Wisconsin Serial Killers
ColdCaseIndex documents 4 serial killers whose murders took place in Wisconsin, with first known killings from 1977 to 1986. 4 of them were caught; 1 linked case file document their victims. The earliest series is Edward Wayne Edwards (1977) and the most recent is Walter Ellis (1986). Profiles are added in order of public interest, so this page is not a complete census of the state.
All 4 profiles
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.
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.
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.
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.
At a glance
| Name | Alias | State | Active | Convicted | Confessed | Suspected | Legal status | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Wayne Edwards | Ed Edwards | Ohio, Wisconsin | 1977 to 1996 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Joseph Paul Franklin | James Clayton Vaughn Jr. (birth name) | Utah, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, Tennessee | 1977 to 1980 | 8 | — | 8 to 22 | Convicted | Executed |
| Jeffrey Dahmer | The Milwaukee Cannibal | Wisconsin, Ohio | 1978 to 1991 | 16 | 17 | 17 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| 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 |
Serial murder case files from Wisconsin
Victim-centred case pages from the cold case index, with their own timelines and sources.