foreign maniacs. Famous maniacs - alphabetical list

Whether you think they're evil, crazy or crazy, serial killers always grab attention for their brutality and ruthlessness. Each such killer has far more than one victim, for which, of course, he carries the most severe punishment. But at the same time, few people know what is behind the actions of such people. What drives them to commit such crimes? It is unfortunately impossible to know this, so you can simply check out the twenty-five most horrifying serial killers of the past century. Each of them at one time inspired real horror on the streets of the cities where they acted. Some of them carefully chose who they would kill, others attacked everyone in a row. Someone received a life sentence, someone - the death penalty. But they were all incredibly cruel and terrifying people who did not know compassion for those who were attacked. Some of them have double-digit and even triple-digit number of victims, which is simply amazing and makes you think about how a person can be so cruel and merciless in general?

Berkowitz

Known as the ".44 killer," he used the very weapon his nickname gives him to kill six and injure seven people in 1976. He taunted the police and terrorized New York until he was arrested in 1977 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the murders.

Camper

He became a notorious murderer and necrophile who operated in California during the 70s. During this time, he killed his relatives, namely his grandfather and grandmother, when he was only fifteen, after which he killed and dismembered six young and innocent girls, whom he picked up in a car on the highway. Then he got rid of his own mother, and at the same time took the life of her friend, who was next to her. After that, the maniac handed himself over to the police station and was convicted.

Bittaker and Norris

In 1979, five young women were killed. They lured each of them into their van, where they raped them and then tortured them to death with a horrific assortment of torture devices.

Brady and Hindley

These two men killed five children between 1963 and 1965. Their victims were between 10 and 17 years old, each of the victims was first sexually abused, after which they were killed. The bodies of three victims were found in the graves, the last victim was discovered in the couple's home, the location of the fourth victim's body remains unknown.

Bianchi and Buono

In 1977-1978 in California, two cousins ​​carried out real terror - they kidnapped, raped and killed ten girls aged 12 to 28. They met each of the victims in the hills and eventually strangled them, for which they received the nickname "Hillside Stranglers".

Raider

He managed to hide from the law for a long time - he killed ten people in the period from 1974 to 1991. He was intoxicated by the attention he received, which caused him to send letters to the police telling him how he stalks his victims, breaks into their homes, ties them up, tortures them, and then kills them.

Gaskins

In 1969, he began to pick up hitchhikers, whom he then tortured and killed. When he was caught, he reported that he had killed between 80 and 90 people, but only eight of his victims were actually confirmed. While on death row, Gaskins killed his cellmate, going down in history as the only one who did something like this.

Manuel

Between 1956 and 1958 he killed nine people, but he is still suspected of killing nine more. The police could not at first prove him guilty until he made the mistake of paying with the banknotes of one of the victims. He was hanged, one of the last people to face the death penalty in Scotland before it was abolished.

Haig

Was a notorious serial killer in the forties. He pretended to be a successful businessman, lured his victims to a factory where he shot them, and then dissolved their bodies in an acid bath, after taking all their documents, in order to dispose of money, property and real estate.

Couple West

During the twenty years from 1967 to 1987, husband and wife raped and killed at least 11 young women. The couple brought all their victims to their home - their house later became known as the house of horrors and was demolished, as adventurers constantly visited it.

Shawcross

In 1972, he raped and killed first a ten-year-old boy, and then an eight-year-old girl. However, he was charged only with manslaughter, served 14 years, after which he went out and killed 12 prostitutes. He was captured right at the site of the last murder, where he confessed to committing all the previous ones.

Sutcliff

Better known as the Yorkshire Ripper. In 1981, he was arrested and charged with the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven more. He targeted exclusively prostitutes and kept northern England at bay for a long time.

Ramirez

He is an American serial killer and Satanist who terrorized Los Angeles in 1984 and 1985. He broke into the homes of his victims, who ranged from a nine-year-old girl to an elderly couple. There he shot, cut, beat, tortured and raped his victims, and also painted pentagrams on the walls.

Dahmer

Known as the Milwaukee cannibal. From 1978 to 1991 he raped, killed and dismembered 17 men and boys. He also committed acts of necrophilia, and after dismemberment, his last victims were eaten by him - pieces of human flesh were found in his house in the process of cooking dishes from them.

Nielsen

Nielsen became the British counterpart of the previous killer. He was a homosexual who killed fifteen people between 1878 and 1983. He killed his victims and then dismembered them, throwing the organs down the toilet. He was caught due to the fact that human remains were found in his sewer.

Bundy

Was one of the most famous serial killers of the twentieth century - he kidnapped, raped and killed a huge number of women in the seventies.

Ng and Lake

It is reported that the Chinese raped and killed from 11 to 25 people, and did it with an accomplice at that one on the ranch.

gacy

From 1972 to 1978, he attacked and killed 33 boys and teenagers. He lured them to his home, promising work, and there he strangled them with a pre-prepared tourniquet.

Chikatilo

He was a Soviet maniac nicknamed the Butcher from Rostov. He raped, maimed and killed at least 52 women between 1978 and 1990.

Sells

This is one of the most dangerous criminals in the history of Texas. More than 70 people died due to his fault. A ten-year-old girl, whom he stabbed to death in her own home, survived and was able to report the attack to her neighbors, identifying the attacker.

ridgeway

He was arrested for four murders, although he confessed to more than seventy. As a result, he was found guilty of 49 murders.

Filho

Brazilian maniac was convicted on charges of murdering at least 71 people. He committed his first crime at the age of 14, after which he could not stop.

Barbosa

A Colombian serial killer raped and killed at least 150 young girls across Colombia and Ecuador.

Shipman

This man has killed almost the most people in history. He was a practicing physician when his colleagues expressed concern about the high mortality rate of his patients. It turned out that during his work he killed more than 250 people.

Lopez

He is the record holder for the number of murders - he raped and killed more than 300 girls throughout South America.

Results

As you can see, the twentieth century turned out to be rich in cruel maniacs who killed, raped, tortured people for no reason or according to some perverse scheme of their own. Naturally, this list does not contain all the serial killers who rampaged in this century - there are many more of them, but it was these maniacs that mankind remembered more than others - either for their special cruelty or for the number of victims they left behind. We can only hope that the twenty-first century will become a little more cultural, progressive, advanced, so the number of serial killers in it will decrease, so that in a couple of years you won’t have to create a similar article about those who sowed chaos around the world, killing everything innocent people.

If you look at crime statistics, well, or just watch any detective film, you can easily conclude that the most common causes of murders are jealousy and money. However, there are always exceptions. And sometimes in the history of murders there are such motives for crimes that shock almost every person.

Fatal dislike for Mondays


In January 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer opened fire on children in the yard of an elementary school near where she lived. As a result, the director and the watchman of the school, who were trying to drive the children into the building, died at her hands, eight children and a policeman were seriously injured. When asked why Brenda committed such a terrible act, the girl answered simply: "I hate Mondays." And she added with a sardonic smile: "It was very fun to watch the children shot." Brenda Spencer is still serving her sentence in a California prison.

Unrequited love for Jodie Foster


Once, after watching the movie "Taxi Driver" with Jodie Foster, John Hinckley Jr. fell in love with a young actress. After that, he began to follow her fanatically. He even entered Yale University, where Jody studied at that time. However, John did not dare to approach the object of his passion. And then he decided to really surprise the girl. Killing the president - what could be more romantic? Fortunately, the assassination attempt failed: US President Ronald Reagan survived. Hinckley was arrested at the scene of the crime. He didn't even try to hide. The offender was found not guilty - there is, after all, obvious schizophrenia. In 2016, John Hinckley was released from a mental institution on the condition that he stay away from Jodie Foster and the Reagan family.

Cherished dream to taste human flesh


Armin Meiwes has been obsessed with tasting human flesh since he was a teenager. In 2001, the man finally fulfilled his cherished dream. A certain Juergen Brandes offered to eat himself alive. According to Meiwes, they first had sex, then Brandeis took sleeping pills and painkillers. The two men ate Brandeis' fried penis. After Armin Meiwes already tasted it himself ... The man froze the remaining pieces of the body and ate them for several more months. The cannibal was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. A few years later, the case was reviewed, and Meiwes is now serving a life sentence in prison.

Fictional Nazi threat


Richard Trenton Chase killed six people. He drank the blood of his victims, and also ate their remains. When the "vampire" was caught, he said that the Nazis ordered him to commit brutal murders. Richard assured the jury that they wanted to turn his own blood into powder, so he needed to drink the blood and eat the flesh of other people. In 1979, the court found Chase guilty and sentenced him to prison. A year later, a prison guard found the bloodthirsty maniac dead in his cell. A medical examination showed that Richard Trenton Chase died from an overdose of antidepressants prescribed to him. Or did the Nazis poison him?

Deadly desire to be a hero


Richard Angelo worked as a nurse in one of the hospitals in America. All his life he felt that he was not appreciated enough at work. And then he thought something terrible. He began to poison patients with a drug that causes paralysis and death. Patients went into cardiac arrest, and then Angelo saved their lives right in front of astonished colleagues. Here is such an insidious hero ... Unfortunately, according to some reports, the man could not save about 35 patients. In 1990, the court sentenced Angelo to life imprisonment with the possibility of release from prison after 50 years.

fatal concert tickets

Robert Lyons, 39, brutally murdered his mother. What is the reason for such a terrible act? Mom simply refused to buy him tickets to the Avril Lavigne concert. First, he broke the bottle on the head of the poor mother, and then inflicted about nine stab wounds on her. As it turned out, the man suffered from bipolar disorder. Robert Lyons was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Fulfilling Satan's Requirements


David Berkovec brutally murdered six people. And he wasn't going to stop there. In addition, he blackmailed the NYPD with letters promising to continue his bloody work. In the summer of 1977 he was caught. Giving evidence, David simply shocked everyone. He claimed that an ancient demon possessing his neighbor's retriever ordered him to kill. However, the court found Berkowitz sane and sentenced him to six life terms in prison.

Order from God


Albert Fish was one of the worst serial killers in history. Cannibal and pedophile, during his life he abused hundreds of children. Albert was divorced, his wife ran away from him with her lover. He forced six of his own children to take part in vile violence. He sent letters to the parents of his victims detailing the deaths of their children. The police called him a real devil. In 1935, a trial began over Albert Fisher, during which he stated that God himself ordered him to torture children. The trick failed. Psychiatrists found him sane and the jury sentenced "Hannibal" to death.

Mad passion for women and needlework


Most of all in life, Ed Gein loved women and beautiful things. But his love was special ... He brutally killed women, and then used their bodies for needlework. A nipple strap, a skull cup, armchairs and chairs made of human skin - Ed had a big fantasy. His greatest desire was to make himself a suit of women. In 1957, the court found Ed Gein mentally unstable and imprisoned the man in a clinic for insane criminals, where he subsequently died of a heart attack.

Dangerous shopaholism


American Dana Sue Gray killed elderly women to steal their money and credit cards. Why do you think? The woman loved to go shopping ... During her testimony, Dana admitted her guilt, but at the same time stated that she was addicted to shopping and could not control her passion. The court sentenced the killer to life imprisonment without the possibility of freedom

number of victims 13–14

Richard Ramirez, also known as the Night Stalker, is a convicted American serial killer who was sentenced to death in the gas chamber. At one time he opened a real campaign of terror against the population of California. At night, he broke into houses, robbed, raped and killed. He often left images of a pentagram at crime scenes, and also forced his victims to say "I love Satan." He died of liver failure at the age of 53 on June 7, 2013 in a hospital, California, USA.

victims 17

American serial killer, known by the nicknames "Milwaukee Monster", "Milwaukee Cannibal". It killed at least 17 young men and women between 1978 and 1991. All but one of the crimes took place in Milwaukee. His murders were extremely brutal. The corpses of their victims "Milwaukee Monster" raped and ate. After his arrest on July 22, 1991, the court found Dahmer sane and sentenced him to 957 years in prison. In 1994, a serial killer was beaten to death by his cellmate.

victims 33

On the eighth line in the ranking of the most famous serial killers in the world is John Wayne Gacy, also known as the "Clown Killer" - an American serial killer who raped and killed 33 young people, including several teenagers. He was arrested in 1978 and sentenced to death. While on death row, Gacy wrote a book where he claimed that the Lord had returned his heterosexual orientation to him, and also painted pictures and sold them to collectors. He was executed on May 10, 1994 by lethal injection.

victims 36

Gennady Mikhasevich, known by the nicknames "Vitebsk Strangler" and "Patriot of Vitebsk", was a Soviet serial killer who between 1971-1985 killed 36 women in the city of Vitebsk, Belarus. Almost all of his crimes were accompanied by rape. He did not attack his victims, but, on the contrary, voluntarily lured them into a car (a red Zaporozhets), where he tempted them, or forcibly brought them to a deserted place and strangled them at the moment of orgasm. He did not carry the murder weapon with him, he preferred to use improvised objects for strangulation. "Vitebsk Strangler" was arrested on December 9, 1985 and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on September 25, 1987.

the number of victims ranges from 5 to 37

Serial killer active in Northern California and San Francisco in the late 1960s. The identity of the offender has not yet been established. He called himself the Zodiac himself in a series of scathing letters sent by him to the editors of the district newspapers. The letters also contained cryptograms in which the killer allegedly encrypted information about himself. Three of the four cryptograms are still undeciphered.

victims 53–65

Andrei Chikatilo is also known by the nicknames "Mad Beast", "Rostov Ripper", "Red Ripper", "Killer from the forest belt", "Citizen X", "Satan", "Soviet Jack the Ripper" - one of the most famous Soviet serial killers, who from 1978 to 1990 committed 53 proven murders (according to operational information, more than 65 murders were committed by a maniac). He was arrested on November 20, 1990 and sentenced to death on October 15 of the same year.
While on death row, Chikatilo wrote numerous complaints and requests for pardon, took care of his own health - did exercises, ate with appetite. On January 4, 1994, the last request for pardon addressed to Russian President Boris Yeltsin was rejected, and on February 14, Chikatilo was shot in the Novocherkassk prison. Interestingly, the murderer Alexander Kravchenko was mistakenly shot for the crimes committed by Andrei Chikatilo.

number of victims 19–82

Alexander Spesivtsev is a Russian serial killer, a maniac and a cannibal who, from February to September 1996 in Novokuznetsk, together with his mother (brought the girls to her son, and then buried their remains), killed and ate 19 women and children. Suspected of over 82 murders. Spesivtsev was sentenced to compulsory treatment and, as of 2015, continues to undergo rehabilitation at the Volgograd Special Type Psychiatric Hospital with intensive supervision.

victims 30–100

In third place on the list of the most brutal serial killers in the world is Theodore Robert Bundy, known by the nickname "Nylon Killer" - one of the worst serial killers in US history, operating in seven states in the 70s of the last century (mostly between 1974- 1978). He was convicted of the murders of 30 young women and executed in the electric chair on January 24, 1989. However, the exact number of his victims is unknown. Estimates range from 30 to over 100.

victims 49–90

Gary Leon Ridgway, known as the "Green River Killer", is one of America's most notorious serial killers, having committed at least 49 murders of women in Washington State between 1982 and 2001. Most of his victims were prostitutes or underage runaways. Ridgway began to be suspected in 1983, but his guilt was proved only in 1997 thanks to the results of DNA analysis. On December 18, 2003, the Green River Killer was sentenced to 48 terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the trial, Ridgway wept and asked for forgiveness from the relatives of his victims. He is currently serving his sentence in the maximum security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, USA.

6

(serial killer) are called criminals who have committed numerous murders. Quite a long time can pass between murders - during this period the killer leads a completely normal life. The victims of such killers often have something in common - gender, age, profession, race, age, and so on. Only about 5% of the world's population lives in the USA, however, 74% of all serial maniacs are natives of this particular country.

(There are no unnecessary details of the crimes committed in this article).

Doctor Holmes(Henry Howard Holmes)

Holmes is noted in the annals of American crime as the country's first officially recorded serial killer. His real name is Herman Mudgett, he was born in New Hampshire in 1861. His childhood was typical for a person with a perverted psyche: his parents beat him terribly, while the little Herman himself loved to mock and experiment on animals.

After a year of college in Vermont, he entered the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and graduated in 1884 with a medical degree. By that time, he was already an experienced and professional swindler with his own unique scheme: he insured a person, then found a corpse and passed him off as that same deceased client, and then received money.

In 1886, he showed up in Chicago under a new name - Henry Howard Holmes - and got a job as a pharmacist. Being an experienced swindler, he pulled money from his rich clients again and again. By 1890 he had built a luxurious mansion. The castle had dozens of rooms connected by secret passages, many secret stairs and doors, false walls, etc. Using the control panel in his office, Holmes released asphyxiating gas into the room where the victim was. Two gutters were laid in the basement, where there was a laboratory with a crematorium and an acid bath.

In 1891, he kills his mistress and strangles her little daughter with his hands. He sells the skeleton of a woman for $200 to a medical college. In 1892, Holmes gets rid of the next lady by locking her in a fireproof cabinet. During the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, Holmes rented rooms to tourists, some of whom also disappeared without a trace. There is unverified information that 50 people disappeared from the tourists who stopped at the Castle. All corpses or skeletons were bought from the doctor by medical institutes, without trying to find out where they came from. However, sooner or later, everything secret becomes clear. Holmes was caught after one of the insurance companies exposed his deception. At trial, he confessed to 27 murders. Dr. Holmes was hanged in Philadelphia on May 7, 1896.

Michael Swango

During his "career" Dr. Swango managed to travel all over the country and visit border. For 10 years of practice, he sent about 60 of his patients to the next world in 5 states of the USA and Zimbabwe.

The first suspicions about Swango arose among his colleagues in 1984, when it turned out that the condition of patients worsened after they tried the dishes of their doctor's own preparation. A mixture of sugar and arsenic was found in his office, and guns, bottles of poisons, and more were found at home. As a result of this incident, Swango was sentenced to 5 years, but he was released after 2.5 years.

Imprisonment did not change Dr. Swango at all, and he continued his activities. It is believed that in one New York hospital, more than 140 patients were sent ahead of schedule to a better world with the help of Dr. Swango. In 1993, after the police got on his trail, Swango fled to Zimbabwe, then to South Africa and Saudi Arabia. During one of the crossings, at the airport, he was arrested. The investigation did not have enough evidence to confirm his involvement in the death of his patients, so Swango was charged only with petty fraud. He is still imprisoned in one of the American prisons.

Charles Manson (Charles Manson)

In fact, he is not a serial killer in the full sense of the word, but his deeds forever inscribed this name in criminal history. The mass murder of 1969 truly shocked all of America.

Manson was born in 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of a prostitute. He spent his childhood changing one orphanage for another. During his youth, Charles repeatedly ended up in correctional institutions for numerous offenses. 1951 - 1954 he spent in a penal colony. In 1967, he became friends with the hippie community, in whom he found a much-needed malleable and easily receptive audience for his ideas.

In 1969, Manson, along with his followers, went to Los Angeles, where he settled in an abandoned house near the city. Charles delivered sermons that were a mixture of biblical truths, social disillusionment, and the coming "helter-skelter" - a war between races (in which blacks should have won). By the time of the tragic events, the Manson "family" already had about 114 thousand members. The absurdity of his theories and the clouding of his consciousness were obvious: Manson believed that he would rule the planet, and none other than The Beatles would show him the way to such a future.

It all started on the morning of August 9, 1969. Four followers of Manson captured the inhabitants of one of the mansions in the prestigious area of ​​Los Angeles - film actress Sharon Tate (wife of film director Roman Polanski) and several family friends. The massacre began. Tate received 16 stab wounds and died immediately. All other guests were slaughtered in cold blood. The whole city was in a state of shock.

But this did not stop Manson, and he struck the next blow. This time, the owners of a chain of small shops became its victims. As it turned out during the investigation, they died painfully: maniacs cut off pieces of meat from them with a knife and fork. The walls and doors of the house were scribbled with the blood of the victims. These atrocities entered the history of crime under the name "murders of the Tate - La Bianca."

In one day, Manson became the most notorious killer in American history. Nevertheless, for many teenagers disappointed with life, he became a truly heroic figure who suffered for the sake of justice. On March 29, 1971, after a 9-month trial, Manson and his "servants" were found guilty of all charges. All were sentenced to death. But in 1972, when the death penalty was abolished in California, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

In 1988, Charles Manson published the book Manson of Himself. Today, he is just as dangerous as before, he still receives bags of letters from his "fans". The next hearing in the Manson case is scheduled for December 2011.

Theodore Bundy (Theodore Bundy)

Theodore Robert Bundy was born on November 24, 1946 in a home for single mothers in Birlingston, Vermont. Ted's childhood and youth passed quite calmly and banally. After school, Ted entered the University of Seattle, but soon transferred to Washington to study law. In 1969, for no apparent reason, he dropped out of school and moved to Philadelphia.

Ted Bundy committed his first murder at the age of 28 (1972) - a student became his victim. Over the next six months, 7 more girls went missing. At that time, none of the trails led the investigation to Bundy. Even then, Theodore realized the most important thing - in a country like America, it is very easy for a criminal to get lost. So he gets a new job - a law school in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Until 1975, 4 more girls suffered. But Bundy got away with it. He was a good actor and often changed his appearance, it was impossible to identify him. The police were lucky when one day they caught Ted for a parking violation. Bundy was arrested and the story could have ended there. The trial began in February 1976. But Ted managed to escape punishment - on the eve of the trial, he escaped from prison through the roof. For a long time he managed to walk from the guards, but Bundy understood that he no longer had a chance.

In 1980, he commits a new atrocity. Bundy breaks into the women's dormitory and maims 5 girls. Ten-year-old Kimberly Leach becomes the latest victim of a maniac. The girl was kidnapped from school and sadistically murdered, her mutilated body Bundy threw to the pigs. The very next week he was detained, just as accidentally as the first time. He was sentenced to death. Nine years passed before the execution of the sentence. On January 24, 1989, Theodore Robert Bundy was executed in the electric chair at Gainesville Prison.

David Berkowitz(David Berkowitz)

David Berkowitz, nicknamed "Son of Sam" was one of the most famous American maniacs, not by the number of murders, but because of his unique manner. He was born June 1, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. David's adoptive parents were wonderful people. At school, he had almost no problems, he studied well and played basketball. However, he experienced some problems in relations with the opposite sex. David suffered from pyromania since childhood (which is quite typical for a maniac) - he set fire to empty buildings and garbage dumps in New York.

At 14, his adoptive mother died. Thus began a black streak in the boy's life. He failed at school. In order to somehow diversify his life and change the situation, Berkowitz enlists in the army, where he spends the next 3 years. In 1974, he moved to the city of Yonkers, where he got a job at the post office. It was there that he began his bloody career.

Berkowitz chooses a .44 Bulldog revolver as his weapon. In 1976 -1977. 14 people became its victims (fortunately, not all of them died). On April 30, 1977, a New York Daily News journalist received a letter from a maniac signed “Blood and Family, Gloom and Death, Absolute Vice, .44” and the text: “I love my job ... Sam is a greedy guy. He won't let me stop until he's drunk blood to the bone." Since then, Berkowitz has earned his nickname "Son of Sam". Before his arrest, he managed to shoot 2 more people. He confessed to all the crimes, explaining them by the fact that his neighbor Sam Carr gave him instructions using telepathy. David was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was sentenced to over 300 years in prison. Berkowitz is still alive, in 1999 he published the book "My story", dedicated to his spiritual development.

Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole (Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole

Henry Lee Lucas is one of the unique assassins. He usually worked in pairs. He is considered one of the record holders for the number of murders, many researchers call him the most terrible maniac of the 20th century.

Henry Lee Lucas was born on August 16, 1936 in Blacksburg, Virginia. His mother constantly beat and humiliated his disabled father and the boy himself. The father taught the child to alcohol from an early age. One day, Lucas' mother hit Lucas on the head with a piece of wood with such force that the doctors diagnosed him with a brain injury in the area that controls emotions. A year later, his half-brother poked him in the eye with a knife - the child was almost blind. As a child, Henry killed and tortured animals, he showed a penchant for bestiality.

He commits his first murder in 1951. Until 1959, he kills 4 more, including his mother, after which he is sent to a psychiatric hospital. Diagnosis - psychopathy, sadism, sexual aberrations, inferiority complex, schizophrenia. In 1961, Lucas tries several times to commit suicide. Even then, he set out to deprive as many people as possible of life.

In 1970, doctors, almost by force, discharge Lucas from the hospital and conclude that he is healthy. But within 2 hours of leaving, Henry kills again. In the same year, he meets Ottis Toole, who becomes his companion and the author of all the maniac's perverted projects: murder, rape, cannibalism. In 1974 they join the Satanic organization "The Hand of Death". Assassins are required to fill the area with corpses to intimidate the population. In 1974 - 1980. Lucas leaves behind a blood trail of 30 people. Not surprisingly, investigators finally find a serial killer. During the process, Lucas spoke about every crime he committed once every 5 days and could not remember the details of many of them. Ultimately, he was able to describe about 89 murders. However, the court with 100% certainty was able to prove only 11 of them.

Lucas became a kind of star - he was talked about on all continents, talk shows were dedicated to him. In 1998, he was sentenced to death in Texas. But George W. Bush Jr., being the governor of the state, canceled the sentence, citing the fact that Henry's crimes in Texas had not been proven. In 1999, the final verdict was issued - life imprisonment. But behind the walls of the prison, Lucas did not live long - he was killed by his cellmates.

John Wayne Gacy (John Wayne Gacy)

He was born in 1942 in Chicago to a dysfunctional family. John's father drank heavily and beat his wife and son. The child was weak and constantly ill. The main memories of his childhood are an inferior neighbor girl and harassment from his father's friends. Gacy dropped out of high school and moved to Las Vegas, where he took a job at a mortuary. And three months later, the owner of the morgue told the police that John was engaged in necrophilia. Then law enforcement showed no interest in the young Gacy. In 1964, he moved to Waterloo, Iowa, and became a fast food restaurant manager.

In 1968, Gacy first came to trial on charges of sexual harassment of employees of his institution. He was sentenced to 10 years, but he was released for good behavior much earlier. After his release, he returned to Chicago, where he went into the construction business. Gacy committed his first murder in 1972 - his lover became the victim. John's scheme was clear: he was looking for a suitable victim - usually a young guy - met him, brought him home, beat him, raped him and tortured him.

Then Gacy was the treasurer of the charitable society and assisted the police, so none of the statements of the surviving victims were taken seriously. Gates was arrested on December 21, 1978. Law enforcement agencies searched his house, and what they found in the basement shocked even seasoned police officers: they almost fainted from the smell of dozens of decaying corpses. The bodies of 29 people were recovered from the basement. One important detail found during the search was a photograph in which Gacy was captured next to Rosalynn Carter. John's jacket bears the US Secret Service badge, giving him the highest level of protection. During the investigation, the maniac stated that he suffered from a split personality. The trial began in 1980. In the same year, a verdict was passed - John Wayne Gacy was found guilty of killing 33 people. He was sentenced to 21 life terms and 12 death sentences.

Eileen Wuornos (Aileen Wuornos)

The most famous maniac in the world. She was born on February 29, 1956 in Rochester, Michigan. Soon her mother left her with her little brother in the care of her grandparents. Her childhood was terrible. At the age of 13, she gave birth to a child, after which she was kicked out of the house. In 1970, she became a vagabond, which she remained all her life: she stole, drank, engaged in prostitution.

Wuornos tried to pull off the first scam when she married a 70-year-old businessman. But the marriage was short-lived, the husband filed for divorce very soon. In 1978, she attempted suicide by shooting herself in the stomach. 1979 - 1983 Eileen was detained by the police several times for forging documents and armed attacks. In 1986, she met the woman who would become the love of her life, Tyria Moore.

Gradually, Wuornos became more and more aggressive. Her weapon of choice was a .22 pistol. By 1990, she had 7 murders on her record. The victims were middle-aged men who turned out to be her casual clients. In January 1991, she was arrested on suspicion of the murders. There was not enough evidence until Tyria Moore decided to testify against her friend. Then Wuornos took all the blame.

Journalists affectionately called her Lee. In 1993, Eileen was sentenced to death, which she had been waiting for 9 years. During this time, Wuornos repented of all the crimes committed, apologized to the families of the victims. In 2002, Eileen Wuornos was executed by lethal injection. Her last line was "I'll be back." Several films have been made about this woman, the most famous of which is "Monster", with Charlize Theron in the title role.

Albert Fish (Albert Fish)

Deservedly considered one of the most terrible maniacs in the United States. His deeds cause horror and disgust of any normal person. He was born in 1870 in Washington, DC, in a dysfunctional family - almost all relatives suffered from one form or another of mental disorders. Fish's first arrest took place in 1903. For robbery, he received 2 years in Sing Sing prison. Since 1924, children began to disappear. The police did not even suspect that they were all on the conscience of a harmless, inconspicuous old man Fish.

The most notorious was the kidnapping and murder of Grace Budd. He ingratiated himself with her parents, invited the girl home allegedly for her birthday, where he strangled her, cut her body into pieces and cooked a roast seasoned with carrots, onions and pieces of bacon.

The case seemed hopeless and was closed. This could have ended, but Fish gave himself away. 10 years after this horrific murder, he wrote a letter to Grace's parents, describing in great detail what he had done to their little daughter. A new serious investigation has begun. As is often the case, the offender was found by accident and immediately detained. Albert Fish was charged with sexual harassment. Fish stated that there were about 400 of them. The investigation was able to prove only 15 murders. To appreciate the full extent of his madness, one had only to read the protocols of his interrogations, in which Fish, not embarrassed in expressions, shared recipes from human meat and argued which parts of children were the most delicious. However, Albert Fish was declared sane and sentenced to death in the electric chair. In January 1936, she became the oldest prisoner to be executed at Sing Sing Prison.

If you believe they are evil, heartless, or simply mentally ill, then you are still part of a society that both repels and attracts the lives and minds of serial killers.

Who are they and what drives them ?

Below are the most horrifying serial killers of the 20th century.

25. David Berkowitz

Known as the Son of Sam or the .44 killer, David Berkowitz carried out a series of murders in the summer of 1976. Using a 44 caliber Bulldog revolver, he killed 6 people and injured 7 more. Berkowitz also sent a number of letters to the police and the press with stories of his further murders. for the purpose of teasing.

He terrorized New Yorkers for almost a year. He was eventually captured in August 1977. Berkowitz confessed to all of the murders and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for each.

24. Edmund Kemper

Edmund Kemper is an American serial killer and necrophile who carried out a series of brutal serial killings in California in the 1970s. At the age of 15, he killed his grandparents, and later killed and dismembered six hitchhiking women in the Santa Cruz area.

He later killed his mother and one of her friends, and turned himself in to the police a few days later. In November 1973, he was found guilty of 8 murders. He asked for the death penalty for himself, but instead received a life sentence without parole.

List of serial killers

23. Larry Bittaker and Roy Norris

Together, these two American serial killers took the lives of five young women in California in 1979. They lured the victims into their van drove off to secluded places and then both raped and tortured the unfortunate with a series of tools.

In 1981, the maniacs were charged with murder, kidnapping and rape. Bittaker was sentenced to death and remains on death row to this day. Norris, however, was spared in exchange for testifying against his accomplice. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

22. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley

These people killed five children between 1963 and 1965 in Greater Manchester, England. Their victims were between 10 and 17 years old. Before being brutally murdered, the unfortunate were subjected to sexual violence.

Three of those killed were found in graves dug on Saddleworth Moor, the body of the last victim was found in the Brady home. The whereabouts of the fourth child, Keith Bennett, is unknown to this day.

Both Brady and Hindley were later sentenced to life in prison. Hindley died in prison in 2002. Brady has since been moved to the Ashworth Maximum Security Hospital, where he remains to this day, periodically on hunger strikes.

21. Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono

Between late 1977 and early 1978, cousins ​​Kenneth and Angelo kept California at bay by kidnapping, raping and killing 10 girls aged 12 to 28. Each of their victims ended up in the mountains above Los Angeles where they strangled them.

Bianchi tried to plead innocence, citing insanity, but it was later found that the documents confirming his mental illness were fake. He pleaded guilty and began to testify against Buono.

Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. Buono died of a heart attack in his cell in 2002.

20. Dennis Rader

Dennis Rader killed 10 people in Sedgwick County, Kansas between 1974 and 1991. Obsessed with popularity, Rader sent teasing letters to the police, signing himself "SPU", which stood for "Bondage, torture, murder."

The raider pursued his victims before breaking into their homes, tied them up and tortured them. After disappearing in 1988, Rader reappeared in 2005, sending a floppy disk to the media, which helped expose him. He was arrested and charged with the murders, to which he immediately confessed.

He is serving 10 life sentences with the earliest possible release date being February 26, 2180.

19. Donald Henry Gaskins

In 1969, Gaskins begins killing hitchhikers he picks up as he drives around the US South, torturing and maiming his victims. He claimed to have killed 80 to 90 people.

He was arrested in 1975 when a well-known crime boss confessed to police that he had witnessed the murder of two young people by Gaskinson. He was found guilty of killing 8 people and sentenced to death, however, the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment without parole.

Notably, Gaskins continued to commit murders while in a maximum security prison, killing an inmate. He is the only person to kill an inmate on death row.

Notable serial killers

18. Peter Manuel

The American-born Scottish serial killer is known to have killed 9 people in Southern Scotland from 1956-1958. He was suspected of killing 18 people.

The police could not prove his guilt until it was confirmed that some of the banknotes with which Manuel paid for drinks in Glasgow pubs belonged to one of his victims.

He confessed to his crime in front of his mother while at the police station where he was being held. In July 1958, Manuel was hanged for his crimes at Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison. He was one of the last prisoners in Scotland to be hanged before the death penalty was abolished in the country.

17 John George Haigh

This man was an English serial killer in the 1940s. He was admitted to killing 6 people, although he claimed to have killed 9. John was a professional con man, met rich people and made them believe that he was a successful businessman.

He lured his victims to an abandoned warehouse, where he shot them. After that, he dissolved their bodies in sulfuric acid, then forged documents to get his hands on all their property and savings.

He was identified from human remains, and the police were able to gather enough evidence to convict Haig. In 1949 he was sentenced to death and hanged at Wandsworth Prison.

16 Fred & Rose West

Between 1967 and 1987, Fred West and his wife Rose tortured, raped and killed at least 10 young women and girls, most of them in their home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, which was later called a house of horrors.

The couple was finally apprehended and charged with the murders in 1994 after police obtained a search warrant. They found human bones buried in the garden and hidden under the floorboards.

Arrested in the courtroom, Fred hung himself in his cell before he was convicted. Rose was jailed for life in 1995 after being found guilty of 10 murders.

Their home on Cromwell Street was demolished in 1996 to discourage souvenir hunters.

15 Arthur Shawcross

Known as the "Genesee River Killer," Shawcross committed his first murder in 1972, raping and brutalizing a 10-year-old boy he lured into a wooded area in Watertown, New York.

He then raped and killed an 8-year-old girl, for which he was captured and charged with manslaughter. After serving 14 years in prison, in 1988 he was released and brutally cracks down on 12 prostitutes aged 22 to 59 years.

In the end, he was caught at the scene of the last crime. He confessed to all 12 murders and was sentenced to 250 years in prison, but died in prison of a heart attack in 2008.

14. Peter Sutcliffe

Peter William Sutcliffe is a British serial killer known as the "Yorkshire Ripper". In 1981, Sutcliffe was convicted of the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of 7 others.

He killed prostitutes in Leeds and Bradford, creating a climate of fear throughout northern England. During his arrest in 1981 for driving a car with fake license plates, the police interrogated him about these murders, and he confessed.

At his trial, he pleaded not guilty to insanity murder, but the cause of self-defense was also rejected by the jury. He was sentenced to life in prison, and to this day he is in the Broadmoor Maximum Security Mental Hospital.

13. Richard Ramirez

Ricardo Ramirez Leyva Munoz was an American serial killer who worshiped Satan and terrorized Los Angeles from 1984-1985. Nicknamed "The Night Stalker", Ramirez would break into the homes of his victims, shot, beat, maimed, raped and killed.

He did not choose his victims according to any special parameters, they ranged from a 9-year-old girl to an elderly married couple over the age of 60. Ramirez was distinguished by the fact that he painted pentagrams on the walls in the homes of his victims.

He was captured in 1985 and sentenced to life imprisonment. For 23 years he was on death row in a California prison, and in June 2013 Ramirez died.

12. Jeffrey Dahmer

Known as the "Milwaukee Cannibal", Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer who raped, murdered and dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He was also a necrophile and ate his latest victims by cooking them into a meal in his backyard.

Dahmer was caught after his potential victims were able to overcome him and went to the police. In 1992 Dahmer was found guilty of 15 murders and was sentenced to 15 life terms.

However, just two years after being in a Colombian penitentiary, he was beaten to death by a cellmate.

Serial killers of the world

11. Dennis Nilsen

The British equivalent of Jeffrey Dahmer, Dennis Nielsen was a homosexual killer who massacred 15 gay men in his London home between 1978 and 1983.

He kept the bodies of his victims for some time, then the decaying remains were burned or flushed down the toilet. This helped to catch him when human flesh was found in his sewers.

Nielsen was convicted in 1983 on six counts of murder and two attempts. The sentence is life imprisonment. He is to this day serving his sentence in Yorkshire, England, with no chance of parole.

10. Ted Bundy

This is one of the most famous killers of the 20th century. He kidnapped, raped and killed young women and girls in the 1970s. Bundy usually approached his victims in public places, took them to secluded corners, raped and killed them.

He beheaded at least 12 victims, and he kept the severed heads in his apartment as trophies. He was repeatedly detained by the police, but twice he managed to escape. He was accused of numerous murders and sentenced to death. Bundy was executed in the electric chair in 1989.

9. Charles Ng and Leonard Lake (Charles Ng and Leonard Lake)

Chinese-American serial killer Charles Ng is believed to have raped, tortured and killed 11-25 people along with his accomplice Leonard Lake at the latter's ranch in Calaveras County, California.

They filmed how they raped and tortured their victims. Their crimes were publicized in 1985 after Lake committed suicide when he learned that Ng had been caught stealing from a hardware store.

The police searched Lake's ranch and found human remains there. Ng was identified as Lake's accomplice in the crimes, but he tried to evade charges by fleeing to Canada. After a lengthy extradition to the United States, he stood trial in 1998 and was found guilty of 12 murders.

Ng is currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison.

The most terrible serial killers

8 John Wayne Gacy

Gacy raped and murdered 33 teenagers and young adults between 1972 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. He lured the victim to his home, promising money or work, then strangled him with a tourniquet. 26 people he buried in his yard, he disposed of the bodies of the next killed by dumping them into the Des Plaines River.

Convicted of 33 murders, Gacy was sentenced to death. He spent 14 years on death row before being lethally injected on May 10, 1994.

7. Andrei Chikatilo

Andrei Chikatilo was a Soviet serial killer, nicknamed "the Rostov butcher". Between 1978 and 1990, he raped and killed at least 52 people, including women and children.

Suspecting Chikatilo of the murders, the police kept him under surveillance, the results of which provided sufficient grounds for his arrest. He confessed to a total of 56 murders, and in April 1992 was convicted of committing 53 of them.

Relatives of the victims demanded his release from custody to commit lynching. Chikatilo was sentenced to death and shot in February 1994.

6 Tommy Lynn Sells

Claiming to have killed at least 70 people, Tommy Lynn Sals was considered one of the most dangerous criminals in the United States. He was found guilty of several brutal murders between 1985 and 1999. Among his victims was also a 13-year-old girl whom he stabbed 16 times.

He was captured after The 10-year-old victim of the maniac, whom he left to die, was able to get out and warn the neighbors. She described the criminal in detail, which ultimately contributed to his arrest.

Sells is sentenced to death. To this day, he is on death row in a maximum security prison in Livingston, Texas.

5. Gary Ridgway

One of the most "prolific" serial killers, Gary Ridgway was arrested in 2001 for 4 murders, although he confessed to committing at least 70 murders of women in Washington state in the 1980s and 1990s.

He escaped the death penalty by telling the police in detail about the murders and bringing authorities to the burial sites. He threw five women into the Green River, for which he was nicknamed the "Green River Killer" in the press. He was convicted of 49 murders and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

4. Pedro Rodrigues Filho

Filho is a Brazilian serial killer arrested in 1973 and convicted in 2003 of killing at least 71 people. Sentenced to 128 years in prison.

He committed his first murder at the age of 14. He went against local drug dealers who killed his girlfriend while he was in jail for a series of thefts. At the age of 18, he already had 10 murders on his account.

While in prison, he killed his father, who was also serving time for murder. While in prison he killed 47 prisoners. Initially sentenced to 30 years in prison, Pedro extended his own term with his own hands, as against the backdrop of constant murders, his sentence was increased to 400 years in prison.

3. Daniel Camargo Barbosa

The man was a Colombian serial killer who is believed to have raped and murdered over 150 young girls in Colombia and Ecuador in the 1970s and 1980s. He calmly confessed to killing 71 girls in Ecuador after escaping from a Colombian prison.

He led the police to the place where he collected the bodies of the victims. After raping the girls, he killed them with a machete. Barbosa was convicted in 1989 and sentenced to 16 years in prison, the maximum sentence in Ecuador. In November 1994, he was killed in prison by the cousin of one of the dead girls.

Harold Shipman was an English physician and also the most "prolific" serial killer in human history, who was proven to have been 250 kills.

Being a professional, he was respected in his circle, however, colleagues and local residents began to express concern about the high death rate in the area, as well as the large number of signed forms for the cremation of older women.

Some of the bodies were later exhumed and examination of the corpses showed the presence of diamorphine in them. Later it was established that Shipman deliberately administered lethal doses of the drug to a huge number of patients.

Then he forged documents under the will, thereby inheriting large sums of money. He also forged cremation documents to completely cover his tracks. The judge sentenced him to 15 life terms without parole.

In January 2004, Shipman hanged himself in his cell at Wakefield Prison.

1. Pedro Alonso Lopez

Lopez is a Colombian serial killer accused of raping and killing over 300 girls in South America. He was believed to prey on young and vulnerable teenage girls in Peru. He lured them to secluded places, raped them, and then killed them, most often by suffocation.

Lopez was arrested when another attempt to kidnap a girl failed, and he was caught by market workers. He confessed to killing over 300 people.

The police only believed him when a flash flood uncovered a mass grave of many of his victims. In the end, 53 bodies were found. Detained in 1980, he spent only 18 years in prison, then he was released from an Ecuadorian prison and deported to Colombia, where he was arrested again in 2002 and sentenced to life imprisonment.