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Serial killers have always shocked and terrified the world with their brutal crimes and disturbing motives.
In this video, we’re counting down the 50 most terrifying and disturbing serial killers in history—from infamous names everyone knows to lesser-known criminals who committed horrifying acts.
⚠️ Warning: This video contains disturbing content and is not for the faint of heart. Viewer discretion is advised.
👉 If you’re fascinated by true crime, dark history, and shocking cases, this countdown will keep you hooked.
Don’t forget to like 👍, share 🔁, and subscribe 🔔 for more true crime documentaries, top 10 lists, and
In this video, we’re counting down the 50 most terrifying and disturbing serial killers in history—from infamous names everyone knows to lesser-known criminals who committed horrifying acts.
⚠️ Warning: This video contains disturbing content and is not for the faint of heart. Viewer discretion is advised.
👉 If you’re fascinated by true crime, dark history, and shocking cases, this countdown will keep you hooked.
Don’t forget to like 👍, share 🔁, and subscribe 🔔 for more true crime documentaries, top 10 lists, and
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Short filmTranscript
00:00As far as I'm concerned, that was not me. I hate that name. I despise that name.
00:05Which name?
00:05That moniker, son of Sam.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be discussing history's most heinous and troubling serial murderers.
00:14You don't think a killer of women is going to be a good-looking, articulate young man.
00:21You're not thinking in terms like that.
00:25Michael Baer and Susan Carson.
00:27The Carsons confessed to one killing in a news conference, saying they had a list of targeted celebrities and political figures.
00:34It's more than a bit morbid, really, to consider the minimum number of victims required for an individual to be considered a serial killer.
00:41Michael Baer and Susan Carson earned this terrible and infamous distinction after they murdered three people over the same number of years, between 1981 and 1983.
00:52Michael feared witchcraft. He sought witchcraft everywhere.
00:56People that tried to control your mind through psychic behavior.
01:01The pair indoctrinated themselves into the New Age movement, living in the Haight-Ashbury area of California and living under self-imposed rules of occult theory and mysticism.
01:11Baer and Carson killed their roommate in 1981, while Michael committed a second murder a year later, shooting Clark Stevens.
01:18Finally, both Baer and Susan killed the driver of a car that picked them up while they were hitchhiking near Bakersfield in 1983.
01:26I think it was the perfect storm. I think it was an untreated mental illness, long-term use of psychedelic drugs, LSD, and also involvement with, you know, a really obsessive, you know, individual.
01:40Vlado Toneski.
01:41I thought of Vlado as a very strange type. A strange type. I thought of him as kind of unsociable and a strange man. Not friendly.
01:52This Macedonian serial killer committed self-destruction before justice could be carried out against the allegations that charged him with at least three murders.
01:59Vlado Toneski was a journalist who actually wrote articles that contained detailed information about these crimes, details that hadn't been released to the public by authorities.
02:10The motives for all three of these attacks seem to be driven and related to the accidental overdose of Toneski's mother in 2002.
02:17Everything changed for Vlado. At that point, Vlado's attachment to her would have really been laid bare because he was clearly very strongly attached to her.
02:29But a strong attachment to a parent doesn't always mean love. Sometimes it can also mean hatred or resentment.
02:34All three of his victims knew his family and shared the same occupation as his mother.
02:39They were also violently assaulted prior to being strangled with some manner of cord or wire.
02:44Ahmad Siraji
03:01There was a disturbing ritualistic methodology to the murders committed by Ahmad Siraji between 1986 and 1997.
03:08A mystical quality whereby Siraji believed that, by positioning the remains in a certain way,
03:13he could somehow gain metaphysical power by gazing at his victims.
03:18Siraji routinely kept the human remains buried in a similar fashion, keeping them in a field near his home.
03:23All of them had been women, and all were strangled, with their heads above ground level, facing in the direction of Siraji's house.
03:30The killer believed that he was a sorcerer, and he didn't have to travel far in search of new victims, since he was visited often by those seeking his aid.
03:38Ahmad Siraji was eventually executed by firing squad for his crimes.
03:43Nanny Doss
03:53She was known colloquially as the Giggling Granny, a reputation earned by images such as Natalie Doss' infamous 1954 mugshot.
04:02Her story is a sinister one, a tale where that creepy smirk on Doss' face belies the legacy of her allegedly being responsible for at least eleven murders.
04:11Doss' methodology leans largely into Black Widow stereotypes that still permeate true crime culture today, whereby four of her husbands perished while married to Doss.
04:21She also confessed to killing her mother, sister, mother-in-law and grandson, with financial gain often coming up as a motive for her crimes.
04:29Meanwhile, Nanny Doss' final husband, Samuel Doss, died from arsenic poison during his brief, fatal marriage to this Giggling Granny.
04:38You have to laugh to keep the deep darkies in a cave.
04:47William Bonin
04:48In spite of the fact that William Bonin's brain did not develop normally, and he did not have the capacity for normal affiliation and empathy, he still had this longing for connection.
05:03The story of serial killer William Bonin was just one that's been associated with the word freeway over the years, with Bonin earning the nicknames of the freeway strangler and the freeway killer.
05:15Bonin's early home life was troubled, while his teenage years didn't fare much better.
05:19Years of trauma and abuse eventually spilled into a killing spree that left Bonin with fourteen convicted homicides.
05:26Bodies are discovered in Ventura County and even up in Kern County.
05:31We know there was one from San Bernardino County and many of them from L.A. County and eventually some from Orange County.
05:38Although a potential 36 plus victims have been attributed to his roadside rages.
05:44William Bonin was eventually executed by lethal injection after indulging in a somewhat famous last meal of three packs of Coca-Cola, two large pepperoni and sausage pizzas, and three pints of coffee ice cream for dessert.
05:57His execution was scheduled for February the 23rd, 1996. David McVicker was a witness.
06:04Now I will also be able to visualize him being dead.
06:07John Allad Muhammad and John Lee Malvoe.
06:10Somebody was saying something about, it's gotta be two guys working as a team, one is the spotter and one is the shooter.
06:16So then I knew that Lee was with him.
06:19We often take our minds back to the 1970s and 80s when it comes to history's most profoundly disturbing serial killers.
06:25Yet the reign of terror overseen by John Allad Muhammad and John Lee Malvoe, the Beltway Snipers, isn't something of the faraway past, but a comparatively more recent story from the 21st century.
06:37I heard them actually break the window out.
06:40Within a couple minutes we heard, we've got the suspects, they're handcuffed, they're under control.
06:45The cold and detached methods by which Muhammad and Malvoe took out their victims was clearly terrifying.
06:51Yet news outlets at the time also picked up on some disturbing calling cards left at the scenes.
06:56Items such as the tarot card for death, inscribed with the phrases,
07:00call me God, for you Mr. Police, and do not release to the press.
07:05John Allad Muhammad trained me to be a killer.
07:08Everybody thought it was John's son because he was just a kid, he was always with John.
07:12Richard Speck.
07:14In a controversial move, Police Superintendent O.W. Wilson holds Speck's photo up at a press conference
07:20and names him as the murderer.
07:22The lives and crimes of serial killers have routinely served as inspiration for both television and the silver screen.
07:29There's absolutely nothing glamorous about 1976's Born From Hell, however,
07:34a film that loosely adapts the shocking murders of eight Chicago-area student nurses by Richard Speck in 1966.
07:41The film, which was also released under the title Naked Massacre, captures the troubling depravity that characterized Speck's life and crimes,
07:49a gritty grindhouse affair that ties into Speck's legacy as one of America's most morally bankrupt mass murderers.
07:56Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
08:02There's no reason to be frightened.
08:03Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
08:06The truth was definitely stranger than fiction here, however, as stories of Speck's anti-social behavior continued long after his incarceration to his death in 1991.
08:15Do you like women?
08:16Well, I like them in their place.
08:18In their place. That was Speck's view of women. A growing hatred that resulted in the gruesome slaughter of eight young nurses.
08:27Nepropetrovsk maniacs.
08:29The internet certainly wasn't meant for situations like this one.
08:46The Nepropetrovsk maniacs is the term used to describe Viktor Sayenko, Igor Suprunyuk, and their accomplice Alexander Hanza.
08:54The two former boys routinely committed heinous and violent acts with a hammer, resulting in 21 victims, before Sayenko and Saprunyuk were finally apprehended in 2007.
09:04What's even more troubling was how the murder of one of these victims, Sergei Yachenko, was uploaded to the internet in graphic detail.
09:12Further video evidence also emerged during the trial, including clips of reprehensible and disrespectful visits by Sayenko and Saprunyuk to the burial sites of their victims.
09:21Who are you?
09:22Who are you?
09:23Who are you?
09:24Who are you?
09:25Who are you?
09:26Who are you?
09:27Who are you?
09:28Who are you?
09:29Who are you?
09:30Who are you?
09:31Elizabeth Bathory.
09:32Born in 1560, Elizabeth Bathory was one of four children, and a member of one of the most powerful families in what was then the Kingdom of Hungary.
09:42Her legend was so fearsome that she was receiving cinematic adaptations as early as 1971.
09:48Elizabeth Bathory was her name, a Hungarian noblewoman who was said to have bathed in the blood of young girls and women in order to preserve her youth.
09:56Hammer horror icon Ingrid Pitt famously portrayed a character inspired by Bathory in 1971's Countess Dracula.
10:03While metal bands such as Venom and yes, Bathory have composed songs dedicated to her infamous memory.
10:17This is a situation where historians debate how much truth lies within the events that allegedly took place between 1590 and 1610.
10:25Was Elizabeth Bathory framed, a victim of a political smear campaign designed to remove her from power, or was she truly a blood countess?
10:34You decide.
10:35The Countess drank her victim's blood, but unlike Dracula, Elizabeth was cruel fact.
10:45Belle Gunness.
10:46Did Belle Gunness escape from her burning home, only to get away with murder?
10:50Some historians think so, since the corpse that investigators claim to be Gunness was headless, and differed in physical details to this real-life black widow.
10:59Speculatory evidence connects Gunness to between 14 and 40 victims, some of them children, and many of them suffering fatal accidents on her property.
11:08She had an allure many men came and thought they weren't going to be staying, but they did.
11:15Belle Gunness also frequently married, only for husband after husband to suffer similar fates while under her care.
11:22Gunness, or Hell's Belle as she's sometimes been called, would then retain an insurance policy and carry on to her next victim.
11:30We have to go after what we want, and sometimes it's not so easy, but you have to ask yourself if it's worth it.
11:43It's worth it.
11:44Alexander Pekushkin.
11:45There was a notable gap between the crimes committed by Russia's Alexander Pekushkin, also known as the Chessboard Killer.
11:52This serial murderer was intelligent, despite suffering a childhood injury that allegedly contributed to a brain injury that influenced Pekushkin's violent and antisocial tendencies.
12:01This injury left Pekushkin angry and violent, with Chess serving as the killer's primary outlet for his aggression.
12:08He knew perfectly well what was going on. He knew what he was doing.
12:12This wouldn't last, however, with Pekushkin's first murder occurring in 1992.
12:17He took a break after that year, and didn't resume these actions until 2001, with each attack becoming known for Pekushkin's violent habit of bludgeoning his victims to death.
12:27Convicting Pekushkin had taken nine months' strenuous work.
12:32It had been very hard and stressful. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. An awful lot of work.
12:40Angel Resendez.
12:42My victim was approximately 50 yards from the railroad tracks. He entered through a window.
12:46He chose a weapon of opportunity in the home to commit the murder with, and he beat her to death.
12:51There was only one victim of Angel Resendez's violent assaults that lived long enough to tell the tale of their encounter with the railroad killer.
12:58Holly Dawn Pendleton was walking along a set of railroad tracks with her boyfriend Christopher Mayer when they were attacked by Resendez.
13:05The killer earned his nickname via his propensity for hitching rides on rail cars in order to avoid immigration officials.
13:12The whole time I memorized his face, I memorized his, he had a tattoo on his arm, he had, you know, I was thinking, if you have any scars, I'm going to remember your scars, I'm going to remember your face, I'm not going to forget it, because if I live through this, I will get you.
13:28Although Resendez also utilized this method of travel in between his attacks.
13:33Resendez usually sought out victims that were smaller than he was, and he bludgeoned Mayer to death before turning his attention to Pendleton.
13:40The latter eventually escaped, however, and detailed her harrowing experience to outlets such as The Guardian.
13:46I talk about the trial as the hardest day of my life.
13:50What I was most worried about, I think, when I testified was seeing him again.
13:55Leonard Lake and Charles Ng.
13:57But Lake's property still held many mysteries.
14:01Agents feared they would never know the complete story of the Calaveras County murders, unless they found Charles Ng.
14:09Leonard Lake seemed to know that the end was near for his murder spree, since this serial killer escaped retribution for his crimes by intentionally swallowing cyanide pills upon his arrest in 1985.
14:20His accomplice, Charles Ng, was eventually implicated and incriminated via the evidence authorities found after searching Lake's home.
14:27The pair had collaborated on murdering at least 11 victims, with some estimations placing their final total at 25.
14:34Although they eventually linked 25 missing people to Lake's property, they only had enough evidence to charge Charles Ng with 12 counts of murder.
14:43Lake and Ng utilized a remote cabin to commit many of their murders, while both were also military veterans with varying degrees of trauma after their time in the service.
14:52The pair also filmed some of their attacks, leaving gruesome snuff videotapes in their wake.
14:58Only once Charles Ng comes to trial, and only if he decides to be more cooperative than he has hitherto, will some semblance of the full truth ever emerge about the crimes which were committed in the hills outside San Francisco.
15:13There's been a lot of retroactive discussion among true crime enthusiasts when it comes to the failures and shortcomings of police investigations.
15:30Personal bias often comes up as a reason why the screams from so many victims of serial killers, such as Canada's Robert Pickton, historically go unheard.
15:39Today, Pickton's focus on sex workers plays into the larger narrative of marginalized peoples not being considered as valid reasons for intense investigation, based upon either their occupation or ethnicity.
15:51Yesterday, charges against Pickton related to the murders of 20 other women were stayed, and as a result, the publication ban is now lifted.
16:00Pickton was convicted of taking six lives, but confessed to nearly 50, a potential 50 voices that were forever silenced, perhaps needlessly so,
16:09as a result, as a result, as a result, as a result.
16:11He had bragged to an undercover police officer he had killed 49 women.
16:16Those families are reliving that now, and they're the ones who should be remembered.
16:21Joel Rifkin.
16:22During the night of the arrest when you guys spoke to him, how did his confession go?
16:27Well, he's pretty matter-of-fact.
16:29I always got the sense that he just was getting something off his chest because he was caught, and he was like, you know, why bother anymore?
16:35Why do so many serial killers focus their malevolent energies upon those working in a sex trade?
16:41Is the oldest profession a victim of demonization?
16:43Or do serial killers such as Joel Rifkin escape the hands of justice due to his victim's relative anonymity?
16:49It's tough to say, but Rifkin intentionally targeted these individuals during his ruthless killing spree.
16:54Rifkin painstakingly covered up his crimes in threes. He researched past crimes for details.
17:01Water is harder to investigate than land because it washes everything.
17:05Interestingly, his final victim actually had ties to the punk rock scene since Tiffany Breschiani's boyfriend, Dave Rubenstein, was the former singer of the influential group Reagan Youth.
17:15It was through Rubenstein's direct action and following up Breschiani's disappearance that allowed for Joel Rifkin to finally be captured.
17:21What I have done can never be forgiven, but I ask you to believe me when I tell you that I will never understand the part of me that caused me to do these terrible things to your children.
17:33Richard Chase
17:34The story of Richard Chase sounds like something out of a horror movie.
17:46He was dubbed the Vampire of Sacramento due to Chase's propensity for consuming the blood of his victims.
17:52The cannibal killer was also a necrophile who continued to debase the remains of his victims after their demise.
17:58Chase's youth was marked by bouts of antisocial behavior and mental health emergencies to the point where he was institutionalized in 1973.
18:06Meanwhile, the aftermath of his actual murders were gory and beyond disturbing.
18:11And Chase's legacy became forever linked with this disgusting lack of empathy or respect for human life.
18:17No human being is immune to the genetic background that they bring and the environmental issues that work on them.
18:26Rodney Alcala
18:41It isn't every day where pop culture adjacent footage becomes so infamously connected with a serial killer.
18:47Yet again, not every serial killer appears on The Dating Game.
18:50Yet this is how we seem to best remember Rodney Alcala, the killer with eight confirmed victims,
18:55and connection to around 130 other murders back in the late 60s and into the 70s.
19:01Alcala often used his experience as a photographer as a means of introducing himself to potential victims.
19:19And there remains a startling amount of visual evidence connected to young women that came into contact with Alcala.
19:25haunting expressions of women who looked down the camera lens of Rodney Alcala remaining forever frozen and forever young.
19:32Rodney Alcala had been on death row for more than 30 years.
19:37Now convicted of five murders, it was unlikely he could win another appeal.
19:43Joachim Kroll
19:44The story of Germany's Joachim Kroll is somewhat similar to that of Richard Chase, in that both displayed cannibalistic and necrophilic tendencies.
19:52Kroll's crimes venture beyond the pale, however, since the Duisburg Maneater also targeted children.
19:58More incredible still is how Joachim Kroll wasn't even the only serial murderer prowling the Ruhr metropolitan area during the time during which he was active, that being 1955 to 1976.
20:11In terms of what Kroll expressed about his punishment, it is quite childlike and immature in a way, because he thought that he would just go to hospital and his funny feelings would be cured and then he'd be able to go home.
20:24This crowded demographic, alongside police blunders such as accusing multiple innocent men for Kroll's crimes, allowed for these killings to continue unabated.
20:33Kroll was finally incarcerated for his bloody, disgusting crimes in 1982, and died in prison less than a decade later.
20:43I can't... I can't... I can't... I can't... I can't... nothing... dafür!
20:50We know the inside! We not all know the inside!
20:56Gilles Deray
20:57Four weeks you've been asking for this... well... now you have it.
21:02Here's one of the few historical serial killers who's also lauded as a war hero.
21:07Gilles Duray was a former knight, a comrade to Joan of Arc, that allegedly targeted young
21:13children. It's also been said that Duray indulged in necromancy and the occult, seeking out a life
21:18of luxury, while selling off land belonging to his family in order to finance an extravagant lifestyle.
21:24Still, the story of Gilles Duray is similar to that of Elizabeth Bathory, in that many historians
21:29today question how much local rumor had to do with his infamous reputation. Still, Duray did confess
21:35at his trial to killing over a hundred children, a crime for which Gilles Duray was hanged and burned.
21:41But why did one of France's richest men turn to murder? Or was he just a fantasist spinning a bloody yarn?
21:50Albert DeSalvo
21:52Even though DeSalvo had confessed, police had no hard evidence tying him to the stranglings.
21:57These were the days before sophisticated fingerprint and DNA tests.
22:01The further we're removed from shocking and sensationalized crimes such as that of the
22:06Boston Strangler, the more faint and distant stories of the victims also become. It's perhaps
22:11unfair that we fetishize men like Albert DeSalvo, and others like his ilk, serial killers with grotesque
22:17calling cards, such as DeSalvo's discarded stockings or greeting cards left at the scene.
22:22Five young girls have been strangled in the Boston area. A young girl was strangled in her Lawrence
22:28apartment, stockings and a leotard wrapped tightly about her neck.
22:32Yet the story of the Boston Strangler isn't only that of Mary Sullivan, or Mary Mullen,
22:37or Mary Ann Brown. It's for everyone left behind after the Strangler's ruthless crimes,
22:43including alleged accomplices that some historians think aided DeSalvo during this era. It's of the
22:48utmost importance that we don't forget how the victims should be remembered, and these killers
22:53remained buried and forgotten.
22:54I'll be losing my marbles.
22:56You're not, Albert. But you know now there's something wrong, don't you? Will you admit that to me?
23:01Yeah. Yeah, something.
23:03Carla Homolka and Paul Bernardo. It isn't often that the aftermath of a case becomes more infamous
23:09than the crimes themselves. In Canada, in the early 1990s, couple Paul Bernardo and Carla Homolka
23:15committed a series of sexual assaults and murders against young girls, including the latter's younger
23:20sister. They recorded themselves committing lurid acts against their victims before killing them,
23:35evidence that was instrumental in their capture. The two had conflicting recollections of the misdeeds,
23:40with each partner attempting to downplay their own involvement.
23:44What was certain, however, was that together, Bernardo and Homolka were a deadly duo.
23:50Bernardo received a life sentence for the slaughters and his involvement in previous cases.
23:55Homolka managed to secure a plea bargain after claiming manipulation,
23:59and while it allowed her to be released in 2005, it also branded her as a permanent enemy of the
24:05public. Luis Gavarito. Although he's one of the deadliest killers to come out of South America,
24:11he's still relatively unknown. Committing his crimes in various regions of Colombia,
24:16South America in the 1990s, he eluded Colombia's authorities for nine long years.
24:22Often referred to as La Bestia, Colombian Luis Gavarito was found to have been guilty of the
24:27violent assault and murder of almost 200 children throughout the 1990s. His horrific crimes spanned
24:33across multiple countries and methods, with many being purely sexual in nature. The extent of his vile
24:40behavior, which often included mutilation and dismemberment, led to an initial sentence of
24:45more than 1,800 years, but it was eventually reduced to 22 years.
24:50Garavito defended himself by saying that in every instance, he had been possessed by a malignant
24:56spirit. His lenient punishment ultimately led to the maximum sentence being extended in Colombia,
25:02and although he could have been eligible for parole in 2023, he died before that happened.
25:08Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Although their butchery took place 60 years ago,
25:13they're still considered some of the worst people to come out of the United Kingdom.
25:16Brady and Hindley and the Moore's murder killings, one of the landmark cases of the 20th century.
25:23Working as a unit, they took the lives of several children, while attempting to commit what they
25:28referred to as the perfect murder. The attacks were sexual and violent in nature, with some victims
25:33being subjected to intense humiliation before their deaths. After they were captured in 1965, Hindley
25:40insisted upon her innocence for years, all while being branded as one of the most evil women in the
25:45country. She, in particular, ended up becoming a notorious figure, and even her own mother advocated
25:52that she stay in prison. He, in many ways, escaped some of the disgust that the public should feel for
26:00him because he was accompanied by a woman, and I'm not sure that he got his full share, his fair share
26:06of public hatred. Lawrence Bideker and Roy Norris. Though their crimes only span five months, the
26:13evidence they left behind will send chills down anyone's spine. Even including Charles Manson,
26:18I had never seen two people so depraved. Lawrence Bideker and Roy Norris, known as the Toolbox Killers,
26:26targeted several teenage girls in California during their short-lived spree. In 1979, they were known for the
26:33array of devices they used, from ice picks to hammers, and for recording the torture they inflicted.
26:39They were meticulous in their plans, even innocently picking up hitchhikers for months beforehand
26:45to practice for the real thing. After their arrest, their recordings were played in court,
26:50causing several people to walk out in horror. Although Norris claimed that Bideker was the true
26:54mastermind, he still found enjoyment in their sexual torture, making his supposed remorse practically
27:01meaningless. Peter Sutcliffe. It should come as no surprise that someone compared to the
27:09likes of Jack the Ripper would make this list. Yorkshire's Peter Sutcliffe attacked and murdered
27:21over a dozen women, often in extremely violent and degrading ways. He claimed to have been following
27:27the orders of a higher power during his spree, even referring to his victims as filth and implying that
27:32their fates were deserved. He took advantage of flaws within the police system, allowing him to evade
27:38capture despite having been questioned several times. This gave him the opportunity to take even more
27:44lives. After he was finally arrested and sentenced, he was assaulted multiple times, giving him a small
27:51taste of the violence he inflicted upon his victims. David Berkowitz. One man had the entirety of New
28:03York City looking over their shoulders. While his methods weren't as intricate as others,
28:13David Berkowitz was still able to take the lives of six people in the 1970s. He even mocked the police
28:19with letters as they struggled to identify him. This led to his nickname, The Son of Sam, being
28:25popularized in the media, adding to his notoriety. When he was finally apprehended in 1977, he showed
28:31no emotion, and in fact seemed annoyed that he'd been found out. In recent years, he has claimed to be
28:36reformed. That was just a break from reality and thought I was doing something to appease the
28:45devil. I'm sorry for it. Despite that, many rightfully can't see anything other than the killer he once
28:51was. Eileen Wernos. In just one year, she killed seven people in Florida. Beginning in 1989, sex worker
28:59Eileen Wernos used her profession as a way of meeting and choosing her victims. While she claimed
29:13that each man had attacked her first, her constantly shifting narratives and the sheer number of bullet
29:19wounds in each body suggested otherwise. Even after being sentenced to death row, she never showed any
29:25remorse for her crimes, and even doubled down on her own sanity being fully intact during the murders.
29:31Her anger lasted throughout her tenure in prison, and up until her final moments, when she swore to
29:37return after her own demise. Her motives and acts still inspire debate today.
29:51Dennis Nilsen. From the outside, his homes look unassuming, obscuring the unfathomable acts that
29:58took place within them. Dennis Nilsen would use his two London residences to lure his victims in
30:15before striking. He took the lives of at least 12 males via strangulation or drowning, but he didn't
30:21stop there. He kept the bodies in his homes for weeks, changing their outfits and living beside them.
30:27It wasn't until they decayed that he would dismember and dispose of them. He got away with it for
30:32years, until his plumbing became so clogged by remains that they were discovered. After hearing
30:39the evidence, it took the jury only a day to reach their verdict, leading to him spending his days
30:44behind bars until his death in 2018. Richard Ramirez. His violent acts would make even the bravest
30:56person feel sick. Beginning in 1984, the man known as the Night Stalker went on a reign of pure terror in
31:03California. The Night Stalker killed at least 13 times 13 people who were awakened in the night to face
31:09death. At least 15 others survived his brutal attacks. Using a wide variety of methods, from live
31:16wires to guns, he would put his victims through intense pain before taking their lives. What made his crimes
31:22even more horrifying was the arbitrary aspect to them, as he would choose what houses to break into
31:27at random. He even forced multiple people to swear on Satan, adding another sickening layer to his
31:34abhorrent acts. After he was finally convicted on over 40 different charges in 1989, he was set to be
31:40executed, but ended up passing away before he could face the ultimate consequence. Ramirez became a
31:46celebrity in his own right, and he had groupies, he had marriage proposals, he had women that wanted
31:51to come and visit him at the prison. Gary Ridgeway, one of the most prolific killers in the country,
31:57is still alive to this day. Gary Ridgeway is probably the most prolific serial killer in America,
32:04if not the world. He was a killing machine, a man of extraordinary evil. Known simply as the Green
32:12River Killer, Gary Ridgeway took the lives of at least four dozen women throughout the 1980s and 90s.
32:18His violent streak began as a child, and only continued to spiral well into adulthood. He strangled
32:24each victim, but the evil didn't stop there. He would even return to some of the corpses after the
32:29act and abuse them in death. It wasn't until 2001 that he was finally caught and sentenced,
32:35where a plea deal saved him from being executed. With his victims still being identified as recently
32:41as 2023, the full extent of his violence may never be fully revealed. We now know she was killed by
32:48Gary Ridgeway. I spoke with her family on the phone today. They say they appreciate that they now have
32:53closure, but they say it's heartbreaking knowing Ridgeway is still alive while their loved one is dead.
33:00Dennis Rader. Having named himself BTK after his modus operandi, for 20 years,
33:07Rader was a massive thorn in the side of the police in Kansas.
33:10When BTK came forward, everybody's life changed. He would see a woman walking and he would say,
33:18she's next. Like the infamous Jack the Ripper, he sent mocking letters to the cops and media.
33:24But in person, Rader seemed nice. He had a loving family and was the president of his local church
33:30congregation. His first victims were the Otero family in 1974, and his tenth and last victim was
33:37Dolores Davis in 1991. Then he dropped off the map, but in 2004, he began taunting them once again.
33:45However, he got sloppy with a floppy disk, and it was traced to his church.
33:49He asks the police in one of the communications, what if I were to give you a floppy disk with more
33:57details of the killings? Could you identify me? In 2005, Rader pleaded guilty and got 10 consecutive
34:05life sentences.
34:06Robert Hansen. As a teenager, Robert Hansen would take part in hunting to escape his rough home life.
34:14But as he got older, his victims went from animals to human beings. He would abduct women,
34:19often sex workers, and assault them before driving or flying them out to the wilderness.
34:24Here was where he would hunt them down like prey, toying with their lives. Nicknamed the Butcher
34:30Baker by the media, Hansen was confirmed to have assaulted and killed at least 17 women.
34:35In his confession, Hansen described how he would take his victims into the woods and hunt them as
34:41prey. In 1983, a teenage sex worker named Cindy Paulson was set to be on that list. However, she
34:48managed to escape when he was stocking his plane, and alerted the authorities who would arrest him.
34:53He received a sentence of 461 years, and died in prison after serving 31 years.
35:00After his sentencing, Hansen accompanied troopers into the field to find more of his victims,
35:05represented by X's on his map. Israel Keys. What's most terrifying for the police and the public
35:11is a killer with no MO. But to make things worse, how about one who was also trained by the US Army?
35:18This was the case of Israel Keys.
35:21I would let them come to me. Just a remote area.
35:31Kind of go to a remote area that's not anywhere near where you live, but that other people go to as well.
35:38Across the country, Keys had set up kill kits, which gave him access to equipment wherever he
35:44decided to attack someone. After he killed 18-year-old Samantha Koenig, the FBI was able to
35:50track his bank account use and make an arrest following the demand for a ransom. Police arrested
35:5534-year-old Israel Keys, 4,000 miles away in Texas. Once he was in custody, however, it was discovered
36:04that Keys was responsible for the murder of multiple victims. We did spend a fair amount of time talking
36:09about his crimes and his offenses as well and those times were definitely very chilling to hear him
36:16talk about what he's done. Before he faced trial in 2012, Keys took his own life and taking with him
36:22information that might have been used to solve other crimes. Marcel Petiot. With France under German
36:29occupation in the 1940s, Marcel Petiot, a doctor, preyed on those attempting to escape persecution,
36:36later claiming he was working for the resistance even though there was no evidence, Petiot set up
36:41a fake escape route under the name Dr. Eugène. In the midst of the German occupation during World War II,
36:47Petiot is considered a hero for operating a secret escape route for Jewish people attempting to leave
36:52Paris. He gave those running a fake vaccine containing cyanide before stealing their valuables
36:58and disposing of their bodies. Twenty-three remains were discovered, but Petiot's lifetime victim
37:04count is suspected to be as high as sixty, if not higher. In 1946, Petiot was executed by guillotine,
37:12which was still the country's method of capital punishment at the time.
37:15His last words? Gentlemen, I ask you not to look. This will not be very pretty.
37:21Karl Denka. Born in modern-day Poland in 1860, Karl Denka appeared to be a beloved member of his community.
37:30After all, they nicknamed him Papa as he let homeless people live in his house for free,
37:34and volunteered at his local church for a time. But away from prying eyes, he held a very dark secret.
37:41In 1924, a badly injured Vincent Solivier alerted townsfolk that he was attacked by Denka. While the
37:49authorities didn't believe him, they later arrested their stand-up citizen as they investigated. Shortly
37:54after, Denka took his own life. The police then found human remains of at least 30 people in his house,
38:01some of which were made into items. There's also speculation Denka sold the remains to unsuspecting
38:08locals. Joseph James DeAngelo. Police officers are meant to be honorable and find justice for victims,
38:16not cause a wake of destruction like Joseph James DeAngelo. In 1976, he began his spree of assaults
38:31and burglaries in Sacramento, California. In the space of three years, he had committed 50 attacks.
38:37By 1978, DeAngelo progressed by slaying Brian and Katie Maggiore. He morphed into the original
38:45Night Stalker and later the Golden State Killer before the crime stopped in 1986. Then, in 2018,
38:52the police used genetic genealogy from the DNA found at DeAngelo's crimes to trace it back to him.
38:59The search takes anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. Within a day, I had the list of potential
39:06relatives to the Golden State Killer. In 2020, amongst several charges, he pled guilty to 13
39:13murders as part of a deal to avoid capital punishment and got a life sentence. But tonight,
39:19the Golden State Killer muttering this apology to his victims. And I'm
39:24really sorry. Moments later, Joe DeAngelo was sentenced to life without parole.
39:32Dean Corll. After leaving the Army in 1965, Dean Corll returns to Houston,
39:37Texas to work in the family candy business. He was known to hand out free treats to children,
39:43earning him the nickname Candyman. Known as the Candyman, because of his family's sweet shop that
39:49used to be across from a school, off 22nd street. Shortly after, he began a relationship with the
39:55underage David Owen Brooks. When Corll began his killing spree in 1970, Brooks helped him select
40:02victims. Corll then got Elmer Wayne Henley involved too. In 1973, after slaying 28 people, Corll decided
40:11to take out Henley along with two other victims. The teenager managed to convince Corll that he was on
40:16his side. But when the opportunity arose, Henley fatally shot his former mentor. Both Brooks and
40:23Henley received multiple life sentences. David Parker Ray. Sometimes killers go that extra
40:31terrifying mile with their modus operandi. David Parker Ray modified a trailer that would be labeled
40:37his toy box. The trailer was soundproofed and filled with instruments for his violence.
40:42He called it the den of Satan. He would abduct women, abuse them for months in the trailer,
40:48and presumably eventually end their lives. Sometimes with accomplices, one of them being his girlfriend,
40:54Cynthia Hendy. In 1999, a woman managed to escape the toy box after three days and get help from a
41:01neighbor. The police immediately arrested Ray and Henley. On a plea deal, Ray was sentenced to 224 years in
41:17jail, while Henley, who testified against her former partner, got 36 years. It's unknown how many women
41:24Ray killed, but some estimates are upwards of 60. He claimed to have abducted 40 women from across the U.S.
41:31Since no bodies were ever found, he was never charged. And he never will be. Ray died in prison
41:37in 2002 by heart attack. Edmund Kemper. At 6'9", Edmund Kemper was an intimidating figure.
41:44I was dreaming, thinking, fantasizing murder all day long. I couldn't get it out of my head.
41:51But with his gentle demeanor, he seemed harmless. However, as a teenager in 1964,
41:57he fatally shot his grandparents. Five years later, he was released from a psychiatric hospital
42:03and went to live with his abusive mother, Clarnell Strandberg. By 1972, Kemper began driving around
42:10Santa Cruz, California, picking up young women who were hitchhiking. He would act impatiently,
42:15which enticed them inside the vehicle, since they believed he was too busy to be an attacker.
42:21In custody, Edmund Kemper would reveal to investigators the full horror of his extraordinary
42:26crimes, in minute and graphic detail. But he was. This M.O. earned him the nickname,
42:34the co-ed killer. In 1973, he brutally killed his mother and her friend before handing himself to
42:40the police. With ten victims altogether, Kemper received a life sentence.
42:46Andrei Chikatilo. Having grown up in difficult circumstances in rural Ukraine under USSR rule,
42:53something broke in Andrei Chikatilo. But to the outside world, all seemed okay. He had a wife,
43:00two kids, and began working as a school teacher in 1971. As a teacher, the 34-year-old hoped to find
43:06acceptance and respect, and yet instead he found constant humiliation. His students didn't take him
43:13seriously. They refused to behave and smoked right in front of him in the classroom. But not long after
43:19getting the job, Chikatilo began assaulting pupils. By 1978, he moved on to killing, with his wife
43:26providing him an alibi. Using jobs that required traveling as a cover, by 1990, Chikatilo claimed
43:33to have slain 56 people, mostly in the Rostov Oblast, earning him the moniker, The Butcher of Rostov.
43:40After being arrested and later confessing to his tirade of crimes, Chikatilo was held in a cage in court.
43:46He probably, in some respects, wanted to be caught. I can't imagine somebody doing that for all those
43:53many years and not realizing that he was living in a hell of his own creation.
44:00He was found guilty and executed in 1994. Ted Bundy. In the 1970s, many women came to the aid of a man,
44:08often appearing injured, who needed help in one form or another. With his good looks and charisma,
44:13this mystery guy seemed genuine. Instead, he was one of the most infamous killers in history,
44:19as he forced his victims into his car. Ted Bundy escaped capture multiple times,
44:34continuing his grim spree as he did. But by 1980, he faced court for the final time.
44:40Bundy had confessed to slaying 30 women and teenagers across multiple states in the US.
44:46However, there's speculation that the true figure could be over 100.
44:50For the third and final time in his life, Bundy was sentenced to capital punishment, which took place
44:55in 1989. Ed Gein. Serving as inspiration for several horror movie villains, such as Buffalo Bill in The
45:10Silence of the Lambs and Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Ed Gein was a disturbing killer.
45:16Twisted killer was a quiet loner named Ed Gein. Hidden inside the 51-year-old's rural farmhouse
45:23was a ghoulish treasure trove. He was raised by an abusive mother that taught him that women were evil.
45:29In 1957, one Bernice Warden vanished in Wisconsin. Following a lead, the police arrived at Gein's
45:36isolated house and discovered a terrible scene. On top of Warden's body, they found a catalogue of
45:42items made from human remains. Altogether, there were pieces made from around 40 people. Gein claimed
45:49to have grave robbed most of the remains. In 1968, he was deemed fit to stand trial and was found guilty
45:56of warden slaying. Gein spent his remaining years in psychiatric hospitals. He was such a little person
46:04that I found it hard to picture him as the person who'd committed all these homicides.
46:11He lived there very peacefully. He never caused any problems. John Wayne Gacy. One pretty common phobia
46:20is clowns, and the case of John Wayne Gacy certainly didn't help ease any of those fears.
46:35Gacy regularly performed in a clown persona at parties and events, but behind the scenes, he was
46:40a rampant killer of boys and men. In 1978, after suspecting the police were on to him, a paranoid
46:47gacy would confess his crimes to his lawyers. The police had what they needed to search his house,
46:53where they would find several remains in his crawl space. 29 bodies buried in that house of his on
46:58Somerdale, a crime of horrendous proportions. In the crawl space underneath, bodies covered with lime
47:05and encased in plastic. He was charged with the assassination of 33 young men and would spend 14
47:11years on death row before being executed by lethal injection. It was a circus. We were in a room
47:17at some point and we saw a television screen and we saw thousands of people lined up at least a mile
47:25down the street at the prison with signs, kill the clown, kill Gacy. Fred and Rosemary West. Occasionally,
47:32serial killers come in pairs. You're talking about two people who literally plumb the depths of human
47:38depravity. While Fred had murdered in the past before meeting Rosemary Letts, Rose's first victim was
47:44purportedly Fred's stepdaughter. The two then went on a rampage, assaulting and killing nine other
47:50people together, including West's first wife, Catherine Costello, and their daughter, Heather West.
47:56Many of the bodies were buried on their properties. Even though they were not alive, he wants access.
48:02He wants to feel that he can actually be part of this area and they are part of this area. This is his
48:09private graveyard. After investigating assault charges against the couple, the police found
48:15evidence of the violence. Although officially charged with 12 killings altogether, that number
48:20is estimated to be higher. In 1995, before his trial, West took his own life and Letts was sentenced
48:26to life in prison. And I was absolutely gutted. I wanted him to pay the proper price. And he just
48:35like took his own way out and had his own way about what happened to him. He was in control right to
48:41the end. Jeffrey Dahmer. From his late teens, Jeffrey Dahmer began a horrific killing spree. His victims
48:48were all men or boys, and many of his later crimes involved unspeakable acts to the bodies.
48:53Jeffrey Dahmer was responsible for killing more than a dozen people. The majority of those murders
48:59happened in an apartment near the Marquette campus. In 1991, Dahmer enticed Tracy Edwards back to his
49:06apartment with the promise of beer and payment for photographs. However, Edwards realized something was
49:11wrong and managed to escape. After he flagged down police officers, Dahmer's apartment was investigated
49:17and grim evidence was found, leading to Dahmer's arrest. His macabre 13-year crime spree finally
49:24ended when this man, Tracy Edwards, brought the police to the infamous apartment. Like the others,
49:29he had gone there with the promise of money. He was listening to my heart because at a point he told
49:34me he was going to eat my heart at that point. He was convicted of 15 murders and sentenced to life
49:39imprisonment. However, in 1994, he was fatally attacked by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver.
49:46There were a number of people who felt that Jeffrey Dahmer got exactly what he deserved.
49:51And I called his mother. She said, well, now everybody got what they want. The monster is dead.
49:57And then she said, he was my son. He was my boy.
50:00Albert Fish. Nearly 100 years ago, New York had a killer on the loose nicknamed many things,
50:06including the gray man and even the boogeyman. Honestly, it's not too far off. Albert Fish was a
50:13disturbed individual who targeted children. While we can't exactly list off the crimes toward them,
50:19just know they're terrible. To make things even more disturbing, the unhinged Fish sent the mother
50:25of one of his victims a letter describing what he did. Ten years after Fish began his acts, he was
50:31captured in 1934 after witnesses claimed to have seen him with missing children. Fish would admit to the
50:37murders, but would also claim he had over 100 victims. At his trial the following year, he was
50:42sentenced to execution, which was carried out in 1936. H.H. Holmes. Thought of as one of the US's
50:50first serial killers, Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as H.H. Holmes, dabbled in fraud in his early
50:56years to earn cash. Then he constructed what would be nicknamed the Murder Castle in Chicago, Illinois.
51:02It contained secret passageways and trap doors that allowed Holmes to slay privately and dispose of
51:08the evidence in the basement's furnace. But what Holmes has done is to create, really, a killing
51:13machine, a factory. He would usually entice women into the building, and later opened it up like a hotel.
51:19In 1894, Holmes was arrested for a different crime before his killing was discovered. He confessed to 27
51:27victims, but loftier speculations have the number over 200. In 1896, Holmes was executed for his grim
51:34crimes. You are cleansed and delivered. May God have mercy on your soul. As Holmes waits for his life
51:43to come to an end, he remains cool and composed. Samuel Little. In 2019, the FBI confirmed that they'd
51:51identified Samuel Little as the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history. After being convicted for
51:57slaying three people in 2014, the unsettling extent of his crimes began to leak out over the next few years.
52:04By 2018, Little had confessed to killing 93 women across the country. It's disturbing to listen to, but
52:11investigators want to hear it all and more. 79-year-old Samuel Little has confessed to 93 murders. That's
52:19more than were committed by Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer combined. Little provided the FBI with details on
52:25many of the cases from 1970 to 2005, and even drew the victims from memory to prove he was telling the truth.
52:32These are the portraits drawn by Samuel Little himself that there were many claims to have killed. They're so
52:38accurate that family members have recognised lost loved ones from them. Before he passed away in 2020,
52:44more than 60 of Little's confessions across at least 14 states had been confirmed by the authorities.
52:51Harold Shipman. Doctors are meant to be people we all trust. This makes the case of Harold Shipman
52:57especially chilling. He was a general practitioner in England who took people under his care only to end their lives.
53:04Five of the fifteen women he's been convicted of murdering died in his surgery. Normally doctors
53:09have no such death. He signed 70% of his death certificates. Normally it's no more than 30%.
53:15In 1998, one of his patients suddenly passed away, and a will – one that the family knew nothing about – gifted
53:22a lot of cash to Shipman. Police investigated the doctor and found evidence of forgery.
53:28He falsified computerized medical records. He entered false information on his victim's death
53:34certificates and lied to their families. Upon further examination, they found that many of
53:39his patients seemed to pass from overdoses of diamorphine. In 1999, Shipman was charged with the
53:46murder of 15 patients, many of whom were older women. He was sentenced to life in prison, and in the
53:52aftermath, there were thought to be as many as 250 victims.
53:57Now he's taken his own life. He was found in his prison cell at 6.20am.
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54:15Pedro Lopez. What's worse than a serial killer? Well, how about a known one authorities can't
54:23currently locate? Born in Colombia, Pedro Lopez was a serial murderer across South America and was
54:29nicknamed the Monster of the Andes. It seemed impossible that one man could have carried out so much violence.
54:37If Lopez was telling the truth, he'd rank among the most prolific serial killers in history.
54:43In 1980, after attempting to abduct someone, Lopez was arrested in Ecuador. He was soon charged with
54:49110 homicides. However, Lopez reportedly confessed that his victims could total more than 300.
54:56Lopez, it seemed, hoped to gain a twisted kind of immortality.
55:07In 2006, the Guinness World Records actually named him the most prolific serial killer,
55:12before it was taken down in bad taste. Unfortunately, Lopez was released for good behavior in 1998 and was
55:20declared sane. But, as of 2002, after being linked to another murder, his whereabouts are unknown.
55:28He went back into the countryside he knew so well, to the killing ground where he had found so many victims.
55:34That was the last time anyone reported seeing Pedro Alonso Lopez.
55:43What do you think obsessed us with true crime? Are we bad people for harboring this fascination with
55:48the bleak and morbid? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
55:51While in prison, Lopez underwent a psychological evaluation. It was determined that he was a sociopath.
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