"Murder is not about lust, and it's not about violence. It's about possession"

Murder, in the context of Ted Bundy's perspective, becomes less an expression of uncontrollable rage or sexual excitement, and more fundamentally an assertion of dominance and ownership. Bundy reframes the act, stripping away the commonly ascribed motives of lust and violence, and instead exposing a deeper, more unsettling psychological drive. By claiming that murder is about possession, he highlights the ultimate deprivation of autonomy and agency from another human being. It is not enough to harm or desire; it is the compulsion to claim absolute control over another's existence.

Possession, as Bundy suggests, is not a fleeting or physical state. In the mind of the murderer, particularly one with Bundy’s pathology, it is the appropriation of another person’s life, identity, and fate. Killing becomes the means to an end, seizing and retaining an absolute kind of power, the authority to dictate whether someone lives or dies. Under this chilling logic, the victim becomes an object, wholly subordinated to the murderer's will. This reduces profoundly human individuals into extensions of the killer's own desire for control, obliterating all boundaries of moral consideration.

Such a perspective exposes a core aspect of certain criminal psychologies: the desire to transcend ordinary limitations, to leave an indelible mark on someone else’s universe. It also reflects a perverse inversion of relationships. In Bundy's world, intimacy is corrupted not just by violence but by total subjugation. Ultimate possession is achieved only through an irreversible act, one that cannot be undone or rivaled. For the murderer, the victim's life and death are conclusive affirmations of dominion.

Understanding murder through the lens of possession rather than passion or cruelty compels society to confront difficult questions about the roots of violence and the dark recesses of human need for control. It challenges us to recognize how far the destructive impulse to possess can reach, distorting even the most basic respect for life.