Famous Serial Killers

Question: Who was the first known American serial killer?

Answer: Also known as Herman Mudgett, H.H. Holmes killed several women after becoming engaged to them and taking control of their life savings.

Question: Which serial killer and doctor murdered at least 215 middle-aged and elderly people by injecting them with overdoses of painkillers?

Answer: Harold Shipman managed to convince some of his victims to alter their wills to benefit him.

Question: Which serial killer of boys and young men tried to turn his victims into zombies by drilling holes in their heads while they were still alive and injecting hydrochloric acid or boiling water into their brains?

Answer: Jeffrey Dahmer did many other very bad things to his victims. His depravity is almost beyond comprehension.

Question: Which serial killer of 100 boys was sentenced to be strangled with the same chain he had used to kill his victims—his body to be dismembered into 100 pieces and dissolved in acid?

Answer: Javed Iqbal killed himself before the sentence by a court in Pakistan could be carried out.

Question: Which serial killer was the inspiration for the murderous character Scorpio in the 1971 film Dirty Harry?

Answer: Like Scorpio, the Zodiac Killer terrorized the San Francisco Bay area and taunted police with letters and phone calls.

Question: Which serial killer posed as a hitchhiking prostitute to kill seven male motorists in 1989–90?

Answer: Aileen Wuornos initially claimed that she had killed to defend herself against sexual assault. She later confessed otherwise.

Question: Which serial killer was the inspiration for the character Leatherface in the 1974 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

Answer: Let’s just say that Ed Gein was a taxidermist.

Question: Which serial killer of 11 women in 1962–64 was eventually identified as Albert DeSalvo?

Answer: DNA evidence obtained from Albert DeSalvo’s remains in 2013 established that he had raped and killed Mary Sullivan, the last victim of the Boston Strangler.

Question: Which Soviet serial killer murdered at least 50 children and women, often butchering them while they were still alive, between 1978 and 1990?

Answer: Andrei Chikatilo preyed on young migrants whose absence would not be immediately noticed.

Question: Which serial killer of boys and young men performed as Pogo the Clown at charitable events and children''s parties?

Answer: John Wayne Gacy killed some of his victims while wearing the clown suit.

Question: Which serial killer was known as the Düsseldorf Vampire because he drank the blood of at least one of his victims?

Answer: Peter Kü​rten claimed to have killed two schoolmates before he was 10 years old.

Question: Which serial killer styled himself “Son of Sam”?

Answer: The son in question was a dog, the companion of David Berkowitz’s neighbor, Sam Carr.

Question: By which name were the serial killers Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono known before their identities were discovered by police in 1978?

Answer: Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono raped, tortured, and killed 10 young women in Los Angeles in 1977–78.

Question: Which serial killer''s intelligence, charm, and good looks were emphasized in media coverage of his murder trial in Florida in 1978?

Answer: Ted Bundy married and fathered a child by one of the groupies who attended his trial.

Question: Which serial killer''s crimes inspired Alfred Hitchock''s 1927 film The Lodger?

Answer: The character falsely accused of being The Avenger is nearly beaten to death by a mob.