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Ted Bundy, infamous for his string of brutal murders that claimed the lives of at least 30 women, remained unrepentant about his heinous acts. This unsettling lack of remorse was revealed through a series of letters he penned from death row to his cousin, Edna Martin.
Although Bundy never openly confessed to the killings, his correspondence—spotlighted in the Oxygen special Love, Ted Bundy—demonstrates his unwavering lack of regret as his execution date approached. In a particularly chilling 1986 letter, Bundy starkly stated, “I have no guilt, remorse or regret over anything I’ve done. What’s done is done.”
Martin, who likened their relationship to that of siblings, described Bundy’s attitude as “cavalier.” She had hoped to leverage their close bond to persuade him to confess, believing such an admission might offer some solace to the families of his victims.
In a heartfelt letter dated June 10, 1986, she implored him, “Dear Ted, it’s important for me to encourage you to make one of the most important decisions of your life. Ted, you have a date with the executioner. You are going to die. But one thing you can do is tell people why you did it. Tell people, Ted, why you murdered their daughters and where you left their bodies.”
Ted Bundy’s Cousin Edna Martin Urged Him to Confess
Martin—who called Bundy’s response “cavalier”—had hoped she could use the sibling-like bond they shared to convince him to admit to the crimes, which she thought would give the grieving families of his victims some measure of closure.
“Dear Ted, it’s important for me to encourage you to make one of the most important decisions of your life,” she wrote in one letter dated June 10, 1986. “Ted, you have a date with the executioner. You are going to die. But one thing you can do is tell people why you did it. Tell people, Ted, why you murdered their daughters and where you left their bodies.”
In another, she wrote that opening up about the crimes would be “a chance for salvation” for the serial killer, who murdered dozens of women in the 1970s across California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Florida.
Martin was a student at the University of Washington at the same time its believed Bundy, who lived just blocks away from her, began his murder spree, targeting college-age women just like her.
“Dear Ted, It took me a long time to accept the fact that someone I considered not only a close friend, but occasionally a confidant, capable of ever committing the acts of violence you are guilty of,” she wrote him in another note dated May 31, 1986. “What happened to you Ted that you would develop such a deep rage, a deep hatred, that you killed ruthlessly in cold blood, without mercy?”
What Did Ted Bundy Say About His Crimes While on Death Row?
For months, Martin received no reply to the letters she wrote, until Bundy reached out to her on Nov. 13, 1986, offering his own somewhat philosophical take on life.
“Dear Edna, I take full responsibility for all that I have done, I have no problem with that,” he replied. “I agree that we must learn from what has occurred in the so called past. It’s essential. The way I see it. That’s the true value of reviewing the past—to learn from it, to grow, to change, to be transformed. I am not the fond memories you have of your cousin Ted. Just as you are not my equally fond memories of you. I am just as I am here and now.”
According to Martin, Bundy never answered her questions and instead referenced biblical scripture, writing “And this for all those who mourn: let the dead bury the dead. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living.”
At another point in their exchanges, Bundy callously denied the killings.
“I won’t disregard your accusations completely,” he wrote in one message, before adding, “I will say this much, I have not killed anyone.”
As the year came to a close, after exchanging around six or seven letters with Bundy, Martin finally realized her cousin was never going to come clean. Their last exchange was a Christmas card Bundy sent to Martin and her husband, in which he expressed his love and wished her “peace.”
“I did not follow up,” Martin admitted. “At that point, I just couldn’t write him anymore. You know, I thought maybe that affectionate relationship we had as big cousin, little cousin would would count for something, but he was too used to avoiding the truth.”
Ted Bundy Confessed to Killing 30 Women
Hours before his 1989 execution, Bundy did ultimately confess, admitting to killing 30 women between 1973 and 1978, according to the special.
In “perhaps half a dozen” of the cases, Bundy said he severed the heads of his victims.
“It was obvious that he was holding out until the last possible moment to see if he would get a stay of execution and that was his leverage, confessing to these murders,” Martin explained. “But the show was over. He no longer had control of the situation. He played us to the very end.”
Decades later, Martin still has the letters tucked away—although she will only handle them while wearing gloves.
“I wear the gloves because even after 40 years, I still don’t like to touch the letters,” she confessed. “I was convinced when we first got them that actually evil was coming out of them.”
After years of hiding her connection to one of the country’s most notorious serial killers, Martin said she finally decided to tell her story to set herself free.
As she noted, “I don’t have to keep that a secret anymore.”
