Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy's killing spree lasted four years, from 1974 to 1978, and the total number of victims is unknown, but most think the number to be about 35-50. Anyone who was a young adult at that time (like myself) will never forget the photos of the charismatic-looking, undeniably-handsome monster.

Bundy, born in a home for unwed mothers to Eleanor Louise Cowell, for many years believed that his mother was his older sister. It was not until he was probably in his late teens or early 20's that he learned that she was his mother. When his mother met Johnny Culpepper Bundy and married him, Ted was adopted by the man and had his name legally changed.

The couple had more children and Ted spent a lot of time baby-sitting his younger siblings, all-the-while he remained totally detached from his adoptive father. Ted was a good student in school (although remaining an introvert) and was active in the Methodist church in Tacoma, Washington, and was a member of the Boy Scouts of America. But, before he graduated from high school in 1965, he had become a compulsive thief, and was already becoming an amateur criminal.

Bundy met Ann Rule, a policewoman in Seattle, and a struggling crime writer, while he was working at a suicide hot line in Seattle. Later, she penned a book about him entitled "The Stranger Beside Me". According to Rule, Bundy didn't learn about his mother until he visited his birthplace and went through public records. This was during the time that he was a university student at the University of Washington, also according to Rule.

By all accounts, Bundy was an impressive person. He managed the Seattle office of presidential hopeful Nelson Rockefeller in 1968, and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in psychology in 1972.