Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019): Season 1, Episode 4 - Burn Bundy Burn - full transcript

[newsman] Listen up, please. Hold it down.

Hold it down a minute. Hold it one minute.

If you have a tape or a package
that's ready to feed,

bring it to the feed point
between 11:00 and 11:30

and 12:00 and 12:30.

Keep your pieces short
so that we can all get on the air.

-[typewriters clacking]
-[indistinct chatter]

Here it comes. Three, two, one...

This is Larry Welling reporting live
from Ted Bundy's double murder trial.

He is charged with killing
two female students

at Florida State University.



He is also being sought for questioning
in 36 slayings.

[female reporter] Those whose bodies
have been found were sexually molested

and severely beaten.

The lurid nature of the case,
the depravity of the violence,

and the personality of Ted Bundy

combined to make this something
that the media could not ignore.

[male reporter] As a result
of a Florida State Supreme Court ruling,

the Bundy trial would be open
to TV cameras,

no matter what the prosecution
or the defense had to say.

This was the first time a trial
had ever been covered by TV like this.

[man] I'm ready to go!

[Hula] It was tremendously exciting.
Lights on, cameras rolling.

Smile Ted.

[Hula] Technologically,
it was another era.



Electronic news gathering
was just in its infancy.

[woman] If anybody's using a walkie-talkie
on this floor, shut it down!

You're breaking up the feed!

We had the media from all 50 states

and nine foreign countries in big numbers.

It was an unprecedented filming
of a trial of this nature.

Three, two, one. Following exten--

-Take ten.
-Four, three...

-...two...
-...one.

[theme music playing]

[male bailiff] Order in court. All rise.

The circuit court, second judicial circuit
of the state of Florida

in the Leon County is now in session.

The Honorable Edward D. Cowart presiding.
Be seated.

We're conducting the public's business,
gentlemen,

and we're gonna conduct it
in the sunshine,

as we've said in Florida.

[man] Nobody had ever handled
a case like this before,

before the cameras
and certainly not before...

um, the virtual nation watching.

[man] What's all these cameras doing
on the court floor?

What's these cameras doing
on the court floor?

-Excuse me.
-[man] Get away from here! Get!

[Simpson]
I was a young lawyer at the time.

It was baptism by fire, if you would.

But quite frankly, from my perspective,

I had to treat it like it was
just another case.

[man] I was the public defender
appointed to represent Ted Bundy.

We didn't have any choice about the case.

Mr. Bundy didn't have any money.

When I first met Bundy, I had
an opportunity to speak with him...

in a very small visiting room.

And it was not altogether comfortable

being at close quarters with him.

It was, um, a little awkward,

and, uh, maybe a little frightening.

[Simpson] I've got a case. I got facts.

I've got to deal with those facts,
and I've got to come up with a way

to convince a jury that Theodore Bundy
committed these crimes.

[Minerva] I felt the forensic evidence

against Bundy was really pretty sketchy.

The problem with Ted Bundy
was he was not a typical defendant

because he was so infamous.

The media had flooded
the whole state of Florida

with all of this prejudicial publicity

about what Ted Bundy had done.

All the information goes a long way

to destroying whatever public perception

or belief
in "innocent until proven guilty".

So my strategy was low-key, low-profile,

have Ted Bundy do as little as possible.

I may have described it as,

"Just sit quietly and look innocent."

[Simpson] Obviously, there was a great
deal of pressure on the prosecution,

and nobody knew for sure
that we were going to be able

to get a conviction ultimately in trial.

And the one thing that we were
absolutely positive of

is that we did not want Mr. Buddy
back on the streets again.

[Minerva] The most important thing
was to save his life.

I wanted to discuss the possibility

of trying to negotiate a plea bargain

that would result in him
being spared the death penalty.

So I went and talked to him.

[Bundy] He came into my cell
and he said, "Ted...

I don't like the way this prosecution
against you is shaping up."

It was his sincerest belief there was
no way I could be found not guilty.

[Michaud] Mm-hmm.

"They made the proposal," he said.
"An offer was made for you to make a plea

in exchange for a life sentence."

And it bothered me,

because I felt like he was conceding
that I was guilty

and all he was there for
was to save my life.

I said, "Are you willing
to have us negotiate?"

He said, "Yes, I can-- I can do a plea."
I was surprised when he said yes.

[Simpson] We decided that it would be best
if we could resolve this case

to have him enter a guilty plea
that would ultimately result

in Mr. Bundy, uh, going to prison
for the rest of his life.

[Bundy] I was under a lot of pressure.
A lot of pressure.

I don't think I've been under
so much pressure that I can recall.

A lot of pressure to take it.

I mean, I'd be the last one to say
I want the death penalty. I don't.

-[Michaud] Yeah.
-I mean, I would lay awake at night

worrying that this was going
to happen to me.

[Katsaris] Ted Bundy
was concerned about losing his life.

And it got out, of course,
that there may have been a deal struck.

It went like wildfire.

[Minerva]
The courtroom was full of people,

even though our agreement
with the state was,

"Let's don't have a big show.

As few people as possible."
But it was packed.

[Bundy] In that room full
of law enforcement officers and...

Katsaris and the head of the state patrol
sitting right up in front,

uh, in front of God and everybody

just looking like cats
that had just swallowed the canary.

Well, we went into court that morning

thinking Mr. Bundy was going
to enter a plea, and, uh...

We got there,
and the first thing that happened

was Mr. Bundy stood up
and started making a speech.

It's my position that my counsel,
one, believe that I am guilty.

Two, that they have told me
they see no way

of presenting effective defense,

and on no uncertain terms
they have told me that.

And three, that they see no way
of avoiding conviction.

Your Honor, if that does not raise itself

to the level of ineffectiveness
of counsel, I don't know what does.

[Minerva]
He sabotaged the plea and turned it down.

I mean it was...

demoralizing to me.

-[Bundy] I skewered Mike.
-[Michaud] Yeah.

[Bundy] Pretty rigorously.
-[Michaud] Uh-uh.

And I, at no time, ever did I intend
to plead guilty to anything.

[Michaud] You've got
a sense of drama, Ted. [laughs]

No way could I stand up in front of a jury

and try to convince them
that he was not guilty

when he said I had told him
I believed he was guilty.

I mean, there was no...

no credibility there at all.

I talked to Mr. Minerva
after court that day

and I just looked him in the face
and I said,

"Bundy just gave up
the deal of a lifetime."

[Minerva]
I finally filed a motion to withdraw.

But the judge would not let us out.

[male reporter] Judge Cowart,
not in the mood for more delays

decided Minerva should stay.

I'm going to deny the motion
to substitute counsel,

and I am likewise going to deny
the motion to withdraw.

[Minerva]
So I stayed involved in a limited way

in the role of advisory council.

And because Bundy was so insistent
on taking part in the case,

the judge allowed him to be co-counsel,

which is a fiction,
because he wasn't a lawyer.

[Hula] He always knew best.

I think he believed he knew better
than any other lawyer.

And after he rejected the plea bargain,

we got the idea
that he was not going to be

a person to take these charges
sitting down.

[male reporter]
You gonna try for another attorney?

Are you gonna represent yourself,
or are you gonna get another attorney?

I'm staying with the man I know best
right now, and that's me.

[camera shutters click]

[newswoman] The State of Florida
is going to officially begin

testing its case against
Theodore Robert Bundy.

[male reporter] It was pre-trial publicity
which brought the Bundy trial

from Tallahassee to Miami.

Too many people were familiar
with the details of the Bundy case.

Bundy, who's accused of murdering
two Florida State University coeds,

is acting as his own lawyer.

[Bundy] I was really in control of myself.
I really felt good.

There was just no problem.

The new and improved Ted Bundy.

How you doing?
Aren't you getting tired of Florida?

[male bailiff] All rise, please.

Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye.
This honorable circuit court

of the 11th judicial circuit of Florida
in Dade County is now open.

The Honorable Judge Cowart presiding.

Please be seated.
Court will come to order.

[male reporter]
Today, the Bundy trial has begun.

and there's a new member
on the defense team:

attorney Margaret Good.

[woman] After the failed plea,

Mike Minerva is still
head lawyer on the case.

However, he decided not to go to Miami,

and Mike Minerva had requested me
to join the defense team.

I was just a run-of-the-mill, idealistic,
young criminal defense lawyer,

when asked to do a very difficult job,
said, "Yes, I'll do it."

We took the position
that Ted was incompetent.

He didn't understand
the evidence against him.

It's a basic principle of our law

that you don't try a person
when they are incompetent.

I thought Bundy
was very competent, very capable,

and we did have a competency hearing.

[Good] And the judge, remarkably,
ruled that he is competent.

[reporter] Unlike most murder trials,
this one will feature the defendant

helping four public defenders
in cross-examining witnesses.

[Good] Judge Cowart ruled that not only
was Ted competent to stand trial,

but that he was in charge of the defense.

And it was
just a very difficult situation,

because there were times

when he was very erratic,
impulsive and, um, strange.

[Judge Cowart]
Specifically, what do you seek, Mr. Bundy?

Well, specifically, Your Honor,
I'm seeking...

daily outdoor exercise.

[Good] You know, we couldn't control
his impulses in his irrationality,

anymore than he could control it,
and it was annoying

and it was different and we had
no training in how to handle it.

[reporter] Earlier today,
Bundy directly asked the judge

for more exercise,
more access to the jail's law library,

more conference periods,
and the use of a typewriter.

He was always deferring and deflecting

to draw the attention
away from the case.

[Simpson]
One of my favorite motions that he filed

was a motion for a change of menu,

arguing that he had eaten
the same grilled cheese sandwich every day

for the last five or six days,
and he just really needed something else.

[reporter] This morning,
he said his living conditions at the jail

prevent him from helping his attorneys.

The light source
is totally inadequate to read by.

The only way one can read in that cell
is to hold the document outside the bars

and read the document
in the available light that filters

from the light source outside the cell.

[reporter] During a noon recess,
Judge Cowart visited Bundy's cell

and said the lighting was bad.

He told jailers, "I'd hate to have
to read in it myself."

He then ruled
that Bundy should be transferred

to this nearby conference room.

[Hula] He thought
he was clever enough and smart enough

and cunning enough to avoid conviction.

He had, I guess,
just enough knowledge of the law

to know what to do,

but not enough to keep him out of trouble.

Come over here, please.
Step onto the witness box.

Raise your right hand.

[clerk] Do you solemnly swear
that the testimony you're about to give

is the whole truth, nothing but the truth,
so help you, God?

I do.

[Simpson] Officer Ray Crew
was one of the first officers

that arrived at the Chi Omega house
that morning.

I put him on the witness stand
to kind of...

uh, set the scene, if you would.

I began a room-by-room search
to see if there were any other victims...

or potential witnesses.

And I started at the northwest corner
of the north hall.

[Simpson] Because I had
crime scene people still coming,

I had not gone into detail.

[Simpson]
No further questions, Your Honor.

[Judge Cowart] Mr. Bundy?

[Simpson] Out of the clear blue sky,
for some reason,

Mr. Bundy decided that he was going
to cross-examine that witness

about what the crime scene
looked like at the Chi Omega house.

[Bundy] You testified here this morning
that you recall arriving

at the Chi Omega house
at approximately 3:26 a.m.

[Crew] Yes, sir.

[Bundy] Then,
to the best of your recollection,

step-by-step if you can, officer,
what did you do next?

Step-by-step...

I went in room four, and there was a--

I observed a young lady lying

on her right hand side,

basically face down, the sheet pulled up.

Initially, I observed a puncture wound...

through the nipple on her right breast.

Um, when the sheet was pulled off,
she was moved to the floor,

I observed a...

bloody mark on her right buttocks.

[Simpson] I've never seen
anything like that before in my career.

You would never, if you were a lawyer,

want your client to cross-examine

a crime scene witness.

He was bringing out the gore
that he had left there.

[Bundy] Did you touch Miss Bowman?

No sir, I didn't touch her body, I re--

lifted the covers back
so that I could observe.

[Bundy] And can you describe what you saw
when you lifted up the covers?

As much detail as you can recall.

If you need to use report,
please feel free to do so.

[Crew] She was lying,

basically face down.

There was a considerable amount of blood
around her head.

There was what appeared to be

a nylon stocking netted around her neck.

Her head was bloated, discolored,

one of her eyelids was raised,
her eyes appeared a little glassy.

[Good] Asking him to relate
in excruciating detail

what you saw when you first got there
over and over again...

it could be perceived
that he had encountered the...

crime scene before
and relished in what it looked like

and wanted it repeated...

is how it could be interpreted.

[Bundy] Can you describe
the exact position,

as best as you can recall,

of Miss Levy's body as you saw it
when you first entered the room?

[Simpson]
Objection, repetition, Your Honor.

[Cowart] He's previously described that,
Mr. Bundy.

[sigh]

[woman clears throat]

Recall the position of her arms.

[Bundy] If we recognize
that the person of this type

could receive gratification
in the act of killing itself,

it's reasonable to assume at a later point
he might dwell on that,

because it fits into the-- it might fit
into the fantasy structure.

[Michaud] Mm-hmm.

It was just very, um, unsettling,

did not seem to be in Ted's best interest.

And it put us, the defense attorneys,
in a particularly difficult situation.

[female report] There are reports
of unrest in the defense camp

as the lawyers quarrel among themselves
on who should do key cross-examinations.

[male reporter] The jury is unaware
of the squabbles amongst the defense team,

and these conflicts
have apparently not affected the way

the defendant views
his chances of acquittal.

[Simpson] I did not have
any strong forensics on this case,

but we had
a positive identification of Mr. Bundy

as the one that committed the crimes.

[clerk] Do you solemnly swear
that your testimony

is the whole truth, nothing but the truth,
so help you, God?

-I do.
-[Cowart] Please be seated.

Nita Neary was, I thought,
one of the best witnesses that we had.

[Simpson] Do you recall
the man that you saw

at the door of the Chi Omega house

on the morning of January 15, 1978?

Yes, I do.

Could you describe the man
that you saw at the door?

Yes, he had a very prominent nose

a straight bridge
that almost came to a point,

not quite, uh,

very thin lips, um, clean-shaven.

I commented earlier,
nice looking for most, if you want.

[Simpson]
And is that man in the courtroom today?

Yes, he is.

Would you point him out for us, please?

[Simpson] I thought that she gave
a very compelling testimony.

And one of the most important pieces
of evidence in my mind

was she sat down with an artist

and she described
the profile view of the man.

You can hold that sketch
up next to Mr. Bundy,

and it is a spitting image of Mr. Bundy.

[Minerva]
The sketch was not very detailed,

but was almost like a stick figure.

It didn't amount to conclusive proof.

[man] Did you ever have any direct,
eye-to-eye contact with the man?

No.

[Haggard]
Did you see the man's facial expression?

No.

Did you see the man's eyes?

No.

[Haggard] Did you see the man's eyebrows?

I can't remember that now.

Did you see the man's ears?

No.

[Haggard] Did you see the man's hair?

[Neary] No.

I had a few seconds to observe...

the entire man.

[Good] Bob Haggard did
an excellent job on cross-examination.

Her testimony was not very certain.

And right after Robert Haggard

did that very,
very excellent cross-examination

destroying the state's case,

Ted got up in open court
and tried to fire Haggard as his attorney.

[Bundy] Attempts by me
to participate in the courtroom

have been met with vigorous opposition
from a part of my counsel.

This is more-- [clears throat]

We are speaking more to a problem
that attorneys have of giving up power.

Maybe we're dealing with a problem
of professional psychology,

where the attorneys are so jealous

of the power they exercise
in the courtroom,

they're afraid to share it
with the defendant.

[reporter] Then, the defense attorney
Robert Haggard, without explanation

asked to be excused
and walked out of court.

[Cowart] And then there were three.

[courtroom laughs]

[Good] Ted was not a well person.

If ever there was a decision to be made
that would benefit the defense

or benefit the state,

Ted would always choose the one
that benefited the state.

My feeling is
that the lawyer should control

the defense of the case

by virtue of their experience.

[Hula]
We were seeing here a real crime drama.

It was just sordid, lurid,
sensational enough

that I think people wanted to watch it

replay every day during the trial.

[male reporter] Each day,
the courtroom is filled with spectators

drawn by a fascination
with Theodore Bundy himself,

or by the gruesome details of the crimes.

What is unusual to see
is that many of the onlookers

are women. Young women.

[Good] Women would slip notes to me

and ask me to give them to Ted.

You know, I would say,
"No, I can't do that."

[man] Are you little scared
when you look at him?

Yes. Scares me to be
in the same room with him,

but I know there's other people in there.

I'm not afraid. He just doesn't look
like the type to kill somebody.

Everytime he turns around,
I kinda get that feeling, "Oh, no!"

You know? [chuckles] "Gonna get me next."

-But yet, you are fascinated by him.
-Very. Very.

-Why do you do it?
-I don't know. [chuckles]

[reporter] One woman who has been
at the trial for the past four days

and who frequently confers with Bundy
has another impression entirely.

Carole Boone believes Bundy
is completely innocent.

Some have called her his girlfriend.

She prefers be known
as just a close personal friend.

[Michaud] Carole was
a friend of his from Washington.

And Carole had reappeared in his life

to actually act as his champion,

because she felt
that he was telling the truth

and that he was being railroaded.

She was Ted's advocate.

That was her identity.

She felt maternal towards him
to some extent.

And she was adamant
that her Bunny, as she called him,

was, uh, wholly innocent.

Let me put it this way. I--
I don't think that Ted belongs in jail.

The things in Florida don't concern me...

any more than the things out west do.

-And those other things--
-You think these are trumped-up charges?

I don't think they had reason
to charge Ted Bundy with murdering

in either Leon County or Columbia County.

[reporter] Boone says she has twice
been allowed to visit Bundy in jail

since he was brought to Miami
six days ago.

She describes him as nervous,
but cautiously hopeful.

[man] Are there any dates set
on any other trials?

-Pardon me?
-Even with acquittal?

[laughs]

Yes, well...

You know,

if I was a football coach,
I'd say you don't--

When you're
in the first game of the season,

you don't start looking
for the Super Bowl.

[courtroom laughs]

[Katsaris] I believe he thought
he was going to get away with this.

But the piece of evidence
that was going to be

the centerpiece of the prosecution,

that would be used for the first time
in a court setting,

was the bite marks.

There was a very large, very imprinted

double bite mark.

The person bit, withdrew,

and... bit again,
as hard as the person could.

[Simpson] And the question became
whether or not there was any way

that a suspect could be identified
from that bite mark.

[Simpson] Could you please
state your name for the record?

My name is Richard Souviron.

[Simpson] What is that?

This is a stone cast
of Mr. Bundy's upper teeth.

[reporter] The State's star witness,
Dr. Richard Souviron,

a Miami forensic odontologist,

showed the court the peculiarities
of Bundy's teeth.

Slightly crooked upper front teeth
with distinct incisors and chip marks.

Whoever made this mark
in the skin, in the flesh,

had crooked teeth.

[Katsaris] I believe it was
the canine teeth that were very distinct,

that really, uh, were different.

[Minerva] It was obvious
that the jury was affected

by the big show put on by the prosecution.

But we really concentrated hard

on trying to limit the scope
of that testimony.

[Good] Mike did come down to Miami
and handled the bite-mark evidence.

It was the first time
that kind of "tool-mark evidence"

had been used in a criminal case.

And he was the expert,
legally speaking, on that.

[Minerva]
Bite-mark evidence is not like DNA.

It's now pretty much considered
junk science.

[Good] This idea that you could
positively identify someone

from the bruise pattern
they would leave on human flesh,

it was just gross speculation,

but it didn't change what happened.

[Minerva] Can you tell us with any
reasonable degree of dental certainty

that those teeth...

made the marks on those photographs?

Yes, sir.

[Minerva] And what is that opinion, sir?

They made the marks.

[Bundy] I mean,
I felt the tide turn right there.

They may have been
somewhat ambivalent up to--

in the State's case-- up until the point
when the State's witnesses testified.

And then our failure
to effectively refute that,

I think, was--
was very significant to the jurors.

I was feeling embittered

and-- and, uh, persecuted.

I couldn't endure this-- this humiliation.

I had to make a statement.

[male reporter] The jurors
were out of the courtroom this morning

when Judge Edward Cowart received word
from one of Theodore Bundy's guards

of an incident at the Dade County Jail
involving the defendant last night,

which also explained his absence
from the court

at the start of this morning's session.

Go ahead.

[guard] This morning, I went
to Mr. Bundy's cell to awaken him

so he could get dressed to come to court,

I could not get him to get up.

I noticed that the lock had been jammed
with what appeared to be toilet paper

Was this form the inside of the cell or--

From the outside, Judge...

He had a wet toilet paper
and had stuffed it in the lock

and kept it from locking.
He was different.

And he was smart, and he...

He was a challenge to the best.

[Cowart] The court will find him
in contempt of this court

for failing to be here at this time.

And I want to instruct counsel
to go talk to Mr. Bundy.

And it's now ten minutes after nine.

This court will reconvene at 9:30,
and we'll continue,

whether he's here or not.

[bailiff] Everybody, remain seated.

[Simpson] At that point in time,

things were going good
for the prosecution.

So it was real obvious

he was trying to do something
to change that.

[reporter]
Just past 9:30 this morning,

Theodore Bundy entered the court
before Judge Cowart.

-[Cowart] Mr. Bundy?
-Yes, sir.

[Cowart] The court wants to talk to you
a minute. Come up to the bar here.

What happened?

-[Bundy clears throat]
-What happened?

[Bundy] Where? Do you mean in the jail?

[Cowart] The court
was supposed to start at nine o'clock.

I wanna tell you something, young man,

and I wanna tell you clearly
and unequivocally so you understand.

This court
is not gonna follow your schedule.

This court is gonna set the time
when we convene

and when we do not convene.

The court has already found you
in contempt of this court.

Be forewarned,
I'm not tolerating any more of this.

Is there any question in your mind?

[Bundy] Perhaps the court can tell me
how I can hold the jail in contempt?

[Cowart] You can quit breaking lights
and stuffing toilet paper in a lock,

that's how you
can not hold them in contempt.

[Bundy]
What I'm saying to you, Your Honor,

is I'm laboring under conditions...

which are causing me stress
which this court is not aware of.

The conditions imposed upon me

by the Dade County Jail
constitute harassment.

It is an attempt by the system,

I think, to coerce me, to wear me down.

Since I have been in Dade County,
I've been allowed--

[Cowart]
Don't point your finger at me, young man.

Don't shake your finger at me, young man!

[Bundy] ...of one and one half hour--

[Cowart] That's fine,
you can shake it at Mr. Haggard.

[laughter]

[Bundy] He probably-- He probably
deserves it better than you do.

[Haggard] He occasionally
shakes his finger at me, Judge.

[Bundy] This railroad train is running,
Your Honor.

But if I wanna get off, I'll get off.

If I need to demonstrate to the court

that there are things happening
outside this courtroom

that are influencing and affecting me.

There comes a time
when I just have to say, "Whoa!"

[Cowart] If you say "Whoa,"

I'm gonna be using spurs
and overcome that whoa.

-Giddy up, that's what--
-You bet.

And this court is gonna proceed
on schedule.

Bless your heart.
I just hope you stay with us,

because if you don't, we'll miss you.

-[laughter]
-All right?

[Bundy]
I'm not going to try to please people.

I hold my head high. I believe in myself.

Dealing from that on out,
I know exactly what's what.

And Lord knows I am the first
and foremost person

who has personal, intimate knowledge

that it couldn't be me,
that it's not me, that I'm innocent.

And I'll lay my money on me.

[Cowart] Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

Counsel will now be making
their closing arguments to you,

their final arguments.

The evidence in this case
presents many reasonable doubts.

It's a sad day for our system of justice

that can put a man's life on the line

because they say he has crooked teeth.

How tragic it would be
if a man's life to be taken from him

because 12 people thought
that he was probably guilty,

but they were not sure.

[Good] You hope the jury would find
a reasonable doubt

and find that this evidence
was insufficient and find him...

not guilty of first degree murder.

But you never know
what the jury's gonna do.

[Simpson]
This man premeditated this murder.

He knew what he was going to do
before he did it.

He thinks he is smart enough

to get away with any crime.

Give him...

the same amount of mercy

that he gave Lisa Levy
and Margaret Bowman,

which was absolutely none.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

you may retire now
to consider your verdict.

This case went to the jury
shortly before--

Jury will deliberate until midnight--

-Ted Bundy committed the--
-...arrested in Pensacola--

It was exactly three hours ago
that Judge Edward Cowart

gave the case to the jury.
They are now deliberating

behind closed doors, inside the jury room,

examining more than a hundred exhibits.

[reporter] Are you confident
that he will be acquitted here?

[sighs] I hope he will be acquitted.
I can't say I'm confident.

We interrupt this program
to bring you a special report,

live from the justice building
in Miami, Florida.

Deliberating for six and a half hours,

the jury returned to the courtroom,

just past 9:30 Eastern time
Tuesday night to announce its decision.

[indistinct chatter on TV]

[man] Okay.

Here we go, folks. I'm feeding.

Have you reached the verdict, Madam Clerk?

In the Circuit Court
of the Second Judicial Circuit

of Leon County, Florida,

case number 78670,

the State of Florida
versus Theodore Robert Bundy, verdict:

We, the jury
at Miami Dade County, Florida

24th day of July A.D., 1979,

find the defendant, Theodore Robert Bundy,

as to count two of the indictment,
murder in the first degree

upon one Margaret Bowman,
guilty as charged,

as to count three of the indictment,

murder in the first degree
upon one Lisa Levy, guilty as charged.

So say we all... [unintelligible]

[Bundy] They refuse
to perceive me as being anything

that approaches being normal.

They don't understand me.
They don't really understand me.

They are missing, you know,
a very important point, I guess.

[Good] When the verdict came in,
Ted, his demeanor, his expression,

was completely different

than how he had been throughout the trial.

One of intense surprise,
which really just confirmed to me,

that he did not have a rational
understanding of the proceedings

or what was happening to him
or what was about to happen to him.

[reporter] Ted Bundy is found guilty
of all seven counts of the indictment.

That's includes three charges
of attempted murder

and two counts of first-degree murder,

a crime that is a capital offense
in the State of Florida,

a crime for which he could be sent
to the electric chair.

[indistinct chatter]

[reporter] What's your reaction?

We're very satisfied with what verdict
we did get in this case.

We couldn't have expected it
to be any better than it was.

[Simpson] It, uh, had been a long,
hard investigation, a long, hard trial.

We knew that a lot of people
were pulling for us to win that case,

and, uh, it was a tremendous relief,
uh, to know that we did.

[man]
Come on, be calm, you guys, be calm.

Needless to say,
I think the jury is totally wrong.

They didn't take enough time.

How could you consider all those
momentous decisions in six hours?

It's just-- It's just impossible.

It's wrong. We'll appeal it.
It's just... [sighs]

What else can I say?

We, the family, are devastated by this,

but we'll stick behind him
because we know he's not guilty,

as do all his friends.

That's-- That's it.

[man] Back up.

[reporter] At 2:20 this afternoon,
the case was handed to the jurors

with a decision before them
of whether to sentence

convicted murderer Theodore Bundy
to life imprisonment or death.

But it was the defendant's mother,
Louise Bundy,

who made the most impassioned plea
for her son's life.

My Christian upbringing tells me that,

to take another's like
under any circumstances

is wrong.

And I don't believe the State of Florida
is above, uh...

the laws of God.

Ted can be very useful
in many ways, to many people,

living.

Gone from us

would be like taking a part
of all of us and throwing it away.

[Cowart] Defendant, please step forward.

[bailiff] Bundy, step up the bar, please.

[Cowart] The court finds
that of both these killings

were indeed
heinous, atrocious, and cruel...

and that they were extremely wicked,

shockingly evil,

vile, and the product of a design
to inflict a high degree of pain

and utter indifference to human life.

This court, independent of,
but in agreement with,

the advisory sentence
rendered by the jury,

does hereby impose the death penalty

upon the defendant, Theodore Robert Bundy.

-Take care of yourself, young man.
-[Bundy] Thank you.

[Cowart] All right?
I say that to you sincerely.

Take care of yourself.

It's a tragedy for this court
to see such a total waste, I think,

of humanity
that I have experienced in this court.

You're a bright young man.

You'd have made a good lawyer.

I'd have loved to have you practice
in front of me,

but you went another way, partner.

Take care of yourself.

I don't have any animosity to you,
I want you to know that.

Court will be in recess
until Saturday morning at ten o'clock.

[bailiff] Everybody remain seated
until the Judge is out of the courtroom.

[Bundy] I don't really feel
like I have any really...

acute insights or observations...

analysis to add to...

what's happened this afternoon.

I am tired...

sad.

And even now I am...

both fascinated with and angry at myself.

for falling into that role.

[reporter] There is yet another case
titled "The State of Florida

versus Theodore Robert Bundy."

[reporter #2] This time, Bundy is accused

of killing Lake City school girl
Kimberly Leach.

[man] The Kim Leach trial

was the first murder case
that I actually tried as a prosecutor.

People criticized us, saying,
"Why are you wasting the county's money

prosecuting him, when he's
already got the death penalty?"

You get two death penalties,

you got twice as much chance
of one standing up,

to make... sure, certain...

that he was executed.

The strategy of the trial was very simple.

We had tons of evidence.

There was an eyewitness that saw Bundy

loading Kim Leach into the white van
at the junior high school.

And in that white van that he was driving
was a bloodstain.

The blood type was the same
as Kim's blood type.

Numerous fibers from the clothing
from Kim Leach's body

were found on the van carpet.

Fibers from Bundy's blue blazer
were found on Kim's clothing.

Shoe tracks. There was mountains
of evidence against him.

[female reporter]
Wearing a blue bow tie and a big grin,

Theodore Bundy faced the jury
for the last time.

[Dekle] Bundy defended himself

and that did not go over well
with the jury.

He displayed
a tremendous amount of arrogance.

One thing that he did was his...

impromptu wedding ceremony

between him and one of his witnesses,

Carole Boone.

[female reporter] The defense called
only one witness, Carole Boone.

Acting as his own lawyer,
Bundy questioned her about his character.

She said he's a kind, warm, patient man,

a very positive part of her life.

Then the convicted man
popped the question.

-Carole, do you wanna marry me?
-[Boone] Yes.

-And I wanna marry you.
-Yes.

-And I do wanna marry you.
-[chuckles] You said you did.

[female reporter]
Bundy went on questioning Boone.

The prosecution called
the marriage proposal a charade

and asked the jury to consider
the timing of the announcement.

[Dekle] I thought at the time,

this was simply a ploy.

"How could you possibly vote
the death penalty on my wedding day?"

The second thing he did was,
in the final argument before the jury,

uh, he spread his arms out like this.

He compared himself to Jesus.

Well, the jury
didn't appreciate that at all.

The next morning, we had a verdict.

And, I was-- Man, I was pumped.

I had been sweating bullets

until the judge called us back
into to the courtroom.

It is the sense of this court
as to count one of the indictment

that you, Theodore Robert Bundy,
be adjudicated guilty of murder

in the first degree

and that you be sentenced to death
for the murder of Kimberly Diane Leach.

[female reporter]
Bundy sat with his back to the judge

during the reading of the recommendation.

Then, one last outburst,
as the jury was being released.

-[judge] The court is adjourned.
-Tell the jury that they were wrong.

[man coughs]

Denied. Bring the jury back.

Get off! Let go of me.

We're going to go to the holding cell.

[Dekle] I feel that there are some people

who by the enormity of their crime

forfeit the right to live.

He is such an evil person

who had done so much harm,
hurt so many good people.

He is just a...

piece of garbage...

in the shape of a human being.

[indistinct chatter]

[Michaud] When Ted went back to death row

there was no guilt, no remorse.

[Bundy] I don't feel guilty for any of it.
I feel less guilty now

than I've felt at any time
in my whole life.

About anything. I mean, really.

And it's not that I've forgotten anything
or I've closed down part of my mind

or compartmentalized.

I believe I understand
everything that I've done.

There was pride in what he did.

[Bundy] I am in the enviable position

of not having to feel any guilt.
And that's it.

Guilt is this mechanism
we use to control people.

It's an illusion.

It's this kind of social control mechanism
and it's very unhealthy.

[Michaud] Death row is a terrible place,

so Ted would get drunk and smoke dope.

[Bundy] There are a lot of guys
heavy into drugs up on death row.

I smoked a lot of weed, and I have never
in my life been so fucked up.

I don't like the dope
that just gets you mildly giddy.

I mean, when I smoke dope,
I like to hallucinate a little bit.

[Michaud]
Many days, he was really, really high.

His wife, Carole,
would take drugs in to Ted...

vaginally.

And then he would take the drugs
back to his cell rectally.

[Bundy] I'm gonna bring
some dope down here sometime,

and we'll just smoke it.
And Valiums and alcohol.

[Michaud] Ted and Carole
were the French expression folie à deux.

They were crazy together.

Carole loved him.

She told him that she wanted a child,

and somehow they had sex in the prison.

[Boone] We kept looking out of the window.

There was a black guard who was real nice.

After the first day,
they just-- they didn't care.

They walked in on us a couple of times.

And they built
this little family on death row.

Ted and Carole and little Rosa.

[reporter] This convicted killer,
who fathered a daughter,

tried to have a semblance of family life
with daughter, stepson, and wife.

[Michaud] The narcissist in him
adored the attention.

[Bundy] If you wanna interest someone,
let's say, in--

in the screenplay rights,
the movie rights, film rights,

news articles about me,

the Rolling Stone stuff,
the New Times stuff,

the New York Times magazine.

As a media event,

-to touch people throughout the country...
-[Michaud] Hm-hmm.

...because people
throughout North America,

really are-- to one degree or another,
know about Ted Bundy.

I was really interested in putting Ted
in my rearview mirror.

We'd recorded roughly a hundred hours
of recorded conversation.

But if you listen to the tapes,
he never confessed.

The last time I talked to Ted,
we said we were gonna publish the book.

He said, "I don't care what you say,
as long as it sells."

I was heartily sick of what I was hearing.

I was sick of Ted.

I walked out of that prison
with an enormous sense of relief.

[birds chirping]

[Aynesworth] Last time
I saw Ted Bundy or talked with him

I was so damn sick of his lies

and his denials of what he told us.

Sometimes we'd come out of that prison

and we'd be actually sick.

I just was...

tired of Ted Bundy

and what he'd taken of my life, really.

[Michaud] The book was about finished

and we felt a responsibility
to his mother and stepfather

to tell them
what Ted had been saying to us

and what we were gonna publish
in the book.

So, we fly to Seattle
and we have the tape recorder.

Louise is sitting
next to the tape recorder.

I'm sitting next to Louise.

And Ted comes on, his voice comes on,

and he's talking about murder.

[Bundy] As he came up behind her,
she heard him, she turned around,

and he brandished a knife.

And, let's say,
he placed his hands around her throat.

And Louise starts making
these little sounds,

like a little mouse sounds,
little squeaks.

And she just listened to it
and listened to it.

Then we said, you know,
"Do you have any questions?"

And neither one of them
had any questions whatsoever.

So, we turned off the tape recorder,
and she stood up

and she said,

"Who's for apple pie and ice cream?"

And we had apple pie and ice cream.

And then we left.

The nation's worst mass murderers
may yet make a contribution to society.

They have supplied the raw data

to help the FBI build a composite picture
of the mass killer

and his victims.

The bureau today said
a new computer center

is being set up to analyze that data.

Agents hope that this computer
will spot those subtle patterns

that they have missed in the past.

[reporter] Today, the FBI announced
the creation of a national center

for analysis of violent crime.

The center would use computers like these

to look for patterns
in the methods of murder.

Agents have already interviewed
38 convicted killers

including Charles Manson,

to put together profiles
on who kills and why.

This is the case we got in today
down in North Carolina.

Are we looking at post-mortem
or ante-mortem wounds?

[standing agent] It is definitely
post-mortem mutilation to the breast area.

[man, voice-over] At that time,
I had the privilege of joining

the first class of full-time profilers
in that program.

We would look at hundreds of cases
that were solved or unsolved

to try to understand
the thought processes of the perpetrators.

Not only how they develop their skills,
but how they evaded detection.

We would go in and talk to serial killers,
serial child molesters, serial rapists,

and Ted Bundy was
one of the ones that was chosen.

[Michaud]
Ted's case taught law enforcement,

specifically the FBI, that...

their way of going
about these investigations

was going to have to change

because a new type
of criminal was emerging,

typified by Ted Bundy.

He was brand new
and absolutely frightening.

We're learning these people
are good at what they do.

They're very good.

[Hagmaier] Ted Bundy was unique

from most-- all other serial killers
that we were aware of.

He had a degree in psychology.
He was very bright.

He basically set the standard.

He's the Jack the Ripper
of the United States.

He just potentially

was a tremendous source of intelligence
for us, if he would talk to us.

The first time I talked to him,

he had been on death row
for a number of years,

but he was still not admitting
any of these crimes.

He said, basically,

"Who do you think you are
to come down here, in death row,

pull me out of my cell and ask me stuff?"

You know? "You're the FBI. You guys
know everything. You're the geniuses.

You write the books. You write the papers.
What do you want from me?"

I said, "I wanna be better.
I want to save lives.

I want you to help me."

And he just said...

"They wanna kill me."

And I said, "They wanna kill you?"

And he said,
"The State of Florida wants to kill me.

And you'd kill me too, wouldn't you?"

And I said,
"I wouldn't take pleasure in it,

but if it was my job to pull the switch...

yeah, you're toast."

And he just started looking at me
and laughing and said,

"How many times do you think
I've asked that question to other people?"

He said, "They all lie. They all said
they thought I should be a survivor."

He said, "You told the truth."

And that was the way we finished
our first discussion.

They trusted me.

In visits after that, I would go in...

and he would have
newspaper clippings of murder cases,

some of which I was working,
some of which I wasn't even familiar with.

And he would say,
"Let's profile this case."

And he-- he was very good.

I mean, he would say, "I think
that guy would do this. Then he'd do that.

I think maybe you guys
ought to do this or that."

He talked about
how a lot of serial killers

will return to their crime scene.

He also talked
about leaving evidence behind

that had nothing to do
with the crime scene

that might throw them off.

He confirmed a lot of things
that we suspected about serial killers,

but he also gave us
a lot more things to think about.

[male reporter] The state prison
in Florida, America's Sunshine State.

This is death row.

Prisoners here have been sentenced
to die in the electric chair.

Some have been here
as long as 12 years.

They could be executed tomorrow,
next week, perhaps never.

[woman]
I became Ted Bundy's lawyer in 1986,

when an associate came in and said,
"Well, there's this guy in Florida,

and he has his execution scheduled,

and we need someone to take that case."

I was very clear about being opposed
to the death penalty,

even for the most heinous crimes.

Preventing the government
from killing people in my name,

was...

uh, one of the most important things
I could do.

[newswoman]
Convicted murderer Ted Bundy

is scheduled to die
in Florida's electric chair

one week from today.

[Nelson] Ted was on deathwatch,

so there was no time to waste.

Our strongest argument was the fact

that Ted received
inadequate representation

and that he was represented by himself,

who was not competent...

to either assist, or even worse,
in Chi Omega case,

present his own defense.

He truly had sabotaged his trials,

and we were hoping to find
some clear mental illness

that we could use as an issue in the case.

Convicted murderer Theodore Bundy

is taking new steps to avoid
Florida's electric chair.

[male reporter] This is the first time
Ted Bundy has left Florida's death row

since being sentenced to death.

Armed guards brought Bundy to the hearing
to determine his mental competency.

[Nelson] My associate Jim Coleman and I
were in desperate need of an expert

to analyze Ted.

[reporter] Are we talking
about incompetence to be his own lawyer

or incompetence to stand trial?

Uh, we're talking about competency
to stand trial.

That kind of analysis had not happened

during the trial because Ted believed
he was more than competent.

[Bundy] I knew I wasn't crazy, insane,
or incompetent or anything else.

I was insulted
by even the suggestion by my attorneys

that we should consider the defense.

They knew damn well I wasn't crazy.

Doctor Dorothy Lewis,
the psychiatrist at Yale,

was willing to begin
neurological testing on him.

She specialized in understanding
the brain chemistry of violent men.

And then she called me up to say,

"Do you know that your client
is manic-depressive?"

That was the first that we'd heard
any kind of actual diagnosis

of a mental illness with Ted.

He talked in terms of a voice in his head.

And this voice
would start saying things about women.

Dr. Lewis realized that this was during...

the down-phase of his manic depression.

And Ted, controlling his own defense

was just a sign of his manic episodes.

And he also started talking
about that he did not feel empathy.

He did not feel love.

Dr. Lewis was extremely confident

that there was something unique
about Ted's brain that had led to this.

Some unique brain chemistry,

or even a tumor

in a critical location
that blocked his empathy.

So we got a stay of execution.

Just six hours before his scheduled
execution in Starke, Florida,

convicted killer Ted Bundy
won a 24-hour stay.

[Nelson] The appeals in the case had
to go through so many layers of courts.

They happened over a period of...

three years.

Serial killer Theodore Bundy
has escaped the chair once again.

[reporter] Lawyers for Bundy
went to the court in a last-ditch effort

to argue that he wasn't competent
to stand trial in 1980.

[Nelson] But the public pressure

and the political pressure
was unsurmountable.

[reporter]
Eleanor Rose of Seattle believes

Bundy killed her daughter, Denise.

[woman] As far as Bundy goes...

I hate him and I do want him
to get the electric chair.

[Nelson] No court was gonna be the one

to stand in the way
of Ted Bundy's execution.

[reporter] Bundy's lawyers
were trying for a stay of execution

in U.S. District Court today,
but were turned down this afternoon.

This, after the Florida Supreme Court
rejected his appeal Friday.

[Nelson]
We had won two stays of execution,

and in the last case,
the Supreme Court denied the stay.

[female reporter] Shortly after
the High Court's decision was announced,

Florida Governor Bob Martinez
signed a new death warrant.

He represents
why you have capital punishment.

For ten years, Ted Bundy has been fighting
execution in Florida's electric chair.

[male reporter] Bundy is scheduled to die
in the Florida electric chair on Tuesday.

[Nelson]
On the last few days before the execution

he decided to confess.

[Bundy] I'm at the point finally
where I see that I'm going to have to...

tell you and others everything I know
in regard to so-called unsolved cases.

[Nelson] Ted always thought
that his knowledge of these crimes

was his ace in the hole.

That by offering to confess,
the governor would...

delay his execution a few years.

[Bundy] I am the only one
in possession of this information,

and that's just the way it is.

To do a proper job for everybody,

I mean, I'm going to need some time.

[Nelson] Jim and I thought
it was extremely foolhardy

for him to publicly confess.

I didn't think the governor would buy it.
I didn't think it'd stop his execution.

[Keppel]
His attorney had called me in Seattle

to please go down, talk to Ted.

He wanted to confess.

[Hagmaier] I was told
that he wanted to talk, so I went down.

His purpose in doing this,
obviously, was to extend his life.

Although I was not trying
to extend his life,

my job was to kind of encourage him
to talk and remind him of things

that might be applicable to the cases.

[Hagmaier]
I'm here at Florida State Prison

at Raiford, Florida, with Mr. Ted Bundy.

We're having a meeting,

and presently it's two days
prior to his scheduled execution date.

You've been involved
in how many homicides?

[Bundy] Well, we came up with 30.
I mean, we added up.

It's late at night like you said,
but I think that's a fairly close figure.

[Hagmaier] Would you just try to summarize

what states they were in
and what periods of time?

[Bundy] I just really
will summarize it, uh...

California, Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, Utah, uh..

Colorado, and Florida,

between 1973 and...

1978.

[Hagmaier]
Of the 30 that you were involved in,

can you-- You have an idea
of how many were actually buried?

[Bundy] Well, that's a good question.

Gee, ten?

-[Hagmaier] Ten burials of the 30--
-That's roughly, I mean, I just-- I guess.

[Hagmaier] Okay.

In a couple of the cases,
and I'm not sure how many,

but you opted
to sever the heads from the victims.

And how many were there,
do you recall, of the 30, that...

[Bundy] Perhaps half a dozen.

[Keppel] Well, I was there two days.

The first day, you know,
he's behind heavy glass

and there's a kind of a mouth hole
you can talk through.

And that's when he told me everything.

-[Bundy] Can you-- Can you hear that?
-[Keppel] I can hear you.

[Bundy] Oh, okay.

I just said that the Hawkins girl's head
was severed and taken up the road about...

[inhales]

[exhales] 25 to 50 yards.

And buried in a location about ten yards
west of the road on a rocky hillside.

-Did you hear that?
-[Keppel] Mm-hmm.

[Hagmaier] When he said
he was clearing his soul at the end,

he wanted me to know that he...

practiced necrophilia.

That was something he never talked about
even the third person before that.

[stuttering] You know,
the truth is-- is terrible.

You know? It's terrible.

[Nelson] We woke up in the morning

and there all the newspapers are,
you know, "Ted reveals his secrets."

At that point...

I was really overcome with emotion.

It was over, and we knew it was over.

[male reporter] After 11 years of silence,

he has begun admitting
to over 30 killings in five Western states

he has always been suspected of.

[reporter #2] The confessions came
as a surprise to Bundy's mother.

[Mrs. Bundy] If he...

killed all those lovely young women,

we have several beautiful daughters
of our own.

We know how we would feel.

[voice wavers]
And that's a terrible thing!

And he wasn't raised that way.

[reporter] This evening, the Florida
governor says he's fully confident

Bundy will be executed tomorrow morning.

In the words of one other state official,

"This master manipulator won't be allowed
to make a mockery of the judicial system."

[Hagmaier]
I was with him when he had gotten a call.

It was his attorney saying that, uh,

there were no more appeals.

He knew he was going to die.

[newsman] One of this country's
most notorious killers

will be executed tomorrow morning
at the Florida State Penitentiary.

[male reporter] Ted Bundy has
always received a lot of public attention.

The day before his scheduled execution
was no different.

Television crews are here
from across the country.

[Hula] The day
before the execution of Ted Bundy,

we had satellite trucks set up
all over the field.

I think that was one of the first
big uses of satellite trucks

to cover an event like that.

-[honking]
-[whooping]

[Hagmaier]
There were thousands of people outside.

You could hear them inside,
even in the inner confines of the prison.

[man chanting] ♪ Burn, Bundy, Burn! ♪

"Burn, Bundy, Burn! Burn, Bundy, Burn!"
They were setting fireworks off.

I looked at Ted, and I said,
"Do you hear that out there?"

And he goes, "They're crazy."

He said, "They think I'm crazy.
Listen to all of them."

[crowd chanting]
♪ Goodbye ♪

♪ Na na na na, na na na na... ♪

[Bundy] Vengeance is
what the death penalty really is.

Really, it's a desire of society
to take an eye for an eye.

And I guess there's no cure for that.
That's a society's problem.

Maybe we should find a cure
for society's problem.

Just down the road from the prison,
there're even Ted Bundy T-shirts for sale.

This one says, "Burn, Bundy, Burn."

-Thrown one in, huh?
-I'll give them to the girls.

[Aynesworth]
I was in the crowd outside the prison.

It was almost like a carnival.

-Mr. Aynesworth, have you been in--
-No, I haven't seen Ted for a long time.

We wrote
a very unfavorable book about him,

and he doesn't care much for us.

I was so happy to see him go.

He's entertaining.
He's got a good sense of humor,

but he's also very devious. He's very--
And he's a mean son of a gun.

The man's a wimp.
I mean, people that sneak up on women

and kill them and-- What else can you say?

[Hagmaier] At some point that day,

Ted tells me
that he's not gonna sit in the chair.

And I-- I said,
"Well, what-- what are you gonna do?"

He said, "I'm gonna die right here."

And he was sitting across from me,

and he had a pen.

And he said, "I can stick this so far
up my artery, it'll squirt in your face.

And I'll be drained
before anybody even gets here."

And I said, "Is that what you want to do?"

And he says,
"I'm not going to let them kill me."

And we had just had
some other discussions,

religious discussions
throughout our visits over the years.

But that particular day,
he had the Bible with him,

and he was reading scripture.

And I said...

"How many numbers
did we talk about earlier?"

And he said, "Thirty-something."
And I said...

"And now, you're gonna go to 31?

Don't you think taking a life,
even if it's your own,

is a method of homicide,
even though they call it suicide?

If you think there's a deity upstairs
that's gonna judge you,

do you think you're in a position
to push the envelope that far?"

And he just looked at me and said...

"You got me again."

And so, then, he prayed some, and I...

prayed with him.

-All right, can you all hear?
-[woman] Yeah.

Ted Bundy is being served
for supper tonight

a meal of burrito, rice, and salad.

At five o'clock tomorrow morning,

he'll be offered a last meal
of traditional steak and eggs.

Then we rehearsed his execution
on a chair in the office.

I said, "Well, you know,
they're gonna shave your head.

They're gonna shave your right calf."

I said,
"You're going to sit down in the chair."

I said,
"They're gonna put shackles on your feet.

You know, you're gonna feel jilts."

This evening,
there is a one-on-one interview

with Dr. James Dobson,
which you are aware of.

[male reporter] Bundy told
a California religious broadcaster

that a sexual frenzy drove him
to kill women across the country.

There was a great deal of remorse said.

He wept several times...

while talking to me.

I've lived in prison for a long time, now.

And, I've met a lot of men

who were motivated
to commit violence, just like me.

And without exception,

every one of them
was deeply involved in pornography.

without question, without exception.

Deeply influenced and consumed
by an addiction to pornography.

[Aynesworth] I was stunned
when he blamed it on pornography,

because we all grow up
having access to pornography,

and it doesn't turn us all
into serial killers.

I guess he was trying to blame it
on somebody else. [chuckles]

You know, blame it
on the devil and pornography.

I think that's typical Ted.
He's playing it for all it's worth.

He's playing a game. He's buying time.

In truth, when I talked to him
about the pornography,

he said, "I never said it made me do it.

But I did as best I could
to try to get them to help me.

You know it didn't make me do it.
I did it because I wanted to do it."

[female reporter] Good morning.

In just about ten minutes,
serial killer Ted Bundy

is scheduled to be executed here,
at Florida State Prison.

[male reporter] The prison fired up

the generators which power
the electric chair.

Neither the Supreme Court
or Governor's Office

has granted a stay.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

[crowd chanting]
♪ Na, na, na, na ♪

♪ Na, na, na, na
Hey, hey, hey, goodbye... ♪

[Michaud] I was in New York.

I got up early to watch it on TV.

[reporter]
Floodlights bathe the prison at dawn.

Note the activity visible in the window
at the bottom right of your screen

as the death chamber is being prepared.

I was interested that there were
a lot of drunken college kids there.

Uh, young men who were age ten or so

when Ted had killed those girls
at Chi Omega.

It was an excuse to get drunk
and hoop it up.

There was a lot of that going on.

They got burn!

This is over, Ted.

-[man] Y'all get your chair pin?
-[woman] An electric chair pin?

[man] Yes Ma'am. Old Sparky,
it's a three-legged chair.

just like the original.

Five dollars.

[indistinct chatter]

[Dekle] All of the witnesses,
the official witnesses

we got there early in the morning.

Loaded us up in buses...

and then drove us over
to the death chamber.

We walked into the viewing part
of the death chamber.

And doors swung open,

in came two burly guards
with Bundy between them.

And he was white as a sheet.

They brought him around
to the electric chair.

and they strapped him down,

and he was allowed
to say some final words.

He said something about
sorry he caused so much trouble.

Then they lower the skull cap
with the black hood over his head.

A guy on the phone gives a high sign,

and they throw the switch.

[click]

And as the electricity coursed
through his body,

you could see his fist tightening...

with the thumb between the two fingers.

And I remember thinking that time,
"I wonder how many throats...

that fist has tightened around."

When the electricity was turned off,

a doctor unbuttoned
the front of his shirt,

put a stethoscope to his chest,

and finally stepped back
and pronounced Bundy dead.

And then I think it was a warden,

someone announced that the death penalty
had been carried out.

I'm ashamed to admit that I was elated.

I hope I'm never that happy...

over the death
of another human being ever again.

[reporter] His witnesses walked out
of the prison to signal Bundy's death.

The crowd outside cheered.

[cheering]

About damn time!

[Hagmaier] Then the hearse
picked him up and drove down, and...

hundreds and hundreds of people
ran after the hearse.

[cheering]

[male reporter] For the man
who murdered dozens of women,

the irony of the final act of justice

is that it may have been carried out
by a female executioner,

hidden from Bundy and others
by a black hood.

[Hagmaier]
He decided that he would be cremated.

And he wanted his remains
spread over the Cascade Mountains,

where he said he had
some of the best times of his life.

But of course,
that's also where the remains

of some of his victims were found.

And some probably still remain there.

[Nelson] Did anyone know the real Ted?

Was he just an evil genius,
as the Ted Bundy myth eventually became?

Or was there something wrong?

Was he not in complete control?

[Sandi Holt] He could have done
something good with this life.

But he didn't.

He chose to go his way.

[Bruce Lubeck]
There's never been anybody I've seen

that remotely approaches what he was like.

There were just too many things wrong,
too many wires crossed.

He was born with the safety off.

[Marlin Lee Vortman]
How do I feel about Ted?

I don't think I really, really handled it.

You know, he's-- he's gone.

I don't deal with it.

I sort of closed that chapter
a long time ago in my life.

[Carol DaRonch]
I was very lucky I got away

from one of the world's
most infamous serial killers.

I sit and think
about the victims and their families.

He did not deserve to live.

He's in a place, where I hope...

that he's basically just burning in hell.

[Michaud] Ted endures in the hearts
and minds of those who knew him.

Like a bad cold,
he just keeps coming back.

There's a kind of a taint
that I can't get rid of.

[Aynesworth] It was horrendous.

Sometimes you wake up at night
and think about it. [chuckles]

[Bundy] We want to be able to say
we can identify these dangerous people.

And the really scary thing is
you can't identify them.

People don't realize that there are
potential killers among them.

How could anyone live
in a society where...

people they liked, loved, lived with,
worked with, and admired

could the next day turn out to be

the most demonic people imaginable?