That Kind of Forgiveness is of God by Erick Quiñonez
Starke Prison to cheer on and celebrate the long awaited execution, by electric chair, of the
infamous Theodore Robert “Ted” Bundy. During a Floridian sunrise on January 24, 1989 at
exactly 7:16 a.m., 2,000 volts ran through Bundy’s body for 60 seconds before he was
pronounced dead. “Burn Bundy Burn.” The singing and applauding of the appeased crowed
could be heard.
A troubled soul from the beginning, Bundy probably never seemed to fit in with his
peers. Although he thrived in school and was dashingly handsome he was always the shy, quiet
boy of the group. At the age of 21, Bundy was introduced to Stephanie Brooks –who he fell
madly in love with. Sadly these feelings were not reciprocated and within a year, Brooks ended
the relationship. Her reason was because she thought Bundy was going nowhere with his future
–she did not see him as father/husband material. During this same time, Bundy discovered that
who he believed to be his parents, were in fact his grandparents, and his older sister was actually
his real birth mother. Devastated, depression hit Bundy deeply. He responded by dropping out
of college, but later returned a changed man. He surpassed everyone’s expectations and
concluded his studies in Psychology at the University of Washington. In 1973, Bundy and
Brooks reawakened their passion. All was wonderful, until Bundy broke the heart of Brooks, the
same way she did to him. Hereafter is when all hell dealing with “Ted” broke loose.
Throughout the next 5 years, no one suspected of Bundy, “the boy next door” to be the
same man known as “Ted” accused of the murders of over 35 women in Washington, Oregon,
Colorado and Utah. All these women were young, beautiful, smart, and all wore their long
lovely hair parted in the middle, making all of Bundy’s victims share a remarkable resemblance
to Stephanie Brooks, the once love of his life.
In 1974, Bundy moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and was enrolled into the University of
Utah Law School. On November 8, Bundy posed as a cop and confronted Carol DaRonch (18)
that her car had been broken into. He led her to his car where he tried to abduct her. Luckily,
DaRonch was able to escape her attacker. DaRonch was not only Bundy’s first mistake, but also
the mistake which lead to his capture. Later that year he was arrested and identified in a lineup.
Bundy was tried and found guilty, but was extradited to Colorado to face more charges. In
December of 1977, while still in Colorado, Bundy asked a policeman, “Which state would be
most likely to execute a killer?” “Florida,” was the answer he received. Not long after that,
during New Years, Bundy escaped. He escaped through a duct hole in his ceiling. That luckily
for him led straight into the jailer chef’s apartment, who had been out for the night which worked
at Bundy’s advantage. Bundy went straight for the chef’s closet for a change of clothes, and
walked out as if a free man. 2 weeks after his escape he was arrested for crimes against 5 more
women who were Chi Omega sorority sisters at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Bundy
raped one of the women, but strangled both of them to death. He attacked 2 other sorority
sisters, but they lived because Nita Jane Nearly –a roommate walked in before he killed them.
On June 25, 1979 the case of the 2 Chi Omega sorority sister’s murders was held in
Miami, Florida. Bundy decided to represent himself. While questioning a witness, the
prosecutor of the case asked Nearly, “Do you see the man?” The nervous and distraught witness
pointed a finger to a slim, handsome man in a blue suit (similar to those of all the lawyers in the
room.). The prosecutor then asked the witness, "Would you identify him for the record?" There
was nothing but silence as everyone watched the witness. "That's Mr. Bundy." The words that
unsuspectingly broke the silence came from none other than, Mr. Bundy himself. "Thank you,
Mr. Bundy," said the judge. "You're welcome." Bundy was found guilty and given a death
sentence. After the trial Bundy’s biological mother told him, “You’ll always be my precious
son."
His last trial was for the abduction and murder of Kimberly Leach (12) (which occurred
on February 9, 1978.). His defense tried to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, but
undoubtedly lost. Bundy received his last death sentence. By this time Bundy’s witty, cocky
persona was no more.
During the trial, Bundy proposed to Carol Boone who believed in his innocence at the
time. During his wait on death row, they conceived a baby girl. Bundy delayed his execution for
a decade by promising to confess and give out information to crimes he would admit of
committing. He also gave insight to try and help detectives understand and find serial killers.
Bundy was categorized as a serial sexual killer. Serial sexual killers enjoy torturing their victims
in order to reach a maximal orgasm, most serial killers are not psychotic –which means they
have not lost their grip on reality. Bundy was a psychopath (which is an antisocial personality
disorder), he was intelligent and had few signs of psychopathy in his life. He was manipulative,
lacked remorse and empathy. Bundy lived only in the present never believing rules and laws
applied to him. Bundy literally used his charm to get women. One of his methods was to play
the role of an injured/handicapped man asking for help, he really had many people blinded from
who he truly was. Finally a judge decided it was enough. In his last interview he attributed his violent nature and murders to the media and pornographic violence. “We are your sons, and we
are your husbands, and we grew up in regular families.” Bundy also stated in his last interview,
“Through God’s help, I have been able to come to the point, much too late, where I can feel the
hurt and the pain I am responsible for … I can’t begin to understand the pain that the parents of
these children and young women that I have harmed feel. And I can’t restore much to them, if
anything. I won’t pretend to, and I don’t even expect them to forgive me. I’m not asking for it.
That kind of forgiveness is of God; if they have it, they have it, and if they don’t, maybe they’ll
find it someday.” Was this truly the same man who once said, “I’m as cold a motherfucker as
you’ve ever put your fucking eyes on. I don’t give a shit about those people.” Will we ever truly
understand why he did what he did? Was it really all the pornography he watched? The identity
of his father was never truly known; maybe he was born with a predisposition to kill?
Theodore Robert “Ted” Bundy’s last meal before his execution consisted of steak, eggs,
hash browns, potatoes and coffee. His last night before his end was full of prayers and tears and
remorse for his victims. The next morning on January 24, 1989 Bundy was escorted by two
guards down a hallway to his final moments. As he was being restrained to the chair, he could
see the faces of his witnesses. He was asked, if he had any last words. “Jim and Fred, I'd like
you to give my love to my family and friends.” The black veil came down covering his head. At
exactly 7:16 a.m., 2,000 volts ran through Bundy’s body for 60 seconds before he was
pronounced dead.
