John Bundy had a history of violence and had been under medical care for mental illness after a suicide attempt in 1983. In that attempt, Bundy blew off half of his face and lost his left eye. He was committed to Veterans Administration Hospitals – though he was not a veteran – in Cincinnati and Chillicothe. He was diagnosed as having schizophrenia, paranoid type; a mental disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations such as hearing voices, unfocused anxiety, anger, tendency to argue, and violence. During 1989, one doctor wrote in his record that he was “remarkably dangerous” based on statements Bundy made with regard to killing his family. During January 1990, Ted Bundy, his brother, tried to persuade the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Chillicothe not to release John to a halfway house. Regardless of all these facts, on February 1, 1990, Bundy was released – and almost immediately bought a .38-caliber revolver in a Chillicothe, Ohio discount store.
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