Ted Bundy Lost Boys Relation

Ted Bundy - Lost Boys Anchors Relationship

University of Illinois

Abstract

This paper will attempt to describe a relationship between Ted Bundy’s case and the potential reasons that may have contributed to his actions as explained by the book; Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them by James Garbarino.

We will discuss the parallels found between Bundy’s behaviors described in his 5-part video series with Garbarino’s book, putting special emphasis in the social anchors that we feel best match the reasons for Bundy’s actions.

Ted Bundy was described by several sources as:

A son any mother would be proud to call her own, a handsome six-footer who became the first in his family to graduate from college, then began studying for a career in the law. Women found him charming, his nieces and nephews adored him (McCall, 1980).

Ted Bundy offers an interesting case of someone who managed to seemingly blend well within the constraints of society to later lose control of his actions resulting in the killing of 30 plus women in 7 states.

Ted Bundy - Lost Boys Anchors Relationship

When discussing Ted Bundy’s case, many researchers struggle to pinpoint the real reasons behind his evil behavior. On the surface he had a common and rather stable upbringing, a grandfather who raised him in the first years of his life as his father providing him a father figure (Perhaps not a perfect father figure, but a father figure nonetheless), a loving sister who he later discovered was his real mother, and later on, four other siblings. By his mother accounts, Louise Cowell, he was raised the right way: "We are a family that has always tried to raise our kids in the right way," says Louise, 53. "We weren't the kind that sent their kids off to Sunday school and then went back to sleep (McCall, 1980)."

So what went wrong with Ted Bundy? Where did he make that fatal turn that led him to commit all those horrible crimes? Perhaps we can...