Ted Bundy was a serial killer in the 1970s (possibly earlier). He had kidnapped, raped, and murdered many young women and girls. The identity of Ted's father was never determined with any degree of certainty. Ted had a very rough childhood, including identity issues with his family members. Family, friends, and even young Ted were told that his grandparents were his parents and that his mother was his older sister. His stepfather Samuel Cowel was a tyrannical bully and a bigot and beat his wife, the family dog, and swung neighborhood cats by their tails. As a child, Ted explained how he perused detective magazines, crime novels, and true crime documentaries for stories that involved sexual violence, particularly when the stories were illustrated with pictures of dead or maimed bodies. Although having rough family issues, Ted was still able to attend college, but on a very bumpy path. Ted graduated high school in 1965 and spent 1 year at the University of Puget Sound, then transferred to the University of Washington in 1966 to study Chinese. He even dropped out in 1968 and began working small minimum-wage draws. The then re-enrolled at Temple University, then transferred again to the University of Washington. This is when his violent personality really started to take a toll.
Ted's first attempted kidnapping was in 1969, while still being in college, in Ocean City, New Jersey. While failing to complete his goal, later in 1947, he had successfully murdered 18-year-old Karen Sparks. One month later, he killed Lynda Ann Healy. Then in the following months, girls at University of Washington were dropping like flies. Donna Manson, Susan Rancourt, Roberto Parks, Brenda Ball, Georgann Hawkins, Denise Naslund, Janice Ott and many more. Not only did he kill these young girls, but he kidnapped, naped, and brutally abused these women and their dead bodies.
Now, Ted Bundy was not like every other man. Ted had a series of mental illnesses that were to blame for his violent demeanor. He was diagnosed with Necrophilia (sexual attraction to corpses), however still insisted "I knew I wasn't crazy, insane, or incompetent, or anything else" during his trial. He had Bipolar disorder, a brain abnormality, pornography addiction, psychopathy, and finally Antisocial personality disorder. When we dive in deeper to the root of his psychopathy, we can see that Ted Bundy had a genetic mutation. Jim Phallon has found that just by looking at brain scans, all psychopaths have some sort of orbital cortex damage and temporal lobe (amygdala) damage. Looking into DNA, Phallon had found the MAOH, also known as the Warrior Gene, which predisposed individuals to have more violent behavior.
Yes, Ted Bundy was a horrible and cruel criminal, but in his defense, he has genetically predisposed to violence and in addition had a traumatic childhood, which is a recipe for disaster. I do not think that we should FEEL BAD for Ted, and defend his actions, but we do have to take his mental health and his genetics into consideration while analyzing his case.
Ted's first attempted kidnapping was in 1969, while still being in college, in Ocean City, New Jersey. While failing to complete his goal, later in 1947, he had successfully murdered 18-year-old Karen Sparks. One month later, he killed Lynda Ann Healy. Then in the following months, girls at University of Washington were dropping like flies. Donna Manson, Susan Rancourt, Roberto Parks, Brenda Ball, Georgann Hawkins, Denise Naslund, Janice Ott and many more. Not only did he kill these young girls, but he kidnapped, naped, and brutally abused these women and their dead bodies.
Now, Ted Bundy was not like every other man. Ted had a series of mental illnesses that were to blame for his violent demeanor. He was diagnosed with Necrophilia (sexual attraction to corpses), however still insisted "I knew I wasn't crazy, insane, or incompetent, or anything else" during his trial. He had Bipolar disorder, a brain abnormality, pornography addiction, psychopathy, and finally Antisocial personality disorder. When we dive in deeper to the root of his psychopathy, we can see that Ted Bundy had a genetic mutation. Jim Phallon has found that just by looking at brain scans, all psychopaths have some sort of orbital cortex damage and temporal lobe (amygdala) damage. Looking into DNA, Phallon had found the MAOH, also known as the Warrior Gene, which predisposed individuals to have more violent behavior.
Yes, Ted Bundy was a horrible and cruel criminal, but in his defense, he has genetically predisposed to violence and in addition had a traumatic childhood, which is a recipe for disaster. I do not think that we should FEEL BAD for Ted, and defend his actions, but we do have to take his mental health and his genetics into consideration while analyzing his case.
Growing up with an abusive step father that beat his wife not only triggered the expression of Bundy’s MAOH gene and the damage in his brain, but it also normalized violence towards women in Bundy’s mind. This normalization was then furthered by his repeated exposure to pornography and magazines, novels, and documentaries about sexual violence. I agree with you that we shouldn’t use this information to defend him. However, by understanding some of the root causes of this behavior, I believe we can identify individuals at risk for crime. Like we saw in the Cannibal Cop case, it is hard to use this information to reliably predict criminal behavior, however, we can at least keep track of possible future offenders. That way, if women start going missing, we already have a potential suspect pool.
ReplyDeletewhats with this text? did you copy and past? anyway, the brain activity is very interesting and can tell a lot about how someone thinks and might act.
ReplyDeleteI think what is so interesting about Ted Bundy, despite his multiple mental illnesses and his rough childhood, he was in a steady relationship. He was with this women, Elizabeth Kloepfer, and her child and for so long she didn't see anything wrong with him. It is chilling that someone who spends so much time with Ted Bundy didn't recognize anything wrong with him. I understand that he is a psychopath and that he has the ability to act normally in social situations, but it still surprises me that she never suspected anything or was a victim to violence from him herself.
ReplyDeleteI agree, most people don't take into consideration mental illnesses because we haven't personally experienced them. However, it is important to think about them and how they can affect a person. Childhood experiences and gene mutations can deeply change a person and make them act in a certain way. Cases like these are very difficult because it is hard to say what they knew and didn't know about their actions.
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