Who are some famous serial killers?

Answer 1

Unfortunatly, it is an ever-increasing list. Probably the most well known or infamous killer would be 19th century London's Jack The Ripper. The Ripper's victims of choice were 'roses' plucked from London's east end Whitechapel. Forced into prostitution by life's unfortunate circumstances, and most, if not all, were alcoholics and most were homeless.

Ted Bundy, former law student, handsome and charming, Bundy used college campuses to stalk young college students. There has never been an accurate body count of Bundy's victims, but he killed in about 5 different states including: Washington state, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, and Florida. Bundy was tried for 3 Florida murders and received 3 death sentences. He was finally executed in January 1989.

Gary Leon Ridgeway, again Washington state, Ridgeway evaded the law for 20 years. Science finally caught up with Ridgeway and he was finally arrested thanks to DNA.

The Hillside Stranglers of Los Angeles, CA who turned out to be cousins. This pair tortured and murdered young women and then dumped their bodies in the Angeles National Forest outside of LA.

Another infamous team, Charles Ng & Leonard Lake, in 1985 were pursued for shoplifting in Calavaras County, CA when police discovered a bag of bits and pieces of bodies in their car. This led to Lake's ranch where they uncovered a torture chamber bunker and a number of bodies. They are suspected of a possible 16 murders, including two babies. Lake committed suicide to avoid prosecution but Ng was conviced of 11 of the murders in 1999.

John Wayne Gacy of Chicago, IL killed young boys and men, most he had employed at his construction company. Gacy kept his date with death and was finally executed.

Jeffery Dahmer from Wisconsin lured young men to his apartment where they were tortured and finally murdered. After killing the victims, they were cut into pieces, some pieces he ate or stored in his freezer and refrigerater and with whatever was left he dissolved in acid. Dahmer was finally captured and convicted of numerous murders and sentenced to life with no parole. But parole would have been useless, Dahmer was beaten to death in prison by another inmate. In this case at least, he died as he lived, violently.

Arthur Shawcross of New York state was convicted of killing prostitutes. After Shawcross's arrest, there was enormous outrage by the citizens of New York. Shawcross had been in prison before for the deaths of two young children. His captors felt he had been rehabilitated and he was paroled, only to go out and kill again.

Hunting the Devil/Pursuit, Capture and Confession of the Most Savage Serial Killer in History by Richard Lourie tells the story of Russia's most infamous serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo. He was convicted of 53 murders of women and children. The bodies started turning up in 1982 and the Soviet Union's authorities had no expertise in recognizing and tracking serial killers, but finally arrested him in 1990.

This is just the tip of a very big iceburg. These are the killers I felt were the best known, and the cases very interesting.