
Netflix’s new biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, has thrust serial killer Ted Bundy and his crimes back into the spotlight.
And when watching the story of a man who murdered at least 30 women and described himself as “the coldest son of a b*tch you’ve ever seen”, there’s just one question at the forefront of everyone’s mind: Why would anyone do something so heinous?
Over the years, countless experts have studied Bundy and his crimes to try to find an answer to that question.
Watch the official trailer for Netflix’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile below. Post continues after video…
Here are some of the more prominent theories about why Ted Bundy became a serial killer:
1. His childhood.
In another Netflix series, The Ted Bundy Tapes, we heard a lot more about Bundy’s boyhood, which he painted as idyllic.
But according to psychiatrist Al Carlisle, who carried out a 90-day psychological assessment on Bundy while he was in prison, it was actually ‘lonely’ and could be what lead to his ‘psychopathic tendencies.’
Speaking to A&E Real Crime, Carlisle said, “If early in life a person is lonely and doesn’t fit in and is empty, they begin to look for some way to undo that, to satisfy their loneliness. And they turn to fantasy to comfort themselves. This is what happened with Bundy.”