15 Notorious Serial Killers and Their Chilling Crimes
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Serial killers and their gruesome crimes have sparked terror and intrigue for centuries.
From Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory in the 1600s to more recent examples such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, these murderers have confounded investigators and the morbidly curious. Their shocking acts are the subject of movies, music, and academic study, as researchers have tried to piece together an explanation. In some cases, the true toll of their violent outbursts remains unknown.
Here are 15 of the most infamous serial killers who left their bloody mark on history.
Elizabeth Báthory
1560-1614
Although the true extent of Elizabeth Báthory’s crimes is debated, she now holds the dreadful nickname of the “Blood Countess.” A wealthy Hungarian noblewoman, Báthory was believed to have tortured or killed scores of female servants and minor noblewomen prior to her 1610 arrest.
Although she wasn’t convicted of a crime—and much of her alleged blood lust stems from questionable witness testimony—the Guinness Book of World Records cites Bathory as the most prolific female murderer in history with 600 victims. Báthory might have even helped inspire Bram Stoker’s 1897 vampire novel Dracula.
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Belle Gunness
1859-c. 1930
Almost as shocking as Belle Gunness’ reported crimes—authorities found the remains of more than 40 victims on her property in 1908—was her unsolved disappearance.
Born Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth in Norway, Gunness moved to the United States in 1881. She was soon connected to several mysterious deaths, including those of two husbands, many of which were related to insurance payments. She also wrote a column to lure unsuspecting men to her farm, with many never seen again.
Gunness’ was thought to have died when her farm house burned down in 1908, but a hired hand later confessed she orchestrated the fire and fled. Her eventual location and death were never confirmed.
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H.H. Holmes
1861-1896
Born Herman Webster Mudgett in New Hampshire, H.H. Holmes became known as one of America’s first serial killers—responsible for anywhere from 20 to 200 deaths. He admitted to 27 in custody.
Holmes, an alias from his pharmacy job, constructed a three-floor building in Chicago known as the “Murder Castle,” where he tortured and killed victims. The “Beast of Chicago” was finally apprehended in 1894 and hanged for the murder of Benjamin Pietzel two years later.
His crimes inspired author Erik Larson’s 2003 book The Devil in the White City.
Jack the Ripper
Unknown
The true identity of “Jack the Ripper,” who killed at least five prostitutes in London’s East End in 1888 and mutilated their bodies, remains a perplexing mystery. More than 100 suspects have been named in the almost 140 years since.
Although no one has yet to identify Jack, that hasn’t stopped expert and amateur sleuths from trying. A 2023 book alleged cigar maker Hyam Hyams committed the crimes, while a recent viral Tiktok theory posited that painter and sculptor Edgar Degas was the killer.
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Related: Two Case-Shattering Clues Point to Jack the Ripper’s Real Name
Albert DeSalvo
1931-1973
Albert DeSalvo, who grew up with an abusive father, showed a penchant for crime from an early age. He learned to shoplift at age 6, later spending time in and out of prison for petty crime and other violations.
Those paled in comparison to DeSalvo’s 1965 confession that he was the “Boston Strangler” responsible for the murders of 13 women during the 1960s. Although there were—and still are—doubts about the validity of his admission, DeSalvo’s reputation as a “vicious, hardened criminal” was sealed.
We’ll likely never know the full truth of DeSalvo’s actions. He died in a prison stabbing attack in November 1973. Fifty years later, Hulu released the movie Boston Strangler about the case.
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John Wayne Gacy
1942-1994
Although John Wayne Gacy was known for entertaining children at parades and hospitals as Pogo or Patches the clown, there was nothing cheerful about his horrific crimes. During the 1970s, he murdered at least 33 young men and teenage boys at his home in Norwood Park, Illinois, often torturing and then strangling victims.
In March 1980, a jury required less than two hours to find Gacy guilty of the killings, for which he received the death penalty. Gacy was executed via lethal injection on May 10, 1994. His last meal included fried chicken, shrimp, fries, and strawberries.
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Rodney Alcala
1943-2021
Before he was convicted of murder, Rodney Alcala was a prospective bachelor on a 1978 episode of the television game show The Dating Game. However, contestant Cheryl Bradshaw declined their date after he acted “really creepy” face-to-face.
Ultimately, Alcala is known to have killed nine women and girls during the 1970s, though other estimates pen his victim count anywhere from around 50 to as many as 130.
Alcala was eventually sentenced to death in March 2010. He died in July 2021 at age 77 while awaiting his execution at a California prison.
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Dennis Rader
1945-present
Dennis Rader, a family and company man by day, harbored a sinister side, killing 10 people around Wichita, Kansas, from 1974 through 1991. He taunted authorities for years with written clues, which referred to his method of binding, torturing, and killing victims. This led to his infamous moniker as the BTK Killer.
Rader wasn’t arrested until February 2005 and pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder. Now serving 10 life sentences, Rader regularly corresponds from prison through letters. He notably compared himself to Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann in 2023.
Ted Bundy
1946-1989
Ted Bundy became a quasi-celebrity during his 1979 trial for the murder of two Florida State University college students. But beneath his charming personality was something much more sinister.
Bundy was ultimately convicted for the murders—and executed in January 1989—but his violent outbursts were much more widespread. He confessed to 36 killings across the country, but some experts believe the actual number might be 100 or more.
The killer has been the subject of numerous books, documentaries, and dramatizations, most notably 2019’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile starring Zac Efron as Bundy and and Lily Collins as his real-life girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer.
Peter Sutcliffe
1946-2020
Peter Sutcliffe, now known as the Yorkshire Ripper, terrorized northern England from 1975 through 1980, killing at least 13 women during this time.
Police spent an estimated 2.5 million hours pursuing Sutcliffe, whom they interviewed nine times prior to his arrest in 1981. “It was just a miracle they did not apprehend me earlier—they had all the facts,” he said at his trial. He was found guilty of 13 murders and seven attempted murders and sentenced to 20 life terms in prison.
The investigation of Sutcliffe’s crimes and their aftermath served as the basis for the 2023 ITV true crime series The Long Shadow.
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David Berkowitz
1953-present
After serving in the U.S. Army, David Berkowitz returned to New York City in 1974 and began working for the U.S. Postal Service. No one had any idea the reserved Berkowtiz would become the “Son of Sam” killer, who pleaded guilty to six murders from 1976 through 1977.
Berkowitz claimed he was instructed to commit the murders through his neighbor’s dog, a demon-possessed Labrador Retriever named Harvey, though he later retracted this admission. He is currently imprisoned at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York.
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Joel Rifkin
1959-present
Joel Rifkin fixated on prostitutes, at least partially because of his obsession with the 1972 Alfred Hitchcock movie Frenzy. His urges turned deadly in March 1989, when he brutally killed and dismembered his first victim.
Ultimately, Rifkin killed 17 women before police finally apprehended him in June 1993—with a corpse in the trunk of his car. By 1996, Rifkin was sentenced to serve at least 183 years in prison for his various crimes.
Rifkin is now incarcerated at the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York and eligible for parole in 2197, when he would turn 238 years old.
Jeffrey Dahmer
1960-1994
Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered 17 men between 1978 and 1991, became known as the “Milwaukee Cannibal” for the grisly nature of his crimes—often keeping body parts as souvenirs. He even claimed he planned to build an altar using the skulls of his victims.
A prison inmate named Christopher Scarver killed Dahmer in November 1994, reportedly saying to a guard, “God told me to do it.”
Dahmer’s crimes inspired the Golden Globe–winning 2022 miniseries Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, with Evan Peters playing the killer.
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Richard Ramirez
1960-2013
Richard Ramirez became known as the “Night Stalker” for his crime spree throughout California that resulted in the murders of at least 14 people from 1984 through 1985. He committed at least 30 violent crimes, including rape and torture.
Known for neglecting his personal hygiene, Ramirez had nine decayed teeth and was missing several others—a distinct feature identified by multiple survivors of his attacks. He was convicted of 43 charges in 1989 and later sentenced to death. “Hey, big deal, death always comes with the territory. I’ll see you in Disneyland,” he memorably said leaving the courtroom.
Ramirez died on death row on June 7, 2013 from complications of B-cell lymphoma.
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Alexander Pichushkin
1974-present
Alexander Pichushkin terrorized Moscow in the early 2000s by luring victims to the city’s Bittsevsky Park before beating them and, at least initially, disposing of their bodies. He was finally arrested in 2006 after killing his supermarket co-worker.
Pichushkin received his nickname, “The Chessboard Killer,” after police discovered a chessboard he kept with dates for each of his crimes. He had filled nearly all of the 64 squares.
Despite this, police were only able to charge him with 51 counts of murder and attempted murder. Pichushkin confessed to the killings and was convicted in October 2007. “For me, a life without murder is like a life without food for you,” said Pichushkin, who is currently serving life in prison.
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