Serial killer Ted Bundy utilized alcohol as a mechanism to reduce his inhibitions and find the courage to carry out his murders.
Reports and witness statements suggest he operated as a functional alcoholic. He was able to drink on a daily basis while maintaining a façade of relative normalcy.
A photograph of Bundy drinking a beer on the steps of the courthouse in Aspen, Colorado. This was before his infamous escape in 1977.
Functional alcoholic
According to his former girlfriend, Elizabeth Kendall, much of their relationship involved drinking together. At the time, she had her own personal struggles with alcoholism.
There are also claims that Bundy’s fiancée, Carole Boone, secretly supplied him with alcohol during his 1980 defense trial.
When Bundy attempted to abduct Carol DaRonch at a Utah mall in November 1974, DaRonch noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath.
While speaking with author Stephen Michaud during his third-person prison “confessions,” Bundy said that most people did not realize when he was under the influence. He explained that because these individuals did not know his baseline personality, they failed to recognize he was behaving any differently than normal.
Bundy also admitted to drunk driving on multiple occasions.
He was so intoxicated during the kidnapping of Georgann Hawkins that he failed to notice her earrings and one of her shoes had fallen off. When he revisited her body the next day, he realized the shoe was missing and returned to the parking lot where he abducted her to look for it.
He later said he was heavily under the influence when he murdered Nancy Wilcox. Consequently, he spent a significant time driving around while trying to relocate her body.
Bundy eventually lost his job as custodian of Bailiff Hall in Utah after missing work and arriving drunk on at least one occasion.
In an interview with journalist Hugh Aynesworth, Bundy expressed relief that he was in prison rather than heading toward what he described as a “miserable existence” involving politics, law, marital problems, mortgages, and alcohol.
In another interview, he touched on his shoplifting habit, saying:
“The big payoff for me was actually possessing whatever it was I had stolen. It wasn’t the act, necessarily. Often, I would have to get intoxicated to get loose enough to be able to do it right.”
During the summer of 1975, Bundy began dating a single mother, Leslie Knudson. She later said she grew concerned as his drinking escalated. On one occasion, she found him passed out on her living room floor.
Taken together, these accounts show that Bundy had a deeply unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
Alcohol didn’t cause him to kill
Alcohol did not create Bundy’s impulses. His violent fantasies were present long before he began drinking. According to Bundy, alcohol simply lowered his inhibitions and gave him the courage to act on his urges.
Drinking may have heightened his desire to engage in voyeurism and other antisocial behaviors, but it did not implant those desires.
Even without alcohol, Bundy’s fantasies would likely have surfaced.
Most alcoholics do not peer into windows or sexually assault women simply because they do not harbor those fantasies.
Bundy, however, did.
This may explain the boldness of his attacks
A number of Bundy’s crimes were extraordinarily risky:
- His attack on Karen Sparks occurred while three male friends were sleeping in the residence. Had any of them woken up, his crimes might have ended on the spot.
- He abducted Lynda Ann Healy from a house she shared with four other women.
- On July 14, 1974, he abducted two women from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight and approached several others during the same outing.
- In Florida, he entered a sorority house and assaulted four victims in a short span of time. After leaving, he attacked another woman a few blocks away.
These were reckless acts, and it is difficult to ignore the likely role alcohol played in his decision-making.
Yet many films, documentaries, and books downplay or omit this aspect of Bundy’s behavior.
It clashes with the image of a cold, calculating, highly intelligent killer. The handsome, articulate, and self-possessed version sells.
A man who often murdered while drunk does not fit the narrative.