Bundy, Ted (1946-1989), was an American serial killer. A serial killer is someone who murders two or more victims in separate events. Bundy confessed to the murders of more than 30 women in California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Law enforcement authorities, however, believe he may have been responsible for as many as 100 murders.
Theodore (Ted) Robert Cowell was born on Nov. 24, 1946, in Burlington, Vermont. His mother was unwed. Bundy took his last name from his stepfather, whom his mother married when Bundy was 4 years old. Bundy graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle with a degree in psychology in 1972. He moved to Salt Lake City in 1974 to study law.
Authorities believe that Bundy kidnapped , raped , and murdered his victims from 1974 to 1978. All of his victims were young women, most of whom he lured into accompanying him with his conservative, clean-cut appearance and pleasant manner. Bundy was first arrested in 1975 in Utah on a kidnapping charge, based on information from one of the few victims who survived. He was convicted and sentenced to 1 to 15 years in prison.
While serving his sentence, Bundy was linked to a number of murders. He was extradited (released to authorities of another state) to Colorado to face murder charges in that state. Bundy escaped from an Aspen courthouse in June 1977. He was captured a few days later but escaped again in December from the county jail in Glenwood Springs, and traveled to Florida. In Tallahassee, Bundy murdered two Florida State University sorority women. In Lake City, he killed a 12-year-old girl, his final victim. He was arrested in Pensacola for driving a stolen vehicle in February 1978.
During his trial in 1979 for murdering the sorority women, Bundy served as his own chief defense counsel. He was convicted of both murders and sentenced to die in the electric chair . In 1980, he was tried for the murder of the young girl. Bundy entered an insanity plea but was again convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He was executed in Florida on Jan. 24, 1989.
