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Edmund Kemper
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The “Co-Ed Killer” “Big Ed” Edmund Kemper III, noticeably taller than the police officers around him, is escorted down a hallway by law enforcement and officials.
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The “Co-Ed Killer”
The “Co-Ed Killer” Police mug shots of Edmund Kemper after his arrest in 1973.

Edmund Kemper

American serial killer
Also known as: Co-Ed Killer, Ed Kemper, Edmund Emil Kemper III(Show More)
Written by
Nick Tabor
Nick Tabor is a freelance journalist and the author of Africatown: America's Last Slave Ship and the Community It Created.
Nick Tabor
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Edmund Kemper (born December 18, 1948, Burbank, California, U.S.) is an American serial killer who, between 1964 and 1973, murdered 10 people in California, including his mother, his paternal grandparents, and several female hitchhikers. Kemper, who was called the “Co-Ed Killer,” often decapitated and dismembered his victims’ bodies and engaged in necrophilia. He was arrested in 1973 after turning himself in, and later that year he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Kemper...

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