Theodore Robert “Ted” Bundy was an American serial killer who was born in Cowell on November 24, 1946 and died on January 24, 1989. He kidnapped, raped and killed many young women and girls in the 1970s and possibly earlier. After lying for more than a decade, he admitted to killing 30 people in seven states between 1974 and 1978. No one knows how many people he has killed, but it is likely to be a lot more.
How Did He Die?
Ted Bundy died by electric chair on January 24, 1989.
“When Ted Bundy first saw the electric chair in the execution chamber at the Florida State Prison, he jerked back and looked shocked,” Swarens wrote in The Daily Beast 30 years later. “41 other people and I watched as ‘Old Sparky,’ the macabre name for one of America’s most notorious serial killers, was strapped into the wooden chair.”
In The Stranger Beside Me: The True Crime Story of Ted Bundy, a book by crime writer Ann Rule, Dr. Clark Hoshall, who was also there when Bundy died, wrote: “Before he died, Bundy was nervous and didn’t look at anyone. A leather strap went diagonally across his face from below the right side of his lower jaw to above his left ear, where it was tied tight. The head strap squeezed Bundy’s nose from the side and pressed his left eyelids together. He was looking straight ahead with his right eye, which was open.”
Swarens said that a metal cap was put on Bundy’s head and that a black leather veil was put over his face. When Tom Barton, who was in charge of the prison, spoke briefly on the phone with Gov. Bob Martinez, no one could see Bundy’s face. Swarens said that after the phone call, “Barton then nodded to an executioner in a black hood who was standing behind a wall.”
The person who made the killing pushed a button. “When 2,000 volts hit Bundy, his head jerked. His body stiffened and pushed against the back of the chair, “Swarens wrote.
After less than two minutes, the person who was putting the person to death turned off the electricity. Ted Bundy’s “body slumped against the leather straps” was all that was left of him.
The LA Times says that a paramedic checked for a heartbeat at 7:16 a.m. and found that he did not have one.
What Is Bundy’s Last Meal Before His Death?
Bundy called his mother twice the night before he killed himself, but he wouldn’t let her choose his last meal.
According to All That’s Interesting, he barely touched the steak, eggs, hash browns, and toast that he was served. So, Bundy died while he was hungry.
What Happened To Bundy’s Body After His Death?
After Ted Bundy was executed, his brain was taken out of his body and studied. Scientists hoped to find something wrong with him that would explain why he was so violent, but All That’s Interesting says that nothing was found.
The rest of his body was cremated, and as Bundy had asked, his ashes were spread out over the Cascade Mountains in Washington. The same source said that this is the same place where he dumped at least four of his victims.
What Were Bundy’s Last Words?
Swarens said that as Bundy was getting ready for the electric chair, he “looked through a Plexiglas window at the witnesses who were facing him and said, “It’s all right.” Then, at 7:05 a.m., Bundy was asked if he wanted to say anything before he died. He looked at his lawyer, Jim Coleman, and a Methodist pastor, Fred Lawrence, and told them, “Jim and Fred, please tell my family and friends that I love them.”
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