Serial Killers With the Most Victims
Ranked by the number of murders a court convicted the person of. Confessed and suspected counts are shown separately because they rest on weaker evidence than a conviction.
ColdCaseIndex currently lists 104 serial killers in this group, out of 104 profiles. The list is computed from the dataset on every build, so it changes as profiles are added.
| # | Name | Alias | State | Active | Convicted | Confessed | Suspected | Legal status | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Ridgway | The Green River Killer | Washington | 1982 to 1998 | 49 | 71 | At least 71 (49 confirmed plus about 22 additional suspected) | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 2 | Donald Harvey | Angel of Death | Ohio, Kentucky | 1970 to 1987 | 37 | 87 | No official attribution beyond the 37 he pleaded guilty to; Harvey's own claims ranged from about 50 to 87 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 3 | John Wayne Gacy | The Killer Clown | Illinois | 1972 to 1978 | 33 | 30 | 33 confirmed; Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has said he suspects Gacy also killed while travelling for work, which the trial prosecutor disputes | Convicted | Executed |
| 4 | Charles Cullen | The Angel of Death | New Jersey, Pennsylvania | 1988 to 2003 | 29 | 29 | Up to 40 by Cullen's own estimate | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 5 | Juan Corona | Juan Vallejo Corona | California | 1971 | 25 | — | 25 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 6 | Jeffrey Dahmer | The Milwaukee Cannibal | Wisconsin, Ohio | 1978 to 1991 | 16 | 17 | 17 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 7 | Randy Kraft | The Scorecard Killer | California, Oregon, Michigan | 1972 to 1983 | 16 | 0 | up to 67 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 8 | Robert Lee Yates Jr. | The Spokane Serial Killer | Washington | 1975 to 1998 | 15 | 15 | 16; at his arrest the Spokane County sheriff cited 12 to 18 possible victims | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 9 | William Bonin | The Freeway Killer | California | 1979 to 1980 | 14 | 21 | 22 to 36; police initially linked him to about 40 killings | Convicted | Executed |
| 10 | 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 |
| 11 | 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 |
| 12 | Henry Lee Lucas | The Confession Killer | Texas, Michigan, West Virginia | 1960 to 1983 | 11 | 600 | Disputed: a Texas task force once attributed 200 or more killings to him; the Texas Attorney General's 1986 report found most of his confessions false, and DNA later excluded him from at least one murder he was convicted of | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 13 | Herbert Mullin | Herbert William Mullin | California | 1972 to 1973 | 11 | 13 | 13 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 14 | Arthur Shawcross | The Genesee River Killer | New York | 1972 to 1989 | 11 | 11 | 11 murders plus 2 child deaths resolved by a 1972 manslaughter plea; police initially reviewed up to 17 deaths or disappearances | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 15 | Anthony Sowell | The Cleveland Strangler | Ohio | 2007 to 2009 | 11 | — | 11 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 16 | Charles Ng | Charles Chitat Ng | California | 1984 to 1985 | 11 | — | 11 to 25 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 17 | Donald Henry Gaskins | Pee Wee Gaskins | South Carolina | 1970 to 1982 | 10 | 13 | 14 to 15 | Convicted | Executed |
| 18 | Dennis Rader | BTK | Kansas | 1974 to 1991 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 19 | Lonnie Franklin Jr. | The Grim Sleeper | California | 1985 to 2007 | 10 | — | 14 to 25 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 20 | Gerald Stano | Gerald Eugene Stano | Florida | 1973 to 1980 | 9 | 41 | 9 to 41 | Convicted | Executed |
| 21 | Joel Rifkin | Joel the Ripper | New York | 1989 to 1993 | 9 | 17 | 17 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 22 | Richard Cottingham | The Torso Killer | New Jersey, New York | 1967 to 1980 | 9 | 15 | 20 attributed by prosecutors (9 convictions plus 11 cleared confessions); Cottingham has claimed 80 to 100 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 23 | Henry Louis Wallace | The Taco Bell Strangler | North Carolina, South Carolina | 1990 to 1994 | 9 | 11 | 11 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 24 | 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 |
| 25 | Bobby Joe Long | Robert Joseph Long | Florida | 1984 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Convicted | Executed |
| 26 | 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 |
| 27 | Joseph Paul Franklin | James Clayton Vaughn Jr. (birth name) | Utah, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, Tennessee | 1977 to 1980 | 8 | — | 8 to 22 | Convicted | Executed |
| 28 | Rex Heuermann | Rex Andrew Heuermann | New York | 1993 to 2010 | 7 | 8 | 8 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 29 | Kenneth Bianchi | The Hillside Strangler | California, Washington | 1977 to 1979 | 7 | 7 | 12 (10 in Los Angeles with Buono, 2 in Bellingham) | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 30 | Todd Kohlhepp | Todd Christopher Kohlhepp | South Carolina | 2003 to 2016 | 7 | 7 | 7; Kohlhepp later claimed additional undisclosed victims, none verified | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 31 | Roger Kibbe | I-5 Strangler | California | 1977 to 1987 | 7 | 6 | 8 or more | Convicted | Killed |
| 32 | 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 |
| 33 | Paul Dennis Reid | The Fast Food Killer | Tennessee | 1997 | 7 | — | 7 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 34 | Walter Ellis | The Milwaukee North Side Strangler | Wisconsin | 1986 to 2007 | 7 | — | 9 (Milwaukee police said in 2009 that his DNA matched evidence from nine women killed 1986 to 2007; a former homicide detective later cited at least five more unsolved cases in which he was a suspect) | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 35 | Aileen Wuornos | Aileen Carol Wuornos | Florida | 1989 to 1990 | 6 | 7 | 7 | Convicted | Executed |
| 36 | David Berkowitz | Son of Sam | New York | 1976 to 1977 | 6 | 6 | 6 killed and 7 wounded in the eight charged shootings; in 2024 the NYPD also attributed an April 1976 Bronx shooting that wounded a woman | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 37 | Robert Berdella | The Kansas City Butcher | Missouri | 1984 to 1987 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 38 | Lorenzo Gilyard | The Kansas City Strangler | Missouri | 1977 to 1993 | 6 | — | 13 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 39 | Ottis Toole | Ottis Elwood Toole | Florida | 1980 to 1983 | 6 | — | 1 further (Adam Walsh, attributed by Hollywood, Florida police in 2008; never charged) | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 40 | Richard Chase | Richard Trenton Chase | California | 1977 to 1978 | 6 | — | 6 | Convicted | Suicide |
| 41 | Robert Foley | Robert Carl Foley | Kentucky | 1989 to 1991 | 6 | — | 6 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 42 | Danny Rolling | The Gainesville Ripper | Florida, Louisiana | 1989 to 1990 | 5 | 8 | 8 | Convicted | Executed |
| 43 | Keith Hunter Jesperson | The Happy Face Killer | Oregon, Washington, California, Florida, Wyoming, Nebraska | 1990 to 1995 | 5 | 8 | 8 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 44 | Arthur Gary Bishop | Roger Downs | Utah | 1979 to 1983 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Convicted | Executed |
| 45 | Edward Wayne Edwards | Ed Edwards | Ohio, Wisconsin | 1977 to 1996 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 46 | Shawn Grate | — | Ohio | 2006 to 2016 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 47 | Waneta Hoyt | Waneta Ethel Nixon Hoyt | New York | 1965 to 1971 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 48 | Kenneth McDuff | The Broomstick Murderer | Texas | 1966 to 1992 | 5 | — | 9 to 14 or more | Convicted | Executed |
| 49 | Lawrence Bittaker | The Tool Box Killers | California | 1979 | 5 | — | 5 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 50 | Robert Hansen | Robert Christian Hansen | Alaska | 1971 to 1983 | 4 | 17 | 17 to 21 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 51 | Gary Michael Hilton | The National Forest Serial Killer | North Carolina, Florida, Georgia | 2007 to 2008 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 52 | Scott Lee Kimball | Scott Kimball | Colorado, Utah | 2003 to 2004 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 53 | Kristen Gilbert | Kristen Heather Strickland | Massachusetts | 1995 to 1996 | 4 | — | 4 murders and 3 attempted murders charged; prosecutors noted she was on duty for about half of roughly 350 deaths on her ward between 1989 and 1996, but no further murders were attributed to her | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 54 | Timothy Wilson Spencer | The Southside Strangler | Virginia | 1987 | 4 | — | 5 (investigators also attributed the 1984 Arlington murder of Carolyn Hamm to him; he was never charged with it) | Convicted | Executed |
| 55 | Ted Bundy | Theodore Robert Bundy | Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Florida | 1974 to 1978 | 3 | 30 | 20 attributed by police before his confessions; the FBI put the total at more than 30, and some estimates run to 36 or more | Convicted | Executed |
| 56 | Jerry Brudos | Jerome Henry Brudos | Oregon | 1968 to 1969 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 57 | Robert Ben Rhoades | The Truck Stop Killer | Texas, Illinois | 1989 to 1990 | 3 | 3 | 4 to 50+ | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 58 | Westley Allan Dodd | The Vancouver Child Killer | Washington | 1989 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Convicted | Executed |
| 59 | Alfredo Prieto | Alfredo Rolando Prieto | Virginia, California | 1988 to 1990 | 3 | — | 9 | Convicted | Executed |
| 60 | Carlton Gary | The Stocking Strangler | Georgia, New York | 1977 to 1978 | 3 | — | 7 to 9 | Convicted | Executed |
| 61 | 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 |
| 62 | Khalil Wheeler-Weaver | — | New Jersey | 2016 | 3 | — | 4 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 63 | Robert Charles Browne | Robert Browne | Colorado, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas | 1980 to 1991 | 2 | 48 | 9 to 48 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 64 | Larry Eyler | The Highway Killer | Illinois, Indiana | 1982 to 1984 | 2 | 21 | 19 to 24 (police estimates, 1983 to 1984) | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 65 | Coral Eugene Watts | The Sunday Morning Slasher | Texas, Michigan | 1974 to 1982 | 2 | 12 | roughly 90 unsolved cases (Michigan task force estimate, 2004); some estimates exceed 80 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 66 | Derrick Todd Lee | The Baton Rouge Serial Killer | Louisiana | 1998 to 2003 | 2 | — | 7 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 67 | Gary Heidnik | Gary Michael Heidnik | Pennsylvania | 1986 to 1987 | 2 | — | — | Convicted | Executed |
| 68 | Genene Jones | Genene Ann Jones | Texas | 1981 to 1982 | 2 | — | more than a dozen to as many as 60 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 69 | Judy Buenoano | Judias Buenoano | Florida | 1971 to 1983 | 2 | — | 3 | Convicted | Executed |
| 70 | Shelly Knotek | Michelle Knotek | Washington | 1991 to 2003 | 2 | — | 3 deaths in the household (the third was her husband's conviction) | Convicted | Released |
| 71 | Tommy Lynn Sells | Coast to Coast Killer | Texas | 1987 to 1999 | 2 | — | 18 to 70 | Convicted | Executed |
| 72 | Wayne Williams | Wayne Bertram Williams | Georgia | 1979 to 1981 | 2 | — | 24 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 73 | H. H. Holmes (Herman Webster Mudgett) | Henry Howard Holmes | Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana | 1891 to 1894 | 1 | 27 | About 9 (8 confirmed, 1 probable); claims of 27 to 200 or more are not supported by the record | Convicted | Executed |
| 74 | 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 |
| 75 | Angel Maturino Resendiz | The Railroad Killer | Texas, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois | 1986 to 1999 | 1 | 11 | 15 to 23 | Convicted | Executed |
| 76 | Joshua Wade | Joshua Alan Wade | Alaska | 1994 to 2007 | 1 | 5 | 5 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 77 | Nannie Doss | The Giggling Granny | Alabama, North Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma | 1927 to 1954 | 1 | 4 | up to 11 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 78 | Velma Barfield | Margie Velma Barfield | North Carolina | 1974 to 1978 | 1 | 4 | 5 to 7 | Convicted | Executed |
| 79 | Albert Fish | Hamilton Howard Fish | New York | 1924 to 1928 | 1 | 3 | 5 to 15 (contemporary police and psychiatric estimates); he claimed about 100, unverified | Convicted | Executed |
| 80 | Marybeth Tinning | Marybeth Roe Tinning | New York | 1972 to 1985 | 1 | 3 | 8 of the 9 deaths | Convicted | Released |
| 81 | Gary Schaefer | Gary Lee Schaefer | Vermont | 1979 to 1983 | 1 | 2 | 3 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 82 | Amy Archer-Gilligan | Amy E. Archer Gilligan | Connecticut | 1914 | 1 | — | 5 to 24 | Convicted | Died (other) |
| 83 | Jane Toppan | Jolly Jane | Massachusetts | 1895 to 1901 | — | 31 | 31 to 100 | Not guilty by reason of insanity | Died (other) |
| 84 | Albert DeSalvo | The Boston Strangler | Massachusetts | 1962 to 1964 | — | 13 | 1 to 13 | Confessed, never tried | Killed |
| 85 | Israel Keyes | — | Alaska, Vermont | 2001 to 2012 | 0 | 8 | 11 (FBI, 2013) | Died before trial | Suicide |
| 86 | Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. | Colonial Parkway Killer | Virginia | 1986 to 1989 | — | — | 7 | Suspected, never charged | Died (other) |
| 87 | Axeman of New Orleans | The Axeman | Louisiana | 1918 to 1919 | — | — | At least 6 killed and 6 injured in the attacks attributed to the series in 1918 and 1919; historians dispute which attacks belong to it, and totals of up to 17 killed have been cited | Unidentified | Unknown |
| 88 | Belle Gunness | Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth | Indiana, Illinois | 1900 to 1908 | — | — | 14 to more than 40 (remains of at least 11 people dug up on the farm, plus three children and a headless woman in the fire ruins) | Suspected, never charged | Unknown |
| 89 | 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 |
| 90 | Cleveland Torso Murderer | The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run | Ohio | 1935 to 1938 | — | — | 12 officially counted (7 men, 5 women); some researchers suggest 20 or more | Unidentified | Unknown |
| 91 | Connecticut River Valley Killer | The Valley Killer | New Hampshire, Vermont | 1978 to 1988 | — | — | At least 7 women killed; 1 woman attacked and survived | Unidentified | At large |
| 92 | Dean Corll | The Candy Man | Texas | 1970 to 1973 | 0 | — | 28 attributed by Houston police; 27 bodies recovered in 1973; a 2025 forensic review points to at least 30 | Died before trial | Killed |
| 93 | Eastbound Strangler | Atlantic City Serial Killer | New Jersey | 2006 | — | — | 4 | Unidentified | At large |
| 94 | Freeway Phantom | The Freeway Phantom | District of Columbia, Maryland | 1971 to 1972 | — | — | 6 | Unidentified | At large |
| 95 | Herb Baumeister | Herbert Richard Baumeister | Indiana, Ohio | 1980 to 1995 | — | — | At least 11 at Fox Hollow Farm (coroner estimates up to 25 or more), plus 9 deaths in Indiana and Ohio from 1980 to 1990 linked by sheriffs in 1998 | Died before trial | Suicide |
| 96 | Honolulu Strangler | The Honolulu Rapist | Hawaii | 1985 to 1986 | — | — | 5 (attributed by the Honolulu Police Department task force) | Unidentified | At large |
| 97 | 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 |
| 98 | New Bedford Highway Killer | New Bedford Highway Killings | Massachusetts | 1988 | — | — | 9 to 11 | Unidentified | At large |
| 99 | Oakland County Child Killer | The Babysitter Killer | Michigan | 1976 to 1977 | — | — | 4 | Unidentified | At large |
| 100 | Paul John Knowles | The Casanova Killer | Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Nevada, Texas, Connecticut, Virginia | 1974 | — | — | 18 to 35 | Died before trial | Killed |
| 101 | Phantom Killer of Texarkana | The Phantom Killer | Texas, Arkansas | 1946 | — | — | 5 killed and 3 wounded in 4 attacks | Unidentified | Unknown |
| 102 | Wayne Nance | The Missoula Mauler | Montana | 1974 to 1986 | — | — | 6 | Died before trial | Killed |
| 103 | West Mesa Bone Collector | West Mesa murders | New Mexico | 2003 to 2005 | — | — | 11 women and an unborn child recovered; police say up to 8 more missing women may be linked | Unidentified | At large |
| 104 | Zodiac Killer | Zodiac | California | 1968 to 1969 | — | — | 5 confirmed killed and 2 survivors; 37 claimed in a 1974 letter | Unidentified | At large |
Profiles
Gary Ridgway
The Green River Killer
Imprisoned. Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, pleaded guilty in 2003 to 48 murders of women and girls in King County, Washington, between 1982 and 1998, and to a 49th in 2011.
Donald Harvey
Angel of Death
Pleaded guilty in 1987 and 1988 to 37 murders of hospital patients and others in Ohio and Kentucky between 1970 and 1987; claimed as many as 87.
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.
Charles Cullen
The Angel of Death
Imprisoned. Former nurse who pleaded guilty to murdering 29 patients with drug overdoses at New Jersey and Pennsylvania hospitals from 1988 to 2003; sentenced in 2006 to 18 life terms. He has estimated his own toll at up to 40.
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.
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.
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…
Robert Lee Yates Jr.
The Spokane Serial Killer
Imprisoned for life. Former Army helicopter pilot who pleaded guilty in Spokane County in 2000 to 13 murders (1975 to 1998) and was convicted by a Pierce County jury in 2002 of two more; his death sentence became life without…
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.
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.
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…
Henry Lee Lucas
The Confession Killer
Died in prison in 2001. Texas drifter convicted of 11 murders who confessed to about 600 killings in 1983 to 1985 and then recanted; a 1986 Texas Attorney General report found most confessions false, and his death sentence was…
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…
Arthur Shawcross
The Genesee River Killer
Convicted by a Monroe County jury in December 1990 of 10 murders of Rochester-area women and sentenced to 250 years to life; pleaded guilty to an 11th in Wayne County.
Anthony Sowell
The Cleveland Strangler
Convicted by a Cuyahoga County jury in 2011 of 11 aggravated murders after the remains of 11 women were found at his Cleveland home in October 2009; sentenced to death, affirmed on appeal, died in state custody in February 2021.
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.
Donald Henry Gaskins
Pee Wee Gaskins
Executed. Donald "Pee Wee" Gaskins was serving life sentences for nine South Carolina murders from 1970 to 1975 when he killed death-row inmate Rudolph Tyner with a bomb in 1982. Sentenced to death, he was electrocuted in 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.
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…
Gerald Stano
Gerald Eugene Stano
Executed. Gerald Stano was convicted of nine murders of young women in Florida between 1973 and 1980 and confessed to about 41 in three states, though police doubted several confessions.
Joel Rifkin
Joel the Ripper
Imprisoned. Joel Rifkin, a Long Island landscaper, confessed to killing 17 women in New York between 1989 and 1993 and was convicted of nine murders after a 1993 traffic stop revealed a body in his truck.
Richard Cottingham
The Torso Killer
Imprisoned since 1980. Richard Cottingham, the "Torso Killer", was convicted at trials in New Jersey and New York (1981, 1982, 1984) of five murders, later pleaded guilty to four more, and has confessed to 11 others closed…
Henry Louis Wallace
The Taco Bell Strangler
On death row. Henry Louis Wallace was convicted in 1997 of murdering nine young women in Charlotte, North Carolina, between 1992 and 1994 and received nine death sentences.
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.
Bobby Joe Long
Robert Joseph Long
Executed in 2019. Bobby Joe Long pleaded guilty to eight 1984 murders of women in the Tampa Bay area and was sentenced to death for one; a survivor's account of her abduction led police to him.
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.
Joseph Paul Franklin
James Clayton Vaughn Jr. (birth name)
Executed. Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist sniper, was convicted of eight murders in Utah, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio and Tennessee committed between 1977 and 1980.
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.
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.
Todd Kohlhepp
Todd Christopher Kohlhepp
Imprisoned for life. Todd Kohlhepp, a South Carolina real estate agent, pleaded guilty in May 2017 to seven murders: the 2003 Superbike Motorsports shootings in Chesnee and three people killed on his Woodruff property in 2015…
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.
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…
Paul Dennis Reid
The Fast Food Killer
Died in prison. Paul Dennis Reid was convicted of murdering seven workers in robberies at a Captain D's and a McDonald's in Nashville and a Baskin-Robbins in Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1997.
Walter Ellis
The Milwaukee North Side Strangler
Convicted of seven murders; died in prison in 2013. Walter Ellis strangled women on Milwaukee's north side between 1986 and 2007, was identified through a 2009 DNA review of unsolved homicides, and pleaded no contest in 2011.
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…
David Berkowitz
Son of Sam
Imprisoned. David Berkowitz, the 'Son of Sam', pleaded guilty in 1978 to six murders in New York City's 1976-77 .44-caliber shootings, which killed six and wounded seven.
Robert Berdella
The Kansas City Butcher
Died in prison. Robert Berdella pleaded guilty in 1988 to murdering six young men held captive at his Kansas City, Missouri home between 1984 and 1987.
Lorenzo Gilyard
The Kansas City Strangler
Serving life. Lorenzo Gilyard, a Kansas City trash company supervisor, was linked by DNA in 2004 to the strangling of 12 women and girls and convicted in 2007 of six 1986-1987 murders.
Ottis Toole
Ottis Elwood Toole
Died in prison 1996. Jacksonville drifter convicted of six Florida murders (1980-1983); two death sentences reduced to life. Confessed with Henry Lee Lucas to many more, then recanted.
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.
Robert Foley
Robert Carl Foley
Serving death sentence. Robert Carl Foley was convicted of six murders in Laurel County, Kentucky: four people shot in 1989 and brothers Rodney and Lynn Vaughn in 1991.
Danny Rolling
The Gainesville Ripper
Executed in Florida in 2006. Danny Rolling pleaded guilty in 1994 to murdering five college students in Gainesville in August 1990 and, days before his execution, confessed in writing to the 1989 killing of three members of the…
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.
Arthur Gary Bishop
Roger Downs
Executed. Arthur Gary Bishop was convicted in 1984 of abducting and murdering five boys, aged 4 to 13, in the Salt Lake City area between 1979 and 1983.
Edward Wayne Edwards
Ed Edwards
Died in prison. Edward Wayne Edwards pleaded guilty in 2010 and 2011 to five murders in Ohio and Wisconsin committed between 1977 and 1996.
Shawn Grate
On Ohio's death row. Shawn Grate was convicted of killing five women in Ashland, Richland and Marion counties between 2006 and 2016; a captive's 911 call from his Ashland house led to his arrest in September 2016.
Waneta Hoyt
Waneta Ethel Nixon Hoyt
Died in prison. Waneta Hoyt of Tioga County, New York, was convicted in 1995 of murdering her five children between 1965 and 1971, deaths long attributed to SIDS.
Kenneth McDuff
The Broomstick Murderer
Executed 1998. Texas killer sentenced to death for three 1966 murders, released on parole in 1989 after his sentence was commuted, and convicted of two 1991 to 1992 murders; his case drove Texas parole reform.
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.
Robert Hansen
Robert Christian Hansen
Died in prison. Anchorage baker Robert Hansen pleaded guilty in 1984 to murdering four women in Alaska, confessed to killing 17, and was sentenced to 461 years. He died in custody in Anchorage in August 2014, aged 75.
Gary Michael Hilton
The National Forest Serial Killer
Imprisoned. Gary Michael Hilton was convicted of killing four people on forest land in 2007 and 2008: Meredith Emerson in Georgia, Cheryl Dunlap in Florida and John and Irene Bryant in North Carolina.
Scott Lee Kimball
Scott Kimball
Serving 70 years. Scott Lee Kimball, a con man released in 2002 to work as a paid FBI informant, pleaded guilty in Boulder County, Colorado, in October 2009 to killing four people, including his uncle, in Colorado and Utah in…
Kristen Gilbert
Kristen Heather Strickland
Imprisoned for life. Former VA nurse convicted by a federal jury in March 2001 of murdering four patients and trying to kill two others with epinephrine injections at the Northampton, Massachusetts, VA Medical Center in 1995 and…
Timothy Wilson Spencer
The Southside Strangler
Executed in Virginia in 1994. Timothy Spencer, the Southside Strangler, was convicted by juries of raping and strangling four women in Richmond and Arlington in fall 1987, the first U.S. murder convictions won on DNA evidence.
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.
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…
Robert Ben Rhoades
The Truck Stop Killer
Serving life. Long-haul trucker Robert Ben Rhoades pleaded guilty to the 1990 murder of 14-year-old Regina Walters in Illinois and, in 2012, to the Texas capital murders of Patricia Walsh and Douglas Scott Zyskowski.
Westley Allan Dodd
The Vancouver Child Killer
Executed. Westley Allan Dodd pleaded guilty to murdering three boys in the Vancouver, Washington area in 1989. A jury sentenced him to death in 1990; he waived his appeals and was hanged at Walla Walla on January 5, 1993.
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.
Carlton Gary
The Stocking Strangler
Executed. Carlton Gary, the Columbus, Georgia "Stocking Strangler," was convicted in 1986 of the 1977 murders of three elderly women, Florence Scheible, Martha Thurmond and Kathleen Woodruff, and executed by lethal injection in…
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.
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver
Serving 160 years. Khalil Wheeler-Weaver of Orange, New Jersey, was convicted in December 2019 of murdering three women he met through online apps in 2016 and attempting to kill a fourth.
Robert Charles Browne
Robert Browne
Serving life. Robert Charles Browne pleaded guilty to the 1991 murder of Heather Dawn Church and the 1987 murder of Rocio Sperry near Colorado Springs.
Larry Eyler
The Highway Killer
Died in prison. Larry Eyler was convicted in Illinois in 1986 of murdering Daniel Bridges and sentenced to death, pleaded guilty in Indiana in 1990 to a second murder, and confessed through his attorney to 21 killings of young…
Coral Eugene Watts
The Sunday Morning Slasher
Died in prison in 2007. Confessed in 1982 to 12 murders under a Texas plea deal that granted immunity and a 60-year burglary sentence, then convicted by Michigan juries in 2004 and 2007 of two earlier stabbings.
Derrick Todd Lee
The Baton Rouge Serial Killer
Died in prison. Derrick Todd Lee was convicted of murdering two women in south Louisiana in 2002 and sentenced to death; DNA linked him to five more killings between 1998 and 2003.
Gary Heidnik
Gary Michael Heidnik
Executed in 1999. Gary Heidnik held six women captive in his Philadelphia basement from November 1986 to March 1987; two died. A jury convicted him of two first-degree murders in 1988.
Genene Jones
Genene Ann Jones
Imprisoned. Texas pediatric nurse convicted by a jury in 1984 of murdering 15-month-old Chelsea McClellan and injuring another child; pleaded guilty in 2020 to the 1981 murder of 11-month-old Joshua Sawyer.
Judy Buenoano
Judias Buenoano
Executed. Judy Buenoano was convicted of poisoning her husband James Goodyear with arsenic in Orlando in 1971 and of murdering her son Michael, who drowned in 1980. She was electrocuted at Florida State Prison in March 1998.
Shelly Knotek
Michelle Knotek
Released in 2022 after serving about 19 years. Pleaded guilty (Alford pleas) in 2004 to second-degree murder of Kathy Loreno and first-degree manslaughter of Ron Woodworth, boarders who died in her Pacific County, Washington…
Tommy Lynn Sells
Coast to Coast Killer
Executed. Drifter Tommy Lynn Sells was sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of 13-year-old Kaylene Harris near Del Rio, Texas, and pleaded guilty to a second child killing in San Antonio.
Wayne Williams
Wayne Bertram Williams
Serving life. Wayne Williams was convicted in 1982 of murdering two adult men in Atlanta. Police then closed 22 other Atlanta child murders cases as attributed to him without trial; he maintains his innocence, and the city…
H. H. Holmes (Herman Webster Mudgett)
Henry Howard Holmes
Executed in 1896. Herman Webster Mudgett, alias H. H. Holmes, was convicted in Philadelphia of murdering Benjamin Pitezel and is tied to about nine deaths in Chicago, Indianapolis and Toronto.
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.
Angel Maturino Resendiz
The Railroad Killer
Executed in Texas in 2006. Angel Maturino Resendiz, the Railroad Killer, was convicted of the 1998 murder of Dr. Claudia Benton near Houston, admitted 11 killings along rail lines in Texas, Florida, Kentucky and Illinois, and…
Joshua Wade
Joshua Alan Wade
Died in prison. Joshua Wade pleaded guilty in 2010 to murdering his Anchorage neighbor Mindy Schloss and admitted the 2000 killing of Della Brown; in 2014 he confessed to three more Alaska killings.
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.
Velma Barfield
Margie Velma Barfield
Executed. Velma Barfield was convicted in 1978 of poisoning her boyfriend Stuart Taylor with arsenic in Robeson County, North Carolina, and admitted poisoning three others, including her mother.
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.
Marybeth Tinning
Marybeth Roe Tinning
Convicted in 1987 of the murder of her infant daughter Tami Lynne; nine of her children died between 1972 and 1985 in Schenectady, New York. Sentenced to 20 years to life, paroled in August 2018.
Gary Schaefer
Gary Lee Schaefer
Died in prison. Gary Schaefer was convicted of the 1983 murder of 11-year-old Katy Richards in Springfield, Vermont, confessed to a 1981 killing and was charged in a third.
Amy Archer-Gilligan
Amy E. Archer Gilligan
Died (other). Amy Archer-Gilligan, who ran a home for elderly people in Windsor, Connecticut, was convicted of poisoning resident Franklin Andrews with arsenic in 1914.
Jane Toppan
Jolly Jane
Died (other). Massachusetts nurse Jane Toppan confessed in 1902 to poisoning 31 people from 1895 to 1901. A Barnstable jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity, and she died in 1938 at the Taunton state hospital, where…
Albert DeSalvo
The Boston Strangler
Killed. Albert DeSalvo confessed to the 13 Boston Strangler murders of 1962 to 1964 but was never tried for them. Serving life for unrelated assaults and robberies, he was stabbed to death at Walpole prison in 1973.
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…
Alan Wade Wilmer Sr.
Colonial Parkway Killer
Suspected, never charged. Fisherman Alan Wade Wilmer Sr., who died in 2017, has been named by the FBI and Virginia State Police as responsible for six of the eight Colonial Parkway victims of 1986 to 1989, plus a 1989 Hampton…
Axeman of New Orleans
The Axeman
Unidentified. An unknown attacker killed at least six people and injured six more in night-time axe attacks on homes in New Orleans and Gretna, Louisiana, between May 1918 and October 1919, most of them Italian-American grocers.
Belle Gunness
Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth
Suspected, never charged. Norwegian-born widow whose La Porte, Indiana farm yielded the remains of at least 11 people after an April 1908 fire; the headless body ruled hers in 1908 is disputed and 2008 DNA tests were inconclusive.
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…
Cleveland Torso Murderer
The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run
Unidentified. An unknown offender decapitated and dismembered 12 officially counted victims in Cleveland, Ohio, between 1935 and 1938, most found in or near Kingsbury Run.
Connecticut River Valley Killer
The Valley Killer
Unidentified. At least seven women were stabbed to death in the Connecticut River Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont between 1978 and 1987, and a pregnant woman survived a 1988 attack.
Dean Corll
The Candy Man
Killed by his accomplice in 1973 and never charged. Dean Corll, Houston's 'Candy Man', is linked by police to 28 murders of boys and young men from 1970 to 1973; accomplices Elmer Wayne Henley and David Brooks were convicted.
Eastbound Strangler
Atlantic City Serial Killer
Unidentified. The bodies of four women, two of them confirmed strangled or asphyxiated, were found facing east in a drainage ditch behind a Black Horse Pike motel in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, on November 20, 2006.
Freeway Phantom
The Freeway Phantom
Unidentified. The Freeway Phantom abducted and strangled six Black girls and young women, aged 10 to 18, in Washington, D.C., between April 1971 and September 1972, leaving their bodies beside roads in D.C.
Herb Baumeister
Herbert Richard Baumeister
Died by suicide before charges. Indianapolis thrift-store owner whose Westfield estate, Fox Hollow Farm, yielded the remains of at least 11 men in 1996; sheriffs later linked him to nine more deaths along I-70.
Honolulu Strangler
The Honolulu Rapist
Unidentified. An unknown man sexually assaulted, bound and strangled five women on Oahu, Hawaii, between May 1985 and April 1986, leaving them near waterways around Honolulu airport.
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.
New Bedford Highway Killer
New Bedford Highway Killings
Unidentified. Nine women who disappeared from New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1988 were found beside area highways in 1988 and 1989, and two more remain missing.
Oakland County Child Killer
The Babysitter Killer
Unidentified. Four children aged 10 to 12 were abducted in Oakland County, Michigan, between February 1976 and March 1977 and found dead days or weeks later.
Paul John Knowles
The Casanova Killer
Killed. Paul John Knowles, the Casanova Killer, was linked to at least 18 killings across several states in 1974 after escaping a Jacksonville jail.
Phantom Killer of Texarkana
The Phantom Killer
Unidentified. An attacker shot and beat eight people in four attacks around Texarkana, Texas and Arkansas, between February and May 1946, killing five.
Wayne Nance
The Missoula Mauler
Killed. Wayne Nance, a Missoula furniture delivery driver, was shot dead in 1986 by a man he attacked at home. Investigators suspect him of at least six killings in western Montana from 1974 to 1985; he was never charged.
West Mesa Bone Collector
West Mesa murders
Unidentified. The remains of 11 women and an unborn child were found buried on Albuquerque's West Mesa in February 2009; the women had disappeared between 2003 and 2005.
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.