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Top Ten Serial Killers
By Jen Allen
IV Leader Staff, Oct. 25, 2007
While these are not necessarily the absolute top ten serial
killers in the world, their crimes all took place in
America
. Most have taken place in the last
century, and most are dead. Supposedly,
early signs of a serial killer—showing up in childhood—are fire starting, or
arson, cruelty to animals, and bed wetting beyond a certain age.
Through general searching at serial killers, they all seem
amazingly normal to the outside world. Most
are generally smart and well liked by others, some having a wife and children.
They plan their killings methodically.
Others are unorganized, considered below average intelligence, random and
haphazard with their killings, and are generally avoided by other people.
Their main objective is to exert power and control on their
victims. These “Top Ten” are
some of the most well known serial killers—the actual best/worst of their kind
could be disputed. These are ranked
from ten to one, one being the top killer. Order
can be disputed.
Dennis Rader—BTK—Bind, Torture and Kill—Killer.
Murdered at least 10 people around
Wichita
,
KS
between 1974 and 1991 but not arrested until 2005.
Eleven hundred DNA samples were supposedly taken to find the BTK Killer.
Stalked his victims for patterns, got acquainted with them if co-workers.
Strangled victims until unconscious, then let them revive, then strangled
them again; he did this over and over until finally strangled to death.
Sent a floppy disk to police to give them information he believed to not
be able to link him. Plead guilty,
sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences without parole for 175 years.
At El Dorado Correctional Facility in
Kansas
, in solitary confinement for perhaps the rest of his life.
Ted Bundy—ranged in WA, UT, CO, ID, and FL.
Arrested in 1975 in Salt Lake City for not stopping for a police officer;
later evidence would lead police to believe he had committed murders.
Escaped from jail twice; made it to
Chicago
the second time; eventually went to
Florida
, committing petty crime and eventually murders.
Confessed to 30 murders. Would
rape his victims before murdering them by bludgeoning (clubbing) and
strangulation; also was a necrophiliac. He
was executed in 1989.
Aileen Wuornos—was arrested for crimes all through her
teenage years and later life. Was
said to have beaten her husband. Made
a living as a prostitute. Killed
seven men, all in 1990, saying the men had assaulted and attempted to or did
rape her. Charlize Theron played her
in the movie Monster.
First sentenced to death in 1992; five death sentences and ten years
later she was killed by lethal injection in
Florida
.
Gary Ridgway—confessed to more murders than any other American serial killer.
Arrested in 2001, but murders began in 1982.
All were women, near
Seattle
,
WA
, ages 15 to 38. Ted Bundy was
interviewed for information in finding “The Green River Killer” (Ridgway).
Arrested twice for prostitution; passed a polygraph test with questioning
for murders. Plead guilty and told
authorities about 48 murders and locations.
Is thought to have more than fifty and up to seventy murders.
Guilty plea allowed him to bargain for life sentencing without parole.
He is currently in the Washington State Penitentiary in
Walla Walla
,
WA
.
John Wayne Gacy—confessed in 1978 of 33 murders.
Most found under his house, the rest in
Des Plaines River
, all in various states of decomposition. Final
victim found in the
Illinois River
. Ages believed to be 14-21.
Would stick clothing into their mouths to muffle screams, then a rope or
board to choke them as he assaulted them. He
was executed in
Crest Hill
,
IL
, by lethal injection.
Ed Gein—police suspected him in the disappearance of a woman in 1957.
When entering his house, they found it riddled with bodies.
He practiced necrophiliac behavior—skinning his murder victims and
exhumed, decorated his home with parts of, and made articles of clothing and
furniture from the skin of corpses. Believed
to have a woman-skinned suit from exhumed corpses of which looked like his
mother so he could look like her as well. Died
of respiratory and heart failure in 1984 near
Madison
,
WI
.
Jeffrey Dahmer—arrested in 1991. Police
found a fourteen-year-old boy that Dahmer claimed to be his “19-year-old
lover,” and returned the boy, who died later that night, Dahmer dismembering
him and keeping the skull as a souvenir. Believed
to have murdered 17 men and boys; included sodomy, necrophilia, strangulation,
stabbing, dismemberment, and cannibalism in his acts.
Served his 937 year sentence in
Portage
,
WI
, and was murdered by another inmate in 1994.
Charles Manson—became leader of the Manson Family, a supposed cult.
Convicted of conspiracy and not actual murders.
Lived with nineteen women in
Berkley
,
CA
. Practically moved in with Beach
Boys’ Dennis Wilson,
Wilson
paying over $100,000 for various things, including Manson’s girls’
gonorrhea treatment. Helped Manson
record songs. Helter Skelter—Manson
believed to be prophesized war. Based
life and Family things on Beatles’ songs.
Found guilty in 1971 on seven accounts of murder and one conspiracy,
along with four others. Was denied
parole in May, 2007, and be eligible again in 2012.
Is at
Corcoran
State
Prison in
Corcoran
,
CA
.
Dr. Harry Howard Holmes—thought to have murdered hundreds at the 1893
World’s Fair in
Chicago
by trapping guests in his hotel. Confessed
to 27 murders. His story was written
about in “The Devil in the
White
City
.” Stole bodies from the Universy
of Michigan and disfigured them while in
Medical
School
. Tortured and killed employees,
lovers, and hotel guests; some were asphyxiated in gassed rooms, others he
listened to them scream, panic, and suffocate.
The bodies were sent down a chute to the basement, where he dissected
them, skinned them, put into skeleton models, and sold to medical schools, along
with organs. He also stretched
victims, poisoned, or threw them into vats of acid.
Hanged in 1896 in
Philadelphia
, taking ten minutes to die.
Herbert Mullin—committed 13 murders in four months.
Was voted “most likely to succeed” in a
California
high school. Allowed family to
commit him to a mental hospital in 1969 (age 21).
Burned cigarettes on skin. Thought
that the voice in his head was telling him to murder someone to save
California
from an earthquake—he murdered a homeless man with a baseball bat.
Examined second victim’s intestines for “pollution” by putting them
on trees after stabbing her and slicing her stomach open.
Stabbed priest to death for confession.
Last murder was an old man mowing his lawn with many witnesses.
Sentenced to life imprisonment at Mule Creek State Penitentiary in CA,
eligible for parole in 2025.