AP PSYCHOLOGY

CASE STUDY 8: TED BUNDY

A Time of Terror

Lynda Ann Healy

Lynda Ann Healy was a very accomplished young woman. At age 21, morning radio listeners heard her friendly voice announce the ski conditions for the major ski areas in western Washington. he was a !eautiful girl, tall and slim with shiny clean, long !rown hair and a ready smile. "he product of a good family and an upper#middle#class environment, she was an e$cellent singer and a senior at the %niversity of Washington, majoring in psychology. he loved working with children who were mentally handicapped.

Lynda shared a house near the university with four other young women. &n 'anuary (1, 1)*+, she and a few friends went for a few !eers after dinner at ,ante-s, a tavern that was popular with the university students. "hey didn-t stay long and Lynda went home to watch television and talk on the phone to her !oyfriend. "hen Lynda went to !ed. "he roommate in the room ne$t to Lynda heard no noises coming from Lynda-s room that night. Lynda had to get up every morning at ./(0 to get to her jo! at the radio station. "he roommate heard Lynda-s alarm go off at ./(0 as it did customarily. What was unusual was that the alarm kept !u11ing. When the roommate finally went in to shut off the alarm, she heard the phone ring. 2t was the radio station calling to see where Lynda was. "he !ed in Lynda-s room was made and nothing looked distur!ed, so the roommate assumed that Lynda was on her way to work. When her parents called that afternoon to find out why Lynda had not shown up for dinner as e$pected, everyone !ecame worried. 3o!ody had seen her. he seemed to have vanished from the house. Lynda-s parents called the police. 2n Lynda-s room, they found that her !ed had !een made up in a way that Lynda had never made it up !efore. 2n fact, Lynda was not normally one to make up her !ed. &ddly, a pillowcase and the top sheet were missing on this carefully made#up !ed.

A small !loodstain of the same !lood type as Lydna-s was found on the pillow and the !ottom sheet. 4lood was also on her nightgown that was carefully hung in the closet. An outfit of hers was missing. Another alarming clue was that one of the doors to the house was unlocked when the girls were always vigilant a!out locking it. "he police were not initially convinced that Lynda had !een a victim of foul play, so no fingerprint, hair or fi!er evidence was gathered. %ltimately, police reali1ed that an intruder had somehow gotten into the house, removed her nightgown and hung it in the closet, dressed her in a change of clothes, made up the !ed, wrapped Lynda in the top !ed sheet and carried her out of the house ## very 5uietly.

Killing Spree

'anice &tt, victim

,uring that spring and summer, more women students suddenly and ine$plica!ly vanished. "here were striking similarities among many of the cases. 6or instance, all the girls were white, slender, single, wearing slacks at the time of disappearance, had hair that was long and parted in the middle and they all disappeared in the evening.

Also around the time of the disappearances, police interviewed college students who told them of a strange man who was seen wearing a cast on either his arm or leg. upposedly, the stranger seemed to !e struggling with !ooks and asking young women near!y for assistance. &ther eyewitnesses reported a strange man in the campus parking lot who had a cast and asked for assistance with his car, a 7W !ug that he apparently had difficulty starting. 2nterestingly, around the same area where two of the girls mysteriously disappeared, there was seen such a man wearing a cast on his arm or leg.

,enise 3aslund, victim

6inally, in August of 1)*+ in Washington-s Lake ammamish tate 8ark, the remains of some of the missing girls were found and two were later identified. 2t was remarka!le that police were a!le to identify two of the !odies considering what was left ## strands of various colors of hair, five thigh !ones, a couple of skulls and a jaw !one. "he girls identified were 'anice &tt and ,enise 3aslund, who disappeared on the same day, 'uly 1+th.

"he last people to have seen &tt, a couple picnicking near !y, remem!ered a handsome young man approaching the young woman. 6rom what the couple could hear of the conversation !etween &tt and the young man, his name was "ed and he had difficulty loading his !oat onto his car !ecause his arm was in a cast. He asked &tt for assistance and she agreed to help. "hat was the last time twenty#three#year#old 'anice &tt was seen alive.

9elissa mith, victim

,enise 3aslund was spending the afternoon with her !oyfriend and friends when she walked towards the restroom in the park, never to return again. "hat afternoon, around where she disappeared, a man who wore a cast and asked for help with his !oat approached a couple of women. "hey were una!le to assist the attractive young man. However, ,enise 3aslund was the kind of girl to help someone in need, especially someone with a !roken arm##an act of kindness that cost her life. ,enise 3aslund was not the last woman to disappear and !e found dead. "his time the killer would travel to different states.

Laura Aime, victim

9idvale, %tah-s, 8olice :hief Louis mith had a seventeen#year#old daughter whom he fre5uently warned a!out the dangers of the world. He had seen all too much during his career and worried for his daughter-s safety. ;et, his worst fears were to come true on &cto!er 1<, 1)*+ when his daughter 9elissa disappeared. he had !een found ) days after her disappearance ## strangled, sodomi1ed and raped.

"hirteen days later on Halloween, seventeen#year#old Laura Aime disappeared. he was found on "hanksgiving ,ay in the Wasatch 9ountains lying dead !y a river. Aime had !een !eaten a!out the head and face with a crow!ar, raped and sodomi1ed. 2t was suspected that she was killed someplace other than where she was found due to the lack of !lood at the crime scene. &ther than her !ody, there was no physical evidence for the police to use.

Similaritie
"he similarities with the Washington tate murders caught the attention of local police in %tah, who were frantically searching for the man responsi!le for the grisly crimes. With each murder, the evidence was slowly mounting. %tah police consulted with Washington tate investigators. Almost all agreed that it was highly likely that the same man who committed the crimes in Washington tate had also !een responsi!le for the murders in %tah. "hanks to eyewitness accounts of the man in the cast seen near the areas where many of the women had disappeared, they were a!le to come up with a composite of the could#!e#killer who called himself ="ed.=

8olice :omposite ,rawing of uspect

When a close friend of >li1a!eth ?endall saw the account of 9elissa mith-s murder in the paper and the composite of the could#!e#killer, she knew that "ed 4undy must !e the man. 2t wasn-t just her intense dislike and mistrust for >li1a!eth-s !oyfriend that led her to !elieve that "ed was the =man,= !ut also the fact that he looked so much like the composite picture in the paper. ,eep down, >li1a!eth must have known her friend was right. After all, "ed did resem!le the sketch, he drove a 7W similar to those seen !y witnesses and she had seen crutches in his room even though he never injured his leg. According to the !ook The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy, which was later written !y ?endall, she anonymously called the eattle 8olice ,epartment in August 1)*+ and stated that her !oyfriend =might !e involved= in the recent murder cases. he called again later that fall and gave more pertinent information that might assist the investigators in the case. he also agreed to give recent pictures of "ed, to later !e shown to witnesses. However, the witnesses did not make a positive 2.,. after viewing the pictures and >li1a!eth-s report was eventually filed away. "he investigators working the case decided to turn their attention towards more likely suspects and "ed 4undy was forgotten until a few years later. "he killer continued to elude investigators, assuming that !y operating in different states the police would !e una!le to compare the cases. His !ehavior !ecame increasingly !old and risky as he approached women. "hose who escaped his advances would later recogni1e him and provide the police with valua!le information. 4y @achael 4ell

T!e Earl" Year

"heodore @o!ert :owell was !orn on 3ovem!er 2+, 1)+A to Louise :owell following her stay of three months at the >li1a!eth Lund Home for %nwed 9others in 7ermont. "ed-s !iological father, who was an Air 6orce veteran, was unknown to his son throughout his life. hortly after his !irth, "ed and his mother moved !ack to the home of his grandparents in 8hiladelphia. While growing up, "ed was led to !elieve that his grandparents were his parents and his natural mother was his older sister. "he charade was created in order to protect his !iological mother from harsh criticism and prejudice of !eing an unwed mother. At the age of four, "ed and his mother moved to "acoma, Washington to live with relatives. A year after the move, Louise fell in love with a military cook named 'ohnnie :ulpepper 4undy. 2n 9ay 1).1, the couple was married and "ed assumed his stepfather-s last name, which he would keep for the rest of his life. &ver the years, the 4undy family added four other si!lings, whom "ed spent much of his time !a!ysitting after school. "ed-s stepfather tried to form a !ond !etween himself and "ed !y including him in camping trips and other father#son activities. However, 'ohnnie-s attempts were unsuccessful and "ed remained emotionally detached from his stepfather. According to tephen 9ichaud and Hugh Aynesworth-s !ook "ed 4undy/ :onversations with a ?iller, "ed !ecame

increasingly uncomforta!le around his stepfather and preferred to !e alone. "his desire to !e !y himself increased and possi!ly led to his later ina!ility to socially interact comforta!ly with others. As a youth, "ed was terri!ly shy, self#dou!ting and uncomforta!le in social situations. He was often teased and made the !utt of pranks !y !ullies in his junior high school. 9ichaud analy1ed "ed-s !ehavior and decided that he was =not like other children, he looked and acted like them, !ut he was haunted !y something else/ a fear, a dou!t ## sometimes only a vague uneasiness#B that inha!ited his mind with the su!tlety of a cat. He felt it for years, !ut he didn-t recogni1e it for what it was until much later.= @egardless of the humiliating e$periences he sometimes suffered from !eing different, he was a!le to maintain a high grade#point average that would continue throughout high school and later into college. ,uring his high school years, "ed appeared to !lossom into a more gregarious young man. His popularity increased significantly and he was considered to !e =well dressed and e$ceptionally well mannered.= ,espite his emerging popularity, "ed seldom dated. His interests lay more in e$tra#curricular activities such as skiing and politics. 2n fact, "ed had a particular fascination with politics, an interest that would years later temporarily land him in the political arena. 6ollowing high school, "ed attended college at the %niversity of 8uget ound and the %niversity of Washington. He worked his way through school !y taking on several low#level jo!s, such as a !us !oy and shoe clerk. However, he seldom stayed with one position for very long. His employers considered him to !e unrelia!le. Although "ed was inconsistent with his work outside of school, he was very focused on his studies and grades. ;et, his focus changed during the spring of 1)A* when he !egan a relationship that would forever change his life. "ed met a girl that was everything he had ever dreamed of in a woman. he was a !eautiful and highly sophisticated woman from a wealthy :alifornian family. "ed couldn-t !elieve someone from her =class= would have an interest in someone like him. Although they had many differences, they !oth loved to ski and it was during their many ski trips together that he fell in love. he was really "ed-s first love, and, possi!ly the first woman with whom he !ecame involved with se$ually. However, she was not as infatuated with "ed as he was with her. 2n fact, she liked "ed a lot !ut !elieved he had no real direction or future goals. "ed tried too hard to impress her, even if that meant lying, something that she didn-t like at all. "ed won a summer scholarship to the prestigious tanford %niversity in :alifornia just to impress her, !ut at tanford, his immaturity was e$posed. "ed did not understand why the mask he had !een using had failed him. "his first tentative foray into the sophisticated world had ended in disaster.

2n 1)A<, after his girlfriend graduated from the %niversity of Washington, she !roke off relations with "ed. he was a practical young woman and seemed to reali1e that "ed had some serious character flaws that took him out of the running as =hus!and material.= "ed never recovered from the !reak#up. 3othing, including school, seemed to hold any interest for him and he eventually dropped out, dum!#founded and depressed over the !reak#up. He managed to stay in touch with her !y writing after she returned to :alifornia, yet she seemed uninterested in getting !ack together. 4ut "ed !ecame o!sessed with this young woman and he couldn-t get her out of his mind. 2t was an o!session that would span his lifetime and lead to a series of events that would shock the world.

A S# pe$t

"ed 4undy-s 7W

&n August 1A, 1)*., ergeant 4o! Hayward was patrolling an area just outside of alt Lake :ounty when he spotted a suspicious tan 7W !ug driving past him. He knew the neigh!orhood well and almost all the residents that lived there and he couldn-t remem!er seeing the tan 7W there !efore. When he put on his lights to get a !etter view of the 7W-s license plate, the driver of the !ug turned off his lights and !egan speeding away. 2mmediately, ergeant Hayward !egan to chase the vehicle. "he car sped through two stop signs !efore it eventually pulled over into a near!y gas station. Hayward pulled up !ehind the reckless driver and watched as the occupant got out of his car and approached the police car. Hayward asked the young man for his registration and license, which was issued to "heodore @o!ert 4undy. 'ust then, two other troopers pulled up !ehind the tan 7W. Hayward noticed that the passenger seat in 4undy-s car was missing. With mounting suspicion and 4undy-s permission, the three officers inspected the 7W. "he officers found a crow!ar, ski mask, rope, handcuffs, wire and an ice pick. 4undy was immediately placed under arrest for suspicion of !urglary.

9ugshot of "ed 4undy

oon after 4undy-s arrest, police !egan to find connections !etween him and the man who attacked :arol ,a@onch Canother victim that survived the attack and went to the policeD. "he handcuffs that were found in 4undy-s car were the same make and !rand that her attacker had used and the car he drove was similar to the one she had descri!ed. 6urthermore, the crow!ar found in 4undy-s car was similar to the weapon that had !een used to threaten :arol earlier that 3ovem!er. "hey also suspected that 4undy was the man responsi!le for the kidnapping of 9elissa mith, Laura Aime and ,e!!y ?ent. "here were just too many similarities among the cases for police to ignore. However, they knew they needed much more evidence to support the case against 4undy. &n &cto!er 2nd, 1)*., :arol ,a@onch was asked to attend a line#up of seven men, one of whom was 4undy, at a %tah police station. 2nvestigators were not surprised when :arol picked "ed from the line#up as the man who had attacked her. Although "ed repeatedly professed his innocence, police were almost positive they had their man. oon after he was picked out of the line#up, investigators launched a full#!lown investigation into the man they knew as "heodore @o!ert 4undy. "ed-s e$ecution date was initially scheduled for 9arch +, 1)<A. However, his e$ecution was postponed while his new defense attorney, 8olly 3elson, worked on his appeals for his previous murder convictions. "wo months later the appeal was denied and another death warrant was issued to "ed !y the tate of 6lorida. till, the appeal process continued. "he last appeal was made to the %. . upreme :ourt, who eventually denied "ed-s last stay of e$ecution on 'anuary 1*, 1)<). 2n "ed-s eleventh hour, he decided to confess to more crimes to the Washington tate Attorney Eeneral-s chief investigator for the criminal division, ,r. 4o! ?eppel. "ed had temporarily assisted ,r. ?eppel in his hunt for the =Ereen @iver killer= from ,eath @ow in the mid 1)<0-s and he trusted him immensely. ?eppel went to meet "ed in an interviewing room at the prison, armed with only a tape recorder. What ?eppel learned was shocking. ,r. ?eppel had learned that "ed kept some of his victims- heads at his home as trophies. However, what was even more surprising was that "ed also engaged in necrophilia with some of the remains of his victims. 2n fact, ?eppel later stated in his !ook "he @iverman/ "ed 4undy and 2 Hunt for the Ereen @iver ?iller that "ed-s !ehavior could !e !est descri!ed as =compulsive necrophilia and e$treme perversion.=

2t was a compulsion that led to the deaths of scores of women, many who remained unknown to investigators. @ule and ?eppel stated in their !ooks that "ed was likely responsi!le for the deaths of at least a hundred women, discounting the official count of thirty#si$ victims. Whatever the figure, the fact is no one will ever know for certain how many victims actually fell victim to "ed. 6inally on 'anuary 2+, 1)<), at appro$imately * a.m. in the morning "ed 4undy was killed !y the electric chair.