WASHINGTON — The tan 1968 Volkswagen Beetle driven by Ted Bundy, one of the most prolific serial killers in history, is now a tourist attraction in the nation’s capital.
The car, with spots of rust, a cracked windshield, missing trim and a somewhat tattered interior from where police tore it apart looking for evidence, sits in the lobby of the National Museum of Crime and Punishment.
A 1976 Utah vehicle inspection sticker is attached to the windshield. The front passenger seat is missing. Bundy removed it to make room for the bodies.
Bundy, a native of Tacoma, Wash., drove the car as he preyed on women in Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Colorado in the 1970s. At one point, Bundy is thought to have killed one person a month. He reportedly admitted to 40 murders in a dozen states.
He was executed in Florida in 1989.
The privately run museum offers visitors an up-close look at some of the nation’s most infamous criminals and cases. It includes Tennessee’s electric chair, in which 125 men were executed; Al Capone’s jail cell; and the studio for the television show “America’s Most Wanted.”
Janine Vaccarello, the museum’s chief operating officer, acknowledged that some might find displaying Bundy’s car macabre, but she said people remain fascinated by crime.
“It’s an artifact,” she said, “like in any museum.”
