Serial Killers Who Are Still Alive
Profiles with no recorded death: almost all are serving life sentences. Status is as of the verification date on each profile.
ColdCaseIndex currently lists 42 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 | 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 |
| 2 | Kenneth Bianchi | The Hillside Strangler | California, Washington | 1977 to 1979 | 7 | 7 | 12 (10 in Los Angeles with Buono, 2 in Bellingham) | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 3 | Robert Charles Browne | Robert Browne | Colorado, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas | 1980 to 1991 | 2 | 48 | 9 to 48 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 4 | 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 |
| 5 | 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 |
| 6 | Charles Cullen | The Angel of Death | New Jersey, Pennsylvania | 1988 to 2003 | 29 | 29 | Up to 40 by Cullen's own estimate | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 7 | 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 |
| 8 | Robert Foley | Robert Carl Foley | Kentucky | 1989 to 1991 | 6 | — | 6 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 9 | 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 |
| 10 | Lorenzo Gilyard | The Kansas City Strangler | Missouri | 1977 to 1993 | 6 | — | 13 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 11 | Shawn Grate | — | Ohio | 2006 to 2016 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 12 | 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 |
| 13 | Rex Heuermann | Rex Andrew Heuermann | New York | 1993 to 2010 | 7 | 8 | 8 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 14 | Gary Michael Hilton | The National Forest Serial Killer | North Carolina, Florida, Georgia | 2007 to 2008 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 15 | Keith Hunter Jesperson | The Happy Face Killer | Oregon, Washington, California, Florida, Wyoming, Nebraska | 1990 to 1995 | 5 | 8 | 8 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 16 | Genene Jones | Genene Ann Jones | Texas | 1981 to 1982 | 2 | — | more than a dozen to as many as 60 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 17 | 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 |
| 18 | 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 |
| 19 | 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 |
| 20 | 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 |
| 21 | New Bedford Highway Killer | New Bedford Highway Killings | Massachusetts | 1988 | — | — | 9 to 11 | Unidentified | At large |
| 22 | Oakland County Child Killer | The Babysitter Killer | Michigan | 1976 to 1977 | — | — | 4 | Unidentified | At large |
| 23 | Zodiac Killer | Zodiac | California | 1968 to 1969 | — | — | 5 confirmed killed and 2 survivors; 37 claimed in a 1974 letter | Unidentified | At large |
| 24 | Scott Lee Kimball | Scott Kimball | Colorado, Utah | 2003 to 2004 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 25 | Shelly Knotek | Michelle Knotek | Washington | 1991 to 2003 | 2 | — | 3 deaths in the household (the third was her husband's conviction) | Convicted | Released |
| 26 | Todd Kohlhepp | Todd Christopher Kohlhepp | South Carolina | 2003 to 2016 | 7 | 7 | 7; Kohlhepp later claimed additional undisclosed victims, none verified | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 27 | Randy Kraft | The Scorecard Killer | California, Oregon, Michigan | 1972 to 1983 | 16 | 0 | up to 67 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 28 | 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 |
| 29 | Charles Ng | Charles Chitat Ng | California | 1984 to 1985 | 11 | — | 11 to 25 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 30 | 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 |
| 31 | Freeway Phantom | The Freeway Phantom | District of Columbia, Maryland | 1971 to 1972 | — | — | 6 | Unidentified | At large |
| 32 | Dennis Rader | BTK | Kansas | 1974 to 1991 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 33 | Robert Ben Rhoades | The Truck Stop Killer | Texas, Illinois | 1989 to 1990 | 3 | 3 | 4 to 50+ | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 34 | Gary Ridgway | The Green River Killer | Washington | 1982 to 1998 | 49 | 71 | At least 71 (49 confirmed plus about 22 additional suspected) | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 35 | Joel Rifkin | Joel the Ripper | New York | 1989 to 1993 | 9 | 17 | 17 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 36 | Eastbound Strangler | Atlantic City Serial Killer | New Jersey | 2006 | — | — | 4 | Unidentified | At large |
| 37 | Honolulu Strangler | The Honolulu Rapist | Hawaii | 1985 to 1986 | — | — | 5 (attributed by the Honolulu Police Department task force) | Unidentified | At large |
| 38 | Phantom Killer of Texarkana | The Phantom Killer | Texas, Arkansas | 1946 | — | — | 5 killed and 3 wounded in 4 attacks | Unidentified | Unknown |
| 39 | Marybeth Tinning | Marybeth Roe Tinning | New York | 1972 to 1985 | 1 | 3 | 8 of the 9 deaths | Convicted | Released |
| 40 | Henry Louis Wallace | The Taco Bell Strangler | North Carolina, South Carolina | 1990 to 1994 | 9 | 11 | 11 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 41 | Khalil Wheeler-Weaver | — | New Jersey | 2016 | 3 | — | 4 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| 42 | Wayne Williams | Wayne Bertram Williams | Georgia | 1979 to 1981 | 2 | — | 24 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
Profiles
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…