How Did Ted Bundy Die? What to Know About His 1989 Execution (Including His Unexpected Last Words) By Lynsey Eidell

Ted Bundy is one of the most prolific serial killers in United States history.

He embarked on a spree of sexual slayings in the 1970s, primarily targeting dark-haired young women and girls. Bundy would typically use his good looks and charisma to lure women to his car. Then, his dark side would emerge, with Bundy knocking his victims unconscious before driving them to a secondary location, beating or strangling them to death, sexually assaulting them and dumping their bodies.

Bundy escaped capture twice: In 1975, he was arrested and ultimately found guilty in Utah on charges of aggravated kidnapping and attempted criminal assault. But when he was transferred in 1977 to face a murder charge in Colorado, he escaped from a courthouse library while acting as his own attorney. Bundy was recaptured but escaped again six months later — this time fleeing to Florida, where he would commit his final murders.

In January 1978, Bundy brutally killed two college co-eds in Florida State University’s Chi Omega sorority house, subsequently raping and murdering 12-year-old Kimberly Leach three weeks later. However, Bundy was finally captured when a Pensacola, Fla., police officer stopped him for driving a stolen vehicle.

In 1979, Bundy was convicted and sentenced to two death sentences in the Chi Omega murders; six months later, he received a third death sentence for his killing of Leach. Bundy’s crimes are the subject of the Hulu docuseries Ted Bundy: Dialogue With the Devil, which premiered on Aug. 7.

So, how did Ted Bundy die? Here’s everything to know about the serial killer’s demise on death row.

How did Ted Bundy die?

Despite numerous attempts to appeal his sentences during his decade on death row, Bundy was ultimately executed via the electric chair.

“If there’s ever been anyone on Florida’s death row that deserved the electric chair, Ted Bundy was that individual,” then-Florida governor Bob Martinez said following Bundy’s execution.

Though Bundy had received three separate death sentences, it was the 1978 rape and murder of Leach — his final killing — that he was executed for, per the Los Angeles Times.

Bundy died in an execution chamber as 42 witnesses looked on from behind a glass window, according to the Los Angeles Times.

When did Ted Bundy die?

Bundy was executed during the early morning hours of Jan. 24, 1989. The executioner pressed the button at 7:06 a.m. and Bundy was officially pronounced dead at 7:16 a.m. by Dr. Frank Kilgo, the chief physician at the Florida State Prison, according to The Oklahoman.

“The sentence of the state of Florida vs. Theodore Bundy has been carried out,” Prison Lt. Don Davis told the reporters and witnesses present.

Where did Ted Bundy die?

Bundy’s execution took place at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Fla. He had been held there on death row for nearly 10 years.

At the time, Bundy was the 20th man to die by the death penalty in the state of Florida — and the 106th in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to reinstate the death penalty in 1976, per The Oklahoman.

How old was Ted Bundy when he died?

Bundy, who was born on Nov. 24, 1946, was 42 years old when he was executed.

What were Ted Bundy’s last words?

Prior to his execution being carried out, Florida State Prison Superintendent Tom Barton asked Bundy if he had anything to say. At that moment, the usually-confident Bundy’s voice shook as he addressed his attorney James Coleman and Rev. Fred Lawrence, a Methodist minister from Gainesville, Fla., per The Oklahoman.

Bundy’s last words to them were, “Jim and Fred, I’d like you to give my love to my family and friends.”

How did Ted Bundy spend his final hours before his execution?

The night before his death, Bundy was interviewed by religious broadcaster James Dobson. The interview was then televised the same day the serial killer was executed, according to The New York Times.

In the taped discussion — which Bundy reportedly requested — he revealed that he had developed a problem with pornography as an adolescent, per the Los Angeles Times. Bundy began to watch increasingly violent pornography until he turned to rape and murder. He also spoke about how he became desensitized as he committed his violent sex slayings across the country, Dobson shared.

According to Dobson, the notorious serial killer appeared remorseful during their conversation, despite telling investigators days earlier that he didn’t “feel guilty for any of it.”

“He wept several times while talking to me,” Dobson recalled. “He expressed great regret, remorse for what he had done, for the families that were hurting.”

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In addition to the Dobson interview, Bundy spent his final hours with Lawrence. According to The Oklahoman, Lawrence sat outside Bundy’s cell for the entire night before he was executed.

“Part of the time, they spent in prayer,” prison spokesman Bob Macmaster told the outlet.

On the morning of his execution, Bundy also called his mother, Louise Bundy, twice to say his goodbyes. At the end of the second phone call, Louise — who had staunchly defended her son’s innocence, according to USA Today — reportedly told him, “You’ll always be my precious son.”

Did Ted Bundy confess to any additional crimes before he was executed?

Even after he was convicted, Bundy spent years maintaining his innocence, claiming he was the victim of “conniving investigators” and circumstantial evidence, per The New York Times. But in the days prior to his execution, he met with several investigators from the states of Washington, Utah, Idaho and Colorado and admitted to at least 23 additional murders, according to The Washington Post.

The confessions were a last-ditch effort by Bundy to avoid the electric chair.

“He felt, if he finally starts doling out information, perhaps the state will keep him alive indefinitely,” Joe Berlinger, the executive producer of Netflix’s Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, told ABC News in February 2019.

However, Martinez called the confessions “despicable” and the state moved forward with Bundy’s execution.

Where are Ted Bundy’s remains?

Bundy’s remains were cremated, and his ashes were strewn over the Cascades Mountains in Washington per his wishes, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The western mountain range is where Bundy had confessed to leaving the bodies of several of his victims.

What was the public reaction to Ted Bundy’s death?

Bundy’s death was celebrated by hundreds of individuals who had gathered outside of the Florida State Prison on the morning of his execution. The crowd had as many as 2,000 spectators and included children, according to The Washington Post — and only a handful were there in protest of capital punishment. The rest sported T-shirts and held signs with slogans like “Burn Bundy Burn” and “Toast Ted,” among others.

When a scarf was waved from the prison door to indicate that the execution had been completed, the crowd cheered, banging on frying pans and setting off fireworks.

“Good,” Vivian Rancourt, the mother of victim Susan Rancourt, said following the execution, per The Washington Post. “The only thing I can say is, thank God, it’s finally over.”

George Robert Dekle, who prosecuted the Leach case and was present for Bundy’s execution, expressed similar feelings.

“The thing that kept going through my mind was the awful crime scene I saw 11 years ago,” he said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I kept saying to myself, that is where it started and this is where it ends.”