    theodore robert "ted" bundy (born theodore robert cowell; november 24, 1946&nbsp;â january 24, 1989) was an american serial killer, kidnapper, rapist, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. shortly before his execution, after more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 homicides committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978. the true victim count remains unknown, and could be much higher. bundy was regarded as handsome and charismatic by his young female victims, traits he exploited to win their trust. he typically approached them in public places, feigning injury or disability, or impersonating an authority figure, before overpowering and assaulting them at more secluded locations. he sometimes revisited his secondary crime scenes for hours at a time, grooming and performing sexual acts with the decomposing corpses until putrefaction and destruction by wild animals made further interaction impossible. he decapitated at least 12 of his victims, and kept some of the severed heads in his apartment for a period of time as mementos. on a few occasions he simply broke into dwellings at night and bludgeoned his victims as they slept. initially incarcerated in utah in 1975 for aggravated kidnapping and attempted criminal assault, bundy became a suspect in a progressively longer list of unsolved homicides in multiple states. facing murder charges in 
1946_births 1974_murders_in_the_United_States 1989_deaths 20th-century_executions_by_Florida American_escapees American_murderers_of_children American_people_convicted_of_kidnapping American_people_convicted_of_murder American_rapists Escapees_from_Colorado_detention Executed_American_male_serial_killers FBI_Ten_Most_Wanted_Fugitives Necrophiles People_convicted_of_murder_by_Florida People_executed_by_Florida_by_electric_chair People_from_Philadelphia,_Pennsylvania People_from_Tacoma,_Washington People_with_antisocial_personality_disorder People_with_narcissistic_personality_disorder University_of_Puget_Sound_alumni University_of_Utah_alumni University_of_Washington_alumni Washington_(state)_Republicans