The Most Notorious Serial Killers Of All Time

It is a sad commentary on our society that there are so many murders (21,570 in the United States alone in 2020) that they need to be classified. That being said, different murders happen for different reasons — something that police, lawyers, and the courts very much take into account. How are serial killers whittled out of the crowd?

Psychology Today defines a serial killer as "an individual who murders a series of victims over a period of time, typically with gaps between each killing," going on to say that for the "serial" term to be applied, the kill count has to be three victims or above. Going on FBI statistics for the American population, a 2014 Scientific American article notes only 25 to 50 serial killers were operating in a then-population of over 318 million, and that of the 15,000 murders tallied, just 150 were serial. Not only does that make serial killers extremely rare, it "disqualifies" some infamous murderers like Ed Gein, who, despite being the basis for Norman Bates, killed just two people.

But there are plenty of others to fill the gap who are just as infamous, or more so. Serial killers themselves come in types, from "black widows" killing their husbands to "Angels of Mercy" playing with life and death; they are a grizzly, but fascinating, aspect of humanity.

The crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer — 17 murders (via Biography)— are made worse because it took a serial killer to blow open the racial, homophobic, and victim-shaming views of the time. Dahmer was a handsome, white, gay man with a job; his victims were hustlers and down-on-their-luck men of color. As CrimeReads explains, guess who got lionized?

As Crimetraveller notes, the "Milwaukee Monster" was triggered by sex partners leaving him, saying "as his guest made to leave, he would kill them, wanting to keep them with him." That is, he ate them ... after the necrophilia.

This bad romance stretched from 1978 to 1991, and it's not like Dahmer went wholly unnoticed. Biography lists a ghastly timeline of missed opportunities: arrests in 1982 and 1988, a jail sentence in 1989. In 1991, Dahmer escaped capture by convincing police that his next victim, a drugged 14-year-old boy, was a "friend." As a modus operandi, Dahmer drilled holes into the cranium of victims, applied acid, and attempted to create what "RedHanded" called a "sex zombie." At Dahmer's final arrest, police found preserved sex organs, a total of 12 heads and skulls, two skeletons, and three torsos submerged in acid, with another in the refrigerator. Biography ends thusly: "Sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms, Dahmer was killed by fellow prison inmate Christopher Scarver in 1994."

No list of serial killers is complete without the infamous, and anonymous, Jack the Ripper (via BBC). Preying amid the slums of East End London in 1888, he is heralded by Texas State University as the "first modern serial killer." Despite being 134 years gone, the case still fascinates.

History records five murders as definitively by the Ripper. Texas State University adds detail, noting he attacked low-end sex workers, and it described how the killer slit the throat and abdomen of the first victim, disemboweled the second, nearly decapitated the third, gutted the fourth (and mailed half a kidney to police), and, in a frenzy of gore, defleshed and hollowed out the torso of the fifth. All the while, cat-and-mouse notes were sent to officials, in which one, the famous "From Hell" letter, finds the killer bragging about eating the other half of the kidney.

Jack the Ripper was never caught, leading to scores of theories, movies, and even tours. But was the case solved? Rolling Stone highlighted a 2019 study that used DNA evidence to identify Aaron Kosminski, a 23-year-old barber, as the most likely suspect. A "Kosminski" is indeed mentioned in 1888 transcripts; while he was not pursued as a suspect, records show he was in and out of asylums and had a particular hatred for sex workers.

Javed Iqbal was absolutely unrepentant for killing 100 boys. As far as he was concerned, it was payback. According to the BBC, Iqbal was charged (but not convicted) with sodomy in the 1990s. This made the Pakistani man swear murderous revenge on random boys he blamed, vowing 100 kills. And he did just that; the BBC reports Iqbal raped and strangled his way through the street children of Lahore, murdering boys from ages 6 to 16. 

Making the case worse was the astonishing fact that Lahore police did not even notice 100 children had gone missing until after Iqbal mailed in an anonymous confession (via CrimeLibrary). Even more damning, officers could not catch Iqbal; rather, as the BBC reports, he turned himself in once he reached 100 deaths. Archives at CrimeLibrary describe that when they finally raided his house, officers found butchery: decomposing bodies, the chain Iqbal used to kill, and vats of acid for dissolving the remains. 

Iqbal himself was dismissive of law enforcement; as the BBC relates, he felt they would kill him before trial and so surrendered to staff at a newspaper. Britannica continues by saying he committed suicide in 2001 before his sentence could be carried out: to be chopped into 100 pieces for each of his victims (via BBC).

Serial killers have motivations. Some are driven by sexual desires, others money, and still others for the thrill. The "Angel of Mercy" is much more sinister; hiding behind the benign face of a health practitioner, they play god. 

Profiled on Biography, British doctor Harold Shipman killed a staggering 215 people. Preying on the elderly, Shipman overdosed his patients and hid behind his profession to cover up the deaths. RadioTimes constructed a timeline: Shipman began medicine in 1970, then his own practice in 1993. Just five years later, an undertaker noticed Shipman's patients died not only in high numbers but in a similar, sitting-up pose. Around the same time, a victim's daughter, a lawyer, alerted authorities when her deceased mother curiously left her entire estate to the doctor. The police were called, Shipman was arrested, and the insularity of the British medical field found itself in the crosshairs. 

While Shipman was charged with only 15 deaths at the trial, many more red flags were uncovered, including his addiction to prescription drugs and the fact he pressured families to cremate the deceased. As Biography states, Shipman was found guilty of all counts in 1999 and sentenced to life; a later audit found he was responsible for 236 other deaths over a 24-year period. Shipman committed suicide in his cell in 2004.

He was 8. Amardeep Sada killed three people and he was 8. It's one thing to come across a damaged child; it's another to come across one broken. 

The case did not make it far outside of Sada's native India, and what information did make the press is limited due to the perpetrator's age, but the details that are known are no less chilling. The Sun reports that, beginning in 2006, Sada killed targets less able to defend themselves than even himself, starting with his 6-year-old cousin, then his 8-month-old sister, and then a 6-month-old baby girl. Making matters worse, GulfInside relates Sada's parents knew of the murders and tried to cover up the evidence, but the boy himself admitted to his crimes and led people to the shallow grave of his final victim. The motives are a mystery; The Times of India cites psychiatric officials who say only that Sada did not know right from wrong and qualifies as a sadist.

Sada was found responsible for his crimes and sent to a juvenile facility, but under Indian law, underage offenders are released upon age 18. GulfInside calculates this would have been in 2016, and nothing has been heard of the killer since.