By Domingo Fortuna
Love is an emotional sentiment that can change the way people perceive their surroundings. Usually, it causes us to appreciate life and others more, but sometimes, love makes people do inhumane, insensitive things. Ted Bundy, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are a few criminals who committed horrible crimes in the name of “love”. Their actions were premeditated, and encouraged by their partners or by a sudden rage caused by rejection. Every criminal has a background story that defined their crimes. Everyone behind a violent crime has been in a situation which distorted their personal reactions.
Ted Bundy was an American serial killer, kidnapper, rapist, and necrophile between 1974 and 1978. He committed an estimated 30 homicides. The story behind Bundy’s crimes begins with his obsession over his first love. She had everything that he wanted: money, class, and influence. He couldn’t believe that someone of her caliber would be interested in him. She liked him, but she thought he didn’t have any goals in life. Ted worked hard to impress her. Bundy’s efforts went to waste when in 1968, she broke up with him. Bundy was heartbroken by their break up and became obsessed with her.
After a few years, Bundy and his first love reunited in Washington. She fell for him all over again. She began to think about marriage, but he became cold with her, and it seemed as if his love for her had disappeared. In February 1974, Ted broke up with her. He broke her heart as she had earlier broken his.
When Bundy started to kill, the disappearance of women became quite common during the spring and summertime. Women continually disappeared without explanation. They were strikingly similar to one another. All of the women were Caucasian, very attractive, between the ages of 15 and 25, slender, had long dark hair, and wore slacks at the time of disappearance. They also all disappeared during the evening. Bundy’s victims all seemed to have the same physical characteristics as his first love. Bundy’s obsession became the hallmark of his crimes.
In contrast to Bundy, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, best known as the “Moors murderers,” killed 5 children between the ages of 10 and 17 years old. The duo came from dysfunctional homes, which shaped their aggression and motives to kill children. They both had harsh childhoods and their parents were neglectful. Brady’s mother was a widow and she was forced to give her son to Mary and John Sloan. Growing up unhappy, Brady began to lash out, and his criminal record started early.
Brady’s partner Myra Hindley came up in poor conditions also. Hindley’s father brutalized her. She was accustomed to violence inside and outside of her home. The constant violence and lack of love that she experienced at a young age resulted in trauma, which later on was expressed in her crimes.
Brady and Hindley met for the first time when Hindley started working at Millwards Merchandising. Hindley was fascinated by Brady’s odd ideologies and they started dating. They set themselves apart from the rest of the world and became obsessed with literary works about criminals and torture. In 1963, they started talking about “committing the perfect murder” and a month later, they committed their first homicide. They ended the lives of Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans. Four out of their 5 victims were raped and then killed by the couple. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley experienced a lack of love at a young age, but this cannot explain how anyone can rape and kill innocent children.
Love and obsession were the motives behind Ted Bundy, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley’s crimes. The lives of their victims will never be forgotten, and their story is a lesson to others about how the lack of kindness and reciprocal affection can result in murder and mayhem.