Ted Bundy was one of the great monsters of American history. He was a killer, a rapist, a kidnapper and a necrophiliac who murdered more than 30 young women. Now, he’s back in the spotlight thanks to Netflix’s docuseries Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes as well as the recent trailer for the Zac Efron-starring Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.
Of course, this has all caused a bit of controversy online for a number of reasons, but if you ask me, the more people who know about how supremely horrible Bundy was the better, and as a true crime fan, I’d be a hypocrite if I looked down on folks fascinated by the darker parts of human society. But what I’m very much not on board with is creepy online weirdos doing their best to track down Ted Bundy’s daughter, who as far as anyone knows has never committed a crime in her life and is entirely innocent.
Take this article by Elena Nicolaou on Refinery29, for instance, where she theorizes about what his daughter could be up to now, what she thinks of her father (if she even knows about him at all) and goes into some seriously gross detail as to how she might have been conceived while Bundy was in prison. The writer then helpfully links to a message board devoted to Death Penalty News that provides updates on pending executions. Here, they’re bandying around the name of someone who may or may not be the serial killer’s daughter, which is pretty reprehensible behavior, really, given the consequences she might face as a result.
C’mon guys, leave Ted Bundy‘s daughter alone. He was extremely wicked, shockingly evil and absolutely vile. She, on the other hand, is just a regular person who definitely doesn’t deserve this.