Ted, Just Admit It... by Jane's Addiction - Songfacts

This song is about Ted Bundy, one of the most notorious and prolific murderers in American or indeed world history. The phrase "serial killer" - coined by FBI agent Robert Ressler - was first applied to him.

Theodore Robert Bundy was born in Vermont in November 1946. Although he had an inauspicious start in life and nearly became a compulsive thief, he grew out of this as he matured, and showed promise when he was awarded a university scholarship. Serial killer John Gacy became a Democratic Party activist; Bundy too showed an interest in politics, working for the Republican cause. Intelligent, handsome and charismatic, he could have carved out a good life for himself, and likewise he could have had any woman he wanted within reason, but instead he became fixated with sadism and murder. It is possible he committed his first murder aged only fourteen, but his first provable homicides happened in 1974. He used a variety of pretexts to lure his victims to their deaths. In November of that year he made his first mistake when posing as a police officer he kidnapped motorist Carol DaRonch. When she realized she was in deep water and possibly only minutes away from being murdered, she fought like a tigress and managed to escape from his car. In August the following year he was arrested during a routine traffic stop; items found in his car led to his being held on suspicion of going equipped for burglary, but the police soon realized they had a far more sinister purpose. Positively identified by Carol DaRonch, he was convicted of her kidnapping and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment while the authorities built a case against him for even more serious crimes. Incredibly, Bundy was able to escape not once but twice from custody. He went on to murder two young women in a Florida sorority house, leaving two others for dead before murdering probably his youngest victim, twelve year old Kimberly Leach.

He was arrested for the final time shortly afterwards, and after acting as his own attorney, and obviously reveling in his notoriety, he was sentenced to death for the murders of Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy. In 1980, he was tried for the murder of Kimberly Leach, and bizarrely married one of his supporters while questioning her on the witness stand. Unbelievably, he was allowed conjugal visits, and sired a daughter by her.

Although Bundy denied his crimes repeatedly, after he was convicted - on overwhelming evidence - and sentenced to death, he drip fed the police details about many other crimes hoping to delay his execution indefinitely. He is known to have murdered over thirty young women, but is said once to have hinted that he may have reached three figures.

After years of delay, he was sent to the electric chair on January 24, 1989. Such was the loathing Ted Bundy instilled in the American public that people partied outside the prison when he was executed at seven in the morning.

There have been countless documentaries and films devoted partially or entirely to Bundy, one of the best is the 2002 film featuring Michael Reilly Burke in the title role, and which includes actual footage of Bundy, including of the judge sentencing him to death in one of his trials. >>

Suggestion credit:
Alexander Baron - London, England