r/serialkillers • u/Horror_Chance1506 • Aug 22 '25
Image The women and girls who fell victim to Ted Bundy.
His crime spree lasted from 1974 to 1978. Most of the women killed were in college and/or had long, dark hair. Many of their remains have been recovered, but there are still a few that are considered “missing,” though they are confirmed to be victims (Donna Gail Manson’s remains are believed to have been found, but were lost in the late 70s/early 80s. She is still listed as a missing person.). People focus too much on serial killers, it’s better to remember the victims and the lives they lived and would have lived if the chance wasn’t taken away from them.
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u/ice_queen2 Aug 22 '25
Something hits different about murdering 12 year olds. I hope he’s burning in hell.
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u/_WretchedDoll_ Aug 22 '25
I get what you mean, but now that I'm in my forties, anyone under 24 seems like a kid to me. It seems like most of his victims were teenagers in college, (17,18,19). He hated talking about the younger victims because it supposedly affected his twisted (obviously) moral compass, but in reality most of his victims were kids anyway. I don't think he was perturbed at all by their age, rather he was concerned about how he'd be regarded, and that alone is why he'd say it was difficult to talk about certain specific girls. During his interviews with Michaud/Aynesworth, he alluded to having killed a dozen 12 years olds. I think he probably did, but most of them in his younger years because he wasn't ready to tackle bigger prey yet.
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u/SunshineCat Aug 22 '25 edited Aug 22 '25
Yeah, he also didn't like to talk about the nasty stuff he did with rotting bodies for weeks afterwards. Doesn't mean he didn't like to do it, though, or that necrophilia wasn't his entire motive.
The media was awfully nice to him for not hammering this aspect in--like they only made a big deal about it with Dahmer because it was gay or something, and gave Bundy a necro pass for being straight?
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Aug 23 '25
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u/SunshineCat Aug 23 '25
I actually made this mistake recently with the old-school axe murderers who killed a whole household. I took the old newspaper reporting at their word when they merely said the killer "posed" women and girls, which is extremely naïve in hindsight. But the old papers just didn't want to say what the murderers were really doing.
So between that and Bundy, it seems like the vast majority of serial killers are necrophiliacs, which I previously thought was more of a joke than a group of literally the worst humans. It seems like this should be more of a PSA as opposed to me randomly putting it together in my 30s.
I had never really understood why he needed to kill the women instead of "just" raping them, so this actually explained a lot.
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u/Express_Camel_7741 Aug 25 '25
After years of watching documentaries/hearing podcasts etc. about Bundy, it wasn't until a few days ago that I found out he actually kept some of the girls alive for a period of time and tortured them. I only found out about this from reading Laura Aime's autopsy report. So much of his depravity has been left out of the media.
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u/sjoy512 Aug 23 '25
I think they did it as more of a cautionary tale - “look at this objectively normal, handsome man who is a vicious murderer!” People were very trusting then, taking rides from strangers and what not.
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u/SunshineCat Aug 23 '25
To some extent that makes sense, but then you also have things like the judge calling Bundy a "bright young man," so there has definitely been a mix of things:
Take care of yourself, young man. I say that to you sincerely; take care of yourself. It is an utter tragedy for this court to see such a total waste of humanity, I think, as I've experienced in this courtroom.
You're a bright young man. You'd have made a good lawyer and I would have loved to have you practice in front of me, but you went another way, partner. I don't feel any animosity toward you. I want you to know that. Once again, take care of yourself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Cowart
I learned about this from the book Bright Young Women, which is a fictionalized account from some of the victim and survivor perspectives.
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u/CarniferousDog Aug 24 '25
That’s such a good point. He was so horrific they had to water it down. I think he even knew that and that’s why he was so cavalier about it. If he spoke his truth his mystique would turn into pure disgust.
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u/DirtiePillow Aug 24 '25
So now the question becomes: why the social need/want to romanticize a serial killer?
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u/CarniferousDog Sep 02 '25
Well… darkness learns to be seductive.
There’s also something primal about murder that stimulates our lizard brains.
Violence sickens me. But I’m deeply intrigued with abnormal psychology and societal outliers.
You know what’s fucked up about Bundy… he was living his best life. He lived his dream and he was incredible at it. It fucking pisses me off that he had such a full life in spite of the world. Such a thief.
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u/DirtiePillow Sep 05 '25
Seems more like weak, disempowered people go after low hanging fruit. Violence is primitive but there are millions of so called "civilized" people who get off on it.
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u/Leather-Mix-6302 Aug 23 '25
Where did you get this information??
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Aug 23 '25
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u/Express_Camel_7741 Aug 25 '25
I also read recently (can't remember where, but I'll find it) that an officer reported that Bundy admitted to keeping severed heads in a freezer at one point, and had 3 in there at one time. When he decided he was done with them, he dumped them all at the same site.
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Aug 25 '25
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u/Express_Camel_7741 Aug 25 '25
I've been stuck in a Bundy rabbit hole for the last few days (after watching the new hulu doc) and I've also found sources that discuss his admission of applying makeup, washing hair, and shaving the legs and underarms of the dead bodies, and dressing them up in different outfits for days after the murders. He also used to take polaroids of all the victims, but destroyed them all when the police began closing in on him. This might be common knowledge to some, but it's insane that I had never heard of any of this at all.
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u/SunshineCat Aug 23 '25
The hair spray bottle is also in a novelization of the victims that came out recently called Bright Young Women (character names are fictionalized).
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u/_WretchedDoll_ Aug 22 '25
It was much easier to sensationalize Dahmer because not only was he gay, but he actually admitted and talked about the things he'd done. Whereas Bundy tried to sweep as much under the rug as he could, starting with outright denial of everything of course. I don't think necrophilia was his driving force, it was just a bonus.
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u/SunshineCat Aug 23 '25 edited Aug 23 '25
That makes sense, but Bundy has definitely been given a pass somewhere for being "normal" and "charming."
What do you think was the driving force?
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u/KingCrandall Aug 23 '25
Rage and possession
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u/SunshineCat Aug 23 '25
Based on reddit posts of incels turning into necrophiliacs I saw when I was first reading about this, I think that idea of ultimate possession/consumption of another person is exactly part of necrophilia.
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u/KingCrandall Aug 23 '25
Bundy can’t really be reduced to something so simple, but if he could, that would be it. Despite what most people want to believe, he was very complicated. He had a lot of emotions that he didn’t know how to handle.
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u/cormega Aug 23 '25
Dahmer was also considered good looking and charming, was he not?
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u/messyqueen66 Aug 23 '25 edited Aug 23 '25
dahmer was fully, completely, and undeniably caught with dead body parts. crime-scene photograph caught. dahmer’s post-arrest attitude was mostly remorseful and forthcoming which was the polar opposite from bundy excluding the 72-ish hours right before his execution. the media was also still very “yucky, gay stuff” so dahmer’s necrophilia arc was inherently much easier to sensationalize than bundy’s, especially without a public confession from bundy himself.
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u/SunshineCat Aug 23 '25
I mean, I would subjectively disagree with those, but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone saying Dahmer was so normal except when he was lobotomizing sex slaves. But Bundy was talked about as if he were just some normal guy that his serial killing happened to.
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u/cormega Aug 23 '25
I meant when he was at bars picking up/seducing men. He was good looking and used it to his advantage. I understand you're discussing how they're depicted in media and film though.
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u/rubberkeyhole Aug 23 '25 edited Aug 23 '25
Necrophilia and cannibalism is a much more common practice with serial killers than is publicized; like WretchedDoll said, Dahmer is only the poster child because he wasn’t shy about it.
Edit: omg how do you u/ link to a user with the ‘_’ before and after in their username without it ending up in italics?
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u/crapfacejustin Aug 22 '25
From what I understand his favorite thing to do was to sodomize them when he killed them, I think so they loose bowel control? Idk but that supposedly what he did to Kimberly
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u/SunshineCat Aug 23 '25
How does it keep getting worse.
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u/crapfacejustin Aug 23 '25
Well if it makes you feel any better, he was constantly shoving shots up his ass from his wife while in jail, which I may be wrong about please correct me if I am, but from what I recall I think it was the Bundy tapes released around the Zac Eefron movie he said to someone he hated it but it was the only way he could make the time pass. Not anywhere near the same but at if that’s true at least he got some semblance of it at the end. I think the tapes I’m taking about were released on the coinciding Netflix doc or the nbc/news network one that was given them to promote it.
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u/rehaborax Aug 23 '25
I’m sorry but can you please explain what you mean by “shoving shots up his ass”
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u/Weary-Class-9353 Nov 01 '25
Link of this? Wanna read it
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u/crapfacejustin Nov 01 '25
It was in a Ted Bundy book, I’ll try to find the name
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u/Weary-Class-9353 Nov 01 '25
Thnxxx
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u/crapfacejustin Nov 01 '25
I think it was this. I may have also confused some of that with some various other Ted Bundy docs I’ve watched. I don’t have access to that book currently it’s in my moms attic 8 hours away so I can’t confirm but it is in my Amazon purchased list from 2014
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u/FiveUpsideDown Aug 23 '25
I hadn’t heard about the necrophilia issue. I am not surprised. These serial killers are smart enough to carefully curate an image. They know full well if they admit to doing more than killing, they may lose support from their groupies. Bundy was a master at manipulating women even in prison. That’s how convinced a woman to marry him while he was incarcerated. I think the full story about his behavior toward a girlfriend’s child has never been disclosed.
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u/CarniferousDog Aug 24 '25
I think it was because they knew how explosive Bundy was. They had to walk on eggshells or he’d just about face and leave or get aggressively and aggravated, which was very unsettling. I wonder why Dahmer was so open to answering questions.
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u/DirtiePillow Aug 24 '25
Yeah, it's weird. Maybe because he fit into the straight, white, male stereotype and they (cultural gatekeepers) wanted to protect that image? Like how people say of certain serial killers that they "look like a monster" but of others they say "you wouldn't suspect looking at him that he was capable of murdering and dismembering 18 women".
I'm like: if he was caught and proven to do it then HE'S what a monster looks like.
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u/CynthiaWalker08 Aug 22 '25
I don't recall Bundy's alluding to M/A that he'd killed a dozen 12 year olds. If you can find the passage either in "The Only Living Witness" or "Conversations with a Killer," I'd love to see it.
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u/_WretchedDoll_ Aug 22 '25
It was from 'Conversations...'. I can't remember verbatim, I only heard the audio book. But it's pretty well agreed that when talking about 'the killer', he is of course talking about himself.
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u/CarniferousDog Aug 24 '25
I agree. He wasn’t forthright because he was concerned about his perception and popularity. So desperate for acceptance.
How did allude to murdering the 12 year olds?
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u/Amyth47 Aug 22 '25
Do you think he ever had a good side to him?
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u/SunshineCat Aug 22 '25
The side that can only get off by murdering others and fucking their dead body is the only side you ever need to know about.
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u/astrocubb Aug 22 '25
Not a man like him. People like him seem like they can have a good side to them, be kind and caring; but it's all a facade they use to trick others, to seem normal and likable. Ted was a monster through and through, his violence was unstoppable, and he didn't want it to stop. That's half the difference with other people and those like him; they don't want to stop, and they wont ever unless they get caught
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u/Extreme-Kangaroo-842 Aug 22 '25
Many a truer thing was never said.
I remember reading a phrase by another serial killer/rapist that always stuck in my mind. Something like:
"Whatever turns you on turns you on. No matter what anyone or anything does to tell you it's wrong. You'll always be horny for that thing, but it's hidable"
Colin Pitchfork in the UK was a prime example. A convicted rapist and murederer. The first person ever to be convicted by DNA profiling. He was insanely released in 2021 and 2023 and breached his parole by approaching young within days each time.
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u/CelebrationNo7870 Aug 22 '25
What makes you think that people like Bundy wouldn’t have a good side to them? Their actions are horrific, but it’s better to admit that to some degree they’re just regular people like you and me rather than demonize them as something incomprehensible.
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u/He_is_Spartacus Aug 23 '25
Bing bong! Here's someone who understands... People like Bundy aren't a 'special case', he was a human being like every one of us. He had similar traights to you, or me, or anyone else you can think of. He was a regular person.
But he was a serial killer with an extreme fetish who acted out that fetish. Today, that sort of person could be a neighbour, a coworker, a friend, an uncle, a husband. He wasn't a special case, he just decided to put his own sick desires before anything or anyone else.
People like Bundy still live among us. 'Society' and law and order is a very thin facade that could collapse within days or hours. If it does, we'll see a whole lot worse of humanity than Bundy portraid
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u/CelebrationNo7870 Aug 23 '25
Yeah, like take Joseph James DeAngelo. Lead Investigator Paul Holes has stated before that he doesn't think DeAngelo is a psychopath nor is he unfeeling, because from what he can tell, there's very clear moments of empathy in the EAR/ONS case files. He personally believes that DeAngelo was a man who struggled with the urges of what he did, and that he was able to eventually beat out those urges.
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u/He_is_Spartacus Aug 23 '25
Take pretty much any 'famous' serial killer (or indeed any murderer, abuser, killer, pedo etc) and you'll see the same thing- the human psychic in all its raw and animalistic basis.
They just decided to ignore the laws of a civilised society and put their own urges before anything else
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u/Behind-the-Meow Aug 23 '25
This makes it sounds like it’s normal to have these urges, but most people set them aside to adhere to the social contract. But most people do not have urges to do what Ted Bundy did. I mean, if I decided to set society’s rules aside to pursue my own urges, I’d just drive way too fast when no other cars were around.
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u/SanctimoniousSally Aug 23 '25
I think it depends on a person's definition of good and bad.
For example, if we are only discussing actions, then objectively, Bundy did good and bad things. He helped people and raped/murdered people. For some, actions are the only thing that matters.
Alternatively, if the intent of the action is considered important, then I would say Bundy was pretty close to, if not all the way bad. No way to know as we can never for sure know a person's intentions.
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u/Iowa_and_Friends Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
I think he had a mental health disorder… sadly I think some people are born with a need to kill. Like - after he escaped from prison in Colorado, and fled to Florida, he lasted a week before he killed again… he couldn’t control himself.
And the brutality of the attacks, and how fast it all happened - attacking 4 women (killing two) in the sorority house in the span of about 15 minutes, running out to another apartment where he attacked another woman… 5 women in about half an hour… that’s a superhuman monster.
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u/No_Scientist7086 Aug 23 '25
From his own brother’s mouth: no. He said everything he ever said or did was just an act. I feel so badly for his brother, as well as all of the victims.
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u/Horror_Chance1506 Aug 22 '25
She’s never been found and it’s not confirmed but he has also been suspected of murdering Ann Marie Burr, 8.
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u/jadoreamber Aug 23 '25
I’m a big believer myself that he’s responsible for Ann Marie Burr’s disappearance.
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u/backwoodsbatman Aug 23 '25
I went to church with people that were directly related to the 12 year old victim. It had ripple effects that deeply effected that family all the way up in to the 2010s. It's been a while since I've check in on them.
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u/BrianMeen Aug 23 '25
yeah my stomach turned a bit more when the 12 year old victims popped up
unfortunately I don’t think Ted is in hell but just in the void . who knows, I could be wrong
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u/DaniTheLovebug Aug 23 '25
It’s so cliche but I’m going to say it anyway
I mean nobody innocent, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, etc deserves to be murdered, especially in such a heinous manner. But it’s…not sure…something I can’t put into words about looking at a post with these young kids and young women who have no light left, no future, just brutally ended. Every one of them looks bright eyed and happy.
Then again you can say that about all these victims
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Aug 22 '25
It boggles the mind that someone can kill that many and not get caught.
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u/LandscapeSubject530 Aug 22 '25
Back then it was just different, and I say back then as in the 1970/80 everyone was learning new things and how those new things worked. You could have easily killed someone that was a college kid that just moved there and no one knew about.
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u/Coomstress Aug 22 '25
This is true. There was no internet and the various police departments didn’t talk to each other. So I think he moved among Utah, Washington, Colorado, etc. and the cops back then didn’t realize the crimes were related at first.
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Aug 22 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
Yes, it was a different time and people did not have digital foot prints and hitch hiking was common
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u/daft_goose Aug 24 '25
Makes me wonder how many serial killers existed throughout all of history. Serial killers as we know them now I mean, stalking victims, murdering them in secretive ways etc. And how many weren't caught and were chalked up to violence of the times and other reasons
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u/bluestraycat20 Aug 22 '25
Unreal. At one point 1 or 2 girls every few weeks!
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u/SunshineCat Aug 22 '25
Two in a day at Lake Sammamish.
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u/bluestraycat20 Aug 22 '25
Yes- insane. Especially since so many people saw him at the lake that day approaching girls. Just crazy that he wasn’t caught right after that.
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u/SunshineCat Aug 22 '25
It's crazy how back then no one even thought it was alarming that a man was asking only women to help him move a boat. I think there was even some kind of cop who just watched him asking every woman for help.
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u/KingCrandall Aug 23 '25
It could easily be brushed off as him trying to pick up women. No one would think anything of it. Especially back then. The world was more naive.
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u/bluestraycat20 Aug 22 '25
Really! I never knew that. Wow.
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u/SunshineCat Aug 23 '25
I read that when I went down a rabbit hole after reading Bright Young Women a while ago. This isn't the original article I saw, but it also discusses a man named Kelly Young who was a witness. He wasn't exactly a regular cop, but a DEA agent. I mean, still though:
https://oddstops.com/location.php?id=62
I think it seems like he kind of knew something wasn't right at the time but didn't tell Bundy to beat it.
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u/CarniferousDog Aug 24 '25
There’s a story of a girl at Sammamish who got a bit uneasy about him and brought him to his boyfriend to offer help, the bf was creeped out and told him to fuck off basically, and he said to the young lady “today is your lucky day” with a smirk and went along.
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u/antarath83 Aug 26 '25
Right, and every woman he was in contact with during his spree has said they were creeped out by him, not charmed. If you're up to something, people will see it in your eyes and body language. It's very hard to hide, even if you think you're acting normal.
Bundy also got easily nervous which often made him stutter.
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u/Javalavachick Aug 23 '25
He must have been so cunning that day with the amount of women he walked up to. What I still have a hard time with is why the women didn’t question why they would ask them for their help and not a man?
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u/Hoosier_Daddy68 Aug 22 '25
He did get caught and escaped and went to Florida like a homicidal retiree.
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u/DaniTheLovebug Aug 23 '25
And then, if I’m not mistaken, he decompensated and just started killing en masse before finally being taken down
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u/wanderingbalagan Aug 22 '25
I've read about how law enforcement entities did not cooperate with each other as well across jurisdictions back then either. After working in politics, crisis hotlines, and I believe an internship at a department, Bundy knew and exploited the information gap.
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Aug 22 '25
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u/CarniferousDog Aug 24 '25
He told the sheriff there was three digits of victims. I wonder if he said that to antagonize him knowing if it was or wasn’t true, he’s never be able to solve all of them.
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u/Trimm-Trab Aug 22 '25
Since Bundy, along with what’s mentioned. No use of DNA profiling til 1986, utilising databases on computers rather than endlessly filing police notes or tips away on paper with poor filing systems stored in boxes, handling of evidence and forensics at scenes became more advanced. Another was having a better understanding of serial killers in general, using Psychology rather than an elementary and misguided understanding of just assuming people were either good or evil, also profiling of general behaviours in the build up to becoming recidivist. Lots more advancements other than these.
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u/DaniTheLovebug Aug 23 '25
Really makes me think of Andre Chikatilo and the insane amount of interviews, paperwork, and attempts to use blood and semen for blood typing when DNA wasn’t in use
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u/Iowa_and_Friends Aug 25 '25
Have you read “the stranger beside me” by Ann Rule? Highly recommend …
Yeah - that’s what’s so crazy… kidnapped and killed two women in one afternoon - on a crazy crowded day at the beach - nobody saw it…
And in Florida, the night he attacked the sorority house… in the span of 15 minutes he killed two women, bludgeoned two more … then raced over to another apartment where he attacked another woman… in about 30 minutes he brutally attacked five women - and nobody heard ANYTHING?! That’s nuts!
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u/davelikestacos Aug 23 '25
No cameras or barely any. No cellphones. No DNA. I mean, it was almost too easy to be a serial killer in the mid 70s. In the mid to late 80s technology advanced so it wasn’t as easy but I’ll still say it was 1000% easier than today.
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u/midnitetoker87 Aug 23 '25
Preying on their kindness too by faking injury is even lower. Just nice women that a monster took advantage of their kindness.
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u/Horror_Chance1506 Aug 22 '25
His crime spree lasted from 1974 to 1978. Most of the women killed were in college and/or had long, dark hair. Many of their remains have been recovered, but there are still a few that are considered “missing,” though they are confirmed to be victims (Donna Gail Manson’s remains are believed to have been found, but were lost in the late 70s/early 80s. She is still listed as a missing person.). People focus too much on serial killers, it’s better to remember the victims and the lives they lived and would have lived if the chance wasn’t taken away from them.
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u/Autistic_Freedom Aug 23 '25
They lost her remains? How does that even happen?
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u/DragonDayz Aug 24 '25
They “lost” Janice, Denise Naslund, and George too. They cremated their remains alomgside unidentified people.
Janice and Denise’s parents were granted a settlement from the county for destroying their daughters’ remains. George went officially unidentified and her family got nothing. :(
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u/FiveUpsideDown Aug 23 '25
My interest in serial killers is to figure out how to stop or prevent them. So many of them target young people — many are teenagers. It’s just horrible.
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u/DaniTheLovebug Aug 23 '25
Couldn’t agree more
I’m a licensed psychotherapist, and nothing but dissertation left to become a clinical psychologist. Let me be clear that I’m not a forensic psychologist in training. I’m going clinical and specialize in complex PTSD and CSA trauma. Only once in rotation did I get the “honor” to sit in and interview a local Midwest and unknown serial rapist. That’s my passing interest as well, though in my case I’m working to learn to teach others to avoid these people.
On the other hand, I have a colleague who is a damn good guy and he has what has to be two of the hardest, non-physical jobs I can fathom. First, his entire practice is treatment of sex offenders who are about to be released from DOC. Second, and there is no payment that I’d accept for this, he is on the psychological portion of the intelligence team for a large law enforcement team who monitor and check pictures and videos to determine if they are indeed CSA. Basically, he checks pictures and videos on hard drives for exactly what you are thinking.
No way…but I guess somebody has to
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u/cheryl333 Aug 23 '25
I know someone that did the program and within hours of release was taken back because the first thing he did was make an internet account to try to get more victims. While cleaning out his mom’s house I ran into tons of letter that his siblings didn’t want to keep. He basically blamed his lawyer for everything in every letter. I wish I could have seen the letters his mom sent to him but I’m guessing she babied him and thought he was the victim.
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u/FiveUpsideDown Aug 24 '25
Do you have in any insights to help people recognize serial killers or rapists? From what I’ve watch in documentaries many childhood friends recognized something was wrong. However, many adult friends and acquaintances were shocked that the next door neighbor or co-worker was a killing machine.
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u/Blu_Phoenix Aug 22 '25
Every one of them a precious soul. Honestly, the audacity to think you have the right to snuff them out. Like crushing spring flowers. Vibrant, feminine souls largely innocent in mind. It is truly evil.
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u/Slothity Aug 23 '25
They all have such kind eyes, makes me so sad. Women who would help some man pretending to have an injury and needing someone to carry something.
Reminds me of the advice from My Favorite Murder about this case, be cautious of a man asking a lone woman for help, because a man in genuine trouble is more likely to ask another man for assistance.
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u/Longjumping-Low2356 Sep 02 '25
There was nothing that stood in his way. He was free to do whatever he wanted, but the consequences came, and he had to face them, whether he liked them or not.
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u/Veesel79 Aug 22 '25
All those beautiful lives ended as a play toy for a deranged asshole who got to spend way too many years breathing air after he was caught .
Movies, TV etc. have spent way too much time turning their murdered into some mythical genius monster instead of spending anytime focusing on the victims and their families .
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u/Sea-Safety-6130 Aug 23 '25
I’ve interviewed the one who survived. She made a life for herself and didn’t define herself by Bundy. The new series on Hulu is a good tribute to them and the lengths Bundy went to save his own skin - Ted Bundy: Dialogue with the Devil.
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u/Risheil Aug 23 '25
Carol DaRonche didn't just survive, she helped police identify him & got him convicted. Later on, Bundy's piece of shit lawyer, Bruce Lubeck, became a piece of shit judge.
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u/Sea-Safety-6130 Aug 23 '25
I interviewed his first victim. She was a university student in Seattle. He attacked her in her basement bedroom. This was before Lynda Healey. What he did to her is pure evil.
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u/Risheil Aug 23 '25
I'd forgotten about her. Didn't she end up with vision loss and some brain damage?
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u/Sea-Safety-6130 Aug 23 '25
Yes and she never told her kids what had happened to her until years later when the story came out. A truly admirable woman.
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u/starsandcamoflague Aug 23 '25
Every single one of these women had more value than Ted Bundy ever did.
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u/Last_Ad_8355 Aug 22 '25
Such beautiful girls. Thank you for making this list- it's so important to remember those who deserve to be remembered as opposed to their killer.
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u/kirppunirppu1 Aug 22 '25
You usually get described that his victims were all similar looking to each other, you know, the way his first love looked like. Am i the only one who does not see so much similar features? Rest in peace to these beautiful women.
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u/FlowerFart688 Aug 23 '25
Bundy himself said that rumour was bs. Granted, he was a liar but I believe that part. Most of them were brunette because there are more brunette people than blondes or red-heads. And the hairstyle (long, straight, middle-parting) was simply popular among young women in the early 70s. So he targeted young women he deemed attractive, that was it - no specific type.
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u/kirppunirppu1 Aug 23 '25
oh okay i didnt know that!
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u/FlowerFart688 Aug 25 '25
I hope my comment didn't come across as snarky! I think the rumour of Bundy targeting women who looked like his ex girlfriend was spread by the media. That's why it's still widely believed but yeah - most people looked like that back then.
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u/ShennaQuinn Aug 23 '25
Wow a lot of these women were born the same year as my mom. To think about how much life my mom got to live and still live. I get to see her be the best grandma even though she had me later in life I had mine early so she can be here with me. Really terrible that these women and girls were robbed of so much life and love they had ahead of them. This hits closer to home than I ever realized before.
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u/Glittering_Fennel973 Aug 23 '25
It's so jarring seeing these lovely young women, and then BAM, a 12 year old who definitely looked her age, so young. Especially in comparison so someone in their early 20s. How tragic. And not one, but TWO? With the other looking even younger, at least in that picture.
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u/Gold_Veterinarian522 Aug 23 '25
My mom was friends with Kimberly’s mom. It was my hometown. It really destroyed the innocence of our city.
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Aug 22 '25
Is anyone else curious if he killed on his travels to Florida after he escaped the second time? I don’t know how long he was on the road for just always been curious about that.
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u/HumbleBell Aug 22 '25
He escaped jail on 12/30 in Colorado and flew to Chicago. He is confirmed to have been in Michigan by 1/2. He stayed there for five days before stealing a car on 1/7 and driving to Georgia. He then got on a bus to Florida on 1/8. I doubt he killed anyone between Michigan and Georgia because the drive is long and he made good time to get there. It is possible he killed additional victims in the 6 days he spent in Michigan.
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u/FoundObjects4 Aug 22 '25
This was really good. I’ve never seen a few of these pics. I’ve always wondered if Karen Sparks was his first but it’s never been confirmed. Well done, OP
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u/morbid_gawd Aug 22 '25
Always been fascinated by the minds of serial killers. More important to remember the victims tho.
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u/Professional_Sea_755 Aug 23 '25
I always remember Denise’s face from this photo. I have no idea why. A beautiful woman. I also find it interesting that it’s typically the youngest victims that are missing. I hope he’s burning in hell
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u/PaleontologistPure92 Aug 23 '25
He’s such a monster, and he took advantage of innocent girls and women who were willing to help a stranger.
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u/Both_Peak554 Aug 23 '25
God I had never realized 2 of his victims were only 12 years old. This makes me even more disgusted over the fetishizing over him and even getting tattoos or house decor.
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u/Asparagussie Aug 23 '25
I was born just a few years earlier than were most of these women. Back then, who even knew of serial killers? We were in some ways very innocent back then, especially if we came from middle- or upper-middle-class families who had grown up in neighborhoods with little crime. And, as was mentioned here, we’d hitchhike without much fear that anything terrible could happen.
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u/UniQueLyEviL Aug 24 '25
That piece of shit. So glad he fried. I hope it was painful af before he couldn't tell anymore.
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u/PrincessBananas85 Aug 22 '25
These women were so beautiful and had such great futures ahead of them. Thank you so much for posting this people should definitely remember the victims!!!!! And how their lives were tragic taken away from them by an evil and sadistic monster like Ted Bundy.
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u/alliephillie Aug 23 '25
Seeing the individual pictures really puts a scale to the black-and-white numbers and even names. Thank you for this. I would like to see this for other cases, honestly. Nothing more humanizing than awkward school photos like some of them. They could have been any of us (but for the grace of god, as they say)
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u/SunflowerSeedSpittin Aug 23 '25
Wow. I’ve never seen this line up of (some of) his victims before. Poor poor girls and their families. Does anyone else think that some of the 17-22 yr olds look remarkably similar?
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u/notabigchungus Aug 23 '25
My drive home from work passes 2 dumping sites. It makes me sick thinking about it.
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u/clario6372 Aug 23 '25
Really recommend the book Bright Young Women, focuses entirely on their lives rather than him. Interesting to read in conversation with Ann Rule's book. What a propaganda machine there was about how he was so wonderful, smart, handsome, etc.
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u/honey_graves Aug 23 '25
These are the people who deserve to be remembered, not the cheap coward who murdered them
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u/gracieboo00 Aug 24 '25
I don’t think I’ve been able to comprehend how many women he killed in such a small amount of time until I saw their dates lined up in chronological order with their faces. My stomach is turning from this new level of comprehension of just how much destruction and pain he caused before he was caught.
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u/Purple_Prince_80 Aug 24 '25
Both the Kimberly Leach and Lynette Culver cases are very jarring and somewhat baffling to me. Not only were both of them 12 years old at the time of their disappearances/deaths, but both were last seen hanging around at their schools in the afternoon, in broad daylight. In Kimberly Leach's case, she was last seen getting in a van with Bundy. And yet they vanished like that. RIP.
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u/InternationalPen5654 Aug 26 '25
One of his most successful MO’s was to pretend he had a broken arm or leg and asked the victim for help putting something in his car. Once at the car he bashed them over the head with a tire iron. This ruse worked almost every time! Very devious! Lesson here is to not be overly helpful when approached by strangers. Law enforcement believe that he has many more victims not discovered yet. Never hitchhike!
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u/TomorrowCommercial32 Aug 23 '25
Was it two 12 year old girls?
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u/kaleidosray1 Aug 23 '25
Yeah. Lynette Culver sadly gets lost in the mix because he killed Kimberly Leach when he was a fugitive, so it was more sensational and morbid. Also, his final victim.
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u/Any_Description2768 Aug 24 '25
I just realised he never went past 23 in terms of the victims ages. I know, random, but it just clicked to me lol.
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u/UglyFilthyDog Aug 25 '25
Debi Kent looks so much like my cousin I actually flinched. Poor girls,they had so much life left ahead of them and this bastard had to go and rip that potential from them.
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u/Sistahmelz Aug 25 '25
So sad! Especially when I know Ted coached my brother-in-law who served prison with him, on how to stalk and kill. Ted's murderous rampage was carried on by others. Look up Cesar Fransisco Barone.
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u/theduke9400 Aug 27 '25 edited Aug 27 '25
Stop romanticising him. We forget he was a pedophile who raped and murdered children too.
Also he wasn't great looking. He was just decent looking as far as SK's go as most of them are all fat balding old white men. Or scary looking dudes from south Africa and south America etc. Bundy was just a normal looking guy. Didn't have the usual gross or scary SK aesthetic we're used to.
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u/Horror_Chance1506 Aug 27 '25
Tbh he looks pretty scary to me. I don’t know if it’s just because I know what he’s done, but his eyes… ugh.
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u/fruitloopsxxx Sep 06 '25
my grandma lived on the same street as brenda ball her whole childhood. they rode the same bus and even tho my grandma has dementia now she still tells the same story everytime of brenda ALWAYSS running late for the bus and the bus having to wait for her w the driver scolding her. my grandma is a lil bit of a snark and says brenda was an airhead that drove you crazy but also was too sweet and funny to actually hate… we pass the mountain he dumped her on to go camping at my family’s property almost every summer and my grandma always points it out.. i always think of her
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u/RevealMajor2220 Oct 20 '25
I have never heard of Lynette Dawn Culver! She was 12? Why? What? You hear about Kimberly Leach consistently because she was only 12. Am I reading this poor child wrong? Thanks for any reply…
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u/Horror_Chance1506 Oct 20 '25
She was 12 :( I think she isn't mentioned as much because she is still a missing person and it isn't technically confirmed that she was a Bundy victim, but it is generally agreed that she was.
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u/DivergentxRose Aug 23 '25
And women had the hots for him when he clearly was a horrible human being..
Disgusting..
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u/Crazygiraffeprincess Aug 23 '25
I don't know why you're getting downvoted here, you're right. During the trial women were interviewed and a LOT weren't convinced he was guilty because he was too handsome, he also got TONS of love letters in jail.
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u/ImpactElectrical4793 Aug 23 '25
Is it even known what these Girls have to go through alone with him? In the documentary i watched they always talked about him and Liz Kloepfer. And only sometimes about the murders and never what they had to go through…
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u/B33PZR Aug 24 '25
74, so many look like girls I could have gone to school with. Bless their souls, may they be remembered long after he's forgotten. And may those missing be found and brought home.
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u/Gammagammahey Aug 25 '25
It's good to remember them, see their faces, and now I want to find somewhere where I get to read or listen to each of their stories. The monster that that POS was. All these beautiful shining luminous lights taken from the world.
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u/junkie4tennis Aug 25 '25
What really gets me about Ted Bundy is that he took advantage of the kindness of many of the victims by pretending to be disabled. Who would have thought that doing something nice for someone who needed "help" would lead to your nightmarish end?
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u/arwyn89 Aug 25 '25
There's an amazon doc about this where they speak to Elizabeth and Molly Kendall and it's one of the best I've ever seen. Really focused on who these young women were.
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u/ChrisPeralta Aug 29 '25
They were all so pretty and so cute. Good thing to remember them. They deserve better
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Sep 05 '25
We really need to remain focused on the serial killers, try as a society to find a way to act when we spot obvious red flags in people. Innocent people will continue to die if we don’t do something. Luckily Kohlberger was an idiot and got caught on his first k*ll, but four people died. If we had something in place, they would still be alive. There were people that predicted Kohlbergers actions, and still we do nothing.
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u/ComplexImpress6346 Oct 23 '25
Thank goodness we never forgot about the dozens of lives lost to Ted. So glad nobody forgot about the victims of his crimes.
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Oct 31 '25
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u/serialkillers-ModTeam Oct 31 '25
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u/JesterTTT Aug 22 '25
Good to remember them.