California Serial Killers
ColdCaseIndex documents 20 serial killers whose murders took place in California, with first known killings from 1968 to 1990. 19 of them were caught; 11 linked case files document their victims. The earliest series is Zodiac Killer (1968) and the most recent is Keith Hunter Jesperson (1990). Profiles are added in order of public interest, so this page is not a complete census of the state.
All 20 profiles
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.
Samuel Little
Samuel McDowell
Died in prison. Samuel Little was convicted of eight murders in California, Texas and Ohio. He confessed to 93 killings from 1970 to 2005, and authorities said nearly 60 were confirmed. He died in December 2020, aged 80.
Juan Corona
Juan Vallejo Corona
Died in prison. Labor contractor Juan Corona was convicted of murdering 25 farmworkers buried in orchards near Yuba City, California, in 1971.
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…
Edmund Kemper
The Co-ed Killer
Imprisoned. Edmund Kemper was convicted by a Santa Cruz County jury in 1973 of eight counts of first-degree murder for killing six young women, his mother and her friend in 1972 and 1973.
Herbert Mullin
Herbert William Mullin
Died in prison. Herbert Mullin admitted killing 13 people in Santa Cruz County and Los Gatos, California, in 1972 and 1973. Convicted of 11 murders in two counties, he was repeatedly denied parole and died at a Stockton prison…
Randy Kraft
The Scorecard Killer
On death row in California since 1989. Randy Kraft was convicted by an Orange County jury of murdering 16 young men between 1972 and 1983; a coded list found at his 1983 arrest is believed to reference up to 67 victims in…
Joseph James DeAngelo
The Golden State Killer
Imprisoned for life. Joseph DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer, pleaded guilty in 2020 to 13 California murders committed from 1975 to 1986 and admitted dozens of rapes; he was identified in 2018 through forensic genetic genealogy.
Kenneth Bianchi
The Hillside Strangler
Imprisoned for life. Kenneth Bianchi, one of the two Hillside Stranglers, pleaded guilty in 1979 to five Los Angeles murders and two Bellingham, Washington murders; his cousin Angelo Buono was convicted of nine killings in 1983.
Richard Chase
Richard Trenton Chase
Suicide. Richard Chase was convicted in May 1979 of six counts of first-degree murder for killings in Sacramento, California, in December 1977 and January 1978.
Roger Kibbe
I-5 Strangler
Killed in prison. Roger Kibbe, the I-5 Strangler, was convicted in 1991 of murdering Darcie Frackenpohl and pleaded guilty in 2009 to six more killings of women in Northern California.
Lawrence Bittaker
The Tool Box Killers
Died on death row in 2019. Lawrence Bittaker and accomplice Roy Norris, the 'Tool Box Killers', kidnapped and murdered five teenage girls in Los Angeles County in 1979.
William Bonin
The Freeway Killer
Executed in 1996. William Bonin, the Freeway Killer, was convicted by juries in Los Angeles and Orange counties of murdering 14 boys and young men along Southern California freeways in 1979 and 1980; he confessed to 21.
Dorothea Puente
Dorothea Montalvo Puente
Died in prison 2011. Sacramento boarding-house operator charged with nine murders after seven bodies were dug from her yard in 1988; a Monterey County jury convicted her of three in 1993 and deadlocked on six.
Charles Ng
Charles Chitat Ng
Under sentence of death. Charles Ng was convicted in 1999 of 11 murders committed with Leonard Lake in 1984 and 1985, centred on a rural property in Wilseyville, California.
Christopher Wilder
The Beauty Queen Killer
Died before trial. Christopher Wilder, an Australian-born Florida businessman, is linked by the FBI to at least eight murders and eleven or more abductions across the United States between February 26 and April 13, 1984, when he…
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…
Lonnie Franklin Jr.
The Grim Sleeper
Died on death row in 2020. Lonnie Franklin Jr., the Grim Sleeper, was convicted by a Los Angeles jury in 2016 of 10 murders and one attempted murder in South Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007, and was caught in 2010 through…
Alfredo Prieto
Alfredo Rolando Prieto
Executed. Alfredo Prieto was sentenced to death in California for the 1990 murder of a 15-year-old girl and in Virginia for the 1988 killings of two George Washington University students in Reston.
Keith Hunter Jesperson
The Happy Face Killer
Serving life. Long-haul trucker Keith Hunter Jesperson, the Happy Face Killer, is held at the Oregon State Penitentiary for murders of women committed between 1990 and 1995; eight killings in six states are considered confirmed.
At a glance
| Name | Alias | State | Active | Convicted | Confessed | Suspected | Legal status | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zodiac Killer | Zodiac | California | 1968 to 1969 | — | — | 5 confirmed killed and 2 survivors; 37 claimed in a 1974 letter | Unidentified | At large |
| Samuel Little | Samuel McDowell | California, Florida, Ohio, Texas | 1970 to 2005 | 8 | 93 | about 60 confirmed by the FBI, of 93 confessed | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Juan Corona | Juan Vallejo Corona | California | 1971 | 25 | — | 25 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Rodney Alcala | The Dating Game Killer | California, New York | 1971 to 1979 | 7 | 2 | 8 charged (one Wyoming charge was never tried); investigators have linked him to further deaths in California, Washington, New York, New Hampshire and Arizona, with published estimates ranging into the dozens | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Edmund Kemper | The Co-ed Killer | California | 1972 to 1973 | 8 | 8 | 10, including his grandparents, killed in 1964 when he was 15 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| Herbert Mullin | Herbert William Mullin | California | 1972 to 1973 | 11 | 13 | 13 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Randy Kraft | The Scorecard Killer | California, Oregon, Michigan | 1972 to 1983 | 16 | 0 | up to 67 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| Joseph James DeAngelo | The Golden State Killer | California | 1975 to 1986 | 13 | 13 | 13 murders; prosecutors also attribute about 50 rapes and more than 120 burglaries | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| Kenneth Bianchi | The Hillside Strangler | California, Washington | 1977 to 1979 | 7 | 7 | 12 (10 in Los Angeles with Buono, 2 in Bellingham) | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| Richard Chase | Richard Trenton Chase | California | 1977 to 1978 | 6 | — | 6 | Convicted | Suicide |
| Roger Kibbe | I-5 Strangler | California | 1977 to 1987 | 7 | 6 | 8 or more | Convicted | Killed |
| Lawrence Bittaker | The Tool Box Killers | California | 1979 | 5 | — | 5 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| William Bonin | The Freeway Killer | California | 1979 to 1980 | 14 | 21 | 22 to 36; police initially linked him to about 40 killings | Convicted | Executed |
| Dorothea Puente | Dorothea Montalvo Puente | California | 1982 to 1988 | 3 | — | 9 (charged); seven bodies recovered from her yard, one from the Sacramento River, one earlier death reclassified | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Charles Ng | Charles Chitat Ng | California | 1984 to 1985 | 11 | — | 11 to 25 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| Christopher Wilder | The Beauty Queen Killer | Florida, Texas, Kansas, Utah, California, New York | 1984 | 0 | — | At least 8 killed; 11 or more abducted | Died before trial | Killed |
| Richard Ramirez | The Night Stalker | California | 1984 to 1985 | 13 | — | 15 or more (13 convictions plus two San Francisco killings attributed by police) | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Lonnie Franklin Jr. | The Grim Sleeper | California | 1985 to 2007 | 10 | — | 14 to 25 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Alfredo Prieto | Alfredo Rolando Prieto | Virginia, California | 1988 to 1990 | 3 | — | 9 | Convicted | Executed |
| Keith Hunter Jesperson | The Happy Face Killer | Oregon, Washington, California, Florida, Wyoming, Nebraska | 1990 to 1995 | 5 | 8 | 8 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
Serial murder case files from California
Victim-centred case pages from the cold case index, with their own timelines and sources.
Ashley Ellerin
Michael Gargiulo was convicted in August 2019 of murdering Ashley Ellerin, a 22-year-old fashion design student who was stabbed 47 times in her Hollywood home on February 21, 2001.
Susan Berman, Kathleen Durst & Morris Black
Writer Susan Berman, 55, was found shot in her Los Angeles home on December 24, 2000. A jury convicted real estate heir Robert Durst of her murder in 2021, but the conviction was vacated after he died in January 2022 with an…
Anthony Martinez
Ten-year-old Anthony Martinez was abducted while playing outside his Beaumont, California, home in 1997 and found murdered in the desert about two weeks later.
Grim Sleeper Victims
Lonnie Franklin Jr., known as the Grim Sleeper, was convicted of killing 10 women in Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007. He appeared to stop killing for years (hence 'Grim Sleeper') and was identified through familial DNA from…
Night Stalker Victims
Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, terrorized Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area in 1984-1985 with a series of home-invasion murders, rapes, and burglaries.
Dorothea Puente Victims
Dorothea Puente was a Sacramento boardinghouse operator who poisoned elderly tenants and continued cashing their Social Security checks. Seven bodies were found buried in her yard in 1988.
Robin Samsoe
Twelve-year-old Robin Samsoe disappeared on June 20, 1979, while riding a bicycle to ballet class in Huntington Beach, California; her remains were found 12 days later in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Hillside Strangler Victims
Cousins Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi posed as police officers, kidnapped, raped, and murdered 10 women in Los Angeles. Their victims were found on hillsides, giving rise to the 'Hillside Strangler' name.
Roger Kibbe Victims
Roger Reece Kibbe, called the I-5 Strangler, was convicted of murdering seven women and girls in Northern California between 1977 and 1987.
The Gypsy Hill Killings
Five young women and girls were murdered in San Mateo County, California, during early 1976 in a series of brutal crimes that terrorized the Bay Area.
Golden State Killer Victims
The Golden State Killer committed at least 13 murders, 50 rapes, and 100 burglaries across California. Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer, was identified in 2018 through genealogy DNA testing and pleaded guilty in…
The Doodler
An unidentified serial killer nicknamed 'The Doodler' stabbed to death at least five, and possibly many more, gay men in San Francisco between January 1974 and September 1975.
The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders
At least seven young women and girls who hitchhiked in and around Santa Rosa were found nude and dumped in rural areas of Sonoma County between 1972 and 1973.
Bryan Hartnell & Cecelia Shepard
College students Cecelia Shepard, 22, and Bryan Hartnell, 20, were tied up and stabbed by a hooded man on the shore of Lake Berryessa in Napa County, California, on September 27, 1969.
Charles Manson Victims
Charles Manson directed his followers to commit a series of brutal murders in Los Angeles on August 9-10, 1969, killing seven people including actress Sharon Tate.
Zodiac Killer Victims
At least five confirmed victims were killed by an unidentified serial killer in Northern California between 1968 and 1969. The killer taunted police and newspapers with cryptic letters and ciphers signed with a crosshair symbol.