Pennsylvania Serial Killers
ColdCaseIndex documents 4 serial killers whose murders took place in Pennsylvania, with first known killings from 1891 to 1988. 4 of them were caught; 1 linked case file document their victims. The earliest series is H. H. Holmes (Herman Webster Mudgett) (1891) and the most recent is Charles Cullen (1988). Profiles are added in order of public interest, so this page is not a complete census of the state.
All 4 profiles
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.
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.
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.
At a glance
| Name | Alias | State | Active | Convicted | Confessed | Suspected | Legal status | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Gary Heidnik | Gary Michael Heidnik | Pennsylvania | 1986 to 1987 | 2 | — | — | Convicted | Executed |
| Charles Cullen | The Angel of Death | New Jersey, Pennsylvania | 1988 to 2003 | 29 | 29 | Up to 40 by Cullen's own estimate | Convicted | Imprisoned |
Serial murder case files from Pennsylvania
Victim-centred case pages from the cold case index, with their own timelines and sources.
Gary Heidnik Victims
Gary Heidnik abducted six women between November 1986 and March 1987 and held them captive in the basement of his North Philadelphia home, where Sandra Lindsay and Deborah Dudley died.
The Frankford Slasher
The 'Frankford Slasher' is the name given to an unidentified serial killer who stabbed to death at least eight or nine women in and around the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia between 1985 and 1990.