If you have not checked out Netflix’s new docuseries, ‘Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes’, you should. The series might only be only four episodes long, but it successfully explores the whole story behind the serial killer, Ted Bundy.
I started watching the docuseries after the name “Ted Bundy” started trending on Twitter. I decided to do some background research, and ended up reading countless articles on the topic. I then proceeded to watch the documentary because his case is very intriguing. Ted Bundy did atrocious things to 30+ young women but throughout the series, interviewers, lawyers but the people who knew him would call him a charismatic, attractive and ‘normal’ guy.
I was really impressed with the fact that Ted Bundy was able to escape prison twice. The first time, he jumped 25 feet out of a window….the second time, he lost 35 pounds to strategically escape from the rooftop. He was able to steal a janitor’s uniform and just walk out out of the prison. This was in the 1970’s, so security was not as advanced as it is today, but it was still mind blowing. It was clear he was miserable in prison and he kept fighting trial after trial to defend his case. However, he did manage to both get married and have a child while he was in prison.
One of the most interesting aspects about the series is how he wouldn’t admit to his actions. It took one of the investigators having a great idea to make him talk: they made him refer to himself in the third person. He ended up trying to explain what ‘type of person’ would commit those atrocities, being, of course, himself. Still, the docuseries was released 30 years after the execution of Ted Bundy following his being found guilty of the execution of the young women, and it is concerning to think of this killer being given so much importance after 30 years. This is to the point were Zac Efron is playing him in a new movie called, “ Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”. Ted Bundy said it best: “Society wants to believe it can identify evil people, or bad or harmful people, but it’s not practical. There are no stereotypes.” There are no accurate stereotypes to recognize a serial killer. I strongly think that instead of romanticizing Ted Bundy, like many women on Twitter are doing, we should instead talk about the victims, those 30+ young women were girls with hopes and dreams and families.
Many of them were 20 year olds like me; like many of our readers. They were girls who were studying and working part-time when they were assassinated, kidnapped, or assaulted. Some of them were much younger. Let’s acknowledge them. All of them.
Karen Sparks, 18 years-old.
Lynda Ann Healy, 21 years-old.
Donna Gail Manson, 19 years-old.
Susan Elaine Rancourt 18 years-old.
Roberta Kathleen Parks, 22 years-old.
Brenda Carol Ball, 22 years-old.
Georgann Hawkins, 18 years-old.
Janice Ann Ott, 23 years-old.
Denise Marie Naslund, 19 years-old.
Nancy Wilcox, 16 years-old.
Melissa Anne Smith, 17 years-old.
Laura Ann Aime, 17 years-old.
Carol DaRonch, 18 years-old.
Debra Jean Kent, 17 years-old.
Caryn Eileen Campbell, 23 years-old.
Julie Cunningham, 26 years-old.
Denise Lynn Oliverson, 25 years-old.
Lynette Dawn Culver, 12 years-old.
Susan Curtis, 15 years-old.
Margaret Elizabeth Bowman, 21 years-old.
Lisa Levy, 20 years old.
Karen Chandler, 21 years-old.
Kathy Kleiner, 21 years-old.
Cheryl Thomas, 21 years-old.
Kimberly Diane Leach, 12 years-old.
10 still unidentified young girls and women.
And the murder victims for whom Ted Bundy is still a potential suspect.
Photos from:
https://allthatsinteresting.com/ted-bundy
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/conversations…
https://www.truthfinder.com/infomania/crime/ted-bundy/