Hey buddies! Today we will discuss the most notorious serial killers in the world. Do you know why they are called serial killers? It’s because they commit a series of murders in a particular manner. Another question would arise why they developed the motive to kill people?
So, there may be several reasons behind it. Some have mental disorders that’s why they commit such crimes, while some kill people just to satisfy their fantasies. Others only want to do that because of a specific incident that drove them crazy.
Some killers target only females, males, or children. They choose their victims according to their problems which remain unsolved. They possess no empathy for committing such heinous crimes and killing victims mercilessly. Serial killers found pleasure in assaulting, torturing, and killing several people. Some also have been involved in necrophilia and cannibalism.
Let’s know about some of the most popular serial killers in the world. These cruel people killed many innocent people. We have compiled a list 20 most notorious killers, here we go.
READ MORE- 16 Dangerous Gemini Serial Killers Will Scare You
1- Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy was one of the most popular serial killers. During the 1970s, he kidnapped, raped, and murdered numerous young women and girls. He admitted 30 murders across seven states between 1974 and 1978.
Bundy approached women in public or acted to have an injury and then sexually assaulted, and killed the victims. He revisited the victims’ bodies, performing sexual acts on the dead bodies of victims.
In 1975, he was arrested and prisoned in Utah. In fact, he received three life sentences and was executed in 1989.
2- Harold Shipman
Harold Shipman was another famous serial killer with over two hundred and fifty victims. He was a general practitioner at the Abraham Ormerod Medical Centre in Todmorden.
Shipman focused on vulnerable elderly individuals who trusted him as their doctor. He gave deadly drug doses or prescribed an unusually high amount to kill them.
He received life imprisonment with a whole life order for killing fifteen patients under his care. On 13 January 2004, Shipman attempted suicide in the HM Prison Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
READ MORE – 10 Brutal Necrophilia Serial Killers
3- John Wayne Gacy
John Wayne Gacy was a notorious serial killer. He raped and murdered more than 33 people including men and boys in Norwood Park Township. He became popular as Killer Clown.
In fact, he raped and murdered his victims at his house. He took his victims to his house tortured, raped, and then killed them mercilessly. You know what he buried twenty-six victims in the crawl space of his home and threw some in the river.
Gacy was executed by lethal injection at the Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois on 10 May 1994.
READ MORE – 20 Best Books About Serial Killers You Must Read
4- Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer was one of the brutal serial killers. He was popular for his peculiar crimes. He killed more than seventeen males for no reason. Some of his other shameful offenses include necrophilia and cannibalism.
Well, one of his victims escaped and complain about Dahmer to the police. After police entered his house, there were shreds of evidence of numerous murders and they arrested Dahmer for various murders and other crimes.
On 28 November 1994, a fellow prisoner beat him to death at the Columbia Correctional Institution(Wisconsin).
5- Jack The Ripper
Jack The Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in Whitechapel and Spitalfields during the 1800s. The name “Jack the Ripper” started from letters sent to the media, purporting to be the killer.
Moreover, he murdered and mutilated five prostitutes in the poverty-stricken area of Whitechapel. The victims’ throats were slashed, and their bodies were subjected to horrific mutilations.
Apart from the canonical five victims, he has killed several other women. In the history of criminal investigations, the case continues to be one of the most puzzling and enduring mysteries.
6- H.H. Holmes
H.H. Holmes was born Herman Webster Mudgett in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. He was also popular with the name Dr. Henry Howard Holmes. He was involved in multiple crimes like murder, forgery, and swindling.
Holmes was arrested for his business partner Benjamin Pitezel and received a death sentence. However, he confessed to twenty-seven murders in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Toronto, and six attempted murders.
For this confession, he received a value of $7500. Finally, he was hanged at Moyamensing Prison on 7 May 1896.
READ MORE – 10 Dangerous Serial Killers In India
7- Pedro Lopez
Pedro Lopez also known as “The Monster of the Andes” for murdering over three hundred people. He mainly targeted women and girls. He operated during the 1970s and early 1980s.
In fact, Lopez shared that during imprisonment for auto theft, his cellmates raped him. That’s where he started killing people, firstly they take revenge and killed all four of them. Later, he started hunting innocent girls from nine to 12 years.
In 1980, police arrested him in Ecuador, and he received sixteen years of imprisonment. He was released two years early. Lopez is still a fugitive since he was last seen at National Civil Registry in 1999.
8- Richard Ramirez
Next up on the list, is the famous serial killer, Richard Ramirez. He got the name the Night Stalker because broke into houses at night. He was engaged in several crimes including burglaries, rapes, and murders.
Ramirez was addicted to cocaine and performed burglaries to buy drugs. Eventually, he started committing sexual assaults and murders of victims. His crime spree began in California during the mid-1980s.
In fact, the judge who confirmed Ramirez’s nineteen death sentences commented that his actions showed “cruelty, savagery, and brutality beyond any human understanding. He died on 7 June 2013 while waiting for execution.
9- Lady Bluebeard
Belle Gunness aka the Lady Bluebeard was one of the most famous female serial killers. She operated in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908. killed more than forty people which included a majority of men.
Gunness has been married twice and from both husbands, she received a lot of money as they had life insurance. Apart from it, she was also involved in various fraudulent schemes.
She targeted rich men and killed them. After a fire at her home, police obtained several victims’ bodies whom she killed and buried. People believe that she faked her death and escaped.
READ MORE – 10 Most Famous Female Serial Killers You Must Know
10- Albert Fish
Albert Fish was an American serial killer born on 19 May 1870. He was also a rapist, cannibal, and child molester. Fish was under suspicion for at least five murders.
While, in a statement, he said his number of victims was nearly a hundred. His other names include Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria, The Boogey Man, the Moon Maniac, and the Brooklyn Vampire.
Fish He was convicted for the murder of a 10-year-old girl Grace Budd and executed on 16 January 1936.
11- Gary Ridgway
Gary Ridgway is an American serial killer born on 18 February 1949. He was active in Washington during the 1980s and 1990s. He killed nearly 50 women and girls in the state.
Gary targeted mainly women who were sex workers or prostitutes. His five victims were found in the Green River and soon afterward he got the nickname The Green River Killer.
He received the death penalty. But he agreed to reveal the whereabouts of women who were still missing and in exchange, his death sentence changed to life imprisonment without parole.
12- Luis Garavito
Columbian serial killer Luis Garavito was born in Genova. He told that his father was strict and abusive while his mother didn’t care about him. Garavito has abused, raped, and killed over two hundred minors.
Frequently, he would dismember victims’ bodies and abandon them in remote areas. He targeted innocent boys and attract them with gifts, candies, and other things.
He received 1,853 years and 9 days in prison the lengthiest sentence in Colombian history. Nevertheless, the law limits 40 years imprisonment, he got 22 years because he tell about missing victims’ bodies.
13- Edmund Kemper
Edmund Kemper aka Co-ed Killer is a popular serial killer. He developed cruelty, and merciless behavior since childhood. He killed his grandparents when he was fifteen and hadn’t any regret about doing it.
After he was released from jail, he start torturing, raping, and killing young women and girls. Even though his brutal crimes included necrophilia.
Not only this, but he also murdered her mother and her best friend. His relationship with his mother was never that good. In 1973, Kemper received eight life sentences and has been imprisoned in California Medical Facility(Vacaville).
READ MORE- 10 Popular Black Serial Killers You Should Know
14- The Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac Killer is an unidentified serial killer active in Northern California in the 1960s and 1970s. The Zodiac coined the name in a series of teasing letters and cards sent to local newspapers, in which he threatened killing sprees and bombings unless they published the letters.
The Killer teased police and media through encrypted letters, challenging them to decode the codes. He killed over 37 people. In fact, the case is one of the most famous unsolved murder cases in the history of America.
Despite the Zodiac stopping written communications around 1974, the extraordinary nature of the case sparked a global interest that has endured over the years.
15- Dennis Rader
American serial killer Dennis Rader is also known as BTK. That’s because of his way of killing people, “Bind, Torture, Kill”. He sent taunting letters to both police and media outlets, describing the specifics of his crimes.
He killed ten people including men, women, and children. Eventually, he confessed to all ten murders after getting arrested.
Rader resumed sending letters in 2004, which eventually led to his arrest in 2005 and subsequent guilty plea. He received ten life sentences for killing over ten people.
16- Tommy Lynn Sells
Tommy Lynn Sells was a serial killer born in Oakland, California. He began consuming alcohol when he was just seven. He committed various crimes at a young for which he went to prison several times.
From 1980 to 1999, Sells traveled considerably throughout the United States, carrying out a series of cruel murders. His victims ranged in age from children to adults, including both men and women.
While he was convicted for a murder only, and executed for that one. He killed more than 22 people. On 3 January 2013, Sells was executed with lethal injection.
17- Patrick Wayne Kearney
Patrick Wayne Kearney is a serial killer who operated in southern California during the 1960s and 1970s. He killed nearly twenty-eight boys and young men.
His other names include The Trash Bag Killer and The Freeway Killer. He used to target male victims from 8 to 27 years old. Kearney offered victims a ride or alcohol, killed them, and mutilate their bodies.
He received twenty-one life sentences for the same number of murders. He was involved in several other murders but due to lack of evidence, his punishment remained the same.
READ MORE- 15 Most Notorious Infamous Gangsters You Probably Know
18- Andrei Chikatilo
Andrei Chikatilo was a Soviet serial killer who was active between 1978 to 1990. He raped, killed, and mutilated more than fifty women and children in the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Uzbek SSR.
The killer got popular with the names The Red Ripper, The Rostov Ripper, and The Butcher of Rostov. He was a brutal killer who was also involved in necrophilia and cannibalism.
Chikatilo confessed to his fifty-two murders and received a death sentence. In 1994, his horrific crimes came to an end when he was executed.
19- Ahmad Suradji
Indonesian serial killer Ahmad Suradji was active during the late 1980s and 1990s. He killed over forty-two women and girls. He targeted victims of 11 to 30 years old and strangle them after burying them up to the waist in the ground.
Further, he buried them in a sugarcane plantation near his house, with their heads facing his home, as he believed it would grant him additional power.
Suradji was executed on 10 July 2008. His three wives were also involved in his brutal killings. One of his wives got a death sentence but later changed to life imprisonment.
20- John George Haigh
John George Haigh was one the most popular serial killers in the world. He was born in Stamford, England. He was also famous as the Acid Bath Murderer.
Haigh has killed over nine people in a brutal manner. However, he was convicted of six murders. He just killed people to meet his financial needs for gambling.
Apart from it, he poured sulphuric acid over his victims’ bodies to destroy the shreds of evidence. Haigh received a death sentence and was executed on 10 August 1949 at Wandsworth Prison in London.
