Pod Insights Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén Power and Control Killer: Ted Bundy About this episode Ted Bundy was calculated, composed, even charming. But behind the polished exterior was a predator obsessed with control. He used manipulation, deceit, and dominance to gain total power over his victims. From his carefully planned attacks to his detailed confessions, Ted Bundy is a textbook case of a power and control killer.
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Transcript 0:04 Speaker 00 Imagine a killer who doesn't just want to take a life. They want to own it. These murderers get their thrill from domination. Every move is planned. Every word calculated. They stalk, manipulate, isolate, all to trap their victims in a game where they make the rules. And because they can appear charming, smart, and composed on the surface, they're some of the most dangerous murderers hiding in plain sight. This is our summer series Serial Killer Archetypes. We'll explore the different categories of killers as defined by renowned criminologists Ronald and Stephen Holmes. From visionary killers motivated by delusions to profit killers looking to swindle money
0:49 Speaker 00 out of their victims, we'll break down each type, what drives them, how they operate, and the terrifying patterns behind their crimes. Holmes and Holmes would call this episode's killer a power and control type. Driven by domination and terror, their crimes are carefully premeditated. They show little remorse, viewing their victims as objects to be used rather than people. They're able to get away with murder for long periods of time because of their ability to lead double lives without anyone suspecting anything sinister. Like today's killer, who was a boyfriend, stepfather, and law student. He blended in so well, he may have killed over 100 victims before he was stopped.
1:33 Speaker 00 Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. Every Monday, we bring you the true crime stories that stand out. I'm Janice Morgan. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at SerialKillersPodcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment. This episode contains discussions of abuse, sexual assault, and murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Stay with us.
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3:37 Speaker 00 Attempts to classify serial killers date back to the 1980s. Scholars hoped that comparing crime scenes, motives, and MOs of known serial killers could help investigators understand psychological profiles and track down future serial killers. One of the first classification systems created is also one of the most commonly used. In 1985, researchers Ronald Holmes and James DeBerger divided serial killers into six categories: power and control, visionary, mission-oriented, hedonistic lust, hedonistic thrill, and hedonistic comfort or profit.
4:14 Speaker 00 Later, a scholar named Stephen Holmes took over for De Berger, and the classification system became known as Holmes and Holmes typology. It's not a perfect system. Some critics argue the categories aren't mutually exclusive. Some killers may display behaviors that fall into multiple categories. Despite these criticisms, the Holmes and Holmes typology remains a valuable tool for understanding and classifying serial killers. We'll examine each of these types over the next six episodes. Today, we're discussing the power and control killer.
4:48 Speaker 00 According to Holmes and Holmes, this type of killer often has antisocial or narcissistic personality traits. They commit murder not for revenge or passion, but to exert absolute dominance. They fantasize, then carefully orchestrate every step, selecting vulnerable victims and isolating and manipulating them. The act of killing is secondary. They get their thrill from planning and controlling their victims. Often, they feel out of control in their own lives, so they take someone else's. That's the case with today's killer, Ted Bundy.
5:23 Speaker 00 It's January 1980. Journalist Stephen Michaud is at the Florida State Prison waiting for the guards to bring in a death row inmate he's there to interview. Stephen and another journalist, Hugh Ainsworth, have been working on a book about the inmate for nearly two years, but this is the first time either of them is meeting him face to face. The killer's first letter to Stephen and Hugh came two months prior to this meeting. He'd just been sentenced to death for the murders of two women and attempted murders of three others. The man asked the journalist to write a book on his story to prove his innocence. He signed the letter, "Best regards, Ted Bundy."
6:01 Speaker 00 The guards bring in a regular-looking guy in his 30s with blue eyes and brown hair. To Stephen, he looks like a businessman, not the most infamous accused serial killer in the country. Stephen and Ted make small talk, then start with the basics: Ted's biography. And very quickly, Stephen can see that Ted is trying to control the narrative. When Ted tells his story to Stephen Michaud, he paints an idyllic picture.
6:29 Speaker 00 He was born in 1946 in Burlington, Vermont. He spent the next four years in Philadelphia with his parents, Sam and Eleanor Cowell, and his sister Louise. He was close with his father and looked up to him as a mythic figure, as described in Stephen and Hugh's book Conversations with a Killer. In 1950, Louise moved to Tacoma, Washington, to live with relatives and brought Ted with her. She married Johnny Bundy, who adopted Ted, then they had four children of their own. Ted and Johnny didn't always get along, but otherwise his childhood was picturesque. Ted recalls summer days catching frogs and playing marbles and pee-wee football with neighborhood kids. He was a Boy Scout, and every Sunday, the entire Bundy clan went to church.
7:14 Speaker 00 Ted describes his life like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting, but it's possible none of it was true. Though Ted wouldn't find out for many years, Louise, who he thought to be his sister, was actually his mother. Sam and Eleanor were his grandparents. Louise wasn't married when she gave birth to Ted and didn't know who the father was. At the time, having a child out of wedlock was heavily stigmatized, so Sam and Eleanor agreed to raise Ted as their own. Sam didn't seem to be the flawless hero Ted described. Some of Ted's relatives would later say that Sam had a violent temper. He reportedly abused some members of his family and was cruel to animals.
7:56 Speaker 00 It's unclear whether Ted was ever harmed by Sam, but witnessing violence would have had an impact on the young boy. Later, a psychiatrist would diagnose Ted with manic depressive or bipolar disorder stemming from his early childhood trauma. After Louise and Ted moved to Tacoma, Ted became emotionally detached, preferring to spend his time alone. He was shy and self-conscious. He had a stutter, so he was teased by his peers. Throughout his school years, he generally struggled to fit in. A childhood friend describes Ted as "different and not all there." He had a temper and enjoyed scaring girls in the neighborhood. During his adolescence, Ted began his criminal career as a peeping Tom.
8:38 Speaker 00 He searched through trashcans in the neighborhood, looking for pictures of naked women. He would sneak off in the evenings and prowl the neighborhood to watch women through the windows of their homes. In high school, Ted was arrested at least twice on suspicion of burglary and car theft. Ted's memory of his teen years is different from reality. Ted says he was a bit introverted, but nothing out of the ordinary, and he doesn't mention his window peeping to Stephen Michaud. It seems Ted overwrites his entire history with the version he wanted to be true. This is in part because Ted had big ambitions for himself. Resentful of his family's lower-middle-class economic status, he was obsessed with elevating himself to something he felt was greater, more elite.
9:24 Speaker 00 Ted desperately wanted to be a successful lawyer or politician, but he knew he'd only be able to accomplish these goals if he became a particular kind of person, someone suave and intelligent, popular and capable. So he started rewriting the parts of his life that didn't fit the mold. And soon, he was given the ultimate opportunity to reinvent himself. He went to college.
9:48 Speaker 00 Ted graduated high school in 1965, then studied at a nearby college before transferring a year later to University of Washington in Seattle. He went to work reconstructing his identity. He threw out his timid personality and formed an entirely new persona, one that was intense, but likable, intellectual, yet all-American. Essentially, Ted was practicing the charisma and charm of the kind of politician he thought he wanted to be. To gain more experience with this political persona firsthand, he volunteered on a Republican nominee's presidential campaign. Working on the campaign trail gave him a kind of social life he had never had.
10:29 Speaker 00 Suddenly, he had a group of friends, campaign staffers and other volunteers, and a variety of political functions to attend. These events gave Ted real opportunities to test-drive his sparkling personality. With practice, he found he could strike up a conversation easily and fit in at any function. These newfound social skills would also come in handy for Ted's future killing spree. According to Holmes & Holmes, the power and control killer is especially dangerous because of how charming they are. They may be eloquent and intelligent. They can acclimate to any friend group, but their relationships are surface level. They're only meant to serve the killer. That started to become clear after Ted landed his first girlfriend.
11:14 Speaker 00 Diane was a fellow student at University of Washington. She was tall with long dark hair. She came from an upper-class family in California. She was worldly and sophisticated, everything Ted was aspiring to be. The couple bonded over a shared love for skiing. They dated for a little over a year. In 1968, Diane graduated and moved back home to the Bay Area, and she started to see who Ted truly was. Diane was ready to start her life. She was looking to be with someone who could provide her with the lifestyle she'd become accustomed to. She'd seen potential in Ted, but worried he lacked ambition. Her expectations began to compound the pressures Ted already put on himself.
11:57 Speaker 00 It only inflamed his insecurity. And then, she left him. But it was only the first domino to fall. Shortly after their breakup, Ted dropped out of college. Records of what he did during the end of 1968 and 1969 vary. Author Anne Ruhl, who had a brief friendship with Ted, reported that it was during this time he learned the truth about his identity. Ted found a copy of his birth certificate with Louise's name listed as his biological mother, and the word "illegitimate" listed near his own. Before that summer, Ted knew who he was. He was the son of Sam and Eleanor Cowell. He was a student at University of Washington, and he was Diane's boyfriend.
12:40 Speaker 00 Then, over a period of just one year, each of those truths crumbled. He had a true crisis of identity. In the Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, psychiatrist Judith Herman explains how trauma dismantles the systems that help support us. Whether they be social, cultural, or economic, when traumatic events destroy those protections, we're disempowered. And the process of trauma rehabilitation requires us to rebuild these systems, to restore control over our own lives. For Ted Bundy, his trauma recovery fueled his second transformation: a rebirth. And he was going to take back the power he felt had been taken from him.
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14:31 Speaker 00 In 1969, Ted became determined to take control over his life. That fall, he re-enrolled at University of Washington and met another woman, Elizabeth, who went by Liz.
14:44 Speaker 00 Liz had long brown hair. She was soft spoken and the single mother of a young daughter. Ted and Liz dated for roughly the next six years. Ted said his love for Liz was genuine and destabilizing. They got close to getting married. They even took out a license. Ted played the part of a loving partner and stepfather. Liz and other people in Ted's life around this time said he was warm, charming and confident, but it was likely all an act. The truth was much darker. Ted carried on several affairs while he was with Liz. He even tried to get back together with Diane before suddenly ghosting her. Liz's daughter, who was three when her mother started dating Ted, later wrote that there were two sides to Ted.
15:28 Speaker 00 Most of the time, he was a joy to be around, but on a handful of occasions, he was abusive and sexually inappropriate with her. She didn't report it to anyone because she didn't understand what was happening. Ted also later confesses that around this time, he started watching women through their windows again. He consumed violent pornography. He even stole things from houses. Ted was living a double life and the people around him were none the wiser. In 1972, Ted graduated from University of Washington with a degree in psychology and began applying to law schools. At the time, he continued his political pursuits, working for the Washington State Republican Party. For the first time, Ted felt he was gaining traction.
16:13 Speaker 00 He had a promising career, some money, and was about to enroll in law school. It had taken time, but he'd rebuilt himself. Soon, his grand plans of attending a prestigious law school fell through. His LSAT score didn't make the cut. Instead, he accepted admission to the University of Puget Sound, a small college located in his hometown of Tacoma. Ted was devastated. He hated himself for not being better. As Ted saw it, his future was dimming. The goals he had pursued for more than half a decade had disappeared, and so did his self-control.
16:51 Speaker 00 On January 4th, 1974, Ted broke into a basement apartment in Seattle's University District. Inside, he found 18-year-old Karen Sparks. Ted bludgeoned and sexually assaulted Karen. Then, he slipped out of her bedroom door and into the night. The next day, Karen's roommates assumed she was sleeping in for most of the morning. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that they found her unconscious, but miraculously, she was still alive. The injuries Karen sustained that night left her with permanent brain damage and physical disabilities. She couldn't remember anything about her attacker, so Ted might have felt emboldened to strike again.
17:33 Speaker 00 21-year-old Linda Ann Healy was a senior at University of Washington, as well as the host of a popular radio show that reported the weather conditions for local ski slopes. Linda always woke up at 5:30 a.m. for her morning broadcast, so on January 31st, 1974, she was in bed by 11:00 p.m. The next morning, Linda didn't show up for work, so her boss called her landline. A roommate picked up, then went to check Linda's bedroom. It was empty. By the end of the day, Linda had missed work, class, and dinner with her family. Her roommates reported her missing. When police searched Linda's bedroom, they found several items missing, including her backpack and a pillowcase.
18:17 Speaker 00 Mysteriously, the back door was also left unlocked, something Linda's roommates insisted she had never done before. When detectives peeled back the sheets of her bed, they discovered a small blood stain. Upon further investigation, they found Linda's blood-soaked nightgown in the closet. It was clear now: someone had taken Linda Healy. Authorities noted some similarities between Linda's abduction and Karen's attack. They were both students who lived in the University District, about a mile apart. Their bedrooms were located in the basement of each of their homes. Karen had been bludgeoned on the head, and based on the bloodstain pattern, police theorized Linda may have also been struck on the skull.
19:01 Speaker 00 Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for authorities to make a firm connection. That would take several months and more murders.
19:11 Speaker 00 Meanwhile, Ted Bundy was gaining more confidence. He developed a trusty method for reeling victims in. He'd wrap his arm in a cast or sling and then approach a young woman. As far as first impressions went, he came off as handsome, well-spoken, and vulnerable. It was an irresistible combination. With a sheepish smile, he'd ask her for assistance with some physical task, lifting a sailboat onto the roof of his car, for example. So, many were more than happy to help. He used this tactic to kill at least seven women over the next six months. Most of their bodies were found on Taylor Mountain. Sources vary on the timeline of Ted Bundy's killing spree, but according to author Anne Ruhl's book, "The Stranger Beside Me",
19:55 Speaker 00 Ted's next victims were claimed in the following order. In March, Ted abducted 19-year-old Donna Manson from Evergreen State College in Olympia while she was on her way to a concert. Later, he confessed to decapitating her and cremating her head in his girlfriend's fireplace. Her remains were never found. In April, almost exactly a month later, Ted abducted 18-year-old Susan Rancourt from Central Washington State College in Ellensburg as she was walking to a film screening. Her skull was later discovered on Taylor Mountain. Only a few weeks later, on May 6, Ted expanded his hunting grounds. He murdered 20-year-old Roberta Parks, a student at Oregon State University,
20:38 Speaker 00 around 250 miles south of Seattle. Ted confessed to raping and killing Roberta on Taylor Mountain. Three weeks after he returned from Oregon, Ted raped and murdered 22-year-old Brenda Ball, a student at Highline Community College in a town just outside of Seattle. Authorities found her skull on Taylor Mountain in March 1975. And then in June, 18-year-old Georgianne Hawkins disappeared from the University of Washington campus. Ted later admitted to strangling her and leaving her body near a state park. By summer of 1974, the Pacific Northwest was gripped in terror. Every month, a new college-age woman seemed to disappear into thin air.
21:20 Speaker 00 Hitchhiking, which was a popular way for young people to get around at the time, stopped almost immediately. College campuses increased their security patrols. Girls in Seattle were advised to travel in groups. Police were just as stumped as the public. They had no suspects. The abductor left behind almost no evidence, and none of the girls' bodies have been found. Prior to George Ann Hawkinson's disappearance, authorities believed the missing persons cases were unrelated. But now, the similarities were too obvious to ignore. Each victim had been a woman in her late teens or early twenties with long hair parted in the middle. It all vanished at night,
22:04 Speaker 00 and several had been seen speaking to a man in a cast or sling. Authorities thought they may be dealing with one killer. It may seem obvious from a modern lens, but remember, this was the 1970s. The FBI had only just begun to research serial killers, so the term wasn't in common use. Plus, it was difficult for police to make connections between cases in different jurisdictions. At the time, it wasn't common for departments to communicate with one another, even in the same county. It's possible Ted Bundy knew the jurisdictional boundaries and planned his crimes accordingly. He had briefly worked with the Seattle Crime Commission, where he learned about crime statistics and disorganization in the police departments. Some experts have speculated
22:48 Speaker 00 he may have used this knowledge to his advantage. According to Holmes & Holmes, this ability to stay one step ahead of the police is typical of a power and control killer. They tend to be intelligent and plan their crimes methodically. They don't leave a lot of evidence and move locations often to keep police off their tail. The power and control killer also chooses their victims carefully. Ted once told Ronald Holmes that he chose to kill college girls because they're trusting and easy to manipulate. The careful planning, combined with charm, gives killers like Ted the power they crave over police and victims. According to Holmes & Holmes, this allows for the power and control killer to kill for long periods of time without getting caught.
23:32 Speaker 00 By July 1974, Ted Bundy had been getting away with murder for about six months, but he was finally about to make his first mistake.
23:43 Speaker 00 July 14th was a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Lake Samamish, just east of Seattle. It was a busy day for the park. Nearly 40,000 people had come to enjoy the lake's cool waters and to picnic on its shores, but Ted had different plans. Ted arrived at the lake in casual beach clothing and an arm sling. He began approaching young women, explaining that he was having a hard time loading his sailboat into his car with his injured arm. Then he asked them if they would be willing to come to the parking lot and help him out. Many women politely declined, but two agreed to help the poor injured man. 18-year-old Denise Nasland, Ted's second victim that day, had left her friends to
24:26 Speaker 00 use the park bathrooms when she encountered the seemingly helpless Ted. She realized her mistake as they approached his car. It wasn't a pickup, but rather a tiny VW Bug with no sailboat in sight. But by that point, far from the crowds of people on the beach, it was too late. Ted's first victim that day had been a young woman he spotted sunbathing on a blanket, 23-year-old Janice Ott. Witnesses observed a man approaching Janice. They described him as handsome with an unidentifiable vaguely British accent. Before Janice walked off with him, they heard Janice introduce herself. Then, so did the stranger. His name was Ted.
25:09 Speaker 00 Seattle's mysterious co-ed killer had made a critical mistake. He'd left behind one vital clue: his real name.
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26:24 Speaker 00 After two women disappeared on the same day at a lake near Seattle, police finally had enough details to create a composite sketch of their suspect. Several witnesses had seen Denise and Janice talking to a man in an arm cast. Some had even been approached by the man themselves. Investigators also knew what car he was driving: a brown Volkswagen Bug. They even had a name: Ted.
26:49 Speaker 00 Though police weren't positive that Ted was the real name of the killer, they had good reason to believe they were on the right trail. As soon as they released the information to the public, they were flooded with thousands of leads. One of the calls was from Liz, Ted's girlfriend. When she saw a sketch of the suspect in the newspaper, she was chilled by how much he resembled her boyfriend. The suspect drove the same car, and even had the same name. Liz had also recently noticed a change in Ted. His mood shifted at the drop of a hat. One minute, he was in high spirits, as charming as ever, and the next, he was cold and angry. Symbol arguments escalated into threats and broken furniture. It was the first time Liz had seen him skirt towards violence.
27:34 Speaker 00 Ted's sudden departures also became a common occurrence. More than a few times, Liz fell asleep next to Ted, only to wake up in the morning to find he disappeared in the middle of the night. Liz didn't want to believe Ted was capable of murder, but the coincidences were too strong to ignore. She called the Seattle Police Department with her suspicions, and detectives launched an investigation.
27:58 Speaker 00 Sensing the heat, Ted found a way to get out of town. He transferred to the law school at the University of Utah in September, shortly after Janice and Denise's remains were found two miles east of Lake Simamish. He might have intended to stay low, but less than two months after he arrived in Salt Lake City, he went back to killing. He abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered at least three women throughout October and November of 1974, and left their bodies in the mountainous areas outside of the city. Importantly, one of his victims from this period survived to tell the tale. On November 8th, Bundy headed for the Fashion Place Mall in Murray, Utah. Eighteen-year-old Carol Dorantia was doing some Christmas shopping that day when Bundy approached her.
28:44 Speaker 00 He held up a fake police badge and told her her car had been broken into, so she needed to go with him to the police station. Carol went with Ted and got into his car, but as he started to drive, she sensed that something was wrong. After pulling out of the mall parking lot, he headed down a side street and parked. He grabbed hold of Carol's wrist and tried to handcuff her, but Carol fought back and broke free from his grasp. She sprinted towards an approaching car, opened the door, and jumped in the backseat. Carol narrowly escaped an awful fate, but she hadn't just fled with her life. She knew her abductor's identity, his face. She reported the attempted abduction to the police, who connected it to at least one of the Salt Lake City murders.
29:30 Speaker 00 Back in Seattle, Liz saw the news reports about young women going missing in Salt Lake City. Alarmed, she redoubled her efforts, telling the police in both Washington and Utah that the description matched Ted. But both investigations continued to move slowly, which meant Ted was free to continue his vicious spree. The following year, he headed east to Colorado for a while, killing at least three women there before returning to Salt Lake City.
29:56 Speaker 00 On August 16th, 1975, a Utah Highway Patrol officer noticed Ted driving around his precinct. Something about the Volkswagen made him suspicious, so he pulled Ted over and searched the car. Inside, he found a series of suspicious items: rope, an ice pick, a crowbar, and handcuffs, among others. But to the police officer, these weren't weapons of murder, they were burglary tools. Once Ted was in custody, the police noticed he matched the description of Carol Deronch's attacker. A few weeks later, Carol herself picked Ted out of a lineup. At last, the authorities had nailed him. On October 2nd, 1975, Ted was arrested for aggravated kidnapping.
30:40 Speaker 00 Five months later, he was found guilty and sentenced to one to 15 years in prison. But the police suspected he was guilty of far more than one attempted kidnapping. By now, the remains of many of Ted's victims had been found in Washington, Colorado, and Utah. With Ted behind bars, investigators in all three states coordinated to try and link him to a slew of unsolved murders. And by the following year, the Colorado authorities had enough to charge him. In January 1977, Ted was transferred to Aspen to face trial for murdering 23-year-old Karen Campbell. Her hair had turned up in the back of his Volkswagen. It was during his time in Aspen that the next phase of Ted's infamy began.
31:24 Speaker 00 As the reality of his situation began to sink in, he became increasingly desperate. He knew he couldn't charm his way out of this situation, the evidence against him was mounting. So in June of 1977, Ted escaped custody, fleeing through a second-story window at the courthouse. Though he was quickly recaptured, it wasn't his last Houdini moment.
31:48 Speaker 00 Nearly seven months later, Ted escaped again. This time, he fled from his jail cell in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Squeezing through a hole in the ceiling, Bundy made it into an apartment that was usually occupied by a prison employee. The guard was out for the evening, so Ted stole some clothes from his closet, then walked out of the jail without drawing any attention at all. Then he headed east and made it all the way to Tallahassee, Florida. There, he rented a room under a fake name, but he knew he couldn't hide for long. He was added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives a month later, and the manhunt was covered by news outlets across state lines. For two years, Ted had been in prison, a place where he didn't have the control and
32:33 Speaker 00 dominance he desired. Holmes & Holmes said this is what makes Ted Bundy a textbook power and control killer. Ted's satisfaction came from holding the power of life and death in his hands. When he lost control in his own life, he needed to take someone else's. On January 15, 1978, Ted broke into the Chi Omega Sorority House at Florida State University. He bludgeoned Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy to death, and severely beat Karen Chandler and Kathy Kleiner. But Ted's MO had changed. He didn't linger or try to take any of his victims to a second location. Instead, he left the sorority house and broke into a basement apartment just a few blocks
33:17 Speaker 00 away. There, he beat 21-year-old Cheryl Thomas, leaving her with permanent brain damage. Cheryl's roommates heard her screaming and called the police, so Ted ran off. Ted's brazen behavior had reached new heights. This time, he'd left evidence behind. When an officer arrived at the scene, he found a mask made out of women's nylons in Cheryl's bedroom and a semen stain on her bed. Ted had gotten so absorbed in the thrill of the kill, he'd sabotaged himself.
33:49 Speaker 00 Other than the Holmes in Holmes typology, there's another way criminologists classify serial killers. The FBI uses a three-category system: organized, disorganized, and mixed. For years, Ted was a textbook-organized killer, socially competent and high-functioning. He always planned his murders in advance, sometimes elaborately, and took pride in his ability to leave without a trace. But over time, Ted's classification dramatically shifted. According to researchers Barney Worf and Cynthia Waddell, the lines between organized and disorganized killers are commonly blurred when a murderer is left to kill over an extended period of time. The researchers explain that as a killer's urges heighten, their psychosis intensifies,
34:34 Speaker 00 often changing their previously well-established habits. This is what the FBI might call a mixed killer, one that blends types. And for Ted, this transition happened quickly. When he entered the Chi Omega house that night, Ted acted like an organized killer. But when he walked out, he'd seemingly devolved. Ted's subsequent kills only became more chaotic. He was no longer following a plan propelled only by a desire for power. Ted murdered multiple women in quick succession, left their bodies at the crime scene and left evidence. He was spiraling out of control. Soon, Ted fled Tallahassee and headed southeast to the small town of Lake City, Florida.
35:19 Speaker 00 There, Ted claimed his last known victim. On February 9th, as 12-year-old Kimberly Leach was leaving school, Ted abducted her. He sexually assaulted her and strangled her, then left her body inside a shed in a secluded wooded area. A week later, Ted was pulled over for driving a stolen car in Pensacola. He tried to flee on foot, but the police subdued and arrested him. Finally, after six weeks on the lam, Ted was back in the authorities' clutches. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder in the first degree, and two counts of burglary.
36:00 Speaker 00 When Ted's trial began in July of 1979, it became a media sensation. Every day, the courtroom was packed with journalists and camera crews from outlets across the country, and Ted seemed to relish the limelight. Despite the fact that he was nowhere near graduating from law school, he opted to represent himself. He seized this opportunity to showboat for a rapt audience, insisting he was innocent. He deliberately wasted the court's time with a series of irrelevant requests, at one point filing a motion for a change of menu because he didn't like the sandwiches he'd been served. In one of the trial's most bizarre moments, Ted's female fanbase spilled into the courtroom.
36:43 Speaker 00 Carol Ann Boone, a woman who Bundy had known since 1974, had uprooted her life and moved halfway across the country to support him in Florida. She testified on his behalf as a character witness, and midway through questioning her, Ted dramatically proposed to Carol Ann, who accepted without hesitation. Not satisfied with making a mockery of the courtroom, Ted also seemed to take pleasure in reliving the details of his murders. He cross-examined first responders who'd seen the crime scenes, forcing them to describe what they'd seen in gruesome detail. In July of 1979, he was found guilty on all counts. The judge handed down three death sentences for the murders of Margaret Bowman, Lisa
37:28 Speaker 00 Levy, and Kimberly Leach. Eventually, after almost a decade of unsuccessful appeals, Ted's execution date came. On the morning of January 24, 1989, Ted was executed at Florida State Prison. He was calm during his final moments, and his last words were, "Give my love to my family and friends." But what Ted Bundy said at his execution didn't really matter. In a sense, he'd already had the last word. His televised trial had given him an unprecedented platform from which he defended and justified his own actions, made a mockery of the justice system, and re-traumatized his surviving victims.
38:11 Speaker 00 He also started talking in the months leading up to his execution, trying to control his own narrative. Not only did he grant interviews to journalists Stephen Michaud and Hugh Ainsworth, Ted also met with FBI agents, he even sat down with a psychologist the night before he died. Ted confessed to at least 30 killings, but some investigators believe he may be responsible for dozens more. One detective who worked the Washington cases believed he may have had a victim count of more than 100. As recently as January 2025, investigators were trying to connect Ted to cold case murders. Even from the grave, Ted still seems to control his story.
38:52 Speaker 00 He frequently makes the news, documentaries and television shows feature him, and he's considered one of the most infamous serial killers in American history. That's the case with many power and control killers, like Dennis Rader, also known as BTK, named for binding, torturing, and killing his victims. He planned his attacks in detail and taunted police with letters, all while maintaining an image as a family man. John Wayne Gacy used his charm and manipulation to gain the trust of young men and boys before killing them and burying them under his house. The co-ed killer Ed Kemper didn't just kill his victims. Driven by his fantasies, he manipulated, controlled, and dehumanized them.
39:35 Speaker 00 In the end, these killers, while dangerous, weren't geniuses or master manipulators, but men who used their control as a weapon. And like all of these examples, Ted Bundy may have left behind a terrifying legacy, but his hubris helped lead to his downfall.
39:58 Speaker 00 Thank you for listening to Serial Killers. We're here with a new episode every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast. And if you're listening on Spotify, swipe up and leave your thoughts. For more information on Ted Bundy, among the many sources we used, we found the journalistic work by Stephen Michaud and Hugh Ainsworth and The Stranger Beside Me by Anne Ruhl extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there. This episode was written by Alex Garland and Chelsea Wood, edited by Chelsea Wood, fact-checked by Lori Siegel, and sound designed by Kelly Gary. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
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