Serial Killers: Profiles, Lists and Cases by State

Documented profiles of serial killers in the United States, each with the counts a court found, the counts the person confessed to and the counts police attribute, kept separate; years active; how the person was caught; the legal outcome; and the sources. The section covers offenders linked to three or more killings. It grows in order of public interest, so the best-known names come first.

104profiles
42states covered
82convicted
12never caught
51linked case files

Serial killers by state

Profiles by state
Darker tiles hold more profiles. This reflects what the section covers so far, not where serial murder is most common. Select a state to open its page.
Alaska: 3 profilesAKMaine: 0 profilesMEWisconsin: 4 profilesWIVermont: 3 profilesVTNew Hampshire: 1 profileNHWashington: 7 profilesWAIdaho: 1 profileIDMontana: 1 profileMTNorth Dakota: 0 profilesNDMinnesota: 0 profilesMNIllinois: 6 profilesILMichigan: 4 profilesMINew York: 12 profilesNYMassachusetts: 5 profilesMAOregon: 4 profilesORNevada: 1 profileNVWyoming: 1 profileWYSouth Dakota: 0 profilesSDIowa: 0 profilesIAIndiana: 5 profilesINOhio: 10 profilesOHPennsylvania: 4 profilesPANew Jersey: 4 profilesNJConnecticut: 3 profilesCTRhode Island: 0 profilesRICalifornia: 20 profilesCAUtah: 5 profilesUTColorado: 3 profilesCONebraska: 1 profileNEMissouri: 4 profilesMOKentucky: 3 profilesKYWest Virginia: 1 profileWVVirginia: 4 profilesVAMaryland: 1 profileMDDelaware: 0 profilesDEArizona: 0 profilesAZNew Mexico: 1 profileNMKansas: 5 profilesKSArkansas: 2 profilesARTennessee: 2 profilesTNNorth Carolina: 4 profilesNCSouth Carolina: 3 profilesSCDistrict of Columbia: 1 profileDCOklahoma: 1 profileOKLouisiana: 4 profilesLAMississippi: 0 profilesMSAlabama: 1 profileALGeorgia: 4 profilesGAHawaii: 1 profileHITexas: 14 profilesTXFlorida: 13 profilesFL
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20 California14 Texas13 Florida12 New York10 Ohio7 Washington6 Illinois5 Indiana5 Kansas5 Massachusetts5 Utah4 Georgia4 Louisiana4 Michigan4 Missouri4 New Jersey4 North Carolina4 Oregon4 Pennsylvania4 Virginia4 Wisconsin3 Alaska3 Colorado3 Connecticut3 Kentucky3 South Carolina3 Vermont2 Arkansas2 Tennessee1 Alabama1 District of Columbia1 Hawaii1 Idaho1 Maryland1 Montana1 Nebraska1 Nevada1 New Hampshire1 New Mexico1 Oklahoma1 West Virginia1 Wyoming0 Arizona0 Delaware0 Iowa0 Maine0 Minnesota0 Mississippi0 North Dakota0 Rhode Island0 South Dakota

Most searched profiles

Convicted 1978 to 1991

Jeffrey Dahmer

The Milwaukee Cannibal

Died in prison. Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys in Ohio and Wisconsin between 1978 and 1991. A jury found him sane on 15 counts in 1992; he received 16 life terms and was killed by a fellow inmate in 1994.

Wisconsin 16 convicted Died in prison
Convicted 1974 to 1978

Ted Bundy

Theodore Robert Bundy

Executed in Florida in 1989. Ted Bundy was convicted of three murders in Florida and confessed to 30 killings of young women across Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Idaho and Florida between 1974 and 1978.

Florida 3 convicted Executed
Convicted 1972 to 1978

John Wayne Gacy

The Killer Clown

Executed in 1994. John Wayne Gacy was convicted by a Cook County jury in 1980 of murdering 33 boys and young men in suburban Chicago between 1972 and 1978; 29 were found at his home. Five victims remain unidentified.

Illinois 33 convicted Executed
Convicted 1989 to 1990

Aileen Wuornos

Aileen Carol Wuornos

Executed by Florida in 2002. Aileen Wuornos shot seven men along Florida highways in 1989 and 1990; a jury convicted her of the Richard Mallory murder and she pleaded guilty or no contest to five more, receiving six death…

Florida 6 convicted Executed
Unidentified 1968 to 1969

Zodiac Killer

Zodiac

Unidentified. The Zodiac Killer attacked seven people in Northern California between December 1968 and October 1969, killing five, and taunted police and newspapers with letters and ciphers.

California 5 confirmed killed and 2 survivors; 37 claimed in a 1974 letter suspected At large
Convicted 1993 to 2010

Rex Heuermann

Rex Andrew Heuermann

Serving life. Massapequa Park architect Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty in April 2026 to seven of the Gilgo Beach / Long Island serial killings and admitted an eighth. He was sentenced in June 2026 to life without parole.

New York 7 convicted Imprisoned
Convicted 1984 to 1985

Richard Ramirez

The Night Stalker

Died on death row in 2013. Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, was convicted by a Los Angeles jury in 1989 of 13 murders, 5 attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries committed in 1984 and 1985, and sentenced to…

California 13 convicted Died in prison
Convicted 1968 to 1969

Jerry Brudos

Jerome Henry Brudos

Convicted on guilty pleas to three first-degree murders in Oregon in 1969 and sentenced to three consecutive life terms. Jerry Brudos confessed to four killings of young women in 1968 and 1969 and died in the Oregon State…

Oregon 3 convicted Died in prison
Convicted 1971 to 1979

Rodney Alcala

The Dating Game Killer

Convicted; died on California's death row in 2021. Rodney Alcala, the Dating Game Killer, was convicted in 2010 of five murders in Southern California (1977-1979) after two overturned Samsoe convictions, and pleaded guilty in…

California 7 convicted Died in prison
Died before trial 2001 to 2012

Israel Keyes

Died before trial. Israel Keyes was indicted for the 2012 kidnapping and killing of Samantha Koenig in Anchorage, confessed to murdering Bill and Lorraine Currier in Vermont and five others, and died by suicide in custody in…

Alaska 0 convicted Suicide
Convicted 1924 to 1928

Albert Fish

Hamilton Howard Fish

Executed at Sing Sing in 1936. Albert Fish was convicted in 1935 of the 1928 murder of 10-year-old Grace Budd in New York after a letter he sent her family was traced to him; he also confessed to two earlier child killings.

New York 1 convicted Executed
Convicted 1974 to 1991

Dennis Rader

BTK

Serving life. Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, pleaded guilty in 2005 to ten murders in Wichita and Park City, Kansas, from 1974 to 1991 and received ten consecutive life terms.

Kansas 10 convicted Imprisoned

Lists

Famous Serial Killers71
The most searched serial killers in the United States, ranked by how often people look them up, not by any judgement…
Serial Killers With the Most Victims104
Ranked by the number of murders a court convicted the person of. Confessed and suspected counts are shown separately…
Female Serial Killers13
Women convicted of, or officially linked to, three or more murders.
Serial Killers Who Were Never Caught12
Series in which the offender was never identified, or was identified but never taken into custody.
Serial Killers Still Alive42
Profiles with no recorded death: almost all are serving life sentences.
Executed Serial Killers23
Profiles ending in a state or federal execution, in date order.
Serial Killers Who Died in Prison28
Profiles ending in death in custody, from natural causes, suicide or at the hands of other inmates, as recorded by the…

Questions and analysis

How many serial killers are active in the US?
What the FBI and academic databases estimate, and what this dataset shows about how long offenders stayed active before capture.
Which state has the most serial killers?
The published rankings, the per-capita caveat, and this dataset's count for every state.
Timeline by decade
Every profile placed by the year of the first known murder, from the 1920s to today.
Statistics
Counts by state, decade, method, legal outcome and years to arrest, computed from the dataset on every build.

Case files

The victims of these offenders are documented as cases, with their own timelines and sources. 89 serial murder case files are indexed under serial killer cases; each profile links to the case files it is connected to.

How these profiles are compiled

Each profile is written from court opinions, corrections records, official releases and established reporting, with every claim attributed in the text and every source listed and checked on the date shown. Nobody is described as a killer without a conviction, a formal charge or an official attribution, and pending cases say "charged", not "guilty". Victims are named only where the public record names them.

Corrections, including requests from victims' families: info@coldcaseindex.com.