The newspaper articles describing Ted Bundy at the beginning of his Chi Omega trial, alluded to his innocence
During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a plethora of newspaper stories regarding real killers. Newspaper articles describing gruesome murders committed by “crazies” furthered the public’s fear of mental illness off the screen. The newspaper articles describing Ted Bundy at the beginning of his Chi Omega trial reflected how the media did not view him as a cold-blooded killer, and therefore not a man with mental illness. The stories revolving around Bundy did not explicitly reference mental illness at the time, and in fact they demonstrated the society’s reluctance to “other” Bundy precisely because he didn’t embody the stereotypical elements of a serial killer. In the 1970s Americans found it hard to fathom that a handsome, charismatic man could commit awful acts of violence, and when Bundy was first placed on trial, the media alluded to his innocence because of his persona and appearance. The newspaper articles that described Bundy when he was first placed on trial were starkly dif...