Framing Ted Bundy: How a Media-Made Myth Became Legend

Serial killer Ted Bundy killed more than 30 women and girls. In news stories, he developed the persona of an intelligent, handsome killer who charmed women into following him to their deaths. In reality, Bundy struggled with school and employment. He unnerved most women he met and resorted to kidnapping his victims or attacking them while they slept. The myth of Bundy as a charming, handsome killer has come at his victims’ expense. How did this legend develop? And why has it persisted? Journalist, author, and educator Dr. Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi explains the media framing of Ted Bundy, how it originated and why it continues today. She is the co-author of “A Light in The Dark: Surviving More than Ted Bundy,” with Kathy Kleiner Rubin, who survived Bundy’s 1979 attack at the Chi Omega house. To register, please call the library at 708-687-3700 or email kspringer@acornlibrary.org.