What You Didn't Know About Ted Bundy's Pet Mice
Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy is often distinguished from other murderers for his charm and gifted Intelligence Quotient. And while his slew of rapes and murders went on to define his short life before he was executed at Florida State Prison in 1989, a lesser known fact is that Bundy first practiced his sick craft on pet mice.
As reported by Q13 FOX, Bundy's lawyer, John Henry Browne, claimed that the young killer would force his pet mice into twisted scenes that would culminate with him deciding whether they would live or die. The revelation from Browne — who previously said his client was "born evil," per Fox News – is just one of the reflections of Bundy's apparent desire to "play God."
Bundy let some of the mice go, but not out of mercy; it was another way he exerted control over their lives. When he graduated to murdering women, the serial killer continued his penchant for playing God and was known to let some of his victims go. During an interview with ABC News, Molly Kendall, the daughter of Bundy's former girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall, referenced the killer's games with his pet mice.
Bundy also tortured other animals
She compared the mice to some women's experience of being in Bundy's orbit and leaving unharmed. "And he would let some of them live and some of them die, and to me, that's us, we're just these mice that were allowed to live," she said.
Mice were not the only victims of Bundy's bloodlust. Speaking to KING5, Sandi Holt, who allegedly grew up with the killer, told the TV reporter that Bundy had a uniquely grotesque habit of torturing animals, including people's pets, by ripping them open and setting them aflame.
Although it's impossible to ever know exactly what caused Bundy's penchant for harming animals, it might have come from his childhood. Per Biography, his grandfather had a proclivity for violence toward cats and dogs. Elsewhere, The Los Angeles Times noted that psychiatrist Dorothy Otnow Lewis, who examined Bundy the day before he was executed, also claimed that Bundy's grandfather had a habit of violence directed at animals.