department of Corrections.
Bundy’s knowledge of a serial killer’s mind did prove to be useful when prosecutors were trying to find notorious serial killer Gary Ridgway in the 1980s, All That’s Interesting reported. Bundy suggested to investigators Ridgway was probably visiting dumping grounds for the dead body to have sex with them. He suggested that officials wait for Ridgway to return to a new grave site. Bundy’s tips helped and investigators eventually arrested Ridgway in 2001.
Netflix will release “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes” Thursday in recognition of the 30-year anniversary. Actor Zac Efron, who has starred in the “High School Musical” movies and “The Greatest Showman,” will also portray Bundy in the upcoming 2019 film “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.”
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