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15 Deadliest serial killers in the world

Throughout history, there have been some deranged people who terrorised people in different parts of the world by going on murder rampages that left irreparable damage to society. Some of these serial killers committed these heinous crimes because they had mental disorders while others just killed to satisfy their dark pleasures. Some of the serial killers we are going to discuss had a specific target when it came to their victims while others picked their victims at random thus making them very dangerous. Therefore, in this article, we are going to explore the 15 deadliest serial killers in the world to give the reader insight into some of the major crimes that these people committed and the impact they had on the community.

1 Ted Bundy

A colored mugshot of serial killer Ted Bundy. , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

This serial killer was active in the 1970s and he is considered to be one of the most prolific serial killers in the history of the United States of America.  He killed more than 30 women between 1974 to 1978. He would target young women and prey on their emphatic side in that he would fake being injured and charm girls to help him to his car and when they get to their car, he would kidnap them. He would then proceed to sexually assault them before killing them.  He was finally arrested in 1975 charged for the murders and sentenced to three life sentences.

2 Jeffrey Dahmer

Dahmer is one of the most popular serial killers to ever exist in that there is a film that has been produced inspired by his crimes. The serial killer targeted gay men and he would pick his victims from gay bars and take them home after he had drugged them and then proceed to perform atrocious acts on them. By the time of his arrest, Dahmer had killed seventeen young men. When he was arrested,  law enforcement authorities were shocked to find human remains in his fridge which meant that he performed cannibalistic acts on his victims. He was finally arrested when one of his victims managed to escape and went to report him to law enforcement authorities. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but he did not fully serve his sentence as he was beaten to death by an inmate while in prison.

3 John Wayne Gacy

A mugshot of John Wayne Gacy. , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The serial killer was popularly known as the Killer Clown as he was known for going to entertain children in hospitals while dressed as a clown. During the time that he was active as a serial killer, he killed 33 young men and boys. He targeted vulnerable people and lured them with the promise of money and a job and when he gained their trust, he would kidnap them and then proceed to rape them before killing them. Chillingly, he buried most of his victims in the crawl space of his house which is quite disturbing. He was arrested charged with the murders and sentenced to death.  Gacy was executed by lethal injection on 10 May 1994 at the Stateville Correctional Centre.

4 Harold Shipman

Shipman was a medical practitioner turned serial killer who was responsible for the death of more than two hundred and fifty victims. Shipman worked as a general practitioner at the Abraham Ormerod Medical Center where he targeted elderly victims as his victims.  He would overdose these vulnerable patients by giving them astronomical amounts of the prescribed drug that would be sure to kill them. He was finally arrested and charged with the murder of 15 patients who were under his care. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and in 2004 he attempted suicide but he was not successful.

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5 Jack the Ripper

The serial killer is one of the most famous serial killers owing to the fact that he was never found. He was active in the 1800s and operated in Spitalfields and Whitechapel. The serial killer targeted sex workers as his victims. He got his nickname from the letters sent to the press where the man believed to be the killer addressed himself as Jack the Ripper. During the time that he was active, he killed five victims with their bodies being found mutilated and their throats slashed. The identity of the serial killer was never revealed.

6 H. H. Holmes

A picture of the famed serial killer H.H. Holmes , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Popularly known as H.H. Holme, Henry Howard Holmes was a serial killer who was responsible for 27 murders that happened in Toronto, Indianapolis and Chicago. He was also charged with other crimes like forgery and swindling. When he was taken on trial, he was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death. Holmes was later executed on 7^th May 1896 by way of ganging at the Moyamensing prison.

7 Pedro Lopez

This serial killer was popularly known as the Monster of the Andes. He is responsible for the murder of more than three hundred victims in the 1970s and the 1980s. His target victims were mostly women and young girls. He was finally arrested in 1980 and sentenced to sixteen years in prison but was released two years early and is now a fugitive with his location not known.

8 Gary Ridgeway

A mugshot of Gary Ridgeway. , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The serial killer was popularly known as the Green River killer because most of his victims’ bodies were found in the Green River where he had disposed of them after killing them. Ridgeway targeted vulnerable people like sex workers and drug addicts who were easily lured with the promise of money and drugs. He was first arrested with charges of prostitution in 2001 but DNA evidence showed that he was responsible for the murders which had happened in the 1980s and the 1990s. he was charged and convicted with 48 counts of murder but his victim count is suspected to be between 71 to 90. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

9 Richard Ramirez

Richard Ramirez was a serial killer who had a range of nicknames that included The Night Stalker, the Valley Intruder and the Walk-In Killer. Ramirez went on a murder spree between June 1984 and August 1985 in southern California. Ramirez’s crimes were random and featured violent acts that revealed his sadistic side. He was finally arrested in 1985 and charged with 13 counts of murder and other charges. He was sentenced to death but he died while on death row in prison in 2013.

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10 Luis Garavito

Serial Killer Luis Garavito. , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The serial killer was famed for being one of the most notorious serial killers ever recorded in history.  He was active in the 1990s and he targeted young boys as his victims. His exact victim count is not known but it is believed to range from 138 to 172 thus making him one of the most notorious serial killers to ever exist. He was arrested in 1999 and sentenced to 1,853 years in prison. His sentence was a unique one as Colombian law limits the actual time that a person should serve to be a maximum of 40 years but because of the gravity of his crimes, his case was an exemption.

11 The Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer is a serial killer who was never found and operated in Northern California from the late 1960s up to the early 1970s. he got his nickname because he used to sign the letters that he sent to taunt law enforcement authorities after committing the cries with the zodiac signs. The killer is believed to have killed at least 37 people during the time that he was active but he was never captured despite the extensive investigation done by the police. Over the years, there have been controversies on who the Zodiac Killer might have been but no legitimate proof has ever been found. 

12 Albert Fish

He was a dangerous serial killer and cannibal who was active in the early 20^th century. He would kidnap children and then proceed to torture them before killing them. His gruesome acts finally came to light in the 1930s when he was arrested. One of his controversial murders was the murder of a ten-year-old girl known as Grace Budd whom Albert lured away from her family and then went to kill her. Her butchered body was found with some parts missing as Albert had eaten them. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Fish was executed by the electric chair in January 1936.

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13 Aileen Wuornos

Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos. , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Aileen was among the most prolific serial killers in the United States of America. She went on a killing spree for a year between 1989 and 1990 and during this period, she killed seven men. She got her victims who came to her as clients as she was a sex worker. After his arrest, she claimed that she omitted the murders as a form of self-defense but her defence did not stand as she was executed by lethal injection in 2002 after being sentenced to death.

14 Charles Cullen

Cullen was a nurse turned serial killer who confessed to killing up to 40 patients who were under his care. However, it is believed that his victim count is higher than that and he had forgotten some of the murders he had committed. He would administer huge doses of drugs and thus kill them. Cullen never revealed the motive behind his heinous crimes. He was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to several life terms without the possibility of parole.

15 Edmund Kemper

A mugshot of Edmund Kemper.  , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

American serial killer Kemper, commonly referred to as the “Co-ed Killer,” was active in the 1970s. Six young women, his grandparents, and his mother were among Kemper’s victims. He committed acts of dismemberment and necrophilia. He turned himself up to the police in 1973 and admitted to his horrendous deeds. Kemper was later found guilty of several charges of murder and is currently in prison serving a life sentence.

The article shows how there are people who are deranged and lack empathy when performing atrocious acts. However, this list is not exhaustive as there are other deadly serial killers who have been active in different parts of the world and caused a lot of havoc. Therefore, the article is a good place to start when exploring the topic of serial killers

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