Serial Killers Fast Facts | CNN

By Editor Last updated May 19, 2021

(CNN) —

Right here’s a choose listing of convicted American serial killers and notable open or unsolved circumstances.

Serial homicide is outlined by the FBI as two or extra killings separated by a span of time. A majority of serial killings are sexually motivated, in response to the FBI.

Serial murders are comparatively uncommon. Fewer than one p.c of homicides throughout a given 12 months are dedicated by serial killers, the FBI studies.

Nickname: Son of Sam

Variety of confirmed victims: 6

Years and site: Seventies, New York Metropolis

Traits: Initially claimed a neighbor’s canine was possessed by an historic spirit that commanded him to shoot individuals. The canine proprietor’s identify was Sam. Berkowitz later mentioned the canine story was a hoax.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on August 10, 1977. Pleaded responsible to murdering six individuals and sentenced to 25-years-to-life for every homicide. At present incarcerated on the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

Variety of confirmed victims: Unknown, confessed to greater than two dozen murders earlier than he was executed however he could have been linked to extra slayings.

Years and places: Seventies, a number of states together with Washington, Utah, Colorado and Florida

Traits: Preyed on younger ladies and generally lured victims by pretending to be injured. Bundy had studied psychology in school, labored as a suicide hotline volunteer whereas at college and served at one level as assistant director of the Seattle Crime Prevention Advisory Fee.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested for the ultimate time on February 15, 1978. He had been beforehand arrested for homicide in Colorado however escaped from custody, earlier than being captured in Aspen just a few days later. Months later, Bundy escaped once more, prompting a nationwide manhunt. Whereas a fugitive in Florida, he killed two school college students and a 12-year-old lady. Bundy was apprehended a 3rd and last time in Pensacola in a stolen automotive. He was convicted on three counts of homicide and sentenced to loss of life within the electrical chair. Executed on January 24, 1989.

Nicknames: The Hillside Stranglers

Variety of confirmed victims: Not less than 9

Years and places: Seventies, Los Angeles, Washington state

Traits: Buono and Bianchi had been cousins who posed as law enforcement officials to entice teenage women and younger ladies, a few of whom labored as prostitutes. Bianchi claimed that he suffered from a number of persona dysfunction however later admitted that he faked the situation. Buono owned an auto upholstery store and was not a suspect till Bianchi was caught, confessed and recognized his cousin as his confederate.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Bianchi was arrested on January 12, 1979; Buono was arrested on October 19, 1979. Bianchi was arrested in Bellingham, Washington, as a suspect within the murders of two school college students at Western Washington College. He pleaded responsible to the slayings in Washington and confessed to 5 of the Los Angeles murders. He was sentenced to 5 life phrases for homicide and one extra life sentence for conspiracy. Bianchi is incarcerated on the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. Buono was arrested at his dwelling in Glendale, California, the identical day Bianchi admitted he participated in 5 of the Hillside killings. Bianchi testified throughout Buono’s trial. Buono was convicted of 9 murders and was sentenced to life in jail with out the potential of parole. He died in jail in 2002.

Variety of confirmed victims: 25

Yr and site: 1971, Yuba Metropolis, California

Traits: A farm labor contractor, Corona was convicted within the stabbing deaths of 24 staff. His twenty fifth sufferer was shot. Throughout a 2011 parole listening to, he confessed to killing the boys. Corona, who was 77 and affected by dementia on the time of the listening to, described his victims as alcoholics who had trespassed within the orchards.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on Might 26, 1971. Corona was arrested after a neighbor reported suspicious exercise in a peach orchard. Police discovered 25 our bodies buried in shallow graves in orchards surrounding the Feather River and traced the our bodies to Corona. 4 victims had been by no means recognized. After being convicted in 1973, Corona was sentenced to 25 life phrases in jail however an enchantment led to a brand new trial in 1982. Corona was once more convicted on the second trial and sentenced to 25 concurrent phrases of 25-years to life. He died of pure causes on March 4, 2019.

Variety of confirmed victims: 16 (Dahmer confessed to 17 murders however prosecutors lacked proof to convict him within the extra killing)

Years and places: Seventies-Nineties, primarily within the Milwaukee space

Traits: A former chocolate manufacturing unit employee, Dahmer picked up younger males at bus stations, bars, purchasing facilities and different places. He received them to go to his condominium by providing them cash to pose for pictures or by promising them alcohol. He drugged them and strangled them. He ate components of a minimum of one in every of his victims and saved the stays of others in his condominium.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on July 22, 1991. Dahmer was apprehended after one in every of his captives escaped and went to the police, nonetheless carrying handcuffs Dahmer shackled to one in every of his wrists. Charged with 15 counts of homicide, he pleaded responsible however insane. A Milwaukee jury dominated towards Dahmer’s madness declare, and he was sentenced to fifteen life phrases in February 1992. Dahmer pleaded responsible to a sixteenth homicide in Ohio and was sentenced to a further life time period in Might 1992. He was crushed to loss of life in jail in 1994.

Nicknames: The Golden State Killer, Visalia Ransacker, East Space Rapist, Unique Evening Stalker

Variety of confirmed victims: Not less than 13

Years and site: Seventies-Eighties, California

Traits: DeAngelo, a former police officer, started with a string of burglaries, then grew extra violent with a collection of killings, rapes and assaults within the Seventies and Eighties, as he moved from one county to the subsequent. Two of his earliest recognized homicides had been the murders of a pair in Rancho Cordova who could have witnessed him breaking into a house. After the Rancho Cordova slayings, DeAngelo began a collection of murders within the Santa Barbara space, greater than 300 miles south of Sacramento. Investigators on the time didn’t see a connection between the assaults in Santa Barbara and Sacramento. Many years after the killings, true crime creator Michelle McNamara drew consideration to the case with weblog posts and a e book, “I’ll Be Gone within the Darkish,” revealed two years after her sudden loss of life in 2016.

Arrest, responsible plea and sentence: DeAngelo was arrested on April 24, 2018. Detectives used a public family tree web site to slim down their listing of suspects after which collected DNA samples from DeAngelo’s trash and the door deal with of his automotive. Hours after they confirmed two DNA matches, DeAngelo was arrested. On June 29, 2020, DeAngelo pleaded responsible to 13 counts of first-degree homicide and particular circumstances – together with homicide dedicated throughout burglaries and rapes – in addition to 13 counts of kidnapping, and he acknowledged greater than 50 rapes he was not charged for due to California’s statute of limitations. DeAngelo avoids the loss of life penalty along with his responsible plea. On August 21, 2020, DeAngelo was given 11 life sentences with out the potential of parole.

Nickname: The Grim Sleeper

Variety of confirmed victims: 10

Years and site: Eighties-2000s, Los Angeles

Traits: Franklin focused prostitutes and feminine drug addicts. Franklin was known as the Grim Sleeper as a result of he was believed to have stopped killing for greater than a decade earlier than he started a second homicide spree in the course of the 2000s. Franklin, a married father of two, is a former metropolis sanitation employee and storage attendant.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on July 7, 2010. Undercover Los Angeles law enforcement officials obtained a pattern of Franklin’s DNA from a leftover pizza slice and matched it to the killer’s DNA. He was convicted of slaying 10 individuals and was sentenced to loss of life in 2016. He died in jail in 2020.

Variety of confirmed victims: 33

Years and places: Seventies, Chicago space

Traits: A building firm proprietor who moonlighted as a kids’s occasion clown, Gacy kidnapped younger males and boys or lured them to his dwelling. He was twice married and divorced with two kids.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on December 21, 1978. Police investigating the disappearance of a teenage boy found the stays of victims in a crawlspace beneath Gacy’s home. He was sentenced to loss of life by deadly injection on 33 counts of homicide. Executed on Might 10, 1994.

Variety of confirmed victims: Convicted of 16 murders in Orange County, California however linked to a minimum of 29 extra slayings nationwide, in response to prosecutors. Detectives discovered a pocket book in Kraft’s briefcase that contained a listing with greater than 60 entries. Prosecutors mentioned the journal chronicled Kraft’s killings. Protection attorneys argued the diary included ambiguous entries like “New Yr’s Eve,” referencing occasions unrelated to homicide.

Years and places: Seventies-Eighties, California, Oregon, Michigan

Traits: Kraft, a pc advisor, picked up younger hitchhikers on the interstate. He focused males with army backgrounds.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on Might 14, 1983. Kraft was pulled over by California Freeway Patrol for weaving, and officers discovered a useless physique within the entrance passenger seat. He was convicted on 16 homicide counts and sentenced to loss of life. He’s incarcerated awaiting execution at San Quentin State Jail.

Variety of confirmed victims: Convicted of eight murders. In 2018, Little confessed to a complete of 93 murders throughout an interview with FBI crime analysts and James Holland of the Texas Rangers. Investigators have confirmed a minimum of 60 of the confessed killings. The FBI describes him as America’s most prolific serial killer and has requested for the general public’s assist in figuring out extra of his victims.

Years and places: Seventies-2005, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas

Traits: A nomadic drifter, Little started touring state-to-state and committing crimes after leaving Ohio within the late Fifties. Little usually focused susceptible ladies concerned in prostitution and hooked on medication. A one-time aggressive boxer, Little would punch and stun his victims earlier than strangling them. With out bullet wounds or stab marks, most of those deaths had been attributed to accidents or drug overdoses.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on September 5, 2012, at a Kentucky homeless shelter. Little was extradited to California on a narcotics cost. As soon as Little was in custody, the Los Angeles Police Division matched Little’s DNA to victims in three unsolved homicides from 1987 and 1989. He was indicted on three counts of homicide, and in 2014, he was convicted and sentenced to 3 life sentences with no risk of parole. In 2018, Little was extradited to Texas the place he plead responsible to the 1994 homicide of Denise Christie Brothers and given a life sentence. In 2019, Little acquired 4 extra sentences of life for the murders of 4 ladies in Ohio. Little died in jail in 2020.

Nickname: The BTK Killer

Variety of confirmed victims: Not less than 10

Years and site: Kansas, Seventies-Nineties

Traits: A churchgoer, Cub Scout chief and married father of two, Rader labored on the dwelling safety firm, ADT, and he later turned a code compliance supervisor in suburban Park Metropolis, Kansas. Two of his earliest victims had been ladies who labored at an workplace with him. He additionally murdered a co-worker’s husband and two kids. In a letter discovered folded right into a e book on the public library that was discovered months after the primary killings, Rader described one of many crime scenes and advised that he must be known as “BTK,” brief for “bind, torture, kill.” He continued mailing cryptic letters to the media and the police previous to his arrest.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on February 25, 2005. Rader was caught after he despatched a floppy disk to a TV station in response to studies speculating that BTK was useless or in jail as a result of it had been greater than a decade since his final sufferer was discovered. Police traced the disk to a pc at Rader’s church and located that his DNA matched the killer’s. Rader pleaded responsible to 10 murders and was sentenced to 10 consecutive life phrases. He’s at present incarcerated on the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas.

Nickname: The Evening Stalker

Variety of confirmed victims: Convicted of 13 murders however linked to 1 extra slaying through DNA.

Years and site: Eighties, California

Traits: A drifter with an curiosity in Satanism, Ramirez usually broke into properties by unlocked home windows and doorways late at night time, capturing any males he encountered whereas on the lookout for ladies to assault. His victims ranged in age from 9 to 83.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on August 31, 1985. Ramirez was captured and held by a mob of residents in Los Angeles earlier than police intervened and arrested him. He was sentenced to loss of life on 13 counts of homicide and was later linked through DNA to a killing in San Francisco. He died of issues from most cancers whereas awaiting execution at San Quentin State Jail in 2013.

Nickname: The Inexperienced River Killer

Variety of confirmed victims: Not less than 49

Years and site: Eighties-Nineties, Washington state

Traits: Ridgway focused younger ladies who had been runaways or prostitutes and left among the our bodies in or close to the Inexperienced River, a waterway within the Seattle space. He was a thrice married truck painter who had a son with one in every of his wives. Ridgway was questioned by police in 1983, quickly after the killings started, and detectives obtained a search warrant in 1987. On the time, no proof was recovered linking him to the murders, and he had handed a polygraph check early within the investigation.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on November 30, 2001. Advances in DNA testing know-how led to the arrest, as legislation enforcement re-tested proof that had been collected years earlier than. They discovered a match and he was charged and brought into custody. He confessed and plead responsible to 48 killings. In 2011, he was charged with a forty ninth slaying. Ridgway is serving a life sentence on the Washington State Penitentiary.

Variety of confirmed victims: Convicted of 9 murders however confessed to 17 killings

Years and site: Nineties, New York

Traits: An unemployed landscaper who lived along with his mom on Lengthy Island, Rifkin would drive to New York Metropolis and decide up prostitutes. He strangled his victims and took private belongings from the ladies. These things had been present in his bed room, the place police additionally found a e book in regards to the Inexperienced River Killer. His mom claimed that she didn’t go into her son’s bed room and was unaware of the killings.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on June 28, 1993. Rifkin was pulled over for driving with out a license plate, and police discovered a useless girl at the back of his truck. Whereas in custody, he confessed to killing 17 ladies. Throughout a number of trials, Rifkin’s attorneys argued that he suffered from psychological sickness, however he was convicted on 9 fees of homicide and was sentenced to greater than 200 years in jail. At present incarcerated on the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York.

Variety of confirmed victims: 11

Years and site: 2000s, Ohio

Traits: A convicted intercourse offender, Sowell preyed on ladies fighting drug abuse and homelessness. He would invite victims to his home and provide them beer. He informed police that he turned enraged with the ladies as a result of they reminded him of an ex-girlfriend who deserted him after he helped her kick medication. The victims had been strangled and buried on his property.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on October 31, 2009. Police issued a warrant for Sowell’s arrest after a lady informed them that he had hit her and sexually assaulted her. Officers discovered two our bodies in the home and found extra stays within the yard. After a 25-day trial, Sowell was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to loss of life by deadly injection. Sowell died in jail in 2021.

Variety of confirmed victims: Not less than 14, together with a pregnant girl

Years and site: Eighties-Nineties, Los Angeles

Traits: A father of 4 whose jobs included delivering pizza, Turner focused feminine drug customers in South Los Angeles.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Turner was charged with homicide in 2004 whereas incarcerated for rape. Detectives had found that his DNA matched a pattern from against the law scene and in the end forensics linked him to 10 killings. Throughout the investigation, police found that that they had wrongfully convicted an intellectually disabled janitor named David Allen Jones, who served 9 years in jail for 3 of Turner’s slayings earlier than he was launched in 2004. Turner was convicted of 10 murders in 2007 and sentenced to loss of life. In 2014, he was convicted of 4 extra murders and once more sentenced to loss of life. He’s incarcerated at San Quentin State Jail awaiting execution.

Variety of confirmed victims: 6 (was linked to a minimum of one different loss of life however the physique was by no means recovered)

Years and site: Florida, 1989-1990

Traits: Wuornos had an extended historical past of theft, prostitution and drug abuse earlier than she started killing males she met alongside Interstate 75 in Florida. She claimed that through the years, she had been repeatedly crushed and raped by the boys who paid her for intercourse. Her first sufferer, Richard Mallory was a convicted intercourse offender.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on January 9, 1991. Wuornos was arrested after her lover, Tyria Moore, informed police in regards to the murders and agreed to cooperate. Moore was not charged with any offenses. Wuornos later gave investigators an announcement admitting to the murders however she mentioned she killed in self-defense. Throughout her trial for the homicide of Richard Mallory, three psychologists testified for the protection that Wuornos suffered from borderline persona dysfunction, impairing her means to adapt her conduct to the necessities of the legislation. After about 90 minutes of deliberations, the jury returned a responsible verdict. At her sentencing listening to, Wuornos claimed that police coerced her into confessing. The decide sentenced her to loss of life. She pleaded no contest to the opposite 5 slayings. She was executed on October 9, 2002, after voluntarily ending her appeals, saying that she would kill once more if launched.

Variety of confirmed victims: Not less than 15

Years and site: Seventies-Nineties, Washington state

Traits: A married father of 5 who flew helicopters within the Military and the Nationwide Guard, Yates predominantly preyed on prostitutes. One of many victims was buried in Yates’ yard.

Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on April 18, 2000. Yates was arrested after police matched fibers discovered on the physique of a useless prostitute to Yates’ automotive, which additionally had blood on the seatbelt and seat. DNA testing and different proof linked Yates to a minimum of 12 murders. He later pleaded responsible to 13 killings in alternate for a life sentence (408 years) in lieu of the loss of life penalty. In 2002, he was convicted of two extra murders in a unique county and sentenced to loss of life. Yates’ attorneys have repeatedly appealed the ruling however he stays on loss of life row awaiting execution on the Washington State Penitentiary.

Variety of victims: 29

Years and site: 1979-1981, Georgia

Traits: Over the course of twenty-two months, 29 African-American kids and youths had been murdered within the Atlanta space. The FBI labored with native authorities to research the killings, which detectives believed had been linked.

Investigation: In 1981, the Reagan administration allotted greater than $2 million in federal funds to assist police monitor leads and supply funding for youth packages to maintain children protected after college. On June 21, 1981, a person named Wayne Williams was arrested and charged with the murders of two younger males whose our bodies had been discovered within the Chattahoochee River. Though prosecutors mentioned the 2 murders had been linked to the kid killings, Williams was by no means charged with the opposite crimes. He was convicted on two counts of homicide and sentenced to 2 consecutive life phrases in jail. He has maintained his innocence. In 2005, the DeKalb County Police reopened their investigation into 5 of the killings.

Variety of victims: Not less than 11

Years and site: 1962-1964, Massachusetts

Traits: Throughout the late spring and summer season of 1962, six ladies between the ages of 55 and 85 had been discovered useless in Boston and its suburbs. After just a few months of quiet, youthful victims started turning up. Mary Sullivan, 19, was the ultimate sufferer, murdered in January of 1964. Albert DeSalvo, an inmate at a psychiatric hospital, confessed in 1965 that he was the Boston Strangler.

Investigation: Though DeSalvo claimed that he killed the ladies, police lacked bodily proof tying him to the homicide scenes. He was as an alternative tried for a collection of robberies and sexual assaults. DeSalvo was convicted on all counts and sentenced to life behind bars in 1967. Six years later, he was stabbed to loss of life in jail. In 2013, investigators discovered DNA connecting DeSalvo to Sullivan’s homicide. The DNA on the crime scene matched DNA collected from DeSalvo’s exhumed corpse. Investigators tried to find DNA from the opposite murders however haven’t but been capable of finding extra organic proof.

Variety of victims: Not less than 5

Years and site: Sixties, California

Traits: Throughout a string of seemingly random killings, telephone calls and letters had been acquired by police and newspapers from an individual claiming to be the assassin. The letters had been laden with mysterious symbols and references to astrology. Zodiac claimed that she or he killed as many as 37 individuals. After the final recognized homicide in 1969, Zodiac mailed a bit of the sufferer’s shirt, together with a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Investigation: In 2002, a San Francisco murder detective mentioned greater than 2,500 individuals had been thought-about suspects within the case. In 2018, police despatched two of Zodiac’s letters to a lab, hoping to seek out DNA on the stamps or the envelope flaps.