- 6/16/2025
From careless digital footprints to bizarre confessions, these criminals made shocking blunders that led to their downfall. Join us as we explore the most incredible cases where murderers practically caught themselves through astoundingly poor judgment and reckless behavior.
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00:00And the next thing we looked at was statistics, and it shows here that was last saved by Dennis.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most ridiculous blunders that resulted
00:09in a murderer's capture. He just had a gut feeling that something might be wrong.
00:17Debit card carelessness, Israel Keys. This otherwise meticulous serial killer was
00:22undone by a lapse in his calculated methods. When I was smart, I would let them come to me.
00:28In 2012, after abducting and murdering Anchorage barista Samantha Koenig,
00:33Keys used her debit card to withdraw ransom money across several states,
00:37transactions which allowed law enforcement to track his movements. On March 13, 2012,
00:42Texas Highway Patrol officers arrested Keys in Lufkin, Texas, after noticing his vehicle
00:47matched one identified in surveillance footage. A search revealed Koenig's ATM card, cell phone,
00:52and died cash from a bank robbery, sealing his fate. Despite Keys' efforts to remain anonymous,
00:57a digital breadcrumb trail led to his capture. We did spend a fair amount of time talking about
01:02his crimes and his offenses as well, and those times were definitely very chilling to hear him
01:08talk about what he has done. Capturing a young forensic genius, Bobby Joe Long. In November 1984,
01:15Bobby Joe Long abducted Lisa McVeigh in Tampa, Florida. This guy, he knew what he was doing.
01:20He had me. I could have been dead. I could have been lying down in some ditch or somewhere.
01:25During her 26-hour captivity, McVeigh manipulated Long into trusting her,
01:29strategically left fingerprints in key areas, and memorized critical details about his appearance,
01:35vehicle, and residence. After her release, she provided this information to the police.
01:39Forensic evidence, including matching red carpet fibers, linked Long to multiple crime scenes.
01:44He confessed to the murders of 10 women and was sentenced to death. McVeigh's bravery and
01:49quick thinking were instrumental in ending Long's killing spree, and she'd go on to become a police
01:54officer. What he did was horrendous. How he did it, these girls, these victims, didn't deserve to be
02:03killed. DUI. Randy Kraft. Known as the scorecard killer and freeway killer, Kraft was apprehended in
02:091983 during a routine traffic stop in Orange County, California, when a highway patrol officer
02:15noticed him driving erratically and pulled him over. Sure enough, the officers discovered open
02:19beer bottles in the vehicle. But that's not all. There was also a deceased Marine in the passenger
02:24seat, as well as tranquilizers and a list of coded references to victims.
02:28Then, yet another stunning discovery in the trunk of the Celica, a notebook with handwritten cryptic
02:34notes on as many as 67 victims dating back to the 1970s. This list, later dubbed the scorecard,
02:43contained cryptic entries believed to correspond to Kraft's victims. The evidence led to Kraft's
02:48conviction for 16 murders, though he is suspected of committing up to 67. They helped convince a jury to
02:55send Kraft to death row. And that's where he is still.
03:00Dropping something important. Peter Goebbels. It doesn't get much more incriminating than leaving
03:05your ID at the crime scene. Between 1984 and 1985, Goebbels strangled four women in Germany,
03:12saving his crimes for Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate his day job at a factory.
03:16While police initially struggled to nab the culprit, Goebbels offered himself up on a platter,
03:21albeit accidentally, when he dropped his identification card as he fled from police.
03:26Goebbels isn't one of the better-known serial killers, but he's certainly noteworthy for the
03:30way he was caught.
03:31Novel.
03:31Christian Bala.
03:32They say write what you know, but that advice backfired spectacularly for Bala.
03:37In 2007, the Polish author was convicted of orchestrating the 2000 torture and murder of
03:42Darius Januszewski, a businessman suspected of having an affair with Bala's ex-wife.
03:46The case went cold until 2003, when Bala published Amok, a novel featuring a murder eerily similar
03:52to Januszewski's, down to details that had never been made public.
03:56The book is about one man's descent into a spree of increasing depravity.
04:00Sex, violence, drugs.
04:02Investigators also discovered that Bala had sold the victim's cell phone online just days
04:06after the killing.
04:07Though the evidence was circumstantial, it was compelling enough to secure a 25-year prison
04:12sentence.
04:13Bala's attempt to blur fiction and reality ultimately exposed him as a killer hiding in
04:17plain sight.
04:18The story of a post-modern killer openly boasting about his crimes through his work was too good
04:23to ignore, so the place was packed as the trial kicked off.
04:27Shirt, Timothy McVeigh.
04:28You have no doubt heard of the Oklahoma City bombing, a devastating domestic terrorist attack
04:33in 1995.
04:34Are there people missing from your office?
04:36Yeah, 26.
04:37The perpetrator, Timothy McVeigh, detonated a truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
04:42Building in the state's capital, killing 168 people and injuring over 600 more.
04:47I intend to recommend to the Department of Justice and the Attorney General of the United
04:51States that the death penalty be sought.
04:53Just 90 minutes later, State Trooper Charlie Hanger pulled over McVeigh for driving without
04:57a license plate.
04:58During the stop, Hanger also discovered that McVeigh was illegally carrying a concealed weapon,
05:03not to mention wearing a shirt bearing the same phrase reportedly uttered by Abraham Lincoln's
05:07killer.
05:08He said,
05:09My weapon is loaded.
05:10And I nudged him a little bit with the barrel of my weapon, and I said, well, so is mine.
05:14It was this traffic stop that led to McVeigh's identification and conviction.
05:18Arrest by chance.
05:19Peter Sutcliffe.
05:20You'd be surprised how many serial killers are done in by license plates.
05:24Such was the case of Sutcliffe, or the Yorkshire Ripper, who had previously evaded capture for
05:29years despite multiple run-ins with law enforcement.
05:31Peter was interviewed, but on the night in question, he said he was at a party, and his
05:37members of his family confirmed that he had been at the party.
05:41On January 2nd, 1981, Sutcliffe's luck ran out when officers in Sheffield stopped him for
05:47driving a car with false plates.
05:48I got out of the car, approached the driver, asked him his name and address.
05:54He actually gave me false details.
05:57During the arrest, Sutcliffe requested to relieve himself and use the opportunity to hide a knife
06:02and hammer near the scene.
06:03A subsequent search uncovered these weapons, and when confronted with the evidence, Sutcliffe
06:08confessed to murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven others between 1975 and 1980.
06:15It took away my freedom.
06:17It took away a lot of my life.
06:19The night that he attacked me.
06:24And that I never get back.
06:28I never, ever get it back.
06:29Big mouth.
06:30Robert Durst.
06:31This famed real estate heir had long been suspected in multiple disappearances and murders, including
06:36that of his wife Kathleen McCormick.
06:38Now, Janine Pirro can go to the grand jury and say, this person is going to be tried for
06:47murder in Galveston.
06:50That's going to make it much more likely that they're going to want to indict me for Cassie.
06:55But it was the 2015 HBO documentary series The Jinx that brought new evidence to light.
07:01In the series' final episode, Durst was caught on a hot mic in the bathroom, muttering about
07:05what he'd done.
07:06What the hell are you talking about?
07:17Killing them all.
07:18Of course.
07:19This apparent confession, along with a letter linking him to the 2000 murder of his friend
07:24Susan Berman, led to his arrest on March 14, 2015, just one day before the finale aired.
07:30We did reach Douglas Durst, Robert Durst's brother, who is now the head of the family's
07:34real estate empire.
07:35He released a statement that says, we are relieved and also grateful to everyone who
07:40assisted in the arrest of Robert Durst.
07:42We hope he will finally be held accountable for all he has done.
07:46Durst was convicted of Berman's murder in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison, where
07:51he died a year later.
07:53Plumbing problems.
07:54Dennis Nielsen.
07:55In 1983, this Scotsman's murderous spree came to an end thanks to a plumbing problem.
08:00The toilets had been blocked and an engineer had been called to clear the drains.
08:05Neighbors in his North London apartment complex complained about clogged drains, prompting a
08:10plumber to investigate.
08:11To the plumber's horror, human flesh and bones were blocking the pipes.
08:15When I arrived to Cranley Gardens, the police were unsure of their ground.
08:20Nielsen, a former civil servant, had been luring young men to his flat, where he killed and
08:25dismembered them, disposing of remains by flushing them down the toilet or hiding them under floorboards.
08:30Upon arrest, Nielsen confessed to murdering at least 15 men between 1978 and 1983.
08:36He was convicted of six counts of murder and two of attempted murder, receiving a life sentence.
08:41Bad Hair Day.
08:42Earl Nelson.
08:43Active in the 1920s, Nielsen was sometimes called the guerrilla killer.
08:47Not because his victims were apes, but because he sported a stocky build with long arms and
08:52sizable hands.
08:53Nielsen's modus operandi involved renting rooms from landladies, whom he would then strangle.
08:58While they were in the house, he tricked Virginia into looking up at the ceiling.
09:02And when she looked up, he saw his opportunity and he started strangling her.
09:07His comeuppance came when he visited a barber shop in 1927.
09:10The man cutting his hair noticed dried blood and scratch marks on Nielsen's scalp and was
09:14understandably unsettled.
09:16Earl had also stolen several items from various victims and pawned them off.
09:20So there were certain items at these pawn shops that were connected to him as well.
09:24Only a few days later, police nabbed the guerrilla man in Killarney, Manitoba.
09:28In January of the next year, he was executed by hanging in Winnipeg.
09:32Neville Heath's hotel stay.
09:34She met Neville Heath, probably impressed by this military bearing, and he put himself
09:40over as a lieutenant colonel.
09:43He took her out to dinner and persuaded her to come back to the hotel room.
09:48This Brit's killing spree was cut short by one careless check-in.
09:51In 1946, Heath, a World War II veteran, developed a strange pattern of checking into hotels and
09:58picking up women, two of whom he murdered.
10:00And he might have gotten away with it, but for the critical mistake of using his real
10:04name when checking in with one of his conquests at a hotel.
10:07She was a pretty thing.
10:08Tall.
10:10Slender.
10:12I think London rather dazzled her.
10:15You know these small-town girls.
10:16Not quite as you do, I imagine.
10:18Though the other times he was careful enough to use pseudonyms, Heath apparently believed
10:23that simply adding the military title lieutenant colonel to his name would be enough to avoid
10:27suspicion.
10:28This misguided decision not only led directly to his arrest, but also secured his place
10:33among the most incompetent criminals of all time.
10:35If they could prove insanity in some form, then actually they stood a lot better chance of
10:44being reprieved.
10:45Joel Rifkin's missing license plate.
10:47Drug-addicted, disease-carrying vermin is the lie I told myself.
10:51This Long Island native is currently serving a 203-year sentence for the brutal deaths of
10:56at least nine women, though he actually confessed to several more.
11:00Rifkin targeted vulnerable females in the New York City area, typically dismembering them
11:04and scattering their remains in rivers, woodlands, and golf courses.
11:08There were mini-clusters.
11:12Little, you know, sets of three.
11:14In 1993, he was brought to justice during a routine traffic stop because he was driving
11:19without a license plate.
11:21When he attempted to flee, a high-speed chase ensued, ending with a collision.
11:25Upon inspecting his truck, officers discovered the decomposing body of Tiffany Bresciani.
11:30The moral of Rifkin's story?
11:32Never drive without a license plate, or run from the police, or, you know, murder people.
11:37Would you have killed again if you weren't caught?
11:41As much as they say I wanted to stop, there probably would have been others.
11:45Maury Travis's map.
11:46We had several theories developed as to why they stopped in October.
11:50Perhaps the 9-11 crisis that occurred, perhaps this person was in the military.
11:55When you're this vocal about your crimes, should it really come as a shock when you end up in prison?
11:59This St. Louis waiter didn't seem to think so.
12:02In the early 2000s, Travis left a trail of victims, and even created a torture chamber
12:07in his basement, where he filmed grisly snuff films.
12:10There was a need, I felt, and some of the people at our paper felt also, to put faces
12:18and a humanity to these women.
12:21When a story about one of the slayings was published in the newspaper, Travis responded
12:25with what he thought was an anonymous letter, attaching a printed map that revealed the location
12:30of the body. What Travis failed to realize was that the map contained a URL identifier,
12:35which gave investigators the evidence they needed to apprehend Travis.
12:39We could tell it was computer-generated, though he had cut off the borders,
12:43and we didn't know what website it came from.
12:46Between this and the lovely videos, Travis had a lot of explaining to do.
12:50David Berkowitz's parking ticket.
12:52David Berkowitz, 24 years old, a postal worker, walked out of his Yonkers apartment last night,
12:57turned the ignition key in his car, and found himself surrounded by police.
13:01Well, he said, you got me.
13:03Better known as the Son of Sam, Berkowitz tormented New York City in the 1970s with a
13:08series of random shootings. Claiming to be in cahoots with a demonic dog, he taunted the
13:12police and media with handwritten letters that fueled public fear. One night, Berkowitz parked
13:17near a fire hydrant in Brooklyn, which any experienced driver knows is a parking no-no.
13:22The detectives of the Brooklyn Omega Squad, part of that 300 cop 44 killer manhunt,
13:27captured the man they say is Son of Sam.
13:30A witness later reported a suspicious figure near the scene,
13:33and police began combing through traffic tickets issued in the area that night.
13:37Upon further investigation, they found a rifle and a bag filled with ammunition in Berkowitz's
13:42vehicle, leading to his swift arrest and an alarmingly proud confession.
13:47Son of Sam killed six and wounded seven. How many people do you know,
13:50your neighbors, people who might fit that description? Nice, quiet, a little moody,
13:56kept to himself.
13:57Charles Ng's stolen fish.
13:59They combust the fantasy because they start saying to each other,
14:03what we need is to have lots of children to repopulate the world and make better citizens,
14:08a kind of a social engineering project.
14:11Imagine nearly getting away with multiple gruesome murders,
14:14and then sacrificing it all for a can of salmon.
14:17With his accomplice Leonard Lake, Ng subjected people of various ages to horrific abuse before
14:22taking their lives. They had even created a horrendous dungeon on a property they used in
14:27Calaveras County, California.
14:29Ng was a very shy person who himself could not have done this, but happily joined the venture
14:35so that he would have a chance of the kind of sexuality his shyness made impossible.
14:40While on the lam in Canada, Ng, who suffers from kleptomania, shoplifted some canned fish
14:46from a department store. His arrest for this offense eventually revealed him to be wanted
14:50in the United States. That small theft set off a chain of events that ended his deadly spree
14:55and landed Ng on death row.
14:57The evidence was so overwhelming. When you consider the fact that you had him on film
15:02with a number of the victims, telling them that he was going to kill them, along with all of the
15:09other evidence that was found, it was a pretty rock-solid case.
15:12Albert Fish's Watermark
15:14Known as the Werewolf of Wisteria, the Boogeyman, and the Grayman, Fish was infamous for his carnage.
15:20However, his reign of terror over New York City came to an end with a careless mistake
15:25involving a single piece of paper. After kidnapping and cannibalizing young Grace Budd in 1928,
15:30he sent a gruesome letter to her family, filled with chilling details of the crime and erratic
15:35psychological ramblings. Unbeknownst to Fish, the envelope containing the letter bore a distinctive
15:40watermark reading New York Private Chauffeur's Benevolent Association. This small clue led the
15:45police directly to the rooming house where he was staying, resulting in his arrest.
15:50The Lions Angels' Arrogance
15:52The so-called Lions Angels of Death consisted of four Austrian nurses' aides who preyed upon the
15:57elderly. The women would forcibly cause patients to overdose on morphine and tranquilizers.
16:02Other times, they drowned patients by filling their lungs with water.
16:06Although the Angels claimed they simply wanted to put people out of their misery,
16:09it's largely believed they acted out of sadism rather than mercy.
16:12To add another layer of disturbing to the story, the Angels would likely have gotten away with
16:17countless more murders had they not been overheard arrogantly discussing their secret
16:21out loud at a tavern. Charles Schmidt's Show and Tell
16:25Everybody had slept with their doors unlocked and the windows open and so forth. But things were
16:31starting to change dramatically.
16:34Time for a serial killer pro tip. After you've killed someone, it's generally not a great idea to
16:39show off the body. Schmidt, also known as the Pied Piper of Tucson, strangled his girlfriend Gretchen
16:45Fritz, as well as her younger sister Wendy in 1965. This was more than a year after he had bludgeoned
16:51another young woman named Aline Rowe to death with a rock.
16:54It had a fake bridge on his nose where he said it was broken. It wasn't, but it looked good.
17:01Apparently unable to resist bragging about his exploits, Schmidt showed his best friend Richard
17:06Bruns where he had buried the sisters' bodies. Bruns became frightened and alerted the authorities,
17:11bringing Schmidt's spree to a close.
17:13Reportedly, his mother chose to bury him here in the prison cemetery, thinking that if she buried
17:18him on a public site, his tombstone would be vandalized.
17:22Ted Bundy's stolen car.
17:24One of his interviews, the interviewer asked him point blank, he said,
17:28Ted, why did you kill? And Ted kind of raised one eyebrow and kind of smiled and says,
17:34because I liked it.
17:35Bundy is often considered one of the slickest and most cunning serial killers in history.
17:40But this story doesn't exactly support that idea. You're likely familiar with Bundy's dark deeds.
17:45He used his good looks and charisma to gain the trust of dozens of women,
17:48whom he then proceeded to murder in cold blood.
17:51Just barely 20 years of age, I had a one-month-old little girl at home.
17:57This proud, pompous psychopath managed to escape police custody several times before finally being
18:03caught in Florida, where he was driving a stolen vehicle, which eventually turned out to have
18:07evidence of his misdeeds. Though he attempted to flee once more, this encounter resulted in his
18:12capture and, ultimately, execution.
18:15I was not really happy, but kind of relieved.
18:18Normally, I don't very often agree with the death penalty, but with him, it was necessary.
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18:39Dennis Rader's floppy disk.
18:41They said that there's a real possibility that the Shirley Vianne case is connected to the Otero case.
18:50The infamous BTK killer eluded capture for three decades until a foolish lapse of judgment cost
18:56him his freedom. Beginning in the 1970s, Rader terrorized the Midwest with the vicious and
19:01mysterious slaying of numerous citizens. Like many of his kind, he enjoyed taunting detectives
19:07with letters and clues.
19:08This letter is very clear to tell us, you have the wrong people. You need to stop looking at them.
19:15You need to come back and focus your attention on me. I am the important one.
19:18In 2004, after years of silence, Rader asked in one of his notes whether he could safely send
19:23a floppy disk without being traced. The police, playing along, assured him it was fine, and he
19:29naively believed them. This, of course, proved to be the rookie mistake that finally did Rader in.
19:34Police used information on the disk to gain his identity.
19:37Did we miss any serial killer slip-ups? Let us know in the comments.
19:54This is it. You know, we've got you.
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