Ted Bundy

Running head: INVESTIGATION AND EFFECTS THE TED BUNDY

Investigation and effects the Ted Bundy
Donald Anderson
South University Online
Serial Killers and Mass Murderers
CRJ3024
Lori Ronan-Khessali
October 22, 2013

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INVESTIGATION AND EFFECTS THE TED BUNDY

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Investigation and effects the Ted Bundy
The investigation, the investigators, interaction between the killer and the police, killer captured.
Ted Bundy was responsible for around 36, although it was never proven it was believed
by authorities that they were numerous maybe even a hundred of women that he raped
and murdered. Serial aggregated rapes and serial killings of numerous young women
from 1969 through 1975 were he was charged with aggregated kidnapping and criminal
assault in Utah. In December of 1977 he escaped from Garfield field county jail in
December 30th 1977 and fleeing to Florida committed several other kidnappings and
serial murders before being apprehended in Florida in 1978. His killing spree spanned
across seven states, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Florida and California
before being apprehended. When Captured in Utah in 1975 and escaping in 1977, In
Washington, , Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, California beginning in 1974 he begin
targeting college campuses for women that He looked for young women, slender with
dark hair parted in the middle that reminded him of his ex-girl friend Stephanie Brooks
that he wanted to marry, but broke his heart in college. He few years later tricked her into
falling back in love with him and then he turned the tables and broke her heart. He was
dating another girl at the time named Elizabeth, neither woman knew that he was dating
them at the same time. He would enter parks, college campuses on above six states and
pretend to be injured supporting a his arm in a sling with a cast on it or a cast on one of
his legs, pretending to need help with carrying books, or helping with such things as a
securing a surf board to his Volkswagen beetle. Several women begin to become missing.
The missing women begin turning up in a mountain area of a state park, however they
were only a few parts of the human remains that could only be discovered. During the


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investigation the investigators were able to find eye witnesses that gave them the name
Ted and were able to give a composite sketch. Ted Bundy was ruled out as a suspect at
first due to his good standing with his peers and did not fit the profile of the person that
they thought could be doing such horrible acts. They were unable to uncover any physical
evidence such as fingerprints, semen, blood at the first six state. Upon having the human
remains analysis it showed that he would beat his victim in the head with a tire iron. He
was apprehended on night while an officer was performing a traffic stop and discovered
passenger side seat missing in Ted’s Volkswagen, The state troopers by than had pulled
in to back up the patrol officer. They ask permission to search Ted’s vehicle and he said
yes. They found his torture kit and the officers realized that this was the individual that
they were looking for that had pretended to be a cop and Kimberly Cornell was able to
escape with a pair of handcuffs still attached to one of her wrist. The patrolmen and the
state police discovered a similar pair of handcuffs same brand and all inside Ted’s torture
bag they also found face mask made out of panty hose, rope. In 1975 were he was
charged with aggregated kidnapping and criminal assault in Utah. In December of 1977
he escaped he fled to Florida he became a disorganized, power/control and highway spree
killer. He left strong physical evidence behind that was in plain sight in crime scenes in
the state of Florida. Ted Bundy on January 14th 1978 went to the Chi Omega House broke
inside, than murdered two and injured two in their sleep. He was seen exiting the sorority
house by Nita Neary a resident of the Chi Omega House notified the police. Ted than not
even a mile away entered another woman’s apartment, neighbors heard Cheryl moaning
and heard what they thought was a struggle and called the police. They arrived so fast
from being a mile away at the sorority house that they found Cheryl still alive. The police


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discovered a face mask at the end of the bed; they were able to process the scene fast and
were found blood, sperm and fingerprints. However the investigators in Florida had never
heard of Ted Bundy, so they had an unknown killer. On February 9th 1978, Ted
kidnapped, raped and strangled a 12 year old girl named Kimberly Leach. Eyewitness
accounts saw her walking through the school parking lot with a man then get into a white
van and drive off. Days prior to Kimberly’s kidnapping a lake city Florida Detective
James Parmenter’s was given a description and tag number of a white van and a man
fitting the description of the one that was seen leaving with Kimberly Leach, by son and
daughter. Detective Parmenter took his kids down to the station and had them look at
mug shots, where they identified from the FBI’s most wanted list Ted Bundy. Ted had
already moved on into Pensacola Florida, he had abandoned the van and stole an orange
Volkswagen. On February 15th 1978 around 10pm Officer David Lee spotted a
suspicious vehicle, after running the tag number came back stolen. Officer Lee proceeded
to perform a traffic stop. After a failed attempt to elude Officer Lee, Ted Bundy’s reign
of terror had came to an end. Officer Lee had captured Ted Bundy and with all the
physical evidence, such as blood, hair, fingerprint, semen and a match of the blood type
of the 12 yr old victim found inside the stolen van, along with a fiber matching Ted’s
clothes also found in the van. On February 7th 1980, Ted Bundy was sentenced to death
by electricity in a Florida court room. During in which while cross examining state
witness Carol Ann Boone they exchanged vows and under Florida State Law if vows are
exchanged between two individuals while under oath than it’s a verbal bidding of
marriage, therefore Before Ted received his third death sentence in the State of Florida,
he got married in the court room. Ted Bundy appealed his death sentences for several


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years with only a delay of three years, the man Ted Bundy that screamed out his
innocence in front and announce he would not plea for mercy or crimes he did not
commit, however he did fight for mercy right up to even hours before his execution in an
attempt to bargain a few more months, he admitted to other homicides that had occurred
in Washington, Utah and Oregon that had not been solved nor the bodies ever found. The
Governor of Florida denied Ted’s offer and at 7am of January 24, 1979 Ted Bundy was
put to death by the electric chair.
Did the police involve the community in their efforts to find the killer?
Yes, they found and interviewed numerous eyewitnesses from seven different states,
Washington, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Florida and California that was able to provide
them with a name of Ted, a composite sketch and his methods of luring his victims into
situations allowing him to kidnap, rape, torture and murder them. They put Ted Bundy on the
FBI’s 10 most wanted list that they put out mug shots in hopes to gather clues to his
whereabouts. In Florida, two children belonging to a Lake City Detective identified their
kidnapper and murder by looking at mug shots.
How would you evaluate the level of cooperation or communication between
investigators and the community? Were the police able to warn potential victims?
The Ted Bundy case was the first known of its kind, that a serial killer was
traveling state to state targeting women and even a child, kidnapping, rape and torturing
them. They had no known suspects and Ted Bundy didn’t at the time fit the type of
person that they thought would do such a thing. However for that generation period


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without the computer databases they had from a scale 1-10, I give them a five. The first
six states that Ted invaded were in the west. Washington, Utah, Colorado, Oregon,
Idaho, California, although Ted’s reign of terror carried on for a while before being
apprehended for the first time, above said states was able to compile the eyewitness
reports and to be able to realize that they had a highway style serial killer they did a
good job. The first time that Ted was incarcerated before his escape, the patrolmen that
stopped the Ted’s original Volkswagen and found his torture kit, the officer knew that he
had found the notorious highway serial killer that was responsible for the missing
women, that took good communications between the local, state and federal agencies,
due to the reason that he was discovered to be the suspect in Florida was due to the FBI
putting him on the ten most wanted list. Due to that mug shot he was identified by the
detective’s children to be the driver of the van and to have kidnapped and killed the 12
year old girl. In the first six states that felt Ted’s reign of terror the police were able to
warn individuals of Ted’s tactics to trick women thus allowing him to kidnap and murder
his victims and a composite sketch to allow them to know what the guy looked like.
However no one in Florida including the law enforcement agency, when they had
physical evidence they had no idea that such a human being existed named Ted Bundy.
Although it is the departments job to have department meetings and share information
between shifts and review the FBI’s most wanted list and if such a thing had been done
then perhaps after the Chi Omega House and then in the same night he attacked Cheryl in
her apartment, they would have had and knew of Ted Bundy , thus having a suspect. The
media didn’t jump on the Ted Bundy story and allowing it to be televised all over
America.


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What are the investigative tools available today that could have helped?
Ted Bundy case was before the VICAP and CODIS databases. They were able to
match blood types for example they could only tell whether it was o, ab, a , b types.
Unlike today with the scientific advances they are able to match the DNA of the blood
back to the source of the blood. HITS,CODIS and VICAP databases would have worked
if the agencies would enter the required information to keep the databases updated. Upon
arresting individuals today they are fingerprinted with a computerized machine that
allows there fingerprints to be in a database and when the officers in Florida found the
fingerprints at Cheryl apartment, upon successfully lifting the print then the forensic lab
would have pulled up Ted Bundy since he had prior arrest his fingerprints would be in the
system and although they may have not heard of Ted Bundy the fingerprinting
computerized database would have let them know. The above said databases would have
been ideal and where created after Ted Bundy due to his style of going through several
different states raping, torturing and killing women and a child of 12 years old.
The effects Ted Bundy had on the communities of the seven states.
The communities in all seven states where in an up roar those women were
missing and partial human remains were being found that some could not be identified
for several years. Some communities elected new Mayors and Sheriffs as a result for the
killings, rapes and torture of young female victims. At 7am on January 24, 1989, people
were gathered in crowds outside the Florida State Prison, with signs reading hate


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messages toward Ted, they were cheering on the execution and when announcement that
Ted Bundy was dead they cheered with joy.

Typology adjustments
Yes, after more research I have adjusted my typology of Ted Bundy. Before being
apprehended for the first time Ted Bundy was organized, power/control and highway
serial killer, however after his escape from the Garfield field county jail in December 30th
1977 and fleeing to Florida he became a disorganized, power/control and highway spree
killer.
Last, did this case have any impact on law, policing, the criminal justice system, etc.?
Database computer base systems such as HITS, CODIS, ViCAP were created
after Ted Bundy’s state to state killing spree that allows for communication through
computer databases with all local, state and federal agencies. The Hits data system stands
for the Homicide Investigation Tracking System is the community protection act of 1990,
after such cases of Ted Bundy and Green River Killer. The CODIS is used for help
investigation leads where DNA evidence is at the scene of the crime. ViCAP stands for
the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program.


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References
Fox, J. (2011). Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder (2nd ed). SAGE
Publications, Inc. Retrieved on September 20, 2013 from
http://digitalbookshelf.southuniversity.edu/books/9781452242460/S1.2/5

The fbi records: The vault. (n.d.). Retrieved on October 7, 2013 from
http://vault.fbi.gov/Ted Bundy
Montaldo, C. (n.d.). serial killer ted bundy. Retrieved on October 7, 2013 from
http://crime.about.com/od/serial/p/tedbundy.htm

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