The Ted Bundy Tapes
True crime and forensics had never really been my cup of tea before taking this class. Ever since, I feel like I have a weird obsession with learning more about the minds of serial killers and their motives, and what kind of people they are. Mind you, I have boundaries for learning more. The documentaries and dramatizations I watch have to be about those who are either dead or in jail for the rest of their lives. I don’t like unsolved cases or knowing about murderers who were never caught because I have too much anxiety for that, as I’m sure most of us do when we find out there could be a serial killer sitting right next to us. Anyway, I’ve been particularly drawn to the famous ones; Aileen Wuornos, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, and of course Ted Bundy. I watched the “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes” on Netflix, and here’s what I learned.
I think everyone was a little perplexed by Bundy because of his demeanor and how he presented himself to the media. His trial was the first to be publicly televised which was huge, and his background was like no other, coming from law school and thinking he was his best defender. He was found guilty and given the death penalty so clearly, he wasn’t a very good defender, but at least he tried. I watched this docuseries after learning about psychopaths and typical behaviors they exhibited and I could’ve seen him coming a mile away. He was a psychology major after all, and I think he knew exactly what he was doing. He was extremely manipulative, he knew his audience always, he was condescending, and narcissistic. I can go on and on about these character traits he exhibited throughout the trial and on the confession tapes. Towards the end of his life, he was diagnosed with manic bipolar disorder, which may have contributed to some of these exhibits of odd, antisocial personality characteristics. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that he was a serial killer, and never showed remorse for the things he did even up until the day he died.
Though I can analyze Bundy and point out key characteristics that may explain why he committed the heinous crimes he did, I cannot understand it. Sure, I can understand bipolar disorder or major depression, because that can be scientifically explained with chemical imbalances. But using that for a reason as to why you’d murder 30 innocent young women doesn’t do it for me. I cannot understand that.
I hate to say this about any human being but I’m glad he is no longer with us and no longer out there causing destruction in the lives of so many. He was a sociopath, a psychopath, and a serial killer, and none of his victims deserved to be hurt by him. I hope they are at peace, and I’m glad the judicial system did not let him off easy for his crimes.