Serial killers of the 1940s

Officers found evidence linking the crimes to Corona, both in the graves and at his home. He was found guilty and given 25 life sentences.

After appeal, he was found guilty again in a second trial. Corona later suffered from dementia and died in prison in , aged David Berkowitz was a serial killer who gunned down a string of victims and spread fear through New York City in the s. Postal worker Berkowitz was obsessed with starting fires as a child, before moving on to violent crimes. Berkowitz botched his first murder attempt when he tried to stab two women on Christmas Eve, After his initial failure, Berkowitz went on a shooting rampage throughout New York.

He typically targeted pairs of people sitting together, usually in parked cars. The shooter killed seven people in total, leaving others with serious gunshot wounds. He appeared to have a type — women with long dark hair — and many women changed their look to avoid being targeted.

The murders left New York in a state of panic. Berkowitz was eventually caught after his car was discovered filled with guns, ammo, and maps linking him to the shootings. He submitted a guilty plea and is now serving life in prison.

Gary Ridgway is the second most prolific American serial killer, murdering 49 confirmed victims over a reign of terror spanning more than 15 years. Ridgway has a low IQ and suffered psychological problems from childhood. He fantasized about killing his mother and stabbed a youngster when he was just 16, though his six-year-old victim survived. Later he joined the Navy and saw combat in Vietnam. While he was married three times and became devoutly religious, Ridgway was obsessed with having sex with prostitutes.

When he started killing through the 80s and 90s, most of his victims were also sex workers. He would have sex with the woman, then strangle her, usually with his bare hands. Ridgway dumped the bodies of his victims in wooded areas around the Green River. Sometimes he crossed into other states or purposefully contaminated dumping scenes to confuse the police. He also often returned to sexually assault the bodies. A suspect in the killings as early as due to his penchant for prostitutes, police only managed to link Ridgway to the murders using DNA evidence in He confessed to killing 71 people to avoid the death penalty and was convicted of 49 murders.

Pickton owned the farm near Vancouver with his siblings. But farmworkers started to notice several women including multiple sex workers who visited the farm going missing. Police eventually raided the farm as part of a massive investigation into missing women across British Colombia.

They excavated the land and found human remains from numerous murder victims, as well as items belonging to the women. Pickton was charged with the murder of 27 women in total, but reportedly admitted to an undercover officer that he had killed 49, and hoped to make it an even In court, he maintained he was not guilty. In a long and drawn out trial, with appeals on both sides, Pickton was found guilty of second-degree murder of six victims, with the other 20 murder charges stayed.

In he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Charles Manson was an infamous cult leader who encouraged his followers to commit a series of murders in the s. Manson is unlike most other serial killers in that he did not kill the victims himself. But he was convicted on several counts of first-degree murder for his role in the killings.

After his release in , Manson started to attract followers and created a California commune. Some followers believed Manson was a manifestation of Jesus and devoted themselves to him.

He and his band of acolytes were later referred to as The Manson Family. This group was responsible for a series of killings, including the high-profile murder of pregnant actress Sharon Tate. One theory is that the deaths were designed to incite a race war. Manson and several of his followers were sentenced to death for their crimes. This sentence was later downgraded to life imprisonment when California abolished the death penalty.

During his trial, Manson carved a cross into his forehead which he later had adapted into a swastika tattoo in prison.

Manson never showed any remorse and died in prison in after a battle with cancer, aged Javed Iqbal was a Pakistani serial killer who sexually abused and murdered young boys in just six months.

Iqbal targeted boys between the ages of 6 and 16 — mostly orphans and runaways who were living on the streets. He was only caught after six months of committing brutal murders because he sent a letter to his local newspaper confessing to the crimes. In the letter, Iqbal said he had raped and killed boys by strangling them with a chain, then dissolving their remains in acid and dumping it into a river.

A manhunt was launched, and Iqbal handed himself in a month later. Police also arrested four of his accomplices. Iqbal later denied any guilt and recanted his confession, but was sentenced to death. The court ordered that he be killed with the chain he used on his victims and that his body be dissolved in acid.

He hanged himself in his cell before this could happen in apparent suicide — though it is speculated that he was killed by police while in custody. Bobby Joe Long was a serial killer who preyed on single women and took pleasure in raping and killing his victims.

Long suffered several head injuries as a child in West Virginia and was known to have a dysfunctional relationship with his mother. After moving to Long Beach, CA, he started contacting women through classified ads, offering to fix their household appliances.

If they were alone in their home, he would rape the women. He was not caught before moving on from California to Florida. In the Tampa Bay area, Long continued to answer adverts and raped more than 50 women in their homes. He was eventually caught and convicted in , but was granted a retrial and the rape charges were dropped. Long moved on to murdering his victims in He killed 10 women in eight months, mainly targeting sex workers; five were prostitutes, while two were exotic dancers.

He would pick them up in his car and take them to his apartment, before tying them up, raping and strangling them. Prosecuted for kidnapping, rape, battery, and murder, he received 28 life sentences and four extra year sentences, as well as the death penalty.

Long was executed by lethal injection in Daniel Camargo Barbosa is a particularly prolific serial killer who raped and murdered young girls after escaping prison.

Barbosa was fixated on virgins and started his criminal activity by sexually assaulting a series of young girls. When his fifth victim told the police, Barbosa was jailed for eight years. He was released in and decided to murder his next victim to avoid a repeat of his capture. He returned to dispose of the body the following day and was arrested. Barbosa was sentenced to 30 years on a prison island. But in , after 10 years on the island, he managed to escape in a makeshift boat and fled to Ecuador.

He lived on the streets, targeting poor and helpless young girls by offering them work and luring them into the woods to rape and kill. The sadistic murderer was caught again in He calmly confessed to killing 72 girls in Ecuador, showing no sign of remorse. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in but was killed while behind bars in by a relative of one of his victims.

Albert DeSalvo was convicted of strangling and killing a series of women in a murderous rampage through Boston in the s. But these killings are still shrouded in mystery — and many do not believe DeSalvo to be the real Boston Strangler.

From , police in Boston were chasing two separate criminals. They were hunting a serial rapist, as well as a killer dubbed The Boston Strangler who had raided the homes of 13 single women.

The strangler sexually assaulted some of his victims before killing them — usually by strangling them with an item of clothing. A troubled child from a violent home, DeSalvo was charged for the rapes after being identified by a victim. While awaiting trial, he also confessed to the strangling murders — first to fellow inmate George Nasser, then to authorities.

He later recanted that confession. DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison in and later withdrew his strangling confession while behind bars. He was killed by inmates in an unrelated dispute in But doubts remain over his status as the real strangler.

Many people believe Nasser was the real killer and persuaded DeSalvo to take the fall, while some experts say the crimes would have been committed by several different people due to the differences in M. The Golden State Killer is a serial criminal who raped and murdered his victims while taunting survivors and the police. This decades-old case has long been unsolved, but a suspect is now awaiting trial.

Police have connected three different crime sets with the Golden State Killer. It is believed that he started with burglaries in Visalia, ransacking more than homes in 20 months. In he is believed to have moved to Sacramento and started sexually assaulting victims. He always planned an escape route and was never caught. The Golden State Killer started murdering his rape victims in , killing 13 known victims in total.

He would also phone the police and attack survivors, taunting them with details of his plans. Authorities kept the case open and charged a suspect in based on DNA evidence. Joseph James DeAngelo, now aged in his 70s, has been charged with murder and kidnapping.

He served in the U. Navy during the Vietnam War and worked as a police officer for three years in the s. He will now face trial in Bela Kiss was a serial killer who murdered single women and drank their blood, before storing their bodies in metal drums. Living in a small town near Budapest in Hungary, Kiss killed at least 24 victims over 14 years.

He started by defrauding women; contacting single ladies through newspaper adverts and seducing them, before asking them to send him money. Kiss invited these women to his home, where he would strangle them and store their bodies in large drums on his property.

He told neighbors and police that the drums were holding gasoline in preparation for wartime rationing. The killer was called up to serve in the military in While Kiss was away the police visited his home to use some of his stockpiled fuel.

Instead, they discovered the drums filled with 24 dead bodies. They were drained of blood and had puncture marks on their necks, leading authorities to conclude that Kiss was practicing vampirism. An alert was issued, but Kiss managed to escape and flee. The fate of Bela Kiss is unknown.

There were later sightings of the killer in France and New York, but any additional movements and murders remain unconfirmed. Harold Shipman was an English doctor who murdered hundreds of his patients by deliberately administering fatal overdoses. As a youngster, Shipman was an accomplished athlete and student, training to become a doctor in the north of England.

His crimes went undetected for many years until a mortuary worker raised the alarm in over the high number of cremation requests coming from Shipman. Police exhumed the body of one of his recent victims and found traces of the drug in her system. Nicknamed Dr. Death by the media, Shipman was tried and found guilty of murdering 15 patients. Shipman is the only British doctor ever convicted of killing his patients. He was given life in prison with no chance of release. Shipman managed to hang himself in his cell in , committing suicide just before his 58 th birthday.

Fritz Haarmann was a German serial killer who sexually assaulted young boys, before biting through their throats and mutilating their bodies. Haarmann was a loner who was convicted of luring young boys into remote areas to rape them when he was just 16 years old. He was caught and committed to a mental institution, but escaped. He later turned to thieving and spent several short spells in prison.

Following World War I, with police resources stretched, he became a police informer. This helped him evade suspicion as he started to kill. Haarmann targeted teenage boys at Hanover train station. He took them to his home, sexually assaulted them, and bit through their throats while strangling them, before dismembering the bodies. Several sets of remains were found in Hanover as rumors swirled that a serial killer was responsible for the missing teens in the city. Haarmann was caught when a boy who he had raped at knifepoint informed police of the attack.

He was convicted of 24 murders and sentenced to death. He was beheaded by guillotine in Carl Eugene Watts was an American serial killer who snatched women from their homes to brutally torture and murder. Watts experienced murderous fantasies as a child and started stalking girls and young women in his early teens. He also showed a penchant for violence — once inexplicably beating a woman while he was doing his paper route. Watts was assessed by mental health professionals, who described him as paranoid and violent with impulse issues.

His first confirmed kill came in when Watts was He targeted young white women, kidnapping them from their homes. Once he had snatched a victim, Watts would torture them before ending their life. He killed in a variety of ways, including stabbing, strangling, drowning, and beating his prey to death. Unlike many serial killers, Watts had no sexual motive. The lack of DNA evidence, combined with varying kill methods, made him harder to catch. However, he was captured and identified as a serial killer when two would-be victims escaped.

To ensure a conviction, prosecutors filed lesser charges in exchange for murder confessions from Watts. He was eventually imprisoned for life after later being convicted of two separate murders. He died in prison in from cancer, aged Watts was known as the Sunday Morning Slasher because two of his killings were on the front page of Sunday papers.

He is suspected of killing upward of women, and the murders were carried out on various days of the week. Beat and sexually assaulted his victims before strangling them with their underwear.

Sentenced to 2, years in prison. A murderer who preyed on single women looking for husbands in India Wooed at least 20 women and gave them contraceptive pills — which were actually cyanide capsules. Sentenced to death in The first known and most prolific female serial killer, who poisoned 35 victims in Romania and Yugoslavia Limited evidence; said to have killed multiple husbands and lovers with arsenic and was imprisoned for life. Kidnapped, raped, and killed at least 17 women in Alaska Took many of his victims to secluded areas and hunted them through the Alaska wilderness.

Sentenced to years in prison, died in Smothered victims with a pillow and stole their valuables. Accused of 23 murders, but confessed to Committed suicide hanging during his trial. A German cannibal who butchered homeless people and travelers, eating their flesh, or selling it as meat to unsuspecting customers Committed suicide after capture. Sutcliffe hit victims from behind before stabbing and slashing them. Later had a fixation on sex workers. Jailed for life. A self-proclaimed sorcerer, Suradji killed 42 girls and women in Indonesia Believed killing the women, drinking their saliva and burying them facing his home would give him magic powers.

Executed by firing squad in A Russian serial killer who tortured, killed, and sometimes cannibalized women and children Convicted of murdering four people, but is believed to have killed Declared insane, committed to secure mental hospital.

A serial murderer who killed more than 50 people in Ukraine Shot most of his victims during armed robberies, as well as killing any witnesses. Sentenced to life imprisonment and died of heart failure in Some incidents may involve a murderer killing multiple people without being labeled as a serial killer. One example of this is familicide — otherwise known as family annihilation. Familicide is when a person kills several close family members in quick succession.

If the murderer kills all close members of their family, it becomes family annihilation. One such case to make major headlines recently is that of Chris Watts, who is a family annihilator, rather than a serial killer. In , Watts was convicted of killing his pregnant wife and two young daughters. It is believed that he strangled his victims before disposing of their bodies.

Watts confessed to the horrific murders after he was caught lying by a police polygraph. He pleaded guilty and was given five life sentences with no chance of parole.

Many people believe that serial killers are a thing of the past. As you can see from our list, a huge number of known American murderers operated in the serial killer heyday of the s and s, when people were more likely to hitchhike on dark roads and leave their doors unlocked.

The major strides in DNA evidence and the addition of millions of security cameras across the world have made things harder for would-be killers. In fact, some experts believe that the number of serial killers operating today may actually be on the rise. With the increase in media coverage and the general fascination with crime documentaries and TV shows, it is thought that savvy serial killers are now better able to cover their tracks and fool the cops, leading to a rising number of unsolved killings committed by serial offenders.

This list, compiled by Bisnar Chase , covers the most infamous, prolific, and disturbed serial killers who have been caught across the world. Unfortunately, the number of serial killers far exceeds the 50 we cover here.

Stay safe, and let us know about any major omissions in the comments section. From Visually. Los Angeles, CA Disclaimer: The legal information presented on this domain should not be construed to be formal legal advice, nor the formation of an attorney-client relationship. He would spend almost two decades in prison before he was executed in Then, of course, there was the frightening and murderous Leo that was Anatoly Onoprienko.

The Ukrainian serial killer unleashed a violent streak of brutal shootings in the Eastern European country from the late '80s to the mid-'90s that took the lives of 52 people.

The search for him led to a massive nationwide manhunt, which resulted in the death of an innocent man via Crime and Investigation. Onoprienko was eventually caught in , but was able to escape the death sentence. Per the study, according to Wicked Local , a Leo's likelihood to kill stems from a stubbornness often caused by their beliefs. When that is threatened, apparently, extreme matters can be the only options they see fit.

While Leos do not even scratch the surface of being the most common or likely to be serial killers, it is still interesting to see which of the well-known serial killers in history are of that zodiac sign. As with every other sign, the crimes Leo serial killers have committed run the gamut, as do the demographics of the killers and their geographical locations. It was after these murders that the killings throughout Los Angeles began to be linked together. On March 14, , the Los Angeles Examiner published an article that listed points of similarity between the murders of Short, French and Winters, despite the clear indication being that Wickliffe was involved in Winters' death.

The article points included all three killings, including the victim being beaten, dumped away from the kill site, and being nude or partially nude. There would also be other killings during this time; the press seemingly reveled in the macabre atmosphere of fear generated for women in the city.

These killings included Mary TateDorothy Montgomery was found nude, raped and beaten in a field, with RosendaMondragon killed on May 8, four days later. Mondragon was dumped just a mile from where Winters was found. On May 11, Laura Trelstad was raped, strangled, and murdered. The killing of Lillian Dominguez on Oct.

At years-old, Dominguez was walking home from a dance with her sister and friend when they were approached by a man. The man proceeded to stab Dominguez in the heart with a long and thin stiletto blade. The killing displays neither the MO nor the signature of the Black Dahlia killer. However, the police linked the killing to a case just a month prior when year-old Barbara Jean MorseFrank Elizarras was stabbed with an ice pick.

These three attacks were likely by the same person who police believed was Mexican. The press sensation and circus that had developed around the Short case was box office material.

Their involvement in the affair has long been a matter of controversy scandal, and shame, yet there could be no denying that the public was eager to read the latest salacious news on the killing of the young woman. Half-truths and lies became the norm as differing newspapers looked to one-up their rivals and beat their last scoop for the headlines. With news on Short herself drying up, this attention turned to other murdered women across LA as the "next Elizabeth Short" or "another victim," often with next to no real suggestion that the Black Dahlia killer had been involved.

The years and would offer up three more names that have been speculated to be this killer's work with the cases of Gladys Kern, Mimi Boomhower and Jean Spangler. On Feb. She was stabbed in the back with a hunting knife, and the killer took her appointment book, likely as it would have given his name. He cleaned the blade and left it at the scene. Police only became aware of the killing after receiving a note from a mailbox close to the Biltmore Hotel.

The letter, addressed with "hurry give this to the police," gave an account of the killing from a "witness. Suspicious, he went into the property himself and found the "prizefighter" had killed the woman.

While perhaps unlikely, Kern was interestingly said to have been seen with a tall and stocky man before her death. With her bag and purse open next to her and a watch stolen, the motive was clearly theft, and police identified a second such robbery linked to the suspect. On June 13 of the following year, year-old Springer would be kidnapped from her car waiting in a downtown parking lot.

Both Springer and the car would be found three days later, with the victim garroted with a length of clothesline. She was sexually assaulted with a inch tree branch. Her skirt was tangled around her hips, and her jacket had been twisted around her body. Two months later, Boomhower vanished from her home, with most believing she too had been murdered. Boomhower was a well-off socialite whose jovial personality had won her the nickname "The Merry Widow.

After making a phone call at 8 p. Intriguingly, the door to her Bel Air mansion was locked, and her car was still in the garage. An uneaten salad was ready on the dining room table, and a dress had been laid out on the bed, Mimi seemingly about to get ready for her date when she vanished.

The date of her vanishing being the same as the anniversary of her husband's death may automatically suggest suicide. On Aug. A message was written on the side of the purse that read: "Police Dept. Police were highly skeptical, however, with no water or sand being found on the purse. While it might be suggested that the evidence points to the fact that Boomhower was interrupted while getting ready for a date with a man, the possibility of suicide remains.

Boomhower was privately suffering from financial difficulties. While she may have appeared to be "The Merry Widow," those suffering from depression often hide it very well, particularly in the s when a socialite heiress would have been expected to behave in a certain way.

Excited for her date on this terrible anniversary, a phone call standing her up could have tipped her over the edge. However, there is also the possibility of something more sinister, with rumors of a secret gambling issue, and the involvement of the mob. In any case, the affair clearly has nothing to do with the Black Dahlia nor any potential serial killer.

It stands as an excellent example of how some sensationalists have attempted to include isolated cases into a forced narrative surrounding a Hollywood serial killer. Likewise, Spangler's name is often raised about the potential Dahlia linked cases, yet also has very little to connect it beyond the link to Hollywood and the victim again being young, dark-haired and attractive. Spangler was a dancer, model and budding actress who vanished on Oct.

She was last seen at a grocery store several blocks away from her home, and since then, no trace of her has ever been found except the discovery of her purse two days later. Inside the purse, a letter was found that ended in a comma, suggesting it was incomplete. It read: "Kirk: Can't wait any longer, Going to see Dr. It will work best this way while mother is away. He hadn't been in the city at the time, and police looked elsewhere.

Further investigations found Spangler told friends she was three months pregnant and intended to get an abortion, which was illegal. This may have been the point of the note. However, no Dr. Scott in Los Angeles knew who she was, and the name could potentially have been a pseudonym for an abortionist. Some newspapers linked the disappearance to the Black Dahlia and other previous killings mentioned here, yet it seems likely that Spangler may have died during an attempted abortion.

There is nothing to really suggest her case is linked to any of the others, particularly Short. Some months before Spangler's disappearance, a grand jury convened to investigate the LAPD's failings.

The jury sent down indictments against vice squad officers and the gangster Mickey Cohen. They heard that factions, corruption and competition within the LAPD was responsible for much of the forces' failure to close the book on cases. They stated that there were: "deplorable conditions indicating corrupt practices and misconduct by some members of the law enforcement agencies of this county.

The finger was also pointed at the press and the fact that abortionists, drug dealers and illegal gambling rings were allowed to act with impunity throughout the city. In all, the grand jury found that: "The criminals, in many cases, have gone unpunished… because of the character of these murders and sex crimes, women and children are constantly placed in jeopardy and are not safe from attack. The amount of women murdered in Los Angeles in cases that remain unsolved is shocking.

Yet, this doesn't necessarily speak of a serial killer at work. All of the killings and disappearances must be taken in the context of the city's criminal and political climate during this period in Los Angeles history. Los Angeles was a cruel city, one where dreams of stardom and better city life often came crashing down amongst the seedy underworld of poverty, bars, clubs and organized crime.

Into this atmosphere landed millions of ex-servicemen suffering the World War II's effects, with cases of mental illness, alcoholism and drug abuse skyrocketing.

A rabid press and corrupt police force only added to the problems with investigations. Undoubtedly social norms played a part in just how much attention cases were given, with transients, prostitutes and working-class women given far less attention than the problems of those in Hollywood and Bel Air. Over the years, many have looked at the Black Dahlia killing as part of a series and attempted to identify linked cases. It seems almost certain some of the unsolved killings listed may have been carried out by the same individual, while others had clear suspects that authorities merely failed to convict.

However, claims that police in the s were unaware of what a serial killer was and couldn't connect crimes is both incorrect and absurdist, with H. Holmes, the Cleveland Torso murders and the Chicago Lipstick killings all being well-known affairs.