56 Shocking Facts About Famous Serial Killers

1. Ted Bundy, one of the most infamous serial killers, was a law student and worked at a suicide hotline.
2. Bundy often used a fake cast or crutches to gain the sympathy and trust of his victims.
3. Bundy was able to escape from jail twice before his final capture in 1978.
4. A group of women, known as “Bundyphiles,” were fascinated by Bundy during his trial and sent him love letters.
5. John Wayne Gacy, known as the “Killer Clown,” was a well-respected member of his community and often volunteered at local children’s parties as “Pogo the Clown.”
6. Before being discovered, Gacy once took a photo with the first lady Rosalynn Carter in 1978.
7. Jeffrey Dahmer, the “Milwaukee Cannibal,” kept the skulls of his victims as trophies.
8. Dahmer was eventually caught when one of his intended victims managed to escape and flagged down two police officers.
9. A&E’s documentary about Dahmer, “The Jeffrey Dahmer Files,” includes interviews with the detective who worked on his case.
10. A fellow inmate killed Dahmer at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, in 1994.
11. Gary Ridgway, known as the “Green River Killer,” has the most confirmed kills in U.S. history, with 49 victims.
12. Ridgway passed a polygraph test in 1984, allowing him to evade capture for almost 20 years.
13. Ridgway was a Vietnam War veteran and a truck painter by profession.
14. Aileen Wuornos was one of the most notorious female serial killers, murdering seven men in Florida.
15. Wuornos’ life was the basis of the 2003 movie “Monster,” for which Charlize Theron won an Oscar.
16. Wuornos claimed that her murders were in self-defense against men who tried to sexually assault her while she was working as a prostitute.
17. Richard Ramirez, known as the “Night Stalker,” terrorized Los Angeles in the mid-1980s.
18. Ramirez was a Satanist and often left occult symbols at his crime scenes.
19. Ramirez was eventually captured by residents in East Los Angeles who recognized him from his mug shot in the news.
20. Charles Manson was not a serial killer himself, but he led the Manson Family cult, whose members committed nine murders at his instruction.
21. Manson was an aspiring musician and even recorded an album titled “Lie: The Love and Terror Cult.”
22. Manson and his followers believed in an apocalyptic race war called “Helter Skelter,” which was inspired by a song of the same name by The Beatles.
23. Dennis Rader, known as the “BTK Killer” (Bind, Torture, Kill), sent taunting letters to the police and newspapers describing his crimes.
24. Rader was a city worker, a married father of two, and a president of his local church.
25. Rader was eventually caught when he sent a floppy disk to the police, which they traced back to his church.
26. David Berkowitz, known as the “Son of Sam,” claimed a demonic dog instructed him to commit his crimes.
27. Berkowitz’s crimes spurred one of the largest manhunts in New York City history.
28. After his arrest, Berkowitz became a born-again Christian and has since expressed remorse for his crimes.
29. Albert Fish, known as the “Gray Man,” was a child killer and cannibal active in the early 20th century.
30. Fish once sent a letter to the mother of one of his victims, describing in detail how he killed and ate her daughter.
31. The infamous Zodiac Killer has never been caught or definitively identified.
32. The Zodiac Killer sent encrypted letters to newspapers, some of which have yet to be decoded.
33. Jack the Ripper, who terrorized London in the late 19th century, was also never identified.
34. Jack the Ripper’s victims were all women, primarily prostitutes in the Whitechapel district.
35. The infamous letters from “Jack the Ripper” may have been hoaxes, as many were considered fakes by authorities even at the time.
36. Harold Shipman, a British doctor, is considered one of the most prolific serial killers in history, with approximately 250+ victims.
37. Shipman’s murders were only discovered after a statistical analysis showed a higher death rate among his patients.
38. Shipman’s case led to major changes in UK medical and legal procedures.
39. Pedro López, known as “The Monster of the Andes,” was convicted of killing 110 girls but claims the number is closer to 300.
40. López was released from prison for good behavior after serving just 14 years.
41. The “Hillside Stranglers,” Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr., were cousins who terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s.
42. Bianchi tried to plead insanity by creating a second personality, but a forensic psychologist saw through his ruse.
43. Richard Kuklinski, known as the “Iceman,” was a mob hitman who claimed to have killed over 100 people.
44. Kuklinski got his nickname because he froze his victims to obscure the time of death.
45. Ed Gein’s gruesome crimes, which included grave robbing and making items from human skin, inspired many horror movies, including “Psycho,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and “Silence of the Lambs.”
46. Gein was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial and spent the rest of his life in a mental institution.
47. The “Boston Strangler,” Albert DeSalvo, confessed to 13 murders, but his guilt remains a topic of debate among experts.
48. DeSalvo was murdered in prison before his trial.
49. Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the axe murders of her father and stepmother in the 19th century, but speculation about her guilt continues to this day.
50. The case inspired a famous nursery rhyme: “Lizzie Borden took an axe…”
51. David Parker Ray, known as the “Toy Box Killer,” tortured his victims in a $100,000 homemade torture chamber he called his “toy box.”
52. Ray’s crimes were only discovered when one of his victims managed to escape.
53. The “Golden State Killer,” Joseph James DeAngelo, was a former police officer who committed 13 murders, 50 sexual assaults, and 120 burglaries in California.
54. DeAngelo was only caught in 2018 through the use of genetic genealogy.
55. Yang Xinhai, known as the “Monster Killer,” was China’s most prolific serial killer, convicted of 67 murders and 23 rapes.
56. Yang would enter his victims’ homes at night and kill everyone with a meat cleaver

Originally posted 2023-09-21 19:23:34.

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