Infamous Serial Killers You Forgot Are In Prison

It's a pretty eerie fact that the Netflix series "Mindhunter" is based on true events, specifically, interviews with a list of serial killers. One of those killers was the eerily cool, calm, and collected Edmund Kemper, who — as played by the brilliant Cameron Britton — discussed his brutal murders and subsequent dismemberments and necrophilia with the same air as someone might discuss the changing weather. Kemper's real-life killings came to an end when he shot, killed, and dismembered his own mother, before killing a friend of hers and then fleeing.

Kemper confessed to police in April of 1973, and he was pretty open about why he did what he did — including the reveal that he'd killed his mother because he wanted to spare her the pain of his imminent capture. He was 24 years old at the time of his sentencing, and in a bizarre footnote, he had previously killed both his grandparents when he was just 15 years old. He was released at 21, added a few more brutal slayings to his repertoire, and The New York Times reported that after he was handed a life sentence, he politely thanked both the judge and the prosecutor, even shaking the latter's hand.

There was no chance of Kemper getting the death penalty: That wouldn't come into effect until the following year. He was denied parole in 2007 and 2017, noting that he was fine right where he was — the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. He'll be up for parole again in 2024.

Paul Bernardo is one half of a serial killer couple, and while his then-wife Karla Homolka was released from prison in 2005, he continues to serve a sentence handed down after his conviction in the brutal murders of 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, and 15-year-olds Kristen French and Tammy Homolka — his sister-in-law. The killings captured headlines as the pair were nicknamed the Ken and Barbie Killers, and it was grisly stuff that involved torture, rape, and murder.

Bernardo was sentenced in 1995, and was held at the Kingston Penitentiary. Over the course of the next two decades, he was considered a high-profile target and was assaulted multiple times, although records obtained by the CBC suggest he was never the aggressor. He had a handful of incidents in his record over the years, and when he was transferred to a medium-security facility in 2022, it's safe to say that no one was really happy about it.

Scores of representatives from all levels of the Canadian government condemned the motion, leading Correctional Service representative Anne Kelly to make a statement saying (via the National Post), "The fact that he is at a medium-security institution does not negate the fact that he is a psychopath, and that he committed horrific and unspeakable crimes. ... The punishment is the sentence, and he was given the harshest sentence possible in the Canadian justice system." He was denied parole in 2018, and again in 2021.

When it comes to the royal court of serial killers, David Berkowitz has a seat at the main table. He dubbed himself the Son of Sam, writing taunting letters to police that included terrifying lines like (via Cosmopolitan), "When father Sam gets drunk, he gets mean. He beats his family. Sometimes he ties me up to the back of the house. Other times he locks me in the garage. Sam loves to drive blood. 'Go out and kill,' commands father Sam."

Berkowitz killed six people in the late 1970s, lighting New York City on fire with fear. His arrest, trial, and sentencing filled the headlines with sensationalistic news, and it was June of 1978 that he was given 25 years to life for each murder. He was 25 at the time, and he's now being held in New York's Shawangunk Correctional Facility.

Like many, Berkowitz discovered religion behind bars, and converted to be an Evangelical Christian. He's also been taking a stand against something strange: Murderabilia. Murderabilia is the sale of items related to violent crimes, and the so-called Son of Sam laws were put in place to stop precisely that. That's had limited impact and was ruled unconstitutional, though, and victim advocate Andy Kahan has reached out to Berkowitz to get his take on the whole thing. For more than 20 years, Kahan and Berkowitz have been working together to identify dealers soliciting materials from serial killers, and end the profiteering. Who would have thought?

Get a handful of true crime buffs in the same room, and even if they don't agree on much, most will probably agree that "Mindhunter" was a pretty great show. The second season revolved around a case dubbed the Atlanta Child Murders, and it's exactly what it sounds like. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, families in Atlanta lived in fear — particularly those with young sons. At least 28 disappearances were connected with the spree, while law enforcement tried to paint a picture of runaways, or casualties of drug-related conflicts. That went over about as well as could be expected, and kicked off a massive outcry from a terrified, traumatized community. 

Atlanta parents banded together, it was largely their advocacy that pushed investigators — including the FBI — to, well, investigate. It wasn't long before authorities settled on 23-year-old Wayne Williams as a suspect, and Williams has consistently maintained his innocence throughout his arrest and trial. It didn't really help in the end: He was convicted and given two life sentences, which he still continues to serve out his sentence in Georgia's Hancock State Prison. 

Williams was denied parole in 2019, with another hearing scheduled for 2027. There is a massive footnote to this, though, and that declaration of innocence? Some of the parents of the murdered children believe him. Williams reportedly keeps in touch with some of the victims' families, and there was enough doubt about the case that it was reopened in 2019.

In many cases, people can get to know their coworkers just as well as their immediate family members, and in 2003, Amy Loughren's friendship with a fellow nurse named Charles Cullen came crashing down around her. Law enforcement recruited her to help catch Cullen, and by the time he was convicted three years later, he was definitely linked to 29 murders and suspected in as many as 400.

Loughren consulted on the Jessica Chastain film "The Good Nurse," and told Glamour that before she'd been approached by authorities, she'd had no idea what he was doing, and what he was capable of. "I don't even remember driving home that day," she said. "It was like everything shut down, I completely disassociated from reality because I could not process it. It was such an intense emotion that I couldn't even grasp it."

Cullen had bounced around in between multiple hospitals before being arrested in 2003, charged with using a chemical called digoxin in most of his murders. He pleaded guilty in 2005, was sentenced to 11 life sentences, and today, he remains in New Jersey State Prison.

At a glance, Robert Lee Yates looked like a typical, everyday sort of person. He was a military veteran, he was the married father-of-five, they had a perfectly normal life in Spokane, Washington — until, that is, he was arrested for a series of murders that had targeted sex workers and left at least 13 people dead. Yates was actively killing between 1975 and 1998, was arrested in 2000, and when DNA evidence was recovered from his car and definitively linked him to several murders, what more could the prosecution ask for? They got it — in the form of a body that he'd buried in the front yard of his home.

Yates pleaded guilty on the condition that he wouldn't be given the death penalty, but over the years, that's sort of been up in the air. He was actually sentenced to death in 2002 and given an execution date, but the cast got caught in limbo when Yates opted to plead mental illness. That may have been a completely legit defense, but the county prosecutor was quoted as observing (via The Cinemaholic), "I don't think Mr. Yates helps his cause by relying on the fact that he's a necrophiliac."

Yates was still given new hearings, and was still fighting when — in 2018 — the state declared the death penalty unconstitutional. That applied to him, and he's currently being held at the Washington State Penitentiary. The death penalty was off the table, but so is the possibility of parole.

If you or anyone you know needs help with mental health issues, may be the victim of sexual assault, may be the victim of child abuse, has experienced a hate crime, is struggling or in a crisis, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

• The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

• The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

• The VictimConnect Hotline by phone at 1-855-4-VICTIM or by chat for more information or assistance in locating services to help. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

• Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org