Katie Ring

from family members and biographers that his grandfather was abusive.

So we have that conflicting thing.

But when it comes to serial killers, we see a lot of abuse earlier in life.

But on the other hand, there's a lot of people who have had and experienced much more severe abuse that haven't turned out to be serial killers.

Most psychologists say that Ted Bundy showed strong signs of psychopathy.

And one thing that's interesting is that researchers are now suggesting that traits of psychopathy actually have biological components, particularly in how the brain is wired.

So on one hand, we have people who have been severely abused in childhood who have not become serial killers or even violent.

And on the other side, we do have psychopaths who have grown up in seemingly normal houses and have become serial killers.

So I believe that upbringing doesn't determine everything, but it can shape how traits unfold, like abuse, attachment disruption, identity confusion, and abandonment.

can all impact development in meaningful ways.

So could a loving, stable household have changed his path?

Possibly, but the short and somewhat unsatisfying answer is that we'll never know.

So going back to psychopathy, many psychopaths actually have an unsettling ability to blend in.

So as children, a lot of them are looked at as weird or don't fit in.

But over time, they're able to observe how people have interpersonal relationships and they can actually model that very well.

So even though they may not feel emotions deeply, they can perform them very convincingly.

And a lot of them aren't just good at blending in.

They are actually very charismatic, charming, and even magnetic.

So I think that's part of the reason Ted Bundy's story fascinated people so much.

Because before cases like this, many people imagined serial killers as monsters or some like obvious weirdos.