When Ted Bundy picked his education back up in 1970 (per the Department of Justice’s 1992 multiagency report), it was as a psychology major back at the University of Washington. He graduated with distinction within two years, and his performance in class was so impressive that a professor — asked to write a letter of recommendation to law school — bemoaned that Bundy wasn’t planning to continue down the road to professional practice (via Biography).
He was apparently genuinely interested in the subject. Ann Rule, who met Bundy while they both worked at a crisis call center, wrote in “The Stranger Beside Me” that “I had never brought up any facet of psychology that Ted wasn’t fully conversant with.” His success with the subject helped allay suspicions of him early in his murderous career. When he was a suspect in the death of Lynda Ann Healy, Bundy’s former professors insisted that their bright young former student couldn’t be the killer. Years later, when Bundy was in custody and awaiting execution, investigators appealed to his psychology training when trying to coax information out of him (per Stephen G. Michaud’s “Ted Bundy”).
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Biography speculated that Bundy might have made more active use of his psychology background when committing his murders. Among his two favorite deceptions were faking an injury and dressing as a policeman. Specifically, Bundy could have counted on the pull of sympathy or the power of authority to lure victims.
