Ted Bundy Research Paper

Ted Bundy

Theodore “Ted” Robert Bundy was a United States serial killer who abducted, raped and murdered countless women throughout his lifetime. The life, trial, and execution of Bundy is portrayed through the 2002 film Ted Bundy. However, the movie’s storytelling ability does not accurately capture many of the logistics and events that occurred surrounding Ted Bundy, and it is evident that there are many discrepancies between the movie and real-life accounts.

One of the many contrasts between the movie and Ted Bundy’s actual case includes the names of the victims whom he assaulted from as early as the 1960s to 1978. In the scene where the Salt Lake City sheriff begins to read off a list of names that are associated with Ted Bundy’s criminal

record, it is evident that the names are made up to protect the victim’s authentic identity based on criminal reports. The names used to identify the victims in the movie are Barbara Vinsans, Karen Stills, Suzanne Welch, Karen Parks, Brenda Ball, Patricia Garber, Miriam Cutler, Lucy Lee, Melissa Smith, Stephanie Markson, Betsy Walter, Ellen Carter, and many other fictional names. However, the victim’s real names included Anne Marie Burr, Lonnie Trumbell, Joni Lenz, Lynda Ann Healy, Donna Gail mason, Susan Elaine Rancourt, Brenda Baker, Roberta Kathleen Parks, Georgeann Hawkins, Denise Naslund and so many more. Additionally, the number of suspected killings in the movie is exaggerated compared to the actual number of suspicions that were conceived. Although we don’t know, and never will know the exact number of women that Bundy murdered during his lifetime, sources have concluded that he may have murdered anywhere from 35-100 women. However, the movie dramatizes this number by noting his suspected killings to be upwards of 150 innocent women and girls. For the movie portray numerical facts more accurately, in the scene where the voiceover states “Ted Bundy is on the loose and may have killed as many as 150 women” should have been revised to 100 women because that number fixes more closely with legal records, scholarly articles, memoirs, etc.
Secondly, the movie tends to utilize props and costumes that fail to accurately capture reality too.

Ted Bundy’s infamous car where multiple women died inside of is viewed on the screen to be a yellow Volkswagens Beetle. However, the vehicle is, in fact, a tan 1968 Volkswagen Beetle that sits on display at the National Museum for Crime and Punishment in Washington state (Williams, 2010). Also, in the scene where the cop arrests Bundy for the final time after the license plate on his van comes up in the Florida system as being stolen, there’s a mere discrepancy because reports state that Bundy was captured in Volkswagen Beetle when this event took place. Other props are recognized to be deceptive when analyzing the appearance of the electric chair in the movie versus real life. The infamous electric chair called “Old Sparky” that sent 2,000 volts at 14 amps through Ted Bundy’s body is seen in the movie as a dulled wooden chair with restraints belts. However, compared to the actual images, it is evident that Old Sparky was made from hard shiny wood and the restraint straps are red-ish. Regarding the director’s choice of costume, the movie shows Ted Bundy on the morning of his execution wearing an orange top with white bottoms which resemble a prison uniform. But on the actual day of execution, Bundy received his death sentence wearing a light-blue top and navy bottoms. This is evidenced by primary source photos taken moments after Ted Bundy died in the electric chair but prior to being sent to the medical examination room after the paramedic took his vitals. Although one may argue that the misuse of props and costumes is insignificant and/or trivial to the greater picture, it remains as an implication on how Hollywood movie directors do not recreate real-life events accurately. Dates and locations are another factor that is skewed in the movie as well. In the beginning of a scene that is captioned “Pinewood Ski Resort, Colorado-1976” in the first frame leads the

audience into the horrors of the night when Ted Bundy murdering a woman whose name is Julie Cunningham. In the scene, we see Bundy perform the phony impression of someone who is injured to lure the young women in. Once the woman was right where Bundy wanted her to be, he put her into a choke eventually causing her to lose consciousness on the spot. However, what had actually happened on the night of this attack was Cunningham was spotted leaving her Vail apartment to go to a bar and while she was in route, Bundy lured her into his car, opposed to the corner of a hotel hallway, and drove her out to an isolated area that was roughly 80 miles from Vail where he raped and killed her. Bundy got rid of the evidence by disposing of her corpse near Rifle, Colorado. (Colorado Bureau of Investigation). Additionally, the case report mentions that this incident took place on March 15, 1975, which dates a year earlier than the date given in the movie.
Another difference between the movie and real life accounts pertains to how Ted Bundy’s childhood is depicted in Hollywood. Throughout the film, Ted Bundy’s character expresses his discontent, remorse and underlying resent toward the nature of his upbringing. The movie incorporates a scene where Bundy is talking to his girlfriend Lee (whose real name is Meg Anthers) about his aspirations to have a better life, pursue politics and to be “normal” because this was not the case for him previously. In another scene, Bundy is conversing with “Lee” again, describing his childhood to be a crude, dark period by admitting that he’s a “bastard child” and when he was 5-years-old, he’d learned that “his sister is his mother” and at 17-years-old he’d learned that his “father isn’t his father”. Counter to the impressions which these scenes draw for its audience, in Ted Bundy’s final interview on January 23, 1989, which took place the day before Bundy executed, he states that he “grew up in a wonderful home with two dedicated and loving parents, as one of 5 brothers and sisters.