A psychopath
For years now I have loved reading true crime stories. Behavioral science really interests me and I'm drawn to people's dark side. Why do we do what we do? Most of the people I read about are defined as psychopaths and I'm going to explain a little about what that means.
A psychopath is a person who shows antisocial behavior and I'm going to explain more about what antisocial means in a bit. Psychopathy is a personality disorder, not to be confused with a psychotic disorder.The psychopath finds gratification in criminal behavior and cannot control his/her sexual or aggressive impulses. They are also unable to learn from past mistakes. Psychopaths are people lacking a conscience.
It is important to note that not all psychopaths grow up to be murderers - some psychopaths have grown up to be quite successful in many lines of work ( some would say lawyers - but jokes aside)
The antisocial personality also has a mental disorder. An antisocial person shows a disregard for the rights and feelings of others and this behavior often begins in childhood and continues into adulthood.
Most of the people I enjoy reading about and studying suffer from both antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy.
One such person is Theodore Robert Bundy who was an American serial killer. Ted Bundy was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1946. His mother was Louise Cowell and she was unwed. Ted grew up thinking that his grandmother was his mother and his real mother was his sister. For the first few years of his life he lived in Philadelphia but in 1950 he moved to live with relatives in Tacoma, Washington.
At school he was shy and introverted and he later explained that he never understood social behavior. His mother married a man named Johnny Bundy and that's how Ted turned into Ted Bundy . He grew fascinated by sex and violence and he turned into a thief and an amateur criminal - he stole his ski equipment and got arrested twice.
Bundy graduated in 1965 and earned a scholarship to the University of Puget Sound and he began taking courses in psychology and Oriental studies. He also began working as a night shift volunteer at a suicide hotline and that's where he met crime writer Ann Rule. Rule would later describe him as gentle and polite. Bundy got a girlfriend called Stephanie Brooks but following her graduation she ended their relationship claiming that Bundy was immature and have no ambition. This seemed to change something in Bundy's personality - he became more determined and dominant. He got involved in politics as a Republican. He began at the University of Washington majoring in psychology. In late 1973 Bundy enrolled in law school where he did very poorly and he dropped out in 1974.
He again befriended Stephanie Brooks until she agreed to marry him. But after a period of no contact she asked Ted what was wrong and he said he had no idea what she was talking about. It seems he had been planning the whole thing from the beginning.
It is thought that Ted Bundy's killings began in Washington state with the disappearance of Ann Marie Burr. She disappeared when Ted was 14 and she lived on his paper route. In the mid-70s coeds began disappearing and the police were baffled that the young women could disappear in broad daylight. Some women had witnessed a young man asking for help to carry a briefcase to his VW. In July 1974 two women were abducted from the same place: Lake Sammamish State Park. Their remains were found a couple of months later.
In the autumn of 1974 Ted Bundy started law school in Salt Lake City and there the murders continued. But then a victim got away! Carol DaRonch was abducted from The Fashion Place Mall by a man claiming to be Officer Roseland - he said her car had been broken into and she needed to accompany him to the police headquarters. They drove for a while and then Bundy put his handcuffs on her and when she tried to escape from the car, he swung a crowbar at her but luckily she managed to get away and flag down a car.
On the same night in Bountiful, Utah Bundy abducted another woman and killed her. When he finished law school he moved on to Colorado to murder women there. In August 1975 he was stopped by a police officer in Salt Lake City and police found burglary tools in his car such as a ski mask, a crowbar and handcuffs. And Carol DaRonch was able to pick him out of a lineup.
Then in 1977 Bundy was taken to the Pitkin County Courthouse in Aspen where he was supposed to stand trial for a murder committed in Colorado. He managed to jump out of the law library window and he got all the way to the top of Aspen Mountain where he lived in a cabin for two days. Then he lost his sense of direction missing two trails that could have got him out safe. He stole a car and drove back to Aspen where he was apprehended.
As soon as he was back in custody he worked on a new escape plan - this time he saw his way through a metal plate in the ceiling. He got a ride into Vail and then caught a bus to Denver where he took a flight to Chicago - Bundy was free for 17 hours before anybody noticed he was gone .
After his arrival in Chicago he got a room at the YMCA in Ann Arbor, Michigan and then stole a car that he drove to Atlanta, Georgia where he would catch a bus to Tallahassee, Florida - he arrived there in January 1978 . He lived under the alias Chris Hagen.
By this point his sexual urges had been repressed for so long and they erupted on January 15 when he entered the Florida State University Chi Omega sorority house and killed two sleeping girls - he also bludgeoned two others, the whole thing in a matter of half an hour. Further down the street he attacked another girl who would survive.
Soon after that Bundy went to Lake City, Florida where he abducted and murdered a 12-year-old girl. He was caught on a traffic violation and went to trial for the Chi Omega murders in the summer of 1979, managing his own defense. An eyewitness at the Chi Omega house pointed him out in court as the murderer and Bundy was convicted also because of bite mark evidence found on the buttocks of one victim. He was sentenced to death by electrocution and in 1980 he was once again sentenced to death for the murder of 12-year-old girl. During this trial Bundy married and his wife had his daughter.
I find it very interesting how Bundy approached his victims. It usually happened in broad daylight, in a public place and he would ask for help and find numerous ways of gaining a person's trust like feigning an injury or wearing a fake cast. Wouldn't most people stop to help somebody in need? It is believed that Bundy killed as many as 35 women during his killing spree.
Ted Bundy suffered from both the psychopathic disorder and antisocial personality disorder. He was attracted to criminal behavior from a young age and he showed no regard for other people's emotions or rights.
I have studied Bundy extensively and I can't help thinking about what FBI agent and profiler Robert Ressler has stated: There is something that science has not yet recognized within these people and that is the element of pure evil. What do you think? Is it possible that evil is a force that is at work within us and it reflects our actions or are we products of our upbringing and our genes? Perhaps a mixture? I would love to hear your opinion because the subject interests me greatly.
A psychopath is a person who shows antisocial behavior and I'm going to explain more about what antisocial means in a bit. Psychopathy is a personality disorder, not to be confused with a psychotic disorder.The psychopath finds gratification in criminal behavior and cannot control his/her sexual or aggressive impulses. They are also unable to learn from past mistakes. Psychopaths are people lacking a conscience.
It is important to note that not all psychopaths grow up to be murderers - some psychopaths have grown up to be quite successful in many lines of work ( some would say lawyers - but jokes aside)
The antisocial personality also has a mental disorder. An antisocial person shows a disregard for the rights and feelings of others and this behavior often begins in childhood and continues into adulthood.
Most of the people I enjoy reading about and studying suffer from both antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy.
One such person is Theodore Robert Bundy who was an American serial killer. Ted Bundy was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1946. His mother was Louise Cowell and she was unwed. Ted grew up thinking that his grandmother was his mother and his real mother was his sister. For the first few years of his life he lived in Philadelphia but in 1950 he moved to live with relatives in Tacoma, Washington.
At school he was shy and introverted and he later explained that he never understood social behavior. His mother married a man named Johnny Bundy and that's how Ted turned into Ted Bundy . He grew fascinated by sex and violence and he turned into a thief and an amateur criminal - he stole his ski equipment and got arrested twice.
Bundy graduated in 1965 and earned a scholarship to the University of Puget Sound and he began taking courses in psychology and Oriental studies. He also began working as a night shift volunteer at a suicide hotline and that's where he met crime writer Ann Rule. Rule would later describe him as gentle and polite. Bundy got a girlfriend called Stephanie Brooks but following her graduation she ended their relationship claiming that Bundy was immature and have no ambition. This seemed to change something in Bundy's personality - he became more determined and dominant. He got involved in politics as a Republican. He began at the University of Washington majoring in psychology. In late 1973 Bundy enrolled in law school where he did very poorly and he dropped out in 1974.
He again befriended Stephanie Brooks until she agreed to marry him. But after a period of no contact she asked Ted what was wrong and he said he had no idea what she was talking about. It seems he had been planning the whole thing from the beginning.
It is thought that Ted Bundy's killings began in Washington state with the disappearance of Ann Marie Burr. She disappeared when Ted was 14 and she lived on his paper route. In the mid-70s coeds began disappearing and the police were baffled that the young women could disappear in broad daylight. Some women had witnessed a young man asking for help to carry a briefcase to his VW. In July 1974 two women were abducted from the same place: Lake Sammamish State Park. Their remains were found a couple of months later.
In the autumn of 1974 Ted Bundy started law school in Salt Lake City and there the murders continued. But then a victim got away! Carol DaRonch was abducted from The Fashion Place Mall by a man claiming to be Officer Roseland - he said her car had been broken into and she needed to accompany him to the police headquarters. They drove for a while and then Bundy put his handcuffs on her and when she tried to escape from the car, he swung a crowbar at her but luckily she managed to get away and flag down a car.
On the same night in Bountiful, Utah Bundy abducted another woman and killed her. When he finished law school he moved on to Colorado to murder women there. In August 1975 he was stopped by a police officer in Salt Lake City and police found burglary tools in his car such as a ski mask, a crowbar and handcuffs. And Carol DaRonch was able to pick him out of a lineup.
Then in 1977 Bundy was taken to the Pitkin County Courthouse in Aspen where he was supposed to stand trial for a murder committed in Colorado. He managed to jump out of the law library window and he got all the way to the top of Aspen Mountain where he lived in a cabin for two days. Then he lost his sense of direction missing two trails that could have got him out safe. He stole a car and drove back to Aspen where he was apprehended.
As soon as he was back in custody he worked on a new escape plan - this time he saw his way through a metal plate in the ceiling. He got a ride into Vail and then caught a bus to Denver where he took a flight to Chicago - Bundy was free for 17 hours before anybody noticed he was gone .
After his arrival in Chicago he got a room at the YMCA in Ann Arbor, Michigan and then stole a car that he drove to Atlanta, Georgia where he would catch a bus to Tallahassee, Florida - he arrived there in January 1978 . He lived under the alias Chris Hagen.
By this point his sexual urges had been repressed for so long and they erupted on January 15 when he entered the Florida State University Chi Omega sorority house and killed two sleeping girls - he also bludgeoned two others, the whole thing in a matter of half an hour. Further down the street he attacked another girl who would survive.
Soon after that Bundy went to Lake City, Florida where he abducted and murdered a 12-year-old girl. He was caught on a traffic violation and went to trial for the Chi Omega murders in the summer of 1979, managing his own defense. An eyewitness at the Chi Omega house pointed him out in court as the murderer and Bundy was convicted also because of bite mark evidence found on the buttocks of one victim. He was sentenced to death by electrocution and in 1980 he was once again sentenced to death for the murder of 12-year-old girl. During this trial Bundy married and his wife had his daughter.
I find it very interesting how Bundy approached his victims. It usually happened in broad daylight, in a public place and he would ask for help and find numerous ways of gaining a person's trust like feigning an injury or wearing a fake cast. Wouldn't most people stop to help somebody in need? It is believed that Bundy killed as many as 35 women during his killing spree.
Ted Bundy suffered from both the psychopathic disorder and antisocial personality disorder. He was attracted to criminal behavior from a young age and he showed no regard for other people's emotions or rights.
I have studied Bundy extensively and I can't help thinking about what FBI agent and profiler Robert Ressler has stated: There is something that science has not yet recognized within these people and that is the element of pure evil. What do you think? Is it possible that evil is a force that is at work within us and it reflects our actions or are we products of our upbringing and our genes? Perhaps a mixture? I would love to hear your opinion because the subject interests me greatly.
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