Note: This article on America’s famous serial killers was originally published on September 7, 2008 and has since been updated to include profiles of additional American serial killers.
In our original look at some of America’s famous serial killers, we looked at thirteen of the most notorious serial killers in American history. But those murderers are far from the only serial killers our nation has seen.
Now let’s add five more names to the list — more American serial killers you might (or might not) have heard about.
Dean Corll
Dean Corll, also known as “The Candy Man,” didn’t act alone. He worked with two accomplices — Elmer Wayne Henley and David Brooks. Corll is thought to have murdered at least 28 boys in the Houston area from 1970 through 1973. The boys were beaten and raped while tied to a plywood “torture board.” Victims were killed with a gun or by strangulation.
Dean Corll wasn’t prosecuted for his crimes. He was killed by one of his accomplices (Henley). While Henley was convicted of six murders, he wasn’t charged with killing Corll. That was ruled to be self-defense.
Amy Archer-Gilligan
Amy Archer-Gilligan ran a convalescent home in Connecticut. Oddly, her murders inspired the comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace.” She killed residents of her nursing home by poisoning them with arsenic and strychnine shortly after they’d paid her large sums of money. It’s also believed that she killed her wealthy second husband for the inheritance. According to the New York Daily News, “it’s estimated that at least 20 people, and some estimate as many as 100, including her husbands, died by her hand.”
She was only tried for one murder — that of Franklin R. Andrews. She was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1917 and was granted a new trial on appeal. This time she pleaded insanity. She was again found guilty and this time sentenced to life imprisonment. She was moved to a hospital for the insane in 1924. She died there in 1962.
Juan Vallejo Corona
Juan Vallejo Corona is a Mexican American serial killer who preyed upon the workers he supplied to fruit ranches in California. It is believed that Juan Vallejo Corona killed at least 25 laborers whose bodies were found buried in the orchards they worked at. No clear motive was ever given for the killings.
Corona was found guilty of the 25 murders in 1973 when he was issued 25 life sentences. His conviction was overturned in 1978 and he was tried again in 1982. He was again convicted of the crimes. He is still serving time at the Corcoran State Prison in California.
The Boston Strangler
The Boston’s Strangler’s true identity still hasn’t been confirmed, although Albert DeSalvo confessed to being the notorious northeast killer. This unknown serial killer murdered at least 13 women in Boston between 1962 and 1964. Most of the women were sexually assaulted before being strangled, although one elderly victim died of a heart attack and at least two victims were stabbed. Victims’ ages ranged from 19 to 85.
Albert DeSalvo confessed to the stranglings in 1964 after being caught and charged with other sexual assaults (where the victims were not murdered). He was sentenced to life in prison, later escaped but turned himself in, and was ultimately stabbed to death while he was incarcerated.
Many people still believe DeSalvo lied about being The Boston Strangler however, due to inconsistencies and inaccuracies in his claims, DNA evidence that would seem to clear him in at least one case, and the belief that the crimes were too different to all be committed by the same person.
The Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac Killer, who has never been identified, attacked couples around San Francisco in the late 1960s. The Zodiac Killer claimed to have committed 37 murders in total, but only seven have been confirmed so far. They included three young couples and a young man. The known victims were either shot or stabbed.
The killer himself came up with the “Zodiac” name when he used it in letters to the press. He sent them four coded messages (cryptograms). Only one of them has been definitively solved — by a high school teacher. In that letter, the killer expressed his joy in killing, calling it “so much fun.” And he claimed that the people he murdered would become his slaves in the afterlife.
Read on for our original list of America’s famous serial killers or leave a comment to tell us about a serial killer we haven’t covered here.
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Update: Please also check out another list of Notorious Serial Killers
Serial killers — you’d be hard-pressed to spot them in a crowd. They look just like everyone else. In fact, most of them are soft-spoken and polite. Their monstrous nature comes through only when you delve deeper into their personalities, actions and habits.
Reading the gruesome tales of serial killers sends a chill up the spine. Most of them seem to have had a dysfunctional family setting and were abused as children — emotionally, sexually or verbally. It’s as if this activates some psychological trigger in their minds, increasing the feelings of inadequacy or worthlessness, and causing them to seek out their own heinous form of release.
There have been hundreds of serial killers in the history of America, and there are a few that tend to stay in the minds of citizens, becoming “famous.”
Here are just a few of the (in)famous serial killers that have walked the streets of our nation, in no particular order. There may be many others that are notorious or have killed more people, but we picked a few of the more famous killers that truly shocked us.
Ed Gein (Killings between 1947 and 1957)
Known as history’s most inspirational killer, his character became a central element in many films, including Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller Psycho and the character of Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, among others.
Modus Operandi
Gein was a serial killer who skinned his victims, exhumed corpses, and decorated his home with parts of his victims’ bodies. Human skin was used to make dust bins, furniture, and even clothes.
Background
Gein was born in 1906 as the younger of two boys. He had a weak alcoholic father and a domineering mother who was deeply religious. He was said to be very attached to her. She taught them about immorality and the evils of women and sex and discouraged their sexual desires. He turned into an effeminate and shy boy.
His father died as a result of his alcoholism and later his brother Henry, who used to criticize his mother about Gein’s unhealthy attachment to her, died in a mysterious fire. The younger boy was later suspected.
Fantasies
With nobody to control him after his mother passed away, Gein became obsessed with sexual fantasies and female anatomy. Fascinated by the human experiments performed in Nazi camps, he started robbing graves to perform experiments of his own, including exhuming his own mother’s body. The experiments became gruesome and cannibalistic. He had the desire to turn himself into a woman and would create breasts out of human skin and drape them over himself. He believed that for a sex change, he would need fresh bodies and thus started his killing spree, which was said to be because of his love-hate relationship with his mother.
House of Horrors
When police finally caught up with him, they found a variety of gruesome sights — hanging corpses with their throats and heads missing, bowls made of skulls, pieces of jewelry made of human skin, hanging lips, skin upholstery for chairs, and masks made of facial skin and vulva (including his mother’s) that were painted silver. The most shocking discovery was perhaps his mother’s heart, which was found in a pan on the stove.
Killings and Sentence
Police counted 15 women as his victims. Gein told the police that he never had sex with any of the dead women as “they smelled too bad.” His fascination with women was because of the power they held over men. Gein was admitted to Waupan State Hospital and died of cancer at the age of 78.
Ted Bundy (Killings between 1974 and 1978)
Ted Bundy proved that even the devil can be attractive. Bundy was one of the most infamous serial killers in American history. He was handsome, charming and cultured, all traits playing a role in his ability to rape and murder numerous young women. He even engaged in necrophilia (sexual attraction or involvement with corpses).
Modus Operandi
Bundy had unique techniques of luring his victims. He would drink alcohol before approaching potential victims, even in a crowd or in broad daylight, and gain their trust by faking an injury with his arm in a fake cast or a sling. He would at times act as a policeman or fire department personnel. After luring victims to his car, he would hit them on their head with a crowbar. He then raped and assaulted them sexually before strangling and mutilating them.
This good looking maniac used to visit the corpses several times at the Taylor Mountain body dump site, apply makeup to them, and sleep with them till they putrefied.
Background
One of the theories says that he started killing people as early as 14 years old. Many of his victims are said to have a physical resemblance to his first girlfriend.
Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell in 1946 in Burlington, Vermont to an unmarried mother of 22. He gets his name from his stepfather. He was made to believe by his grandparents that he was their son and that his mother was actually his sister.
He was a good student, and like most young people devastated when his first love left him. Bundy didn’t deal with the grief as most people do though. He spent years trying to get her back, and when he did he started killing innocent people and then dumped his girlfriend just as she dumped him.
Killings and Sentence
He was executed in 1989 after confessing to 40 murders.
Before his execution, he revealed that his addiction to pornography led him to do what he did. He said that there are many people out there who were addicted and nothing is being done about them.
One of Bundy’s famous quotes – “We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow.”
David Berkowitz – Son of Sam (Killings between 1976 and 1977)
Better known as the Son of Sam or the .44 killer, David Berkowitz is a New York City serial killer who killed six people and wounded many others. His crimes became famous because of his letters to the media and the police, in addition to the reason he committed these crimes.
Reason for Killing
Berkowitz gave an odd reason for killing – he claimed that to keep the demons quiet, he started doing what they wanted. When dogs howled, he started believing that these dogs were demons asking him to kill women. He was convinced that his house owners, Jack and his wife, were part of the demon conspiracy and Jack was the commander in chief of all the dogs.
Later he shifted into another apartment but was still controlled by the demons in his mind. His new neighbor, Sam Carr, had a black Labrador which Berkowitz believed was possessed. He shot the dog. That did not provide any relief as he began believing that Sam Carr was possessed by the biggest demon, and perhaps Satan himself. Each night these demons told Berkowitz to kill and quench their thirst for blood.
He also used to write letters to the police and media, essentially taunting them with details of his killings.
Background
David Berkowitz, born 1953, was an adopted son of a middle class family in the Bronx. Although his parents loved him, Berkowitz carried a lot of anger and guilt inside him as he felt responsible for the death of his natural mother, who he was told died giving birth to him. Experts believe that could be the reason for his aggressive behavior.
He was devastated when his mother died of cancer and his father remarried and relocated to Florida, leaving him behind when he was 18.
Later he found out that his natural mother was alive and that he had a sister. There was a reunion, butit was too late for him by then as he preferred his isolation and delusions.
Killings and Sentence
Berkowitz received a 365 year prison sentence and told the FBI that he invented the “Son of Sam” stories to convince the court that he was out of his mind. He then said the real reason he killed was partly because he hated his mother for leaving him and partly his failure with women. He felt sexually aroused when he killed women, and he killed six of them.
John Wayne Gacy (Killings between 1972 and 1978)
A respected member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, a precinct captain in the local Democratic party, the owner of a contracting business and a performing joker at children’s parties, John Wayne Gacy seemed as normal as they come.
He came to be known as one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history.
Modus Operandi
Gacy lured his victims into handcuffs in the pretext of showing them a pair of trick handcuffs he used in his clown act. He’d then dare the youth to free themselves. Once the boys were handcuffed, he would use either a rope or a board across their throats to kill them while he raped them.
Background
Gacy was born into a blue-collar family in 1942 and had two sisters. His father was an abusive alcoholic who verbally and physically abused his children. Gacy deeply loved his father and strived to please him, but failed.
He had the ability to persuade an manipulate people, likely because of how normal and harmless he seemed on the outside. He later got married and had two kids of his own, but his wife left him when he was arrested for trying to coerce a fellow employee into homosexual acts.
Another thing to note is that he injured his head by falling off a swing when he was 11 years old. He suffered from blackouts until he was 16, and then was diagnosed with a blood clot and the condition was corrected.
Killings and Sentence
When Gacy realized that police were about to arrest him, he surrendered himself. He told them, “There are four Johns” (similar to multiple personalities) — one was a contractor, another a clown, one a politician, and the fourth went by the name Jack Hanley, and he did evil things.
Gacy confessed to more than 24 murders and drew a map to 28 graves under his house and garage. He also said he threw five others into the Des Plaines River.
He was executed with a lethal injection on May 10, 1994. His last meal consisted of fried chicken, Coke, French fries and strawberry shortcake. His last words were, “Kiss my ass.”
Jeffrey Dahmer – Monster (Killings between 1978 and 1991
This Milwaukee serial killer murdered boys of Asian and African descent. His murders were gruesome and involved torture, forced sodomy, dismemberment (removing their limbs), necrophilia, and cannibalism.
He was arrested first when caught fondling a 13-year-old boy in Milwaukee and was sentenced to one year in a work release camp. After serving ten months, he was released on probation for his good behavior. That’s when his killing spree began.
He committed his first murder at the age of 18, shortly after being released, and his first victim was a 19-year-old hitchhiker.
There was a much-talked about story about a 14-year-old boy who almost escaped Dahmer in 1991. He wandered into the streets without clothes, with Dahmer in pursuit. Police believed Dahmer’s story that the boy was 19 years old and was his partner, and took the boy to Dahmer’s house. In spite of noticing a weird smell there, they left without investigating. Soon after, the boy was killed and Dahmer kept his skull as a souvenir.
Background
Dahmer was the son of an analytical chemist, and as a child he had a fascination with dissecting dead animals. By the time he was a teenager, he was an alcoholic and a loner. He dropped out of college and his father forced him to enlist in the Army. After just two years, he was discharged because of his heavy drinking. Since he did not want to face his father, he moved in with his grandmother and lived with her for six years. His grandmother asked him to move out when he was arrested for exposing himself in public.
Killings and Sentence
Dahmer was caught by the police when a would-be victim escaped and alerted them. He was held responsible for 15 murders, sentenced to 15 life terms. Dahmer then expressed remorse and wished death upon himself. He was beaten to death by a fellow inmate and died of severe head trauma.
Gary Ridgway – The Green River Killer (Killings between 1982 and 1984)
“I hate most prostitutes. I did not want to pay them for sex. I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away, and might never be reported missing.” These were the words of one of the worst slayers in American history, who was said to have killed more women than any other serial killer — Gary Ridgway.
The Green River Killer drama unfolds at Aurora Avenue on the banks of the Green River where hundreds of prostitutes hang around, and where on July 15, 1982 the body of a 16-year-old prostitute was found. She was the first victim of the infamous Green River Killer and was raped and strangled to death. He had the habit of finding a landmark and leaving a group of dead bodies in ‘clusters,” to remember easily. Driving by these clusters and remembering them gave him a high.
The killings continued and police couldn’t find a clue, so the “Green River Taskforce” was formed in 1984. The death toll had reached 26 by then.
Ted Bundy’s Help
Another serial killer, Ted Bundy (who was sitting on a death row), offered to assist the police and gave them several clues into the working of a serial killer’s mind until the time he was executed.
Background
Ridgway was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and he had two brothers. He had a domineering mother who constantly yelled at their father and controlled Ted completely, and she was never pleased with what he did. Ridgway’s IQ was 80, which signified a slight mental deficiency. He had a troubled adolescence and stabbed a six-year-old kid when he was 16. He always had an obsession with prostitutes.
He was married for fourteen years and he managed two totally different identities: one the life of a wonderful husband going on romantic vacations, and the other of the infamous serial killer.
Killings and Sentence
The Green River Killer caused mayhem for two and half years during the 1980s. He pleaded guilty to 48 charges in 2003, but claimed to have killed 71 women. A controversial plea bargain he entered into spared him execution in exchange for helping to locate the remains of all of those women by providing details. This created a lot of controversy as many people believed that a person who murdered so many people should not be spared the death sentence.
He was sentenced to 48 life sentences and is currently incarcerated in Washington at the Washington State Penitentiary.
Belle Sorenson Gunness (Killings between 1900 and 1908)
Unlike many other female killers, Gunness didn’t poison her victims — she slaughtered them. She was a 42-year-old Norwegian immigrant who purchased a property in La Porte, Indiana using her first husband’s insurance after his death. Her husband and two of her children were said to have died mysteriously, although she wasn’t suspected. After moving to La Porte with the rest of her children, she married Peter Gunness who died after just nine months. She collected another insurance payment. Over the next few years, other men that came into her life vanished without trace.
She became famous for being a black widow — killing several of her husbands, ranch workers and adopted children.
Modus Operandi
She would place matrimonial ads in newspapers and promised men marital bliss and a life filled with love. Several hopefuls traveled to La Porte carrying their life savings with them. She would then drug them and cut them up as she cut her hogs. She would then wrap them up with oilskin and bury them at her farm.
A letter she wrote reads – “My heart beats in wild rapture for you, My Andrew, I love you. Come prepared to stay forever.”
Background
There are various accounts of her background. She was said to be one of eight children and was born in Stoersetgjerdet in Norway. One story goes that she got pregnant with a man and he kicked her in her stomach in public causing her to lose her child. He disappeared soon after. According to her sister, Belle was said to be crazy for money.
Missing Mysteriously
In 1908, Gunness’ farmhouse caught fire and burned to the ground. When it was put out, the remains of several people were discovered — men, children, and even a woman. The children were identified as hers. The woman was assumed to be Gunness herself, although there was no head. It was thought she died in that fire.
Many butchered bodies were found around her property, carved like turkeys. The heads were cut off, arms removed, and legs sawed off at the thigh.
Despite the assumption that she died, her ranch hand and lover, Lamphere, claimed that he helped Belle fake her own death and run away when he was arrested. Officially, she was presumed dead.
She was said to have killed 49 people.
Charles Manson (Killings in 1969)
Called the “most dangerous man” and the “devil,” Charles Manson was the terror of the 60s.
Background
He was born in 1934 to a 16-year-old mother who was a troublemaker. She left him with his aunt or grandmother most of the time. She was arrested on armed robbery charges and sent to a penitentiary, leaving Manson to live with his aunt and uncle. Even after she was released, his mother didn’t want the responsibility of looking after him. She was even willing to trade him for a drink. His father was never in the scene from his birth.
Manson turned out to be a troublemaker himself, and he was sent to a reform school at the age of nine. By the time he was 26, he was charged with rape, drug charges, stealing, pimping, and more.
He was religious and used this to manipulate people into following him. When he was 34, he formed the “Charles Manson Family” by attracting a group of followers — mostly young women with troubled pasts. He used amphetamines to alter their personalities and they started calling him “Jesus Christ” and did everything he wanted, including physical favors.
He was a music lover who believed that the “Beatles’” were prophets sent to earth to warn of an upcoming revolution. Manson focused on an Armageddon, where the blacks would rise to power and kill all whites and the Manson family would be the only white family living. He felt the blacks wouldn’t be able to stay in power because of an inferiority complex and that the Manson family would then rule the world.
When this did not happen, he started having people killed by his “family” members.
Killings and Sentence
His first murder was that of Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski. The next was the LaBianca family. He was sentenced to death but later reduced to life imprisonment, when California Supreme Court eliminated death penalties temporarily. He is currently an inmate at Corcoran State Prison.
Albert Fish (Killings between 1919 and 1930)
Albert Fish may have been America’s most vile pedophile, serial killer, and cannibal. He is known by many names — Gray Man, Brooklyn Vampire, The Boogeyman, and the Werewolf of Wysteria. He was a gentle-looking and benevolent grandfather, a total contrast to the monster within him. His wife considered him a wonderful husband and his children believed he was a model father. Some of his crimes seem unbelievable.
Background
Hamy Fish (his birth name) was born in Washington D.C. as the youngest of four children. Several of his family members had mental health problems. After his father’s death, he was put in an orphanage by his mother and he was whipped at the orphanage frequently. That’s said to be when he began to realize that he enjoyed physical pain and felt aroused by it. Then he entered into homosexual relationships at the age of 12 and was introduced to other perverse practices of drinking urine and coprophagia. His weekends were spent visiting public baths to watch boys undress. This led to male prostitution, which continued even after his marriage and the births of his six children.
Turning into a Psycho-Masochist
He also developed an unusual interest in castration and visited brothels where he got himself whipped and beaten. He pushed needles into his body, including his genitalia. X-rays later revealed a total of 27 needles inside him.
It was at the age of 55 that he started experiencing hallucinations. He believed God ordered him to castrate young boys. This was diagnosed as religious psychosis and is what led to the several mutilations and murders he committed.
Killings and Sentence
Although he was a suspect in five killings, he stated that he “had” around 100 children in all states. Nobody knew whether he was talking about cannibalization or molestation. He was executed on an electric chair.
Herman Webster Mudgett – Dr. Holmes (Killings between 1893 and 1895)
Mudgett’s criminal career started as a medical student who stole corpses from the University of Michigan. He used those corpses to collect insurance money on policies taken under fictitious names. He then started a drug store empire and constructed a huge hundred-room mansion with trap doors, lime pits, fake walls, acid vats, and secret entrances.
Modus Operandi
He would rent rooms to visitors and then try and collect the insurance when they were killed there. He also used to lure women to his “torture castle,” promising marriage. He would then throw them down the elevator shaft and gas them to death. But before he did that he would force them to sign all their life savings over to him.
Background
Herman was born in New Hampshire and his father was very strict, often bullying his son. He had a well-known fear of the local doctor’s office and because of this other students in his school would often force him to touch human skeletons. What was meant to be a scare turned out to be a fascination, which led to him stealing corpses while in medical school.
He started using the name “H.H. Holmes” after moving to Chicago and got engaged in a lot of shady activities. He is also a bigamist, married a second time and a third time while still married to the first wife. He was known to be a charmer and a ladies’ man.
Killings
His huge castle with secret passages had a drugstore and other shops on the ground floor and the upper areas were used as his office. There were more than a hundred rooms without windows, and there were doorways that opened into brick walls. There were also stairways to nowhere, doors that could not be opened from the inside and several other such oddities. This was to become his killing den.
It was here that the killing spree sprouted over a period of three horrible years. Female victims were mostly his employees who were required to take a life insurance policy where Holmes would pay the premiums. Soundproof rooms with gas lines fitted in were used to kill people. These victims were asphyxiated and their screams went unnoticed as they suffocated. There was a chute that took the bodies to the basement, where some bodies were dissected, flesh removed and turned into skeletal models. He sold these skeletons and other organs to medical schools.He also performed illegal abortions in the castle and many of his patients died.
Sentence
Eventually police grew suspicious about the activities in the castle and when he knew he was getting caught, he burnt the castle and vanished. Remains of more than two hundred people were found in the charred debris. He was later caught and hanged.
Coral Eugene Watts – (Killings between 1974 and 1982)
Watts was the first known serial killer in the nation’s history to have legally acquired immunity, and at one point it even looked as if he would be released in 2006 in spite of having committed between 80-100 murders. When a detective said that he did not have enough fingers and toes to count all the murders he committed, Watts replied that there were not enough fingers and toes in the room. (There were four men in the room.)
Usually serial killers are said to kill people of their own race. However Watts, who was an African American, killed whites mostly.
He admitted to killing females because he saw evil in their eyes. He drowned women in a bathtub in order to prevent their spirits from escaping.
He was not caught for many years because he killed in different jurisdictions and different states. DNA tests also didn’t prove anything because he did not dally with his victims, unlike other serial killers.
Modus Operandi
Watts would drive a couple of hours to commit his murders. He stalked women in his car, would park ahead of them, get out of the car, and then approach them. He killed females between the ages of 14 and 34 by strangulation, drowning, and stabbing. Occasionally he also used tools and other metal objects.
He started killing at the age of 20 but did not rape them, and some of his murders occurred without him even touching the women. For him, the thrill came from the hunt and attack.
Background
Watts’ parents divorced when he was two and he lived with his mother and step-father. He was said to act weird when he was a kid. He was never good at academics but excelled in boxing.
He started having morbid dreams when he was 12, always revolving around killing women. In his dreams, he would punch their evil spirits and he usually fell off his bed. When asked by psychiatrists later whether these dreams disturbed him, he said, “No, I feel better after having them.”
These dreams slowly turned into reality when he started watching, stalking, and looking into the eyes of women to find evil. By the age of 15, he began hitting and choking them. Ultimately it wasn’t enough for him to hurt those women — he had to kill them.
Killings and Sentence
Due to lack of evidence of murder, a plea bargain granted immunity from murder if he confessed to his murders and gave details. Due to this and his good behavior, Watts could have been released in 2006. However, after Watts confessed to about 80 murders, the Michigan authorities refused to go in with the deal and got witnesses to come out and speak about a couple of murders. Watts was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, he died of prostate cancer in 2007.
Richard Angelo (Killings between April 1987 and October 1987)
Angelo was a killer with a different mindset from all others. He made the entire nation scared of hospitals. The desire to be a hero in others’ eyes made him a monster. He was 26 when he went to work at the Good Samaritan Hospital on Long Island in New York. He was a former Eagle Scout and always tried to do good things and help others.
His inability to achieve the level of praise he always desired made him a dangerous serial killer of a totally different kind.
Modus Operandi
He took advantage of the graveyard shift at the hospital to satisfy his desires. He would inject Pavulon and Anectine into patients and bring them to a near-death states. He would tell them that he was giving them drugs that would make them feel better. After injecting these drugs, the patients begin feeling numb and their breathing became constricted. They also lost their ability to communicate with the doctors and nurses. Then he would show his heroism by helping to save his victims, impressing everyone in the hospital.
Death came upon many of these patients as he was unable to intervene and save them from his deadly injections.
Background
Angelo was a former boy scout and always wanted to be a hero. He was said to crave for attention from his parents and everyone else around him.
Killings and Sentence
He is said to have killed 25 people and was caught when one of his victims managed to use the call button for assistance after being injected. One of the nurses then took his urine sample and the test proved positive for the drugs, Anectine and Pavulon, which had not been prescribed by the doctors. All the bodies of suspected victims were tested and found positive for drugs.
Angelo confessed and said, “I had no confidence in myself. I felt very inadequate.”
He was charged for second-degree murder on multiple counts and sentenced to 61 years to life imprisonment. He is currently in the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York.
Andrew Cunanan (Killings between April 1997 and July 1997)
Andrew Phillip Cunanan, a soft-spoken intellect who had a flair for languages and discussing world affairs, was a handsome, lavish and boastful young man who associated himself only with the social elite. He earned many dubious distinctions. One was for killing the famous fashion designer, Gianni Versace, and the other is being listed by the FBI on their Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was the first person from San Diego to get onto the “prestigious” list.
Modus Operandi
There was no modus operandi discovered for Cunanan. In the beginning he killed his former lovers who he felt were having an affair behind his back. The others that were killed may also have had connections with him, but nobody knows for sure. They were killed differently and with different weapons.
Background
Cunanan was born in National City, California and was a homosexual since high school. He was known for his erratic ways. He graduated in 1987. He was also rumored to be a lover to older and wealthy gay men. His mother called him a “high-class homosexual prostitute.” However his father denied his homosexuality, calling him “an altar boy” who has a good Catholic upbringing.
It is said that in homosexual circles, once a person crosses mid-20s he is considered old. When Andrew turned 28, he was deserted by his wealthy lovers. He was left to pay off credit cards which exceeded limits, and this left him broke. He stopped taking care of his usually very trendy appearance and gained a lot of weight.
At this point another emotion reared its ugly head — jealousy. He spotted two of his young lovers seeing each other behind his back. Another thing that bothered him was the fact that both of them had reached great heights professionally while he remained stagnant.
The jealousy grew to such an extent that he eventually went to visit them, killing both of them just days apart from each other, beginning his life as a serial killer.
Killings and Sentence
One of his victims was Gianni Versace, the Italian designer. The FBI found Andrew, as he left his name signed on the pavement in front of Gianni’s house. The FBI felt that it was his way of trying to get attention, saying “Look at me. I’m the one that did this.”
He led authorities on a massive manhunt for his killings. He killed himself eight days after killing Gianni Versace. He shot himself to avoid capture.
Conclusion
What you have witnessed here is just a fragment of the world of savage and sadistic minds who have transformed this act of murder from a monstrous anomaly into an everyday horror. These mythic monsters capture the attention of the entire nation and end up as terrifying household names.
Looking into the psyche of a serial killer, doctors say that every individual develops positive attitude towards life and people in their early years, and this attitude is rendered negative with abuse — physical and emotional. That abuse can also come in the form of refusal to acknowledge the boundaries of an individual through excessive expectations, possessiveness, and doting, all of which are as abusive as incest or beatings.
Researchers attempting to understand how fantasies warp the serial killer’s mind say that bizarre fantasies thrive in isolation and eventually the killers feel the need to live them out. They dwell on the murder act for days before committing it, completely caught up in their fantasy. But they find that even murder never fulfills the fantasy completely, and this leads to the serial nature of their crime — always looking for satisfaction they never actually find. Many of these serial killers also keep souvenirs of their crime which helps refuel the fantasy.
1. Jack the ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, Sweeney Todd are all english NOT american which is probably why they don’t feature in the list
2. LIkewise Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hirohito, Bin Laden and Saddam were not american either and also not serial killers, genocidal maniacs and dictators maybe, but not serial killers.
3. @Rick – Let us know your feelings on Jesus King of the jews?
4. @Rick – Are you a redneck married to your own sister?
5. @Rick – one final thing, Hitler was not a jew, please do the tiniest bit of research before you comment as you just come across ever so slightly craaazy. The war was not a jewish media cover up you lunatic.
6. @Juliette – You are one crazy mixed up lady, what are your reasons for your hatred of homosexuals and black people? I have a very dear friend who is a big ole homo and he definitely doesnt want to be a woman, its my experience that every gal could use a gay best friend for general merriment and fun times, you should try it, it might help you lighten up and stop hating the world.
On a final note I speak on behalf of the UK and the rest of the world when I say I know America is only young but please research your history and stop stealing everyone elses.
P.S kudos to all the sane people who have commented on this site (obv not including Crazy Jules and Redneck Rick) sadly i think our time is wasted in trying to change the opinions of these small minded individuals and would be better spent in pitying them and maybe a wee bit of ridiculing x
DAMN I FORGOT THE LAST TIME I LEFT A COMMENT =P…I STILL LOVE THIS PAGE!!!
I FOUND MY LAST COMMENT =D….698!!!!!!!!!
BEANER [L] LOL
Obviously were all messed in the head since we are looking up serial killers…..please tell me that’s normal for someone to do. And I dont care anymore see ya!
Thanks 🙂
THAT IS SO SCARY!
hey thats nice and quite interesting article anyways…. but how come Richard Ramirezs, the night stalker is not been included?
Impressive article or shall I say full website which filled in an article perfectly. It’s the longest article I read from along time. Bookmarked & Shared.
england-ftw
I think i love you.
ok…. I have read most of all these comments here, and noway at all am I justifying someone who kills, but there is always some kind of trigger that sets these people off, there is always someone who notices that the person is acting out of the norm but chooses to brush it off…there is no excuse at all for a killer, but there is apparently some kind of emotional disturbance that has occured and makes them “lose it”. You have to look at most of these SK’s and see the past history, there was always some kind of dramatic childhood, something that was not normal. People are not born SK’s, its a learned behavior, people are turned into them. Remmeber at one point these people “were” normal, and then they went nuts and took innocent lives, but the question is why, why did it get that far, nobody noticed a change? nobody noticed that that SK was a child being abused? nobody seeked out medical help for these individuals? As i said i am not defending the acts that they chose to do, but i blame the people that were around them for not getting the help when it was needed, i blame the parents of these killers that abused them, and i blame the government for allowing it to continue.
XxChristinaxX I’m with you all the way on that one!
@chivers
Why thank you 🙂 I just say it as I see it. Am very much looking forward to Rick and Juliettes replies
i fully agree with you xxchristinaxx. something had to have made these people go crazy. the only ones that know the answer to that question though would be the sks themselves im sure that we will never know the true answer but i really wish i knew what was going on inside their heads that made them so twisted in the first place. i do believe that they are possed by demons. there is definitely no other explanation
I have to say….
The most entertaining thing on this site was not the article (though well done to whomever took the time out to write it).
It was reading the comments.
It was quite enjoyable to see people argue over ridiculous things that had nothing to do with this article. People get so worked up over each others opinions and thoughts [especially politics].
Many people are so set on their own opinion & point of view, they don’t try to see it from another perspective. Or they simply can’t just agree to disagree.
It was even more hilarious when certain people would try to come back to attack others opinions and sound intelligent, yet cannot work their spell check [apparently].
omg these guys r crazy how can u kill a child the guys r gonna burn in hell!!!!!!
i can never ever understand how a person can kill someone
What about The Night Stalker? Or The sunday morning slasher or whatever his name was
This left out a bunch of good ones.
Like Edmund Kemper
He was kinda hot
i had to do a essay on him at my high school social studies class
killed six coeds in Santa Cruz, ate some of their flesh, raped them repetedly and threw their heads in a ravine
he also killed his mum, and his paternal grandparents….
whats not to like?
all you sick people who admire serial killers really need some help and could everyone please quit talking about bush and mentioning things so unrealted to the post
I have read each artical and never in my life will i understand how these people could kill the innocent.These killers will burn in hell, and i believe that all of them should have been sentenced to death.Or even tourtured the way the tourtured those poor innocent people.They should feel the pain they caused those people and the pain that their families had to suffer.
I hope they are killed the same way they killed the victims (or maybe even more) … See them rot in hell …
Maybe .. just maybe … one or more of those serial killers read all of this …
It amazes me how sick these people really are. I dont understand there disgusting behavior. It scares to death to even think about what other menaces could be here in this world so im telling you all please…………BEWARE~!!!!!
all the comments got me laffin’ >>> Juliette’s comments were pure comedy >>> Ricks comments :/ …. got me thinkin… >>> anyway, the article was nice & informative >>> the comments were simply hilarious. lol
This note is mainly directed to popsugar….we who comment on this website can’t be that sick…in the first place, were just stating our opinion, second why would you really care if we admire serial killers and third, why does it bother you so much if we talk about bush and mentioning things so unrealted to the post…..I know your allowed your opinion about us but why judge us based on our opinion if you don’t know us ???
i wanna be a serial killer in the future but i wanna kill all rapist and child molesters im going to do what people all over the world wish they could do im killing for the bettering for mankind :} anyone wit me lol so serious
I agree [Future Serial Killer]. Anyone who has killed or abused, etc. anyone deserves to get back what they’ve done to others.
Lol at future seri killer. Get you own idea, stealing from boondock saints is sad
…. or from the tv show Dexter. Makes more sense than the boondock saints (which is an incredible movie)
future serial killer i am totally with you…..i think serial killers should die the way they killed there victums and if they killed more then over like 10 people they should die a very slow very slow and painful death ao that they can feel what there victums felt as they killed them……
You people are just plain sick!!!! If you think inside your head, that any of these horrible acts that these demented sociopaths have done, are cool or ok, that makes you a twisted, pathetic excuse of a human being!!!! The only thing that would set you apart from these sickos, is the simple fact that you have yet to commit a murder, and so far cannot be in the same classification, as these serial killers by law. You are only fooling yourself, if you think you are better then them! If you are thinking and fantasizing about murder, you are peice of shit, just like the rest of them !!!
You all seriously need to talk to a shrink!!! Get a life!!!!
lol you needeth to chill, justin.
I strongly admire the bravery and courage that it takes to commit these wondeful acts of passion.
The reality is these people wanted to do something different with their lives and they achieved notoriety and success in doing so.
Anyone who believes they have never wanted to kill someone (the school bully/the milkman/the homeless beggar on the strret) is lying.
Nah I’m just kidding I deplore these acts of wanton violence and in my opinion if you kill you should be killed. Life is about balances and if a life is taken by you I believe you are thus rescinding your right to life.
Good Day
dennis rader is the best of them all. rader is a hero and should be set free
Eugene Watts must be on the top due to his other violent acts in state.
Thank you for this! It’s great to see that you’re using proper grammar.
I STILL HAVE THIS BOOKMARKED
I think all the comments thrown to this post deserve a site (argument site). Yes, people enjoy reading and replying comments (in a weird, childish, and moronic way).
Is this list only half done? How could you leave off DeSalvo?
When you really think about it, I’ve probably seen so many serial killers that I can’t count. Maybe only a few, but still…
By the way, why are you people talking about politics when it’s actually an issue??? It actually pretty funny to see how adults have so low of maturity! lol
i agree with you.the comments went too far from the article itself:)
Some adults, anyways… 🙂
All men, at some point have had the urge to kill. such is undeniable. serial killers are those who simply act on such urges. Oh, and also, sentencing these serial killers to death is truly such a waist because there is so much to learn about the human psyci from these people who are simply just all to human.
Rick
Are you still going on about this bollocks????
charlesmanson/
THESE MURDERERS AND EVERY OTHER ONE THAT IS OUT THERE DESERVES THE DEATH PENALTY~!!!!!!!!
i think killres need to stop being a baby and killing people they are mad at or dont like.they need to grow up andact like a normal person.
dennis rader is the f-in man. btk best killer ever
Uh, what about Henry Lee Lucas?
hes a lunatic
that is so fffffffffffffffffffffffffed
Ed Gein is probably the most horrific, sychopath av read about. He must have had a really bad childhood. i mean, cannibalism, skinning his victims and using their skin an body parts as ornaments and decoration.How do you do that????????!!!!!!I mean his mum’s heart was found on a pan in his kitchen.this guy neither had a brain nor a heart. Ted Bundy on the other hand Had the brains,the looks & the heart(which got broken after he got rejected by the woman he loved).Never the less he slept with corpses.Ted…just had a loose nut samwea in his brain killers like gein on the other hand just din’t have the nut.Anyone know any other serial killer worse than Gein?Pliz tell.
Talking of sychopaths, thez 1 heard of in Kenya called Onyancha. I think his inspiration was vampires, Coz he killed his victims (mostly women) and then drunk their blood.Talk of creepy.Why is it that most victims are youthful ladies?Anyway, you can’t understand the mind of a killer.
Dear DirJournal, it seems that you are in dire need of an editor! This post is insanely popular yet it is filled with many errors and typos. If you would like to become a legitimate source, find an editor for your posts!
I took a quick look over the first few sections, and all that jumped out at me were sentences that seemed to start in the middle. That was a formatting issue on the site with images, where some text is pushed to the side of the image, and below it the rest of the sentence appears to float on its own. The site owner was made aware of the problem, and he said to mention that the site will actually be getting a new design in a month or so. At that point hopefully the problems won’t persist, regardless of the image sizes used by each other. If there’s something else, please do let us know. With an article of this size, it’s quite possible that things were missed even on multiple read-throughs. But specifics would allow us to look into them and correct them.
Adam is fncking hilarious! 😀 The only one who could stay light-hearted this whole page of comments. My personal favorite is Charles Albright. It would be Gein, but he’s not techincally a serial killer. 😐 And Rader was an idiot. He shouldn’t have believed the police when they told him his floppy disk couldn’t be traced. Dumbest move ever.
rader wanted to tell his story, he really didnt care if he got caught at that point
hi! how yall dooooooooin???
Serial Killers are nothing new, has anyone noticed the correlations between many of the above cases and Jack The Ripper, They all are simular on some level. And whom ever spoke of a vampire like killer in Africa, that is not the first, Vlad the impaler whom the Dracula legend is based off of was a vile man, he ate his meals among the impaled bodies and was rumored to drink their blood. A Countess Elizabeth Bathory Killed Hundreds of not thousands of young girls and bathed in their blood believing it would keep her young, she even went as far to murder other nobilities daughters before anything was truly done about it and even then she was walled in to a tower of her castle by herself to suffer, when she should have been hanged or burned at the stake in my opinion. True evil though it clearly exists is rare, but you can see it in the eyes of these men and the woman, look into history enough and you will find the evil that some people can only imagine exists.
if u do not like how amercia is run then a get out b take over c shut up and wait till some new is in office but u act like soliders that have given theyre lives just so u can say this stuff are nutthin speaking about the war and the presd u forget theyre ppl that have to lay down theyre lives just so u have the right to go get a coffe or to take a shit when u want to
We have to admit that these serial killers are geniuses! Especially Dr. H.H. Holmes. I recomment the book The Devil In the White City- it’s about him.
who ever knew that ppl can be such monsters (no offense)? but i guess its what God decides, isn’t it?
these men are so crazy , now do i have to be scared for my cousins who they’re parents are divorced ? it’s just so freakishly scary ’cause u never know who’s gonna go on that killing spree , and what makes me think about it even more is how could they ?? that’s why i wanna study psychology i wanna know how they had the heart or even the thought of doing that and what the hell with Herman Webster it’s bad enough to face your murderer but to terrorize them like that ? i think that feeling the fear it self is way way harder than dying , at least i’m happy we never had a serial killer in my country or any pace near us
i could of swore this was suppose to be about sk and not war and religion! everybody has theyre own opinons why argue nobodys gonna win! lol
why would you do this? i’m writing about serial killers and im trying to know what they think and why they would do something like this to me its stupied but why tell me all you can.
I’m sorry to tell you this, but I think you will never be sure WHY they do this exactly unless you are the serial killer.
Johnny – first of all, it’s the right to bear arms, not the right to bare arms. That would imply that our constitution gives us the right to wear tank tops (which I think is implied in many of the amendments, but not that one). Second, with regard to our to bear arms…I don’t think what our forefathers had in mind when they wrote that was a semi-automatic with a detachable magazine and a pistol grip. To imply otherwise would be a VERY Laissez-faire interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.
I find it weird that hey always search for motives and reason in their family history.
It seems like the try to indirectly say ‘ if you come from this kind of family; kill yourself or become a killer’.
Does it truly have that much of an immense effect?
(where are the wonder stories of people growing up in broken homes but making it big and being ‘normal’ so to speak)
Although i do believe that it must have a some effect on some-ones mental stability, i think we must not forget that ‘to kill’ is one of the most primitive instincts we have.
Just as the ‘instinct to survive, eat,drink,sleep,and reproduce (i realize not all that has been named here fit the description of being an instinct, but you get my point).
This may sound wrong but, I’m beginning to think that human beings ‘need’ a certain amount of violence in their life, the ‘violence’ i’m talking about is the violence/adrenalin we once got from killing animals for food or just fighting for our survival , as our earliest humans did.
Instead we do things for ‘kicks’ in search for adrenalin. This lack, translates in a variety of ways; from good ones (amusement parks roller-coasters, action/horror movies and series, video games, extreme or regular sports,etc.) to ‘less’ good ones so to speak aka. really bad ones . (aggressively, meaningless violence, murder, etc.)
That’s my view on it anyway, although i may see it more in a philosophical kind of way then anything else.
Also i saw there was a whole conversation about Bush vs. HItler and about how Bush should or should not be included in this list?
I do not think of bush as much a ‘serial killer’ as i do as a mass murderer.
Because, as the term for it explains, the action of a serial killer happens in series. One killing at a time.(at least, that’s the impression i have from reading this article)
Serial killers are in direct contact with their victims before they die. So to some extent they realize what they are doing or what they are about to do, Mass murderers do not. Best given example of this is ‘course Hitler. He has sentenced millions of people to camps and gas chambers. But I highly doubt he has ever had direct contact with any of his victims, he had his soldiers for the heavy lifting. There’s no confrontation with murder nor death, so it’s impossible for them to truly realize what they have done.
As clarification; i do NOT label ex-president bush as being this but, if i would be forced to chose between him being a serial killer or a mass murderer i would surely choose the latter.
mainly because there are allot of similarities, soo much so it’s even scary.
(compare it with how hitler started the whole mess off world war II
First;
Take over the country when it’s spirit’s low
Germany; big economic breakdown
US; 9/11
Second;
‘inspirational’ speeches
Promises and vows
Third;
Take action
Fourth;
Rethink your reasoning
Germany; first wasn’t planning to attack russia afterwards did.
US; After finding out that they weren’t in possession of nuclear weapons, SUDDENLY it’s about saving the people in oppression (how about Oil?huh?)
Fifth;
The house of cards begins to tumble down/Aftermath.
Germany; The failed take over of russia and france , The resistance successfully fighting back and finding the corpses from the chambers.
Us; The discovery that there was personal history between Bush and Bin laden (who used to even work for the US… fishy isn’t it.) but even more so the leaked pictures of ”””barbaric””’ Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by so-called ”””decent””’ citizens.
(Let me give you a hint; if you want to seen as civilized country, truly be it; do not justify it when you do it but vilify it when someone else does it. We call these people hypocrites)
But of course these stages are impossible to get to without “The goal of the greater good”. Here being Saddam, Terrorism and the so-called ‘proof’ that iraq would be in possession of nuclear missiles/weapons.
Obviously the best reason out of the three are terrorism and the nuclear bomb threat, which they realized they didn’t have AFTER invading the country and slaughtering some people. (talk about having a bad intelligence unit.)
And as terrorism goes, it’s un acceptable. but just invading a country, bombing it until it’s flat and assuming that everyone who’s wearing a veil is part of a terrorist organization; is a load of bull. as far as the media tells us they were all terrorists.
But honestly, what do we KNOW?
Only what they TELL us.
It might be true it might be false, but as far as we know they just covered up a man slaughter in the name of so-called ‘justice’.
Much like the germans didn’t know about the jews being killed in world war II.
I am not proclaiming facts just a state of mind.
Where i have come to believe that, in the society where’s everything has to be ‘transparent’, everything’s getting more and more covered up.
We as ‘the people’ who choose rulers and supposedly have power over own ‘future’ because of that role.
DO NOT however have the power to exactly know what these chosen rulers are doing and why. Although they can tap our phone and see us on security camera’s out of mere suspicion without a slight proof.
Instead we get sugar coated speeches and closed doors.. heroic tales of soldiers risking their lives, while the true intention of why those brave soldiers did such things are still in the dark.
I do not condemn the soldiers who fought in the war. they have fought for what they believe, for their country. They’ve seen horror; they have lost friends,family and loved ones. I just wonder if the reasons they were given, were the true intentions of their leaders..
It wouldn’t have been the first time that a country used the good faith of their people for evil intentions (again. look at World war II, mainly Germany.)
But those born in iraq who didn’t have anything to do with Saddam’s regime or with terrorism ALSO saw horror and have also lost friends,family and loved ones.
Yet, they STILL wake up and go to work with tanks settled next to their workspace supposed to provide them with protection (but honestly when i see a tank, it fills me with fear NOT with a feeling of safety). Their children still go to school while passing armed soldiers on their way to school (is that a sight you would want YOUR children to witness every passing day? I highly doubt it).
Maybe that’s just me. But that’s doesn’t ‘seem’ an pleasant/normal environment at all.
In many ways the war of The US in Iraq has allot of similarities with Hitlers idea to take over europe. Allot of european countries who had been taken over by hitler’s regime lived in this situation during the war. Some places more violent than the other.
But i’m realistic. I realize that, because there’s a new establishment of ‘order’ and ‘law’. There is a certain ‘need’ for this display of power. Partly, because ;with changes comes conflicts between people but mostly. Because of the difference between cultures and more importantly language.
I strongly believe that a big reason why soo many civilians were killed in this war is because of lack of communication between the parties so to speak.
If the reason for invading a country is TRULY because you want to save the people from the tyranny of their leader and his supposed connection with terrorism and nuclear weapons , you would have the intelligence to have EVERY soldier learn the language BEFORE sending them out. Not just one or two every x soldiers. It would have benefitted not only the iraqi but also the soldiers in terms of truly finding those ‘terrorists’.
Instead they went back to the colonization period.
Marching in with false pretenses of ‘civilization’, even salvation and creating huge chaos,distress,fear and death instead.
What i find most disturbing about this war. Is the lack of transparency of it all, we receive shallow news coverages, which are clearly one-sided with the US.
How is that in depth ?
We do not know there sources, and who knows, maybe they even lie about that and the supposed sources don’t even know about it (and how could they? they live in iraq and i highly doubt that the whole of iraq has; A. a TV, B. BBC or any other american tv chanel or C. understand english.)
But in the end; i do not know all the political mazes these world leaders get projected into.
All i do know is. We’re blind to it all yet, we call the shots every 4 years 😛 (and for some reason that just makes no sense)
EW..!!
These are some very smart but also very stupid serial killers. They are sickening.
Ha I love serial killers killers 🙂
I don’t think you should say ” LOVE”. It is different to say you find the topic interesting. Loving serial killers is as good as being the killer itself.
Gary Ridgway I think scares me the most him or Jeffrey
For over two years this thread has been comprised of questionable politics, bad spelling, and even worse historical analogies. Bush this, Obama that, Canada here, 9/11 there. Wow. I get on here to read about serial killers and 8 posts into the conversation in September of 2008 some guy manages to divert your attention from a fairly intriguing conversation on ASPD. But no, that’s not good enough. We had to compare somebody to Hitler. Anyone who disagrees with you is Hitler. Awesome. I thought the guy was dead, but apparently he’s alive and well and lived/lives in the White House, depending on who you ask. Better catch his State of the Union Address tomorrow night. Sure to be full of hate-speech and promises of world domination.
Gosh. And I thought the article was full of crazy people.
On that note, check out Albert Fish’s wiki page, particularly the letters he wrote to his victim’s families. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Fish
Ok, Ridgway and Jeffery are not half as bad as Albert Fish or Ed Gein. Ed Gein made a woman suit, he had a belt made entirely of legitimate nipples that were sewn together. Gein would eat soup out of a human skull. Below, is a letter that Albert Fish sent to Grace Budd’s parents, his most famous crime was killing Grace Budd.
[“My Dear Mrs. Budd,
In 1894 a friend of mine shipped as a deck hand on the steamer Tacoma, Captain John Davis. They sailed from San Francisco for Hong Kong, China. On arriving there he and two others went ashore and got drunk. When they returned the boat was gone. At that time there was a famine in China. Meat of any kind was from $1-3 dollars a pound. So great was the suffering among the very poor that all the children under 12 were sold to the butchers to be cut up and sold for food in order to keep others from starving. A boy or girl under 14 was not safe in the street. You could got to any shop and ask for steak-chops or stew meat. Part of the naked body of a boy or a girl would be brought out and just what you wanted cut from it. A boy or girl’s behind which is the sweetest part of the body and sold as veal cutlet brought the highest price. John staid there so long he acquired a taste for human flesh. On his return to N.Y. he sold two boys one 7 and one 11. Took them to his home stripped them naked tied them in a closet. Then burned everything they had on. Several times every day and night he spanked them — tortured them — to make their meat good and tender. First he killed the 11 year old boy, because he had the fattest a*s and of course the most meat on it. Every part of his body was cooked an eaten except head – bones and guts. He was roasted in the oven (all of his a*s), boiled, broiled, fried, stewed. The little boy was next, went the same way. At that time I was living at 409 E. 100 St. near — right side. He told me so often how good human flesh was I made up my mind to taste it. On Sunday June the 3 — 1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese — strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her. On the pretense of taking her to a party. You said Yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wildflowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. When all was ready I went to the window and called her. Then I hid in the closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down stairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mamma. First I stripped her naked. How did she kick — bite and scratch. I choked her to death, then cut her in small pieces so I could take the meat to my rooms. Cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little a*s was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did NOT fu*k her tho I could have had I wished. She died a VIRGIN.”]
So clearly that man had some EXTREME issues, as a child he would get erections from beatings. I know a lot about this stuff, I’m not just another pretty face lol. If anyone wants to challenge me, just email me.
[email protected]
I just wanted to say that the more I read here, the sicker I got to my stomach. I am doing an essay for my Comp 2 class on violent or cruel acts, and I chose to base my essay on sociopaths…I think I might reconsider, I am not sure if I can handle reading this type of stuff…I know not everything is butterflies and roses but that doesn’t mean I want to purposefully subject myself to this. I just have such a hard time trying to comprehend how people can hurt others and not even care about it, I just can’t. This is an excellent article very good job with it, it was very informative.
hello,
i love this article.
that is all.
x
<3
yo this is some cool stuff i personally think there was not enough information on this site about each serial killer . also personally Albert Fish is the sickest most tormenting person on here and that is cool but hey i like to learn about death
uhm,well im 13 at taft elementary school and im in 8th ,,,,and we are doin a research project and i decided to do serial killers so if you kno any websites or good serial killerz ta look uhp ,,,commnet on dhizzs ,,,,,,thanxx
no 8th grader should talk like this and being so young, this isnt a site for you to be on.
I think that even if you are young you can be on this site as long as you manage to keep your fears away and just see the information as something interesting. However, I do respect your thoughts, though I know that you are trying to help and not hurt anyone’s feelings.
david parker ray was the worst of the worst. however dennis rader is the best of the best. btk is a hero and all pay respect to rader as he is the awesomeist serial killer ever. he had a whole city scared as hell for over 20 years as he trolled stalked and killed at his leisure while being respected by those who he had living in fear of him. all his victims coulda changed their fate by resisting but he was in control of all of his pathetic victims. dennis rader is the man and they should let him free for being the hero that he is.
this website left out alot from what i know there was 32 just after the 1880s when fish had his reign
horrible. !!!
Being a psychology major myself I really have to say something. Someone criticized someone else for not knowing the definition of Antisocial Personality Disorder and they gave a definition of psychopathy instead!
Think about the name ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER…Does this sound like someone that blends into society? Here is a definition from the DSM-IV-TR which is “the bible” for psychologists in terms of defining psychological disorder…
Antisocial personality disorder (APD) =
A. There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:
failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
reckless disregard for safety of self or others
consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.
B. The individual is at least age 18 years.
C. There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years.
D. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or a manic episode.
Psychopaths on the other hand are usually organized, usually above average intelligence, they can mask their emotions well, and they lack empathy for others.They are charming and well liked. As someone else mentioned, Bundy is clearly a psychopath. Contrary to popular belief not all psychopaths are killers in fact, most are harmless. The very few that are killers are infamous and movies like to portray killers as psychos so the public tends to view them this way. In reality, there are lots of harmless psychopaths that live among us. Many of these people can end up as successful CEO’s of companies because of their talents (intelligence, charm, likability) and their lack of empathy allows them to climb the corporate ladder easily since they are unconcerned with the feelings of others. In fact, most psychopaths commit white collar crimes and embezzle large amounts of money from the companies they manage, etc.
Also homicides only make up about 0.5% of crime so they are very RARE events.
OMG too many comments!!
I hope every serial killer listed and all others not listed burn in hell for eternity!!!
How Ed Gein was able to live inside the horrific house with full smell of his dead victims?Is the guy’s brained a human being?Its real shocking!!
Overall a very well done article. My only complaint is not including the Zodiac and the BTK serial killers.
Yes, the Zodiac killer was a really interesting case.
i genuinely thought this was an article about the most hainous criminals of U.S. history which was very well written explained and laid out in an easy to comprehend fashion so thank you to the writer .
however i have to say a large proportion of the comments which followed were perplexing as to their relevance as such if anyone could please explain to me at which point computers and the internet became an acceptable medium for spouting vitriolic bile and disgusting rascist sexist and religion related hatred thankyou yours sincerely a very confused Brit
i believe that these people are not even that evil here a evil story once upon a time thier was this girl brittany she was drop dead beautiful every guy in high school wanted her she won prom queen her family life was perfect she was so pretty long blonde hair blue eyes the perfect tan she was so polite and nice and warm but she was a cold hearted bitch it all began in 12 grade she started dressing like a slut so of course the guys wanted her even more so her first victim was a football player strong and handsome she seduce him and then bring him in the back of the wood makeing out and shit then she took one big chunk out of his neck she started eating him like he was fucking dinner and then she left him thier the next day at school everyone was sad and crying cause they found the body.
that is off a movie jennifers body and it’s just a movie that isn’t believed to be based on a true story
Dahmer inspires me and now im about to kill this lil faggot setting beside me
[…] Easton's UK: Spotting a sociopath SpringerLink – Journal of Family Violence, Volume 14, Number 1 America Tim Field explores abuse including child abuse, physical and sexual abuse, emotional abuse, verbal […]
I am a high school student, I am 17 going on 18, I was wondering if someone could answer a question of mine, I don’t need stupid comments or political debates or any other stupid things I just want me question answered please, I was told something a little while ago and I was just wondering, Did the lead singer from the band Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, make a studio in the Manson family house and take the door when he could no longer aford it?
Five of the sickest, most horrifying serial killers that you should be aware of – but probably aren’t. Be forewarned: they may make your skin crawl…
http://www.fearnet.com/news/b22655_five_horrifying_serial_killers_youve.html
I want to be like Charles Manson !!KILLIN IS THE BESTT!im not a psycho!BUT i really think that blood n pain is the best thing in this world :D!kill everyone ..btw if anyone else is interesting to blood pain killin n stuff just add me !XD n talk with me..maybe we can kill together~!
That is the worst comment I have read so far. You are saying you like to kill people, but there is a question I would like for yo to answer: Would you like to be the one killed or a family member of a victim? Please consider this and don’t write comments that should not be written. I wish you change your mind, though that comment makes people that care feel sad : (
yanks r ignorrant stupid idiots of the 1st degree!!! no mention in ur rammblings bout ur history of ethnic-clensing of the native americans?????????? or of ur concentration camps 4 ur own citizens of japanese desent during 2nd world war!!!!!!! americans not all but a large portion are ignorant SCUM!!!!!!! due u honestly expect any sane person 2 believe that the most advanced nation on earth allowed many planes 2 deviate from their planned routes to destroy some of the USAs iconic cities without even 1 jet sent to terminate said planes b4 they hit there targets n iff u really think that we in theREST OF WORD ARE SICK 2 DEATH OF UR CLUMSY BLACK-OPS U DUMB FUCKING SCUM!!!!U are as dumb and stupid and FAT AS FUCK U STUPID YANKS BELIEVING THAT A HIJAKED PLANE WAS ALLOWED WITHIN 20 MILES OF UR C.I.A. HQ THEN VAPORISED SO NOTHING WAS LEFT AT ALL THEN U ARE TRULLY DELLUSIONAL N U DESRVE EVERYTHING UR PRESIDENTS/CONGRESSS TAKE UR LIBERTIES AWAY FROM U EVERYDAY TAKING AWAY UR RIGHTS YET UR SO PREOCUPIED WITH EATING STEAK 4 BREKKI U FAT LASY IDIOTS U DESERVE EVERYTHING THAT COMES UR WAY -REST OF WORLD LARFING AT U -USA – DUMFUCISTAN HOME OF THE IDIOTIC TRAILER TRASH!!!!!!!!! XXXX GROW THE FUCK UP N SMELL THE COFFEE YANKY DOODLE FUCKING MORONS!!!!!!!!! XXX
EVER WATCHED A NATURAL HISTORY PROGRAMME INBETWEEN UR PIZZAS U TRAILER TRASH N UD FIND THAT CHIMP AT A CERTAIN AGE ARE SENT PACKING BY THERE TROUPE N START TO HANG AROUND TOGETHER N PACKS/GANGS N KILL YES KILL ANYTHING THAT WANDERS INTO THERE BOUNDRIES MUCH LIKE UR PORCH MONKEYS FIGHTIN OVER A FUCKING COLOUR – IDIOTS!!!!!! MEMBER THEY OUR COUSINS N IFF THEY KILL N EAT THERE OWN KIND DAT MEENS OUR COMMON ANCESTER PROBABLY DID 2 DUMB FUKING YANKS THIS BEHAVIOUR IS INGRAINED IN OUR dna U STUPID FUCKS MEMBER ONLY A THOUSAND YEARS AGO PPL IN REST OF WORLD WERE KILLIN EACHOTHER DAILY U HONESTLY FINK UR GONNA STOP PYCHOPATHS U STOOPID YANKS -SHORT OF GENETICALLY TURNING AMERICANS INTO SHEEP THAT SHIT WILL CONTINUE TILL END OF TIME SO STOP UR MOANING U DOPEY TREKKI FUCKUPS UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!! FAE THE WHITE DALLIA XXXX
How can you call someone unintelligent when you can’t even use grammar correctly?
I don’t believe it is right to be calling them ‘famous’ they are prolific not famous, that is what they want to be known as when in actual fact they really aren’t famous at all.
Damn,i like the stories of all those people and please stop calling them psyco or freaks!!!they rule!
Conclusion?
Most of them are GAYS
AM I WRONG?
In east people kill anyone confirm that he is gay
In fool states and Europe they promote gay marriage
To increase the probability of getting more serial killers?
Yes you are wrong, most of them werent and sexuality has nothing to do with it. For the homosexuals that did kill, most of them weren’t accepted because of their sexuality. Regardless their were more straight killers. I think the reason it seems like that though is because you assume them to be straight and when you saw ones who were not they stuck in your mind more. Therefor you think they all are.
No actually most of them are straight, and let me guess your pathetically single and alone, as you should be. It most suck to be ignorant and singleminded 🙁 loser
am back, what happen to innocent
to be honest the order is all wrong sorry but bundy gacy dahmer gein fish son of sam and charles manson are better then the rest i have read everything about all of them and its just amazing reading about everything they did
Technically gein wasn’t a serial killer. He did some pretty messed up things whether he had motive or not but unless there are missing details than he didn’t kill anyone. Grave robbing..
Wow i’m very interest with all the comments rather than the blog, smart debaters!
You are right : ) It is really interesting to read the different opinions. Even though some comments make me sad : (
@white dallia: first off, learn to spell before you attempt to criticize someone. or, better yet, a whole country. the fact you think it’s in our DNA to kill, pretty much makes you a naive, simple-minded, little fu**-tard. it is not in our DNA. people kill others because they are messed up in the head. something you would know about, yes?
second: it would’ve made no sense to send a jet up to stop the crash of 9/11. that would have made the whole issue worse. sending an aircraft up to destroy another? in my mind, that would’ve been murder or manslaughter. either or.
third: maybe it’s just my thinking, but i have a picture in my mind of what you look like. one of those fat-asses sitting on their couch all day eating pizza and what-not. am i close? or maybe you’re a puny little nobody that hides behind their computer screen, bashing a country, when, in reality, you probably got deported. is that why you hate the US so much? i’m sure you’ll understand when i say, get a damn life.
and p.s. nobody eats steak for breakfast, idiot.
I agree w/ Keith. Ed Gein wasn’t a serial killer. I’m in college studying Criminal Justice and you wouldn’t believe how many people but Gein in their papers about serial killers. It actually gets on my nerves. There are worse people in the world who have done worse things. But of course Gein’s crimes were ‘glorified’ because of the time, place, and person he was. If people really did their reading on Gein, they would feel more sympathetic toward someone like him. It’s obvious he had more mental issues going on than anything else. Bands and movies make everything worse about the guy.
they forgot mary bell,jon venables and robert thompson.
So glad I was able to provide you with the information your required, keep following my future posts, who knows what you will learn that will be of benefit in the future!
they looked innocent..its scared all of us,i guess~probably they were having mental illness
Men kill for the purpose of pleasure, consciously and unconsciously, satisfying the urge of their insanity.
dennis rader btk is the baddest serial killer ever