Ted Bundy was a man that was trusted by the Washington State Republican Party, a hero who saved the life of a three year old from drowning. He was also an excellent student and a good friend. So what caused him to murder many young? Let's analyze the behaviors of Ted from his young age using the criminology theories to find the roots of causal factors that leaded to the acts that shocked the world.
1. Sociological: Bundy was not a fortunate child. His father "wanted nothing to do with him-. His grandparents feared that their daughter "would be criticized for having a bastard child-. They raised him as their own son. This has become a shock for him in years later. When he tried to get back to the track in life, he decided to travel around the country. On the trip to his birth town he looked at his birth record and discovered that his sister was actually his mother. (David Lohr).
2. Social-Psychological: At the age of four, Ted and his mom Eleanor moved to the different side of the country (Washington State) where his name was legally changed from Ted Cowell to Theodore Robert Nelson. A year later his mother married Johnny Culpepper Bundy. His name then became Ted Bundy. His stepfather tried the best to build relationship with him, but there was no bond between the two. Ted considered himself as a Cowell, not a Neilson or Bundy. He felt very uncomfortable around his stepfather and would rather be alone. This desire increased and possibly led to his later inability to socially interact with others. In his adolescent years, Ted was terribly shy, self-doubting and uncomfortable in social situations. "He was often teased and made the butt of pranks by bullies in his junior high school-. Michaud analyzed Ted's behavior and decided that he was "not like other children, he looked and acted like them, but he was haunted by something else: a fear, a doubt -- sometimes only a vague uneasiness- " that inhabited his mind with the subtlety of a cat.