Why Is Ted Bundy The Most Nefarious Serial Killer Of All Time. Essay, Research Paper

Thesis Statement: To prove that Ted Bundy is the most nefarious serial killer

of all time.

Pleasantly handsome, piercingly intelligent, he was a master

manipulator, a silver-tongued charmer who had the power to lure women to

their deaths and confuse police and the court system for nearly a decade. The

day before his death, Ted Bundy was choking back sobs, and said I don t

want to die, I kid you not, but I deserve, certainly, the most extreme

punishment society has. (Lamar, 1). Ted Bundy was laid to rest at the age

of 42 by the electric chair on January 24, 1989, from his earlier conviction of

kidnapping, and the murder of Kimberly Leach (Lamar, 2). The following

paragraphs will describe just what it takes to be a serial killer and the grading criteria it takes to be the most nefarious serial killer of all time. The following paragraphs will discuss the difference s between John Wayne Gacy Jr., Jeff Dahmer and Ted Bundy. This paper will prove that Ted Bundy is the most nefarious serial killer of all time.

A serial killer is generally a white male, between the ages of 21 to 43,

who are sexually dysfunctional and have low self-esteem. To be a serial

killer you have to have an elaborate fantasy that builds up, and then leads to

the killing sprees. In order to be considered a serial killer, the killer has to have murdered at least 10 people. Serial killers generally murder strangers

with cooling off periods between each crime. Many killers enjoy

cannibalism, necrophillia and keep trophy-like body parts as mementos of the

killers work. In order to find the most nefarious serial killer of all time,

grading criteria is required. The grading criteria of this paper is number of

murders, the method of murder and overall insanity.

Jeffrey Dahmer, a loner with a cleaned shaved appearance, preyed on

young men and boys in Milwaukee s inner city. Dahmer lured his victim s to

his apartment promising a good time or money. In his apartment Dahmer

would strangle or stab his victims, and then dismember his victims. Dahmer

admitted to eating a thigh, a calf and a heart from a victim. In other cases

Dahmer would have sex with the corpses (Saul, 2).

Dahmer s first victim was a 18 year old hitchhiker in Bath, Ohio in

1978. Psychiatrists who examined Dahmer said he was driven by

necrophilia, an erotic interest in corpses, and was partly motivated to kill by a fear that his acquaintances would ultimately reject him (Saul, 2). Near the

end of Dahmer series of killings, Dahmer lured a Laotian boy to his apartment

and attempted to turn him into a zombie by drilling a hole in his head and

pouring in a caustic liquid. The delirious, scantily dressed boy escaped and

roamed out into the street, rambling in his native language (Saul, 2).

When the police arrived at his apartment with the youth, Dahmer

invited them in, telling the police that the young Laotian boy was a willing

sexual partner earlier in the evening, so the police gave the boy back to

Dahmer. Dahmer later killed the Laotian boy. Dahmer was arrested in 1991

when a victim escaped, and notified the police. When they arrived to arrest

Dahmer, they found an empty apartment of food except for a bag of potato

chips and a victim s head in the refrigerator (Saul, 2). Millions of people

around the world were shocked as they watched on television as police

carried an 80-gallon kettle of victim s hands and genitalia. Dahmer also

stored victim s body parts in jars of formaldehyde (Saul, 2).

Dahmer admitted to killing his victims, but pleaded insanity. A jury

rejected the plea and he was sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences. At

Dahmer s February, 1992, sentencing he said Frankly, I wanted death for

myself, I know I was sick or evil or both. Now I know I was (Jaeger, 1).

Jeffery Dahmer was beaten to death November 28, 1994 in Columbia

Correctional Institution in Portage, were he was serving his 16 consecutive

life sentences (Jaeger, 2).

Jeffery Dahmer s death toll was 16 young men and boys, he lied and

lured them into his apartment. Jeffery Dahmer was a very sick and twisted

man, he raped, and ate his victims and kept their body parts. Jeffery Dahmer

pleaded insansity, he knew he was sane, and just liked to kill people, but he

was not willing to admit that. Jeffery Dahmer is one of the most nefarious

serial killers of all time, but he is not number one.

A sharp business man, who owned a contracting company, loved to

host elaborate parties for friends and family and dressed up as a clown for the

children s entertainment. This man was known as John Wayne Gacy Jr.

a.k.a. the Clown Killer. Over a three year period John Wayne Gacy Jr. raped

and murder over 30 young boys, and the victims were later found under the

floorboards of Gacy s home (Bell, 34).

John Wayne Gacy Jr. had a troubled childhood, he was verbally abused

by his father, and had a severe injury when he was hit in the head by a swing

on a swing set. From all the abuse by his father and the swing, Gacy would

have blackouts for the rest of his life. Throughout his childhood Gacy

complained of heart pains, the doctors could not find any significant heart

problems, but the doctors continued to watch his heart. During Gacy s life,

he was never close to his father, his father died before Gacy entered High

School. For the rest of Gacy s life, he regretted never getting close to his

father.

Jeffery Ringall had just returned from a winter vacation in Florida, and

wanted to go out and relax on the town. Jeffery Ringall decided to go to a

bar in New Town, on his way to the bar an Oldsmoblie car was in his way,

the driver complimented Ringall on his tan. The driver invited Ringall to go

for a ride and smoke a joint of marijuana, Ringall accepted and hopped in the

car. The driver was John Wayne Gacy Jr., and he was ready to kill. Half

way through the joint Gacy shoved a rag filled with chloroform into Ringall s

face. Ringall lost consciousness from the chloroform, and next thing he knew

he woke up Gacy s apartment (Bell, 36). On the floor in front of Ringall was

a large section of sexual toys, that Gacy was planning on using. That evening

Ringall was raped, tortured and dragged out of the apartment and placed

under a statue in Chicago s Lincoln Park (Bell, 37). Jeffery Ringall was one

of the few victims of John Wayne Gacy Jr. to have survived.

On December 22, 1978 John Wayne Gacy Jr. confessed to police that

he killed over 30 young boys, and buried their remains in his crawl space

(Bell, 35). On the first day of the police investigation, police found two

bodies in his crawl space. On Wednesday, February 6, 1980 Gacy s murder

trial began in Chicago s Cook County Criminal Courts. Gacy s lawyers

opening statements were that Gacy s is no longer in control of his life, and he

is insane. After two hours of deliberation the jury found Gacy to be guilty of

the death s of thirty-three young boys and was sentence to death by the lethal

injection.

John Wayne Gacy Jr. a.k.a. the Clown Killer was guilty of killing

thirty-three young boys, and was laid to rest in 1994. When Gacy was asked

to say his finally words he said Yeah, kiss my ass (1). John Wayne Gacy

Jr. had a troubled childhood, that lead to his troubled life, which uttimately

lead to his killing sprees.

The Picasso of the serial killing community, intelligent, charming, and

good looking, all these words describe Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy was no

Picasso, he was a pure physco, he had the fire inside to be the most nefarious

serial killer of all time. At the end of Ted Bundy s rain of terror he raped,

and killed nearly 50 young women (Lamar, 1).

To make matters worse, in 1969 Bundy learned of his true parentage.

His sister was actually his mother and his parents, he was to find out, were

actually his grandparents. During this time in his life, Bundy became very

angry, he wanted revenge and he hated the world. He changed from a shy and

respectable person to a more focused and overpowering character. He was

driven, to prove to himself and to the world, that he was a normal person.

Ted Bundy was one of the smartest serial killer s of all time, but on

January 14, 1978 he faced the Chi Omega soriety house (Bell, 76). On this

date in time, five of the soriety sisters would never see the light of another

day. Most of the girls were at parties on campus, it was not unusual for the

sisters to stay out late. Most of the girls returned to the house early the next morning, except Nita Neary. Nita Neary was dropped off by her boyfriend at

3 a.m. after attending a local party. When Nita reached the door of the house

it was wide open, and the girls always closed the door, so she thought that

was pretty odd. Soon, after Nita walked in the house she heard some

movement coming from upstairs. All of a sudden, she heard footsteps

walking down the steps towards her, it was a man wearing a blue knit hat,

carrying a log with cloth wrapped around it, and ran out the door.

Nita s first thought was that the house had been burglarized by the

man, so she ran up the steps to wake all her of sisters up. Nita went into her

room first and her roommate Nancy Dowdy was sleeping, and was unaware

of the situation. Unsure of what to do, the girls made their way to the

housemother s room. Before they reached her room, they saw one of their

roommate staggering down the hall, with her entire head soaked with blood.

The housemother quickly ran to check on the other girls, Nancy and her

roommate tried to help their injured friend. The housemother went into

another room to check on the other girls, in that room she found Kathy Klein,

Kathy was bleeding badly from a hole in her head. Nancy quickly ran and

called police. At the scene of the crime, police found two more girls lying

dead in their beds. Someone had attacked them while they slept. Lisa Levy

was the first girl that the officers found dead. Pathologists who later

performed the autopsy on Lisa, found out that she had been beaten on the

head with a log, raped and strangled to death. Upon future examination of

Lisa, they discovered bite marks on her buttocks, and one of her nipples have

been bitten off. Lisa s roommate, Margaret Bowman, showed similar

injuries, although she had no bite marks, she was strangled by a pair of panty

hose. Margaret had been beaten so badly on her head by the log that her

head was splintered and a portion of her brain was exposed. Neither

Margaret or Lisa showed any signs of struggle.

On February 15, 1978 police had all the evidence to charge Bundy with

the murder crimes. On this date, Officer Lee s was making his daily routes

and spotted Bundy s car. Officer Lee s turned on his lights and gave chase,

suddenly, Bundy pulled over and stopped. Officer Lee ordered Bundy out of

his car, and told him to lie on the ground with his hands in front of him. To

the officers surprise, as soon as he went to handcuff Bundy, he rolled over

and began to fight with the officer. Bundy managed to fight his way free from

the officer and started to run. Just as soon as he ran officer Lee pulled his

gun out, and fired a shot at Bundy, he fell pretending to be shot. As soon as

the officer approached him lying on the ground, he started to fight again with

the officer. Finally the officer overpowered bundy and handcuffed him and

placed him under arrest (Bell, 76).

As soon as Bundy was in jail he was charged with the Chi Omega

murders. Facing the death penalty, Ted would later plead in his own defense

that was he was not guilty of the murders (Bell, 78). On July 23rd, Bundy

waited in his cell as the jurors deliberated over his guilt or innocence.

Showing no emotion, Bundy listened as one of the jurors read out GUILTY.

On all counts of murder, Ted was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

On July 31st, Ted Bundy would be sentenced to die in the electric chair.

Millions of people around the world cheered when Ted Bundy was sentenced

to die in the electric chair.

Just hours from Ted Bundy execution Fox Files decided to sit down

and have a talk with the most notorious serial killer of all time. Fox Files

wanted to see just what would make this killer tick. The interview was

asking question about Bundy biting his victim, Bundy said In my experience,

for me, it s something that usually accompanied a high degree of arousal. I

mean almost maybe a frenzied kind of state. (Crier and Scott, 2). It was

time for Bundy to be laid to rest, it was reported the first 2,000 volts of

electricity shot through his body, it did not kill him, the second bolt did. He

lived 12 minutes longer in the electric chair than any other human being ever

had (Crier and Scott, 5).

Jeffery Dahmer was a very sick man who ate his victims, doctors

believe he suffered from cannibalism, and necrophilla. Jeffery Dahmer was a

very insane man, who had a little voice inside that ran his life until he was

killed. Jeffery Dahmer killed 16 young men and boys in total, not even close

to Ted Bundy. On the other hand when you look at John Wayne Gacy Jr. you

see a man that was raised by a abusive father, who died at a early age. Gacy

was a boy who wanted to be loved, and in his mind, killing people was the

only way for him to gain attention and be loved. Gacy was just a man who

wanted to be loved by his father and to have attention. Gacy murder 30 young

boys, but Bundy murderd over 50 young women. Bundy would kill more

than one victim at a time, unlike Dahmer and Gacy. Bundy was the only

sane one of the three, he knew how to manipulate his victims and police for

nearly a decade.

As the death tolls rise and the bells ring, Ted Bundy emerges from the

fog to be the most nefarious serial killer of all time. Ted Bundy was penalty

sane, he knew what he was doing. Growing up, Ted had a troubled

childhood, Ted could have been anything he wanted, but Ted chose to be a

killer. Ted loved the rush he received from killing someone, so he continued

to rape and murder until he was caught. After reading this paper and looking

at all the evidence, this paper proves that Ted Bundy is the most nefarious

serial killer of all time.

Works Cited

John Wayne Gacy, AKA The Killer Clown On-line. Internet 12/

Apr. 2000. Available online http://www.flash back.net/ slayer/

gacy.htm

Crier, Catherine; and John Scott. Serial killer Ted Bundy. Fox Files

27 May. 1999: 7+

Lamar, Jacob. I Deserve Punishment. Time 6 Feb. 1989: 1-2

Jaeger, Richard. Dahmer s Body in Madison. Wiconsin State Journal

13 Apr. 1995: 1-2.

John Wayne Gacy Jr. The Crime Libary Online. The Crime Libary.

12 Apr. 2000