May 28th
3:54 PM
3:54 PM
9:10 AM
Ted Bundy once explained how he diminished his vulnerability to detection when disposing of bodies. He would park on a curve so that he could see cars approaching from either direction. He learned this technique from a movie about a killer who had done the same thing. Asked how old he was when he saw this movie, Bundy replied he must have been 12 or 13. That movie did not turn Ted Bundy into a serial murderer, a whole variety of life experiences made him what he was. However, Bundy did learn this particular method.
May 27th
3:09 PM
3:09 PM
Ted Bundy was not a popular man on death row. He made a good impression on some of the black inmates with his skill in the exercise yard - “We were amazed,” one remembered. “He’s a white guy who can actually play basketball!” - but mostly the other inmates resented his notoriety and, despite their own evil, abhorred his crimes. Doug McCray, one of the death row old-timers, recalled the night the news came over the television that Kimberly Leach’s body had been found. He go on the bars and said to Bob Sullivan, “Sully, man, the individual who would do something like that - he deserves the death penalty.” There was a lot of boasting around the prison, prisoners saying: “Let Bundy out with us. We’ll take care of him.” From the security of his cell, the most infamous serial killer in America sniffed, “I have nothing for those animals out there.”
May 25th
6:24 AM
6:24 AM
‘Teddy came to Tallahassee,
Looking for a pretty lassie,
Creeping, sneaking through the dark,
Lurking ‘till he found his mark,
Remember dear, remember well-
His bite is much worse than his bark.’
May 24th
4:59 PM
4:59 PM
"I’d drink just to pump myself up, I felt like I wouldn’t have any inhinitions. I didn’t want to be looking over my shoulder and appear nervous. That’s important."
— Ted Bundy.
11:22 AM
Ted Bundy, in prison garb in Tallahassee, listened impatiently, then dissolved into sardonic laughter as Sheriff Ken Katsaris read him the 1979 indictments in the Bowman-Levy murders. “If I didn’t know what I do know about him, I’d say he was extremely likable. He has a lot of charisma,” says Katsaris.
May 23rd
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Last Meals
Adolf Eichmann declined a special meal, preferring a bottle of Carmel, a dry red Israeli wine. He drank about half of it.
Aileen Wuornos declined a special meal, but had a hamburger and other snack food from the prison’s canteen. Later, she drank a cup of coffee.
Allen Lee Davis: 350-pound “Tiny” Davis had one lobster tail, fried potatoes, a half-pound of fried shrimp, six ounces of fried clams, half a loaf of garlic bread, and 32 ounces of A&W root beer.
Andrey Chikatilo: porridge with a small piece of beef.
Ángel Nieves Díaz declined a special meal. He was served the regular prison meal for that day, but declined that as well.
Barton Kay Kirkham: Pizzas and ice cream, “because you get cheese, meat and everything in one meal. Not so much fuss.”
Clarence Ray Allen: Buffalo steak, Kentucky Fried Chicken, sugar-free pecan pie and sugar-free black walnut ice cream.
Danny Rolling: Lobster tail, butterfly shrimp, baked potato, strawberry cheesecake, and sweet tea.
Dennis Wayne Bagwell: Medium rare steak with A1 Steak Sauce, fried chicken breasts and thighs, BBQ ribs, French fries, onion rings, bacon, scrambled eggs with onions, fried potatoes with onions, sliced tomatoes, salad with ranch dressing, two hamburgers, peach pie, milk, coffee, and iced tea with real sugar.
Dobie Gillis Williams: Twelve candy bars and some ice cream.
Edward Hartman: A Greek salad, linguini with white clam sauce, cheese cake with cherry topping, garlic bread, and a Coke.
Eric Wrinkles: Prime rib, a “loaded” baked potato, pork chops with steak fries, rolls and two salads with ranch dressing, served three days before execution because Indiana State Prison found that condemned inmates tend to lose their appetite near the end.
Francis Crowley: Steak and onions, french fries, apple pie, ice cream and melted ice cream.
Gary Gilmore: A hamburger, hard-boiled eggs, a baked potato, a few cups of coffee, and three shots of contraband Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
Gary Lee Davis: Chocolate and vanilla ice cream cups, shared with the prison superintendent and a manager.
Gary Michael Heidnik had two slices of a cheese pizza and two cups of black coffee.
Henry Martinez Porter: Flour tortillas, T-bone steak, refried beans, tossed salad, jalapeño peppers, ice cream, and chocolate cake.
Ignacio Cuevas, perpetrator of the 1974 Huntsville Prison Siege – Chicken dumplings, steamed rice, sliced bread, black-eyes peas, and iced tea.
James Edward Smith requested a lump of dirt, which was denied. He settled for a small cup of yogurt.
Joan of Arc: Holy communion.
John David Duty: A double cheeseburger with mayonnaise, a foot-long hot dog with cheese, mustard and extra onions, a cherry limeade, and a large banana shake.
John Wayne Gacy: A dozen deep-fried shrimp, a bucket of original recipe chicken from KFC, French fries, and a pound of strawberries.
Joseph Mitchell Parsons: Three Burger King Whoppers, two large orders of fries, a chocolate shake, chocolate chip ice cream, and a package of grape Hubba Bubba bubblegum, to be shared with his brother and a cousin.
Karl Eugene Chamberlain: A variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, lunch meat, deviled eggs, six fried cheese-stuffed jalapeños, a chef salad with ranch dressing, onion rings, french fries, a cheeseburger, two fried chicken breasts, barbecue pork rolls, an omelet, milk, and orange juice.
Karla Faye Tucker: Banana, peach, and garden salad with ranch dressing.
Lawrence Russell Brewer: Two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions; a triple meat bacon cheeseburger with fixings on the side; a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapenos; a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecue with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas with fixings; a Meat Lovers pizza; three root beers; one pint of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream; and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. Brewer’s request was granted, but he refused the meal when it arrived, prompting Texas to stop granting last meal requests to condemned inmates.
Lowell Lee Andrews: Two fried chickens with sides of mashed potatoes, green beans and Pie a la Mode.
Mark Dean Schwab: Fried eggs (over easy), bacon, sausage links, hash browns, buttered toast, and a quart of chocolate milk.
Martha Beck: Fried chicken, fried potatoes and salad.
Murl Daniels: Orange juice, grape juice, fried chicken, fried oysters, chili, potatoes, Limburger cheese, bread and butter, vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, chocolate cake and coffee.
Perry Smith and Richard Hickock: Shrimp, French fries, garlic bread, ice cream, and strawberries with whipped cream.
Odell Barnes: “Justice, Equality, World Peace.”
Peter Kürten: Wiener schnitzel, fried potatoes and a bottle of white wine. He requested seconds and received it.
Philip Workman: He declined a special meal for himself, but he asked for a large vegetarian pizza to be given to a homeless person in Nashville, Tennessee. This request was denied by the prison, but carried out by others across the country.
Rainey Bethea: Fried chicken, pork chops, mashed potatoes, pickled cucumbers, cornbread, lemon pie, and ice cream.
Ricky Ray Rector: Steak, fried chicken, cherry Kool-Aid, and a pecan pie. He did not eat the pie because he said he was saving it for later.
Robert Alton Harris: A 21-piece bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, two large Domino’s Pizzas (no anchovies), ice cream, a bag of jelly beans, a six-pack of Pepsi, and a pack of Camel cigarettes.The pizza was actually from Tombstone Pizza, per the stipulation of Vernell Crittendon.
Robert Dale Conklin: Filet mignon wrapped in bacon, de-veined shrimp sauteed in garlic butter with lemon, a baked potato with butter, sour cream, chives, and real bacon bits, corn on the cob, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, French bread with butter, goat cheese, cantaloupe, apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream and an iced tea.
Ronald Clark O’Bryan’s last meal request consisted of a T-bone steak (medium to well done), french fries with ketchup, whole kernel corn, sweet peas, a lettuce and tomato salad with egg and French dressing, iced tea, sweetener, saltines, Boston cream pie, and rolls.
Ronnie Lee Gardner: Lobster tail, steak, apple pie, vanilla ice cream, 7-Up, and watching The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Ruth Snyder: Chicken Parmesan with alfredo pasta, ice cream, 2 milkshakes, and a 12-pack of grape soda.
Saddam Hussein: The Times states that “he refused their offers of cigarettes and a last meal of chicken.” Other sources state a variety of meal options.
Stephen Woods: Two pounds of bacon, a large four-meat pizza, four fried chicken breasts, two drinks each of Mountain Dew, Pepsi, root beer and sweet tea, two pints of ice cream, five chicken fried steaks, two hamburgers with bacon, fries and a dozen garlic bread sticks with marinara on the side.
Ted Bundy declined a special meal, so he was given the traditional steak (medium-rare), eggs (over-easy), hash browns, toast, milk, coffee, juice, butter, and jelly.
Teresa Lewis: Two fried chicken breasts, sweet peas with butter, a Dr. Pepper and German chocolate cake for dessert.
Thomas J. Grasso: Two dozen steamed mussels, two dozen steamed clams, a double cheeseburger from Burger King, half-dozen barbequed spare ribs, two strawberry milkshakes, half a pumpkin pie with whipped cream with diced strawberries and a 16-ounce can of spaghetti with meatballs, served at room temperature. He later complained “I did not get my SpaghettiOs, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.”
Timothy McVeigh: Two pints of mint chocolate-chip ice cream.
Velma Barfield declined a special meal, having a bag of Cheez Doodles and a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola instead.
Victor Feguer requested a single olive with the stone still in.
William Bonin: Two pepperoni and sausage pizzas, three servings of chocolate ice cream, and three six-packs of Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
4:55 PM
Speaking in the third person, as he often did when being questioned about his crimes, Ted Bundy described his first murder attempt:
“He was horrified by the recognition that he’d done this, the realisation that he had the capacity to do such a thing… The sobering effect of that was to… for some time close up the cracks again. For the first time, he sat back and swore to himself that he wouldn’t do something like that again… or even, anything that would lead up to it.”
9:46 AM
9:20 AM
“Ted Bundy was intelligent. He.. he grew up and he found… in his mind… his own pleasures. These were his pleasures. A man’s own pleasures are his own business, I think. He liked to do what he did, which was kidnap women, have sex with them, torture them, and kill them and whatever else. On the outside, to whomever he met on the street he seemed like a very normal man, one you would never suspect of doing such things.”
-Richard Ramirez.
May 22nd
2:50 PM
2:50 PM
"I was just absolutely, again, just shocked, scared to death, shocked, horrified. And I went down the road, throwing everything I had, the briefcase, out the window. Throwing the briefcase, the crutches, the rope, the clothes."
— Ted Bundy.
9:58 AM
Mask of Sanity
Because of their psychopathic nature, serial killers do not know how to feel sympathy for others, or even how to have relationships. Instead, they learn to simulate normal behavior by observing others. It is all a manipulative act, designed to entice people into their trap. Serial killers are actors with a natural penchant for performance. Henry Lee Lucas described being a serial killer as “being like a movie-star … you’re just playing the part.” The macabre Gacy loved to dress up as a clown, while the Zodiac suited up in a bizarre executioner’s costume that looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland. In court, Bundy told the judge, “I’m disguised as an attorney today.” Bundy had previously “disguised” himself as a compassionate rape crisis center counselor.
The most coveted role of roaming psychopaths is a position of authority. Gacy was an active, outgoing figure in business and society; he even became a member of the Jaycees. Many joined the military, including Berkowitz, who was intensely patriotic for a time. Playing police officer, however, is the most predictable. Carrying badges and driving coplike vehicles not only feeds their need to feel important, but also allows them access to victims who would otherwise trust their instincts and not talk to strangers.
Yet, when they are caught, serial killer wills suddenly assume a “mask of insanity” — pretending to be a multiple personality, schizophrenic, or prone to black-outs — anything to evade responsibility. Even when they pretend to truly reveal themselves, they are still locked into playing a role. What nameless dread lies behind the psychopath’s mask?
“What’s one less person on the face of the earth anyway?” Ted Bundy’s chilling rationalization demonstrates the how serial killers truly think. “Bundy could never understand why people couldn’t accept the fact that he killed because he wanted to kill,” said one FBI investigator.
May 21st
12:18 PM
12:18 PM
In his study of male serial killers, psychologist Eric Hickey determined that 40 percent of serial killers targeted females exclusively. At least 37 percent targeted both sexes, while 22 percent chose males as their victims. Michael Newton, looking at victims of serial murder, determined that 65 percent were female and 35 percent male. Of serial killers specifically targeting men, 42 percent were homosexual, while the other 58 percent represented female killers, revenge killings, hospital murders, and “thrill” murders. In profiling victims, Hickey maintains that between 11 and 13 percent of victims were at “high risk”: they were hitchhiking, were prostitutes, worked alone as store clerks, were driving a taxicab, or were in a car breakdown when approached by their killer. This suggests that more than two-thirds of victims were unsuspecting of any imminent threat, did not facilitate their deaths, and were essentially at the right place at the wrong time. Sixteen percent of identified serial killer victims knew their killer as a friend, casual acquaintance, neighbour, or co-worker. Three percent were related to the killer by blood or marriage, of which 49 percent were children murdered by their mother or father; 13 percent were spouses; 10 percent were parents murdered by their child; and 28 percent were an assortment of grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins, in-laws, nieces, and nephews. The remaining 68 percent in Hickey’s study were killed by strangers.
May 20th
5:50 PM
5:50 PM
In his usual third-person discourse, Ted Bundy explained the role of alcohol in his known homicides:
“I think you could make a little more sense out of much of this if you take into account the effect of alcohol. It’s important. It’s very important as a trigger. When this person drank a good deal, his inhibitions were significantly diminished. He would find that his urge to engage in voyeuristic behaviour on trips to the bookstore would become more prevalent, more urgent. It was as though the dominant personality was sedated. On every occasion when he engaged in such behaviour, he was intoxicated.”
2:21 PM
The Main Characteristics of Serial Murder
The FBI defines serial murder as repetitive killings that will not stop until the criminal is apprehended, dies or is killed. Furthermore, the serial killer is said to derive excitement, mostly of the sexual kind, and that he may take a trophy with him, such as a purse, jewelry or even a body part from his victim as a means of reliving the excitement of the deed. When this excitement subsides, the killer feels compelled to go out and kill again and the thrill may subside in quicker recession over time. Serial killings are usually one-on-one though on some occasions there are collaborations among killers. When two people join to commit multiple murders, the French term “folie a deux” is used as in the case of the Hillside Stranglers. There have been also group killings. The murders are usually accompanied with or followed by brutal violence, such as rape or mutilation and in some cases even necrophilia. In addition, there is usually a distinguishable or recognizable pattern of behavior. In some cases, there is no other apparent motive other than the desire to kill.
In the modern age, increased mobility has made it easier for serial killers to move around and it has become more difficult for the police to track them down and to identify them. As a result, the government decided to fund and implement a program called VICAP, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program using the expertise and knowledge of members of the FBI`s Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico. In Canada, the RCMP has its equivalent in ViCLAS, the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System, which is considered to be among the best in the world. There are various theories about what makes a serial killer. Most of them agree, however, that a traumatic childhood involving some kind of abuse is a dangerous and fertile breeding ground for later violent behavior. Yet a serial killer remains by definition somebody who commits various murders accompanied with violence or who follows a certain criminal pattern or modus operandi as their trademark.