The Bundy Family.

Edna Cowell-Martin, pictures from her new book, ‘Dark Tide: Growing up with Ted Bundy.’

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I just got the book in the mail, I will most likely do a review after I finish it (or at the very least, will go through and bullet point things I found interesting or new).

John ‘Jack’ Cowell and Eleanor Gellert in uniform.
A young Ted (right) with Edna’s brother (left) and her mother (middle).
A young Ted Bundy.
The Cowell family in a promotional picture for a local Washington newspaper.
A young Bundy family.
A picture of the Bundy family around Christmas time, Ted is holding baby Richie.
A young Bundy family.
The Bundy children in December 1960.
Edna and her brother on a boat.
From left to right: Edna (on the horse in the back), John, Ted, Jack, Edna’s friend, Margie (on horse) , Eleanor; Louise and Johnnie are on the far right with two of their younger kids.
Edna Cowell in the 1970’s.
The seafood processing ship where Edna worked after she graduated from college, in Dutch Hollow, Alaska.
Edna and Don.
Edna and her husband, Don.
Edna’s husband Don (r) and his best friend Clark Palmer (l).
Edna’s 1967 Cadillac DeVille convertible.
Don and Anna.
Don, Edna, and Anna.
Edna and one of her lifelong friends, Jeanie at the Grand Canyon.
Edna, Anna, and Don Martin.
Edna and Anna.
Anna Martin and her Uncle John.
Jack Cowell conducting a choir rehearsal in his home studio in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Edna and her husband Don.
From left to right: Louise, Edna, Johnnie, and Anna.
Edna (right) said that her old roommate Margie (middle) was once slow dancing with Ted during a romantic evening and his ‘mask slipped.’
A more recent picture of Edna Cowell-Martin, when she was on Piers Morgan in July 2024.
A letter Ted wrote to his grandfather Sam dated February 6, 1969. Courtesy of Edna Cowell.
Louise Bundy wrote a short note to her dad on the back of Teds letter from 1959.
A letter from Jack Cowell to his daughter telling her that Ted had been arrested.
A transcribed letter from Ted to his aunt and uncle dated October 28, 1975.
The original copy of a portion of the May 31, 1986 letter from Edna Cowell to Ted. Photo courtesy of The Daily Mail.
In part one of a transcribed letter from May 31, 1986, Edna expressed to Ted how she was remorseful over how she missed her cousin’s murderous rage, admitting that she ‘saw only one side of you.’
Part two of Edna’s transcribed letter from May 31, 1986.
An original copy of Edna’s follow up letter written on June 10, 1986, after Ted ignored her first attempt.
The transcribed letter Cowell sent Bundy on June 10, 1986. In it, she once again pleaded with him to give closure to his victims’ families.
Part two of the transcribed letter Cowell sent Bundy on June 10, 1986.
An original copy of Ted’s letter to Edna on August 1, 1986, where he berated her for believing ‘innuendo, gossip, and accusations’ about his crimes and urged her to ignore the evidence against him.
Part one of the transcription of Bundy’s letter to Edna written on August 1, 1986.
The second page of a transcribed letter from Ted to Edna dated August 1, 1986.
An original copy of a letter sent by Bundy to Edna on November 13, 1986, where he told her he had ‘no guilt, remorse, or regret over anything I’ve done.’
An excerpt from Bundy’s November 13, 1986 letter to Edna, where her tried to offer her some insight on his daily routine while on death row in Florida.
The transcription of Bundy detailed his day-to-day routine, including being woken up at 5:30 AM for ‘cold scrambled eggs’ and filling his time by exercising in his cell.
The cover of Edna’s book.
The text from the last Christmas card Ted sent Edna.

Ted Bundy Childhood Photos.

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Ted Bundy was born out of wedlock on November 24, 1946 to Eleanor ‘Louise’ Cowell. His paternal lineage is unknown but his Grandfather was ruled out as a contender thanks to a DNA test. Ted was born at The Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers in Burlington, Vermont (also referred to as ‘Lizzie’s Home for Naughty Ladies’). Louise initially left her little boy behind but his Grandparents forced her to bring him home, and because their daughter was young and unmarried Samuel and Eleanor planned to raise the child as their own. For the first five years of his life Ted lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 1950 Louise moved little Teddy across the United States to Tacoma, Washington, where she gave him the last name of Nelson and moved in with her Uncle Jack Cowell, a music professor at the nearby University of Puget Sound. In May of 1951 Louise married an army cook named Johnnie Bundy. The couple met at a church function and married shortly after. The couple went on to have 4 children together and Johnnie formally adopted Ted in 1951.

While Louise has said Ted’s father was a ‘sailor,’ true crime writer Ann Rule claimed that on the serial killer’s birth certificate an Air Force veteran named Lloyd Marshall was listed as his father. However, in the book ‘The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy,’ journalists Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth claim that a war veteran named Jack Worthington was his father. The truth of Ted’s fathers identity will most likely never be known.

When Ted was 21 years old he took a trip to the east coast, where he visited Burlington and obtained a copy of his birth certificate. It was then that he realized for certain he was an illegitimate child, a fact he didn’t take well. According to loved ones he was extremely bitter about the circumstances surrounding his birth and his parental lineage. He also resented Louise for keeping it a secret from him.

A copy of Teds birth certificate.
Ted Bundy’s amended birth certificate. Note that this birth certificate was issued in 1951 after Louise married Johnny Bundy. The original document will remain sealed until 2045.
Bundy as a small child.
Bundy on a sled posing with a snowman.
Little Teddy and Louise Bundy at the Jersey Shore.
Little Teddy and his Grandfather at the Jersey Shore.
Ted and his Grandfather.
Little Ted.
A young Ted posing at a Christmas tree.
Bundy (far right) with some friends.
Bundy with 2/4 of his step-siblings.
Tucker Carlson or Ted Bundy? You decide.
Bundy in elementary school.
An adolescent Ted.
Ted and Johnnie Bundy.
Another shot of Ted at boy scout camp.
Another shot of Ted at camp.
Ted shooting a rifle at camp.
Bundy on a rowboat.
Ted in a group shot from elementary school, he is in the back row, third from the left. Photo courtesy of Tiffany Jean.
Ted with his half brothers and sisters.
A blurry shot of the Bundy siblings in B&W.
The Bundy family, in color.
Bundy’s senior picture.
A new Bundy family picture courtesy of Edna Cowell-Martin.
In May of 1951 Johnnie and Louise Bundy moved into this house at 1620 South Sheridan Avenue in Tacoma. It was the family’s first home and when they moved in Ted was only four years old. Before they moved in Louise and Ted lived at his great Uncle Jacks house at 1514 South Alder Street.
I took this picture of the Bundy family’s second home on North Skyline in April 2022. It reminds me of a watercolor painting.
This is the third and final house the Bundy family lived in, located at 3214 North 20th Street in Tacoma, WA; the family moved into the house in 1968. Johnny and Louise stayed here until the late 2000’s.