How did the real Ted Bundy managed to live on the lam without money?

I read that, too. He was into serial killing and identity theft long before there were even names for what he did. He also hit up certain "friends" or acquaintances or even strangers for money. Carol, the woman who he eventually married and had a child with, reportedly gave money to him for quite a while. I believe his mother may have sent him money because she believed him to be innocent until his prison confessions became known.

I have read, with his charm and charisma (that he would "switch on like a light"), he easily went to nice restaurants and kept the wait staff so distracted, they barely noticed when he would leave without paying anything. He would tuck things like tiny napkins to make it look like he was paying.

I don't know if this is true, but I read where he was good at promising his landlords money and then, at the last minute, hopping out on them. Antisocials (formerly psychopaths and sociopaths) are excellent at putting people into a hypnotic trance. A new study shows that they can hypnotize people by sight (making direct eye contact) or even by the modulated sound of their voices. The study compared it to a state of "driving hypnosis" or "road hypnosis," when your mind goes on automatic pilot and your body follows through with its motions.

Bundy found a gaping loophole in every system in which he operated. He was a smooth criminal. There's no doubt about that. The only thing he did poorly was drive and a journalist set him off about it (deliberately). Bundy, after he calmed down, let him know that if they were in different circumstances (Bundy was in prison, behind a thick glass wall), the outcome for the journalist would have been different. Bundy wouldn't have let him walk away.