Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell on November 24, 1946 from Eleanor Louise Cowell (1924-2012; known as "Louise") at the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers in Burlington, Vermont. Her father's identity has never been determined with certainty. Her birth certificate attributed paternity to a salesman and air force veteran named Lloyd Marshall, but Louise later claimed that she had been seduced by "a sailor" whose name was perhaps Jack Worthington. Years later, investigators found no trace of this name in the Navy or Merchant Navy archives. Some family members have expressed suspicions that Bundy may have been Samuel Cowell's father, Louise's abusive and abusive father, but no material evidence has ever been cited to support or refute this.