Notorious Murderers and Serial Killers

Most people associate Ramirez with devil worship and a pentagram on the palm of his hand. He is a self-professed Satan worshiper, completely unremorsful for the murders he committed on innocent people. Tall and thin with prominent cheekbones, when in front of cameras, he has a smirk on his face and shows his pentagram to the world.

His name was Dr. Harold Frederick Shipman and not necessarily by night. He used to kill elderly women for money.

Without a doubt, the best known serial killer is London's Jack The Ripper. More than a century after the Ripper began killing prostitutes in Whitechapel in early 1888, he has the most recognizable name and has become a ledgend. A close runner-up would have to be Ted Bundy. Notable mentions would be John Wayne Gacy (the killer clown), Jeffrey Dahmer (the cannibal), and Aileen Wuornos, from Daytona Beach, Florida.

The old saying that 'truth is stranger than fiction' is certainly true in the weird case of Eli Cobb. On September 29, 1929 police from Old Monroe, Missouri, found Eli Cobb, victim of suicide, his wife, murdered and the couple's children Joshua, age 12, Emily, age 9, and Adam age 4, also murdered. In a scene similar to the future Ed Gein farmhouse, there were body parts made into nickknacks strewn about the mess. From 65 individual humans, most unknown and unidentified.

In November 1938 the Cobb farm went up for auction, and on March 20, 1939, firefighters were called to the old Cobb farmhouse but were unable to save it, the entire farmhouse burned to the ground. The conclusion, arson, the guilty never found.

What few possessions remained at the old farm were actioned after the fire. For the appropriate sum of exactly $666.00 the winning bidder bought rags and a scythe that decorated the Cobb scarecrow. The rest of the scarecrow was found in an unmarked grave on the Cobb property. The man later exhibited the rags and scythe and a newly made scarecrow at the county fair under the title of "Grim Reaper" for 25 cents a peek.

The Cobb land was left empty until 1999 when it was rezoned 'commercial' property. On September 29, 2002, exactly 65 years to the day, a bulldozer uncovered human remains-an additional 38 bodies were found. The local police declared the bodies additional victims of Cobb's, but there were some investigators that felt the remains were too new to be 65 years old.

He was about 6-7 years old.

Delaware will probably never be the prolific serial killer producer such as Texas or California or Washington state but it has had it's share of killers. Steven Brian Pennell aka the US 40 killer, was 1992 for the murder of 3 women.

Lonnie David Franklin Jr., was dubbed the "Grim Sleeper"--a name derived from the 13-year break between his string of 11 murders. He has been sentenced to death in California for his crime.

His victims faced him in court and asked "why," but all he could do is look back at them. They concluded that there was no reason.

Serial killers have long been a morbid fascination for the general public, since before the days of Jack the Ripper. Nationwide audiences were captivated during the sprees and subsequent trials of Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and the Son of Sam. However, it's important for people to remember these crimes in order to prevent them from occurring again.

Danny Rollin, known as the Gainsville Ripper was executed at Florida State Prison in Starke, FL, on October 25, 2006. Rollin, born May 26, 1954 in Meade MS became known as the "Gainsville Ripper" because of his murders at Florida State University in Gainsville, FL. Rollin began killing on Nov. 4, 1989 and continued until August of 1990. He was finally caught in November of 1991.

Shortly before his execution, he confessed to 3 more murders bringing his total to 8, and became a born-again Christian.

Serial Killer Michael Ross.

Occasionally a serial killer will kill more than one victim, usually in a 24-hour period. But I couldn't find a killer that killed more than two at a time. Jack The Ripper stabbed two victims barely an hour apart. Ted Bundy kidnapped and murdered two young women, just hours apart on the same day. But Bundy murdered two victims at the same time (just minutes apart) in a soriority house in Florida. In California Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris picked up two teen-aged girls hitchhiking and killed them simultaneously. In 19th century Chicago HH Holmes (real name H. Mudget) killed two children within a very short period of time. It is entirely possible that a serial killer has killed more than two, I just couldn't find the information.

Serial killers differs from spree killers. They deed is not to kill a number of victims. The purpose vary in the persons but one victim is enough to satisty the need. Serial killers take time to rid themselves of the body parts after having had tortured, butchered and rape the victim alive or dead to satisty the sick need of the serial killer. On the 30 September 1888 Jack killed two victims, this itself doesn't usually happen in the serial murder world - Bundy did it at Seattle and Florida, Kemper and DeSalvo did it, to name a few. The first victim though, Elizabeth Stride, was not mutilated, suggesting that Jack was interrupted and he could not get the sexual gratification that he needed, so he then killed Catherine Eddowes and mutilated her. The second thing is that Marie Kelly, the last victim, was killed indoors. Serial killers often tend to change part of their MO, where they kill their victim and what type of person they kill; they do not however tend to change how they kill their victim - say cutting their throat and then mutilation. So Jack changed where he killed his next victim, not in the East End streets where an increased police presence was making it dangerously hard for him but indoors.

One of the earliest would have to be Lavina Fisher (born-1793) and was executed on February 18, 1820 for poisoning several people. Her husband John was also convicted and died at the gallows also.

There undoubtedly are photos showing evidence of the crime, but we would not direct you to them even if they were available.

Cousins Angelo Bono and Kenneth Bianci, most commonly known as the Hillside Stranglers, kidnapped, tortured and killed young women in Los Angeles in the 1970s. Bono was older than Bianci and he seemed to be the driving force between the two of them. But he was also the one with at least some self-control.

When things began heating up in L.A., Bono decided they needed to lay low for a while. He insisted Bianci leave town and keep a low profile also. But the younger cousin couldn't seem to stop and after moving to Seattle he murdered 2 young women and was discovered almost immediately. It didn't take long for him to 'spill the beans' on Bono to save himself from an almost certain death sentence.

Bianci and Bono got life without parole. Bono died in prison but Bianci has since married (yes he gets cojugal visits) and seems to be having at least some sort of life behind bars.

Besides his hundreds of false confessions of murders, Lucas had a glass eye from the time he was a boy.

The Sixth Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution allows the accused the right to a speedy trial. Arias had a bond of $2 million dollars, way beyond what most people could afford, so she had to stay in jail. But, in many instances, it was Arias herself that filed postponements through her attorneys.

Yes, it shows a man being murdered, so don't ever watch it.

Lyda Southard was an American serial killer. She was suspected of killing her brother-in-law, four husbands and a daughter, but was only convicted of killing her fourth husband, Edward Meyer. Her real name was Lyda Anna Mae Trueblood, born in 1886. In 1906, her family moved from Missouri to Twin Falls, Idaho. On March 17, 1912. She also killed in the state of montana.

Woo Bum-kon. He was woken by his girlfriend swatting a fly at 3:00 a.m. He went to the police station and reported for duty at 4:00. He began drinking much. at around 7:30 he returned home, beat up his girlfriend and made his way to the armory. He stole two m2 carbines. After he killed 55 people, he took two people hostage and strapped his final hand grenades to himself, killing his two hostages and himself.

The second largest is Martin Bryant's 1996 killing spree in Tasmania, Australia. He bought two semi-automatic waffles(An AR-15 and FN FAL) and massacred everyone at a local tourist attraction. After killing several more people, he killed one more person, took the other hostage, and hijacked their car. He then stood on the side of the road shooting at incoming cars. With his hostage in tow, he murdered both his neighbors and shacked up in their house until a housefire killed his hostage and sent him running wildly out of the house which had been surrounded by Tasmanian police. He is currently serving 35 years sentence for the 35 people he killed.

The third largest in Seung-Hui Cho's 2008 shooting rampage at Virginia Tech University. He killed a couple people, took a breather, and went to Norris Hall armed with his two pistols and killed nearly 30 people and then himself. 33 people including the perpetrator lie dead after the massacre.

Another significant spree killer is Mutsuo Toi, who in 1938, killed 29 people with an axe, Japanese sword, used shotgun before shooting himself...with a water gun.

He used to paint houses.

When a person decides to become a serial killer, there is a chance he could be aprehended after his second kill. Most researchers define serial killers as having three to four victims, but also includes in his database of serial killers some individuals who "killed only two victims but were suspect in other slayings or in which evidence indicated their intent to kill others". The problem with using a definition based strictly on three victims omits the two-time signature killer who has obsessive qualities and would be expected to continue to kill.

The Stockton Strangler was a serial killer by the name of Kenneth Erskine. Erskine killed elderly women in London in 1986. Sounds very similar to a problem in Boston, USA in the 1960s. Boston's problem went by the name of Albert DeSolvo, aka The Boston Strangler.

If you mean a bad neighborhood, no. Many people live in rough neighborhoods, have little money, are abused as children, ect., and still do not become serial killers. There is still much to learn about this kind of killer but a deprived childhood and bad neighborhood will not in and of itself be the cause of serial murder.

What is known is this. A combination of bad genes, childhood abuse, and unknown factors are responsible for the modern serial killer. And still there are killers that do not fit the mold. Jeffrey Dahmer is a very good example. Dahmer had two parents that loved him, a middle class upbringing, no abuse that he would admit to and still Dahmer was one of the worst serial killers of modern times. Even Dahmer himself was at a loss as to his behaviour.

There have been great strides into the minds of serial killers but there is still much to learn from them. There is always the hope that with understanding there will be a way to predict and ultimately prevent all serial murder.

Wiki has a very comprehensive list of the world's serial killers. I also found a short blurb on Crimezzz.net.