7 of Historyâs Most Notorious Serial Killers
Strictly speaking, a serial killer is someone who murders at least two people in separate events that occur at different times. While âserial murderâ is not formalized by any legal code, the crimes of serial killers have often been seized on by the media and the public consciousnessâespecially in cases where there are many victims or the murders are carried out in gruesome fashion. The following list explores some of the most notorious serial killers the world has ever known.
Jack the Ripper
We call him âJack the Ripper,â but we donât really know who the person behind one of the older and most notorious murder sprees was. The killer appeared in Londonâs Whitechapel district in 1888 and murdered five womenâall sex workersâand mutilated their corpses. Police surmised the killer was a surgeon, butcher, or someone skilled with a scalpel. The killer mocked the community and the police by sending letters outlining the acts. Although many suspects have been named over the years, the killer has never been identified.
Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer started killing in 1978, just 18 years old, and wasnât arrested for murder until 1991, after a would-be victim escaped and led police back to Dahmerâs Milwaukee, Wisconsin, home. It was there that some of the gruesome details of his life of killing were seen via photos of mutilated bodies and body parts strewn across the apartment. He even had a vat of acid he used to dispose of victims. In all, Dahmer killed 17 people, mostly young men of color. He served time in prison twiceâthe first time for molestation and the second time for murderâand was killed by a fellow inmate in 1994.
Harold Shipman
Harold Shipman, also known as âDr. Death,â is believed to have killed an estimated 250 patients. This doctor practiced in Greater Manchester, England, and between 1972 and 1998 he worked in two difference offices, killing all the while. He wasnât caught until a red flag was raised by several people, including an undertaker who was surprised by the sheer number of cremation certificates Shipman was a part of, along with the fact that most of the cases were elderly women found to have died in bed not at night but rather during the day. Police mishandled the investigation, and Shipman kept killing until he got greedy and tried to concoct a will for a victim that named him beneficiary, which led the victimâs daughter to become suspicious. He was finally convicted in 2000 and died by suicide while in prison in 2004.
John Wayne Gacy
A construction worker known by his suburban neighbors as outgoing, John Wayne Gacy was involved in politics and even acted as a clown for birthday parties. He was no clown. Gacy came under suspicion in 1978 when a 15-year-old boy, last seen with him, went missing. That wasnât the only time families of missing boys had pointed fingers at Gacy, but it was the first time authorities took them seriously. Soon after, a search warrant granted police access to the Gacy home, with the smell of nearly 30 bodies buried in a four-foot crawl space under his home. He was convicted of 33 counts of murder, with additional counts of rape and torture, and was executed by lethal injection in 1994.
Richard Ramirez
California has had its share of killers, but perhaps none more haunting than Richard Ramirez, a self-described Satanist who killed at least 13 people in 1984â85. Dubbed the âNight Stalker,â he would break into homes and then sexually assault and beat his victims, ultimately killing them. Satanic symbols were found at many of the crime scenes. The murders created a panic in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. Eventually a fingerprint was discovered that led to Ramirezâs identification. His name and photograph were released to the public, and on August 31, 1985, a man in East Los Angeles saw him and notified police. A chase ensued, and as Ramirez tried to steal a car, he was surrounded by a crowd and beaten until police arrived. In 1989 he was convicted and sentenced to death. Ramirez died from lymphoma in 2013.
Pedro Lopez
One of the worldâs most prolific serial killers might still be out there. Pedro Lopez is linked to more than 300 murders in his native Colombia and in Ecuador and Peru. At least one-third of those murders were tribal women. After Lopezâs arrest in 1980, police found the graves of more than 50 of his preteen victims. He was later convicted of murdering 110 girls in Ecuador and confessed to 240 more murders in Colombia and Peru. The âMonster of the Andesâ didnât even spend 20 years in prison, as he was released in 1998 for good behavior. More than 20 years since, his whereabouts remain unknown.
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Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy loved the attention his murders garnered him, and many in the United States were more than happy to give him that attention. The western U.S. was his hunting ground, with an unknown number of murders piling upâmostly college-age womenâfrom Washington and Oregon all the way to Utah and Colorado. Bundy was once arrested in Colorado and convicted of kidnapping, but he escaped custody, moving to Florida where he killed multiple times more. Bundyâs final arrest and its aftermath captured the attention of the nation, as the accused murderer acted as his own lawyer during what is believed to have been the first televised murder trial, welcomed interviews, and boasted of the fans he had created. He was eventually executed in an electric chair in 1989.
