Notorious Serial Killer Ted Bundy's VW Goes on Display at 'Murderabilia' Museum
Perhaps there are legitimate reasons for displaying iconic items used in horrific crimes, such as the tan Volkswagen Beetle in which notorious serial killer Ted Bundy reportedly abducted a number of his actual and alleged victims.
According to a National Museum of Crime & Punishment press release announcing the addition to its display, Bundy’s beat-up VW is a “teaching tool” that serves as a reminder of the dangers of hitchhiking, reports the Washington Post.
However, the museum’s unveiling yesterday of the onetime law student’s vehicle is a disturbing reminder that the institution’s “bizarre” focus on such lurid objects may not be a taste that should be encouraged, given the financial boost that it gives to the “murderabilia racket,” the newspaper opines.
Bundy-associated objects have been a particularly hot commodity, the newspaper writes, noting that a hubcap from the VW that was reportedly offered for sale in 2007. The starting bid: $3,500.
Convicted in only a handful of cases, Bundy may have killed dozens of young women, perhaps numbering as many as 100 or more, in Florida, Washington state and possibly other states throughout the country including Colorado, Pennsylvania and Vermont, according to Ann Rule’s book, The Stranger Beside Me, and media reports.
He attended law school in two states, although he never completed his studies and earned a law degree. He was executed in Florida in 1989, after being convicted in a case involving a spree of murders at a college sorority house.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Federal Bill Would Ban ‘Murderabilia’ Sales”
NBC Miami: “Miami’s Criminal Past on Display”
St. Petersburg Times: “The story of Old Sparky”
Time: “Nation: The Case of the Chi Omega Killer”
