Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy

Theodore Robert Bundy, or more commonly known as "Ted" was one of the most prolific serial killers in America. He confessed to 36 murders, but nobody really knows how many had been committed or when he began his legacy of horror; he had gone to his grave without confessing the true total. Ted was born to Eleanor Louise Cowell and a father that had taken off when Eleanor found out she was pregnant. Faced with limited options in 1946, she gave birth to him in an "unwed mother" facility and began a hopeless charade: as he grew up, she told him that her parents were his parents and that she was his sister. It wasn't until 1974 when he realized that his mother had lied to him for so many years. He grew to be a handsome, educated and intelligent man who was not suspected of some of the heinous acts he committed. Bundy even volunteered for a crisis telephone hotline (where he met famed author Ann Rule who was also a volunteer) and had a steady relationship with a girlfriend, a girlfriend that would fuel his maniacal rage after she left him. He was studying psychology in Seattle on January 31, 1974 when an attractive psychology student at the University of Washington disappeared out of her bedroom. Many more identical disappearances followed, many attractive young women would suddenly fall off the face of the earth with no explanation. His victims were generally young attractive girls with dark hair parted in the middle. His M.O. was to approach his potential victim wearing an arm-sling or a cast. He would introduce himself as 'Ted' and ask the girl to help him carry his books or packages he was having trouble managing because of his "broken arm". Most would oblige seeing his handicap. When they were alone he would knock them on the head with a crowbar, stuff their bodies into his car, strangle them while they were unconscious and then commit necrophilic rape. He would then leave the naked body in a wooded area, mostly Taylor Mountain in Washington State, where many of his victims were found. Along with countless other suspects he too was questioned by the police but he came out clean because he just didn't seem to 'fit the mold' of a maniac. Bundy then went to law school at Salt Lake City, Utah where he murdered a police chief's daughter on October 21, 1974. Another identical murder followed, and another young woman went missing in Bountiful, Utah. In January 12, 1975, killings eerily similar to the Utah murders began popping up in Colorado. On August 16, 1975 he was arrested for being in possession of burglary tools by Salt Lake City police. When his bronze Volkwagen beetle was searched they found handcuffs, stockings and a home-made mask. Bundy was identified from a police line up by a woman who had narrowly escaped his clutches in November 1974. In January 1977 he was extradited to Colorado to be tried for murder. In June 1977 he fled the Pitkin County Jail by jumping out an open window. He was captured 8 days later. He managed to escape again from the Garfield County Jail by sawing a hole in the ceiling of his cell on December 30, 1977. This time he traveled all the way to Tallahassee, Florida where he lived under 2 assumed names - Christopher Hagen and Kenneth Misner. On January 15, 1978 he invaded the Chi Omega sorority on the Florida State University campus where he bludgened 4 girls and killed two. After he fled the Chi Omega sorority, he broke into the house of another woman and beat her severely before her worried roommates next door phoned the police. The young woman survived the attack. She would be his last living victim. On February 9, 1978 he kidnapped 12 year old Kimberly Leach, raped her and sliced her throat. Her body was found eight weeks later in a state park. On February 15, 1978 he was arrested by Pensacola police when they did a check on his license plates and realized his car was stolen. Teeth impressions were made to compare to bite wounds found on one of the Chi Omega victims and the impressions matched the teeth marks on the victim. Bundy conducted his own defense with the help of several attorneys but it was all for naught; he was found guilty and sentenced to death by electrocution in 1979. He managed to delay his execution for 10 years. When death was finally looking down on him, he began confessing to a staggering amount of murders, 36 in all, but many investigators believe that the real total is much higher. He was finally executed January 24, 1989 at Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida. Many spectators cheered and toasted his death with champagne.

Resource: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0120421/bio