TED BUNDY up close with A KILLER
| Published date | 06 May 2022 |
| Publication title | Paisley Daily Express |
Before his death, he invited journalists Stephen G. Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth to interview him and gave a confession of sorts during 150 hours of taped conversations that revealed the man behind the monster… Speaking in the third person, to try to distance himself from his crimes, Bundy describes how he killed 22-year-old Brenda Ball in May 1974: A CALCULATED M.O. SM: What about the girl from the Flame Tavern? Brenda Ball?
TB: He was interested in varying his M.O. in such a way as not to continue to fan the flames of community outrage, or the intensity of the police investigation.
This is why this Ball girl found herself to be the next victim.
SM: What would be a reasonable reconstruction of that night?
TB: Of course, I don't know, but we could say that he picked her up hitchhiking and they got to talking and she had nothing to do. He would ask her if she wanted to go to a party at his place and take her home. At this point, he would exert an influence on her which would be especially effective if she was under the influence of alcohol. SM: He'd take her home? TB: Sure.
SM: It would seem terribly risky. TB: If you live with someone. But he had his own house.
SM: I see. What is going on in his mind on the way to his house? TB: Conversation. To remove himself from the personal aspects of the encounter, the interchange. Chatting and flattering and entertaining, as if seen through a motion-picture screen. He would be engaging in the pattern just for the purpose of making the whole encounter seem legitimate. SM: Uh huh.
TB: And to keep her at ease. He didn't want this girl to get second thoughts about going with him to his place. And also, he was afraid that if he started thinking about what he was going to do, he'd either become more nervous or lose his concentration or in some way betray himself.
SM: So they go to his place? TB: He'd have to explain why there isn't all the activity going on. It was probably not the first time she'd run into that kind of situation. Maybe it was. But in any event she was somewhat wary of the situation and yet bored enough, or intoxicated enough - or both - to just not really consider it threatening to her.
They'd drink until she was exceptionally intoxicated. SM: The longer the conversation would go on, the more likely she would emerge as a person? TB: Well, drinking has an effect on both parties. On the...
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