Many people tend to use the term psychopath in a loosely manner referring to any villainous or criminal person, however, psychopathy is a well defined clinical pathology. Some of them are: Inability to empathize, inability to show remorse, tendency to be charming, manipulative and possess a false personality and a high self-esteem. Thus, one cannot identify a psychopath with a violent individual, or a killer with a psychopath at that too. Today, the most popular checklist of these traits is the Hare’s PCL-R scale, which was created by a Canadian psychologist Robert D. Hare in 1970s.
Ted Bundy as a Classic Psychopath:Ted Bundy as a Classic Psychopath:
Ted Bundy is among the most well-known psychopaths reported in literature today and he fulfills many of the requirements on the Hare’s checklist. It has a fact that Bundy was the serial killer who admitted to killing not less than 30 women and probably more. His result of 39 out of 40 on the Psychopathy Checklist shows how much of psycho-path he is. Bundy was cunning and charismatic and however much he was acomplete serial killer he was able to trick people to gain their trust, this makes it hard to notice something wrong with him and this explains why he was able to commit his crimes and go Scot free for for a long time.
Bundy’s Background and Manipulative Behavior:The Common Countdown Process and Bundy’s Background and Manipulative Behavior.
Bundy continued with his studies to the University of Washington, where he was undertaking an undergraduate degree in psychology, he also practiced as an attendant with suicide prevention counseling service. This job required that he had to console and be friendly to persons experiencing difficult times, in as much as Ann Rule, a colleague to Bundy, said he was ‘kind, solicitous, and empathic’ She, who wrote a book about Bundy title The Stranger Beside Me could not believe that Ted, whom she hosted in her home, was a man of such heinous crimes In the context of analyzing the personality structure, it can
Prison Escapes and Continued Violence:Action and Reaction Part II:
The subject depicted in the course of the programme was undoubtedly cunning and resourceful and Bundy proved this by escaping from prison twice. The first was in 1977 when he was standing trial for murder in Aspen Colo The second time was in 1982 when he was charged with yet again murdering his former co wife. When Bundy represented himself his access was granted to the courthouse law library, from where he spring off the second-story window to escape. They were chased for six days before the suspect was re-arrested. The second one occurred later in the same year when he used an axe to cut a hole on the ceiling of his confinement room. This time he was able to escape from the law for about 8 weeks and commit several other murders among which was the brutal attack on five women at a sorority house in ‘Tallahassee Florida killing four of them’. He also raped and killed a 12-year old girl named Kimberly Leach at that time. That he was able to get away and that he was able to kill again shows that he has no remorse he is impulsive and a clear and present danger to society.
Manipulative Marriage in Court:
During the murder trial of Kimberly Leach, which was arguably the most high-profile of all the Bundy murders, his narcissistic personality, as well as the need for control was manifested. During his period of serial killings, the man had a steady girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, but he also duped another woman, Carole Ann Boone into marrying him during the trial. Boone a friend of him in a previous job, came to his trial everyday and testified character evidence. Bundy was able to exploit an obscure Florida law and shown that you can get a ‘sentence of marriage’ declared in a court and make it legal if done in front of a judge. When Boone was being interrogated and proceeded Bundy to pop the question – where she obliged – and Bundy claimed they were married. This theatrical act painted Bundy in a grandstand finally, wishing to dictate his own fate even when the State wished to take his life.
Assistance in the Green River Killer Case:Assistance in the Green River Killer Case:
During the 80s Bundy was on death row and he offered to assist detective Robert Keppel in the Green River Killer case. Bundy as Luther stated that he had insight and knowledge of serial killers and offered tip-offs, which were based on his own experience of course; for instance, evidence indicated that the killer might return the dead bodies of his victims, which is information that Bundy confirmed he did. Despite the fact that Bundy’s help did not result in the immediate apprehension of the Green River Killer, who was later identified as Gary Ridgway, it painted a picture that after being arrested and put to prison Bundy was keen on micromanaging and dominating, though from behind bars. Keppel later wrote about his interactions with Bundy in his book *The Riverman: Ted Bundy and Me: A Hunt for the Green River Killer. *
Final Attempts to Avoid Execution:Final Attempts to Avoid Execution:
Despite the fact that he has been sentenced to death and convicted, Bundy did not cease to act and perform as he was an exclusive master of law and media games. He said he killed at least 30 people but indicated more and provided details of the names of the victims only if they wanted to prolong his life to be sentenced to death. This was his way of trying to negotiate for his impending death while adding gross insult to the injuries of the victims’ families by trying to reduce their pain through the electric chair. Bundy also used this time to talk to people and give detailed accounts of the crimes he committed providing pseudo-psychological analysis of himself and his murders as adventures and ‘the ultimate possession’. However, the Florida Governor did not agree to a stay of execution saying that Bundy was negotiating for his life over the dead bodies of his victims. Ted Bundy died on January 24, 1989 at the age of 42, he was executed by way of electrocution.
Documentary and Film Exploration:
Bundy’s life and crime rate remains an interesting topic that spurs on the horrors of many people. Netflix released a docuseries titled *Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, that consists of the testimony of the man who confessed to multiple murders and reveals the work of his sick imagination. The series presents his trials and Bundy’s actual account of the reason that made him develop into a killer. Further, a documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger, who directed the documentaries of the series ‘Paradise Lost’, about the West Memphis Three has filmed the movie ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ with Zac Effron in the role of Bundy. This is another film shot about Bundy’s life with emphasis on the ways he was able to manipulate people and escape justice for a long time; the feature premiered at Sundance. The docuseries describes Bundy’s dangerous personality and his psychopathology as the basis for comprising one of the most famous serial killers in history as a horror film does.
