Kansas Serial Killers
ColdCaseIndex documents 5 serial killers whose murders took place in Kansas, with first known killings from 1920 to 1992. 4 of them were caught; 3 linked case files document their victims. The earliest series is Carl Panzram (1920) and the most recent is I-70 Killer (1992). Profiles are added in order of public interest, so this page is not a complete census of the state.
All 5 profiles
Carl Panzram
Charles Panzram
Executed 1930. Carl Panzram, a career burglar, confessed in 1928 to 21 murders in several states and abroad; he was convicted of only one, the 1929 killing of a Leavenworth prison foreman, and was hanged in Kansas.
Nannie Doss
The Giggling Granny
Died in prison. Nannie Doss pleaded guilty in 1955 to poisoning her fifth husband, Samuel Doss, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, confessed to killing four husbands, and is linked to as many as 11 family deaths from 1927 to 1954.
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.
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…
I-70 Killer
I-70 Serial Killer
Unidentified. Six shop workers were shot in the head in small stores in Indiana, Kansas and Missouri between April 8 and May 7, 1992, all linked by a .22-caliber weapon.
At a glance
| Name | Alias | State | Active | Convicted | Confessed | Suspected | Legal status | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Panzram | Charles Panzram | Kansas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut | 1920 to 1929 | 1 | 21 | 5 corroborated by investigators; Panzram also claimed killings in Portuguese Angola | Convicted | Executed |
| Nannie Doss | The Giggling Granny | Alabama, North Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma | 1927 to 1954 | 1 | 4 | up to 11 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Dennis Rader | BTK | Kansas | 1974 to 1991 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 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 |
| I-70 Killer | I-70 Serial Killer | Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Texas | 1992 | — | — | 6 killed in 1992; 2 more killed and 1 wounded in Texas in 1993 to 1994 are a disputed possible link | Unidentified | At large |
Serial murder case files from Kansas
Victim-centred case pages from the cold case index, with their own timelines and sources.