Just reading about Ted Bundy (just trying to understand where the word serial killer came from and it was apparantly him), and part of it was:

".....Bundy's second trial for the murder charges was held from June 25 to July 31, 1979. Despite his five court-appointed defense lawyers, Bundy wanted to represent himself as his own legal counsel. After being convicted, Bundy was sentenced to death by Judge Edward Cowart. During his second trial, while Bundy was acting as his own attorney, he married former coworker Carole Ann Boone in the courtroom as the trial was being conducted. During his incarceration, Bundy received hundreds of fan letters from female admirers.

In October 1982, Boone gave birth to a girl. Eventually, however, Boone moved away, divorced Bundy, and changed her and her daughter's last name....."

I don't get it. His last victim was a 12 year old girl, 100 murders he claimed, something like 12 to 30 confirmed to be him, so how/why does someone marry him and, obviously, have conjugal rights during his trial?

And hundreds of fan letters? I REALLY don't get it.

Discuss!

MY POSSIBLE THEORIES:

It would seem that some women find the dark side more fascinating than others.

It could be when it comes to women drawn to serial killers it's kind of like those women who get involved with men who beat them up or mentally abuse them and even though they are offered a way out for some reason a part of them enjoys being a victim...I know this doesn't apply to all women in violent domestic relationships but some do seem to stick around longer than they need...It may be that women who are drawn to serial killers like that sense of danger...the exhilaration of living on the edge...so close to death and yet just far enough away to avoid it.

Also it maybe that the women themselves want attention so much they will happily lie in bed with a killer to get their name in the papers, fame and notoriety.

Or is it a more that old human instinct...a man who has stalked and killed so many people is obviously a good hunter and would be able to bring food to the table (think caveman times).

I think they are clearly disturbed individuals.

I also wonder if they like the thought of having a relationship and to have a romantic figure in their lives but don't actually want all the other stuff, ie. having a bloke around all the time, having to have sex (I know it's hard to believe but apparently not all women like it!) ....

...on the other hand have you ever watched a programme about these kind of women? they are never the sharpest tool in the box or the most comely of wenches ...maybe it's the only man some of them have ever had a relationship with.

It's nuts isn't it? worshipping a seriel killer, who knows why some women would want to be involved with someone like that, it's fuc*ed up, they probably saw him on the news and he was quite good looking and they looked beyond his crimes and were infatuated.

I don't think Bundy should have been executed though, he was clearly insane, who can forget that picture of him defending himself in the courtroom it still sends shivers down my spine.

I don't think Bundy should have been executed though, he was clearly insane....

But if they hadn't killed him they would have been spending a fortune of tax payers money keeping him locked up in an asylum cage for the rest of his life...it's much more economical to put an end to his insanity once and for all and it gives the relatives of the victims a sense of justice being done.

Coastie - have to ask, re your last post, don't I remember you saying you have Christian beliefs - if so, how do you square those with evaluating a human life in financial terms, and coming to the conclusion that it's OK to kill someone if it works out chaper than keeping them alive?

Regarding women who write to/marry serial killers, I think one other reason is some believe they can 'save' the man and reform him.

But if they hadn't killed him they would have been spending a fortune of tax payers money keeping him locked up in an asylum cage for the rest of his life...it's much more economical to put an end to his insanity once and for all and it gives the relatives of the victims a sense of justice being done.

I disagree, i know Bundy did some truly dreadful crimes but he was mentally not there in the head, i don't think people with severe mental problems should be executed that's all.

Coastie - have to ask, re your last post, don't I remember you saying you have Christian beliefs - if so, how do you square those with evaluating a human life in financial terms, and coming to the conclusion that it's OK to kill someone if it works out chaper than keeping them alive?

Regarding women who write to/marry serial killers, I think one other reason is some believe they can 'save' the man and reform him.

SF...I'm just playing the antagonist...:sly:

Another view...if a person is that mentally damaged surely it is more humane to put them down than to lock them up in a box for the rest of their lives living with their inner demons? So maybe by killing Bundy it was as much a favour to him as it was to the tax payers and relatives of his victims?

Another side lined thought...it has been said that some relatives of victims would prefer the offender be allowed to live out their days in confinement as this is deemed more tortorous than death...the killer has to live for the rest of their days knowing what they have done and that the majority of people hate them for it! It's like many of Shipmans victims relatives felt cheated when he topped himself in prison...he hadn't had time to rot...others are obviously relieved he is dead and therefore never again do what he did.

My biggest concern about the death penalty however is towards those who have to administer it. To take a life on a battle field where it is a case of you or them is one thing. To take the life of someone who is totally defenceless is another. The psychological damage that must cause to those involved must takle it's toll.

I also think that before a person is put to death the relatives should be asked if that is really what they want because in quite a few cases relatives have stated that even after the execution has taken place they do not feel their ordeal has come to an end. Many actually state theybwould have prefered the criminal be allowed to live and dwell in their cell and that death was the easy way out.

I guess I hold little sympathy towards the criminal unless there is doubt about their guilt. In the case of Bundy there was clearly none.

Until I personally have been put in the situation where someone, who has had some form of direct contact with me, is senetnced to death I can not say honestly which way I would go.

The bible states an eye for an eye yet it also teaches forgiveness. I would like to leave the final judgement to God but can argue strongly for both sides of the debate about wether or not the death penalty is not so much a good thing (any human death can never be deemed as good) but a justified course of action.

Like I have said until I have been there I do not know which side I will fall!

Another view...if a person is that mentally damaged surely it is more humane to put them down

THing is if you did that there'd only be about three people left on SO to play with.

THing is if you did that there'd only be about three people left on SO to play with.


:laugh: Love it !!!!!!!!!

THing is if you did that there'd only be about three people left on SO to play with.

:applause: Yeah and I wouldn't be one of them :laugh:

i would rep you for that...positively of course...but I have to spread myself around! :laugh:

I watched the excellent film 'Copy Cat' again the other night...it was interesting to hear that it cost $8,000,000 to put Bundy to death...the Sigourney Weaver character was arguing that that money would have been better spent keeping Bundy captive and studying him so researchers could find out more about the reasons why people become serial killers and how they could possibly introduce measures which would identify potential serial killers so that they could be monitored.

Now I can understand the desire to know what makes killers tick however, I would be concerned if this information was used to profile, and maybe in the future incarcerate just in case, people who had yet to commit such crimes just because they match some of the criteria...I mean not every man/woman who was locked away in a cupboard by their parents as a child or beaten etc. will become a serial killer.... :huh: