1. Samuel Little
With 60 confirmed kills Samuel little tops the charts as the most prolific serial killer in American history. However, he claimed to have murdered 93 women which is a staggering number to go undetected for the time in which he did. He was active for 35 years and was never caught due to his careful victim selection. Many of his victims were marginalized young women suffering with poverty and addiction, this meant they did not draw attention or outrage when compared with other killings.
Taking it back to his childhood his mother was a teenage sex worker and they lived with Little’s grandmother. It is possible seeing his mother work as a sex worker led him to have a distain and hatred towards them which later grew into murder.
Speaking later, to the FBI on his killings, he became visibly excited as he recounted each one. However, he cared so little for them he didn’t know most of their names, but he remembered their faces. Sketches were released which later helped the FBI confirm 60 victims even though Little confessed to 93 murders.
2. Gary Ridgway
Gary Leon Ridgway, also known as the green river killer, was convicted of murdering 49 women over a period of 20 years. Most of his victims were killed between 1982-1984. Unfortunately, this is another case of careful victim selection as many of his victims were prostitutes. According to Ridgway he choose this type of victim because he thought they wouldn’t be reported missing and he “hated” most of them.
He displayed disturbing signs at a young age such as bed wetting and torturing animals. With his mother also physically and emotionally abusive this was a cocktail for disaster.
As he became older, he solicited sex from many women before strangling them often with his bare hands.
Due to limited technology the police could never place a murder on him even though he was a person of interest throughout his killing spree.
Advances in technology was Gary’s downfall as the semen found at the crime scenes were re-tested against his DNA, in 2001, which came back a match and led to his arrest.
3. Donald Harvey
Donald Harvey, also known as the angel of death, was convicted on 37 counts of murder. His early childhood was troubled with his uncle and his friends sexually abusing him, as well as his a few head injuries.
His primarily murdered patients at the hospital by smothering them, giving them incorrect medication, using faulty equipment and poisoning. His rage wasn’t just reserved for patients however as he poisoned a number of his lovers and anyone who stood up for them. His first premeditated murder was on Ben Gilbert a patient how knocked him out with urinal. Donald gave him a large catheter in which he put a straightened coat hanger into his urethra, this punctured his bladder and bowel. He later died 4 days later. This is a shocking kill and a far cry from his claim of ‘mercy killer’. Many of his other victims were smothered using a pillow and plastic bag when they were too weak to fight back. As he moved onto his later victims Donald preferred poison and used cyanide on many patients at the hospital. This was not detected as autopsies were not done due to the lack of suspicion.
Eventually his attempts to kill people related to him drew attention from police and after a search of his apartment he was arrested in April 1987.
In 2017 he was attacked by another inmate a later died of his injuries at the age of 64.
4. John Wayne Gacy
One of the most infamous serial killers he gained the moniker killer clown due to his character pogo the clown he performed at local parties. Gacy was a pillar of the community running a successful construction company and even becoming involved with local politics. Gacy would pick up runaways or male prostitutes and take them back his house by promising money for sex, offering them a job with his construction company or through force. Once back at his apartment Gacy would tie them up and torture them before raping them. Gacy often kept the corpses around and engaged in necrophilia. The bodies were then left in Gacy’s crawl space in which the police later found the remains of 29 separate victims.
It is speculated by many Gacy was driven to kill due to his hatred for gay men. This may sound farfetched as Gacy himself engaged in sex acts with these men. If we take it back to his childhood where his father would call him a ‘sissy’ and a ‘queer’, mocking him for his passive nature. This could have then sparked a hatred for homosexual men including himself, which led him to torture and kill. However, this is all speculation as Gacy has never given a reason for his crimes.
After Gacy was arrested, he was sentenced to lethal injection, subsequently he was executed at the age of 51 with his last words as “kiss my ass”.
5. Ted Bundy
Well probably the most infamous on this list with many documentaries and news stories still to this day being released. Famous for his good looks and charm Bundy captured the nation during his arrest and subsequent trial.
His early life was a confusing time due to his mother being pregnant out of wedlock, therefore his grandparents raised him as their own child, and he was led to believe his mum was his sister. His grandfather would regularly beat Ted and his mother which led to them running away. His mother than married Johnnie Bundy and Ted was adopted and given his last name. Little else is known about his childhood other that it was normal, however Bundy described himself as a loner who would often stalk women.
Bundys first murder was in 1974 when he broke into a women’s apartment before knocking her unconscious. Her body was never found however part of her skull was recovered from one of Bundy’s dump sites. Bundy then began to develop a motus operandi in which he would charm women by faking a disability and asking for help with his car. Once he had achieved this, he would bludgeon them unconscious. He would then rape and assault the women before killing them and dismembering them. Many of his victims were never found or proven as it is suspected Bundy is responsible for over 100 murders. Bundy was captured multiple times but developed a habit of escaping before his trials. After his final escape he murdered his final victim a 12-year-old girl who he kidnapped from her school. He sexually assaulted and then murdered her; this is one of Bundy’s most shocking murders given the age of his victim.
His subsequent trial became the first nationally televised trial in the United States which helps understand why Bundy has become so famous. During his trial he also proposed to Carol Ann Boone whilst she was on the stand. The two were then technically married, this just goes to show the sort of influence Bundy could have.
Ted was sentenced to death for his crimes and was executed in 1989 at the age of 42, having confessed to over 30 murders.
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