Georgann Hawkins was an amazing human being. She was a shining star in grade school who rarely received a bad mark; Georgann had excelled in competitive swimming, she’d been a cheerleader, a girl scout, and a social butterfly who’d fit in with all of the different social groups. She was the type of person who never met a stranger, and there’s no doubt that she would’ve made a difference in this world, had she not been unfortunate enough to have caught Ted Bundy’s eye.
After graduating Lakes High School in 1973, Georgann enrolled into Central Washington University; this college was several hours drive away from home, but Georgann’s mama had understandably wanted her little girl closer. The co-ed transferred to the University of Washington instead, a decision which would soon prove fatal.
On June 11th in 1974, an 18 year old Georgann had been cramming for exams; she was burnt out, and decided to take a little break. The teen had a couple of beers with her friends at a nearby party, then walked home alone with the intention of continuing her studies once she got there. As she neared the sorority house, a friend peered out the window to see that Georgann was less than 100 feet away; she had been so close to safety, but the teen never did walk through the door. Georgann vanished from outside of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house; nobody would know what had happened to her, not for more than a decade.
Ted Bundy was an organized killer, a psychopath, a smooth master manipulator and narcissist who believed that if he continued to deny his murders, he could convince everyone that he was innocent and eventually they’d set him free. When Ted realized that his plan wasn’t going to work and they were about to fry him anyways, he decided to try a new approach. Before he could be executed Ted confessed to more than thirty murders throughout seven different states; one of the women he admitted to having murdered was Georgann.
On the night in which this remarkable young woman lost her life, Ted had been out trolling the college campus for a victim. During his confession our serial recounted that he had parked his infamous Volkswagen Beetle with the passenger seat removed in a secluded, dark spot behind some sorority houses; Ted had prepared for the abduction by laying out his crowbar and handcuffs at the tail of the vehicle. He donned an arm cast and/or sling, grabbed his trusty crutches, and a briefcase/books. When he noticed the pretty co-ed coming, Ted feigned difficulty carrying his belongings, and he asked his future victim to help with carrying his belongings back to his vehicle. Ted was always dressed to the nines – he was attractive, clean cut, intelligent, and polite; Georgann had been a generous, caring young lady, and there’s little doubt that the former Girl Scout would’ve been happy to oblige.
Ted later recounted that he’d chatted Georgann up on the walk back to his ride, to make her feel comfortable with him. Just as soon as she bent over to set the suitcase down in the seat of the car, Ted bashed her in the head with his crowbar; the poor girl went out like a light. The killer cuffed Georgann, then placed her in the spot where the passenger seat should have been. He then drove out to the woods with his victim; at some point during this journey a delirious Georgann awoke, and she told her future killer about the Spanish test she had scheduled for the following day.
Once at the predetermined spot, just a couple of miles away from Lake Sammamish State Park where Ted would kill again, he beat Georgann with his crowbar and strangled her to death with a cord or a rope. Ted made sure to tell investigators about the removal of Georgeann’s pants – that instead of a button she’d had a pin holding the fabric in place; this was proof that he must’ve been the teen’s killer as no one else would have been privy to that certain detail.
Bundy admitted that he sexually violated Georgann’s body until dawn, and even returned to the scene three days later to again have his way with her rotting and bloated corpse. When he was completely through with his victim, Ted claimed that he cut off Georgeann’s head and buried it. A quote from the killer: “The Hawkins girl’s head was severed and taken up the road about twenty-five to fifty yards and buried in a location about ten yards west of the road on a rocky hillside.“. Even still, most of this exceptional young lady’s remains have yet to be recovered. An extra femur bone was eventually discovered along with the two Lake Sammamish victims who lost their lives just a month after Georgann; Ted claimed that extra bone belonged to Georgann.
Ted didn’t confess his crimes out of guilt or in hope of helping his victim’s families cope, he did so with the hope of saving his own hide from the electric chair. The cold, calculating, and ruthless murderer who had single handedly brought so much pain and suffering into this world was absolutely petrified of his own death! This is also likely the reason why he went out of his way to assist in other serial cases such as Green River Gary – he had believed that if he made himself useful, maybe they’d keep him around a bit longer. This plan didn’t work out, either.
The most notorious serial killer in the world was put to death by the State of Florida exactly 32 years ago this week; on January 24th of 1989 Ted was finally introduced to Old Sparky. In his final Will and Testament, the killer requested cremation and that his earthly remains be scattered along Washington’s Cascade Mountains. This area was very special to Ted as it was the place in which he’d dumped countless victims. Of course Ted’s final request caused quite a stir, many did not think it very moral that this killer should be afforded the right to spend eternity in the place where he did committed such atrocities, and in an area where there are likely to be countless undiscovered victims. But Ted got his wish, his mama did just as her son had asked.
Bundy’s confession of Georgann Hawkins, in his own words:
https://youtu.be/4vJkJMSe6bs
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Now, if you still have a moment, can we talk about Ted’s early childhood and his mother? It seems that Louise Bundy was a good woman who always tried her best to do right, and as we know this often isn’t the case with serial killers. She defended Ted when he claimed to be innocent, and when he finally confessed she had to come to the realization that her child had committed those unspeakable acts. She must’ve been horrified and humiliated, but she loved her son unconditionally and refused to turn her back on him.
Now Ted’s childhood wasn’t perfect, don’t get me wrong, but again it does seem that his mother always did her best with the hand she’d been dealt. Ted was born out of wedlock during a time when it was definitely not socially acceptable. In 1946 Louise gave birth to Ted at an unwed mothers home in Vermont; it was suggested that she give her son up, but for one reason or another Louise kept her baby. Some sources state that her father would not allow Ted to be adopted out, but I’m not sure how true this is. She did agree to the only other viable option: she and Ted moved in with her parents, and everyone pretended that the baby had been born to his grandparents. While it seems that this serial killer always idolized the man he’d originally referred to as dad, Louise’s father was not exactly what we’d call a stand up guy. Sam Cowell was not only a known racist and a bigot, but he was an abusive alcoholic with an explosive temper, and there’s talk of mental illness as well.
Before her son was old enough to start school Louise took the advice of extended family members who had been urging her to skip town, she and Ted moved in with relatives in Washington. It was here that she met a cook by the name of John Bundy. Johnny has been described as the exact opposite of Louise’s own father, he was a kind and gentle soul, and she quickly fell deeply in love. After less than a year of courting the two married; Louise’s new husband happily adopted her existing son, and the future killer’s last name was legally changed from Cowell to Bundy. Louise must’ve felt that things would finally be okay, it was safe to be a mom without judgment now; she went on to give Ted three younger siblings – a little brother and two sisters.
As far as the killer’s paternity, this would always be a sore spot. Ted never did get past the fact that he’d been born illegitimate, and he did hold some resentment against his mother because it – and the way in which he found out was traumatic for him. Apparently things weren’t really explained to Ted – he didn’t know who was really who until he discovered his own birth certificate. While a stranger’s name was listed as his father on the legal document, there was always serious speculation within the family that Ted’s grandfather, Sam, had been his biological dad as well. Years later when this killer was arrested detectives did attempt to track down the man who Louise had claimed to have fathered her eldest; they searched through military records (Louise had stated that he was a soldier) but they were unable to find anyone who’d been enlisted under that name. This gives a bit more credence to the family’s rumors; it’s very possible that Ted had been the result of incestuous rape, and he knew it.
Now think of Ted’s mother! If the rumors are true (and it does seem very possible) then her verbally and physically abusive father had pushed himself on her sexually as well. She’d had to deal with the stigma that being an unmarried mother had brought, through no fault (hate to even word it that way) of her own. Louise moved back home with her abusive father to stay close her son, but she got him out of that environment just as quickly as she could. She could’ve left him there and gone on with her life (Aileen Wuornos’s mother comes to mind) but Louise tried to do the right thing. And in the end she was left to deal with the aftermath – to live with the knowledge that the boy who she had sacrificed so much for was capable of this? To be publicly harassed and humiliated over what he’d done? The emotional pain she suffered throughout her lifetime must’ve felt unbearable. As a mother, I feel for the woman.
*I’m writing every single day, have a few fires going at this moment. I always feel like I’m doing something wrong when I don’t post for a couple of days, but if it’s going to be worth a darn, I can’t help it. The next article will be posted within another day or two. Promise!
