Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy, Gilles de Rais; these are just a few names that tend to send shivers down the spine of a person aware of what these people have done. Guilty of killing people with no motivation other than personal gratification, serial killers are people who have killed three or more people. Most serial killers tend to kill due to an element of sexual gratification attached to the act of murder. They need the excitement of killing someone like a normal person would require food or water. Serial killers commit murders in a similar fashion and this becomes their signature mark. The victims of serial killers also have a common link which may be their sex, physical appearance, occupation, etc. Serial killers are not the same as mass murderers or spree killers. A look at a list of serial killers and a comparison of their modus operandi and the time span in which they commit murders will tell you that most serial killers tend to have a cooling off period between two murders.
A study of the serial killers psychology tell us that most of them share some characteristics. Studies have shown that serial killers generally have a high IQ but they tend to have trouble keeping jobs. They usually belong to households where the father figure is absent and their familial life tends to be disturbed. Most of them have a violent history and are generally victims of abuse themselves. From an early age, serial killers with a sexual fascination with victims tend to be interested in fetishism, pornography, and sadomasochistic behavior. In this article we give you a list of serial killers, both male and female, who have terrorized and murdered on multiple counts.
List of Male Serial Killers
A look at the list of famous serial killers will tell you that most serial killer are male. This may be because of the general sexual motivation of the crime. But this is just a theory. Famous serial killers also include murderers who committed murders in order to relive a situation, delve into some sort of fantasy, or just because of a pathological interest in death.
| List of Serial Killers (Male) |
| Name |
Nationality |
| Cayetano Santos Godino |
Argentina |
| Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch |
Argentina |
| David Birnie |
Australia |
| John Justin Bunting |
Australia |
| Robert Joe Wagner |
Australia |
| James Spyridon Vlassakis |
Australia |
| Eric Edgar Cooke |
Australia |
| Paul Charles Denyer |
Australia |
| Peter Norris Dupas |
Australia |
| Leonard John Fraser |
Australia |
| John Wayne Glover |
Australia |
| Mark Jefferies |
Australia |
| William MacDonald |
Australia |
| Ivan Milat |
Australia |
| Arnold Karl Sodeman |
Australia |
| Christopher Worrell |
Australia |
| James Miller |
Australia |
| Johann Unterweger |
Austria |
| Marc Dutroux |
Belgium |
| András Pándy |
Belgium |
| Abraăo José Bueno |
Brazil |
| Pedro Rodrigues Filho |
Brazil |
| Edson Isidoro Guimarăes |
Brazil |
| Anísio Ferreira de Sousa |
Brazil |
| Paul Kenneth Bernardo |
Canada |
| Wayne Clifford Boden |
Canada |
| John Martin Crawford |
Canada |
| Léopold Dion |
Canada |
| William Patrick Fyfe |
Canada |
| Gilbert Paul Jordan |
Canada |
| Allan Legere |
Canada |
| Clifford Robert Olson |
Canada |
| Robert William Pickton |
Canada |
| Peter Woodcock |
Canada |
| Gong Rumbo |
China |
| Huang Yong |
China |
| Shen Changyin |
China |
| Shen Changping |
China |
| Yang Xinhai |
China |
| Pedro Alonso López |
Colombia |
| Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos |
Colombia |
| Vinko Pintarić |
Croatia |
| Václav Mrázek |
Czech |
| Petr Zelenka |
Czech |
| Dagmar Johanne Amalie Overbye |
Denmark |
| Daniel Camargo Barbosa |
Ecuador |
| Aleksandr Rubel |
Estonia |
| Antti Olavi Taskinen |
Finland |
| Matti Haapoja |
Finland |
| Pierre Chanal |
France |
| Michel Fourniret |
France |
| Guy Georges |
France |
| Francis Heaulme |
France |
| Henri Désiré Landru |
France |
| Émile Louis |
France |
| Thierry Paulin |
France |
| Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot |
France |
| Gilles de Rais |
France |
| Joseph Vacher |
France |
| Jürgen Bartsch |
Germany |
| Volker Eckert |
Germany |
| Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann |
Germany |
| Fritz Honka |
Germany |
| Friedrich Heinrich Karl Haarmann |
Germany |
| Joachim Georg Kroll |
Germany |
| Peter Kürten |
Germany |
| Stephan Letter |
Germany |
| Norbert Poehlke |
Germany |
| Peter Stumpp |
Germany |
| Charles Papa Kwabena Ebo Quansah |
Ghana |
| Antonis Daglis |
Greece |
| Lam Kor-wan |
Hong Kong |
| Lam Kwok-wai |
Hong Kong |
| Béla Kiss |
Hungary |
| Thug Behram |
India |
| Raman Raghav |
India |
| Auto Shankar |
India |
| Charles Sobhraj |
India |
| Rajendra Jakkal |
India |
| Dilip Dhyanoba Sutar |
India |
| Shantaram Kanhoji Jagtap |
India |
| Munawar Harun Shah |
India |
| Ahmad Suradji |
Indonesia |
| Mohammed Bijeh |
Iran |
| Saeed Hanaei |
Iran |
| Nicolai Bonner |
Israel |
| Wolfgang Abel |
Italy |
| Marco Furlan |
Italy |
| Donato "Walter" Bilancia |
Italy |
| Roberto Succo |
Italy |
| Lewis Hutchinson |
Jamaica |
| Sataro Fukiage |
Japan |
| Hiroshi Hidaka |
Japan |
| Miyuki Ishikawa |
Japan |
| Yoshio Kodaira |
Japan |
| Genzo Kurita |
Japan |
| Hiroshi Maeue |
Japan |
| Futoshi Matsunaga |
Japan |
| Tsutomu Miyazaki |
Japan |
| Seisaku Nakamura |
Japan |
| Akira Nishiguchi |
Japan |
| Kiyoshi Ōkubo |
Japan |
| Nikolai Dzhurmongaliev |
Kazhakstan |
| Kaspars Petrovs |
Latvia |
| Vlado Taneski |
Macedonia |
| José Luis Calva Zepeda |
Mexico |
| Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo |
Mexico |
| Raúl Osiel Marroquín Reyes |
Mexico |
| Arnfinn Nesset |
Norway |
| Javed Iqbal Mughal |
Pakistan |
| Karl Denke |
Poland |
| Zdzisław Marchwicki |
Poland |
| Władysław Mazurkiewicz |
Poland |
| Stanislaw Modzelewski |
Poland |
| Leszek Pękalski |
Poland |
| António Luís Costa |
Portugal |
| Ion Rîmaru |
Romania |
| Valery Asratyan |
Russia |
| Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo |
Russia |
| Sergey Golovkin |
Russia |
| Vasiliy Kulik |
Russia |
|
| Name |
Nationality |
| Maxim Vladimirovich Petrov |
Russia |
| Alexander Yuryevich Pichushkin |
Russia |
| Sergei Vasilyevich Ryakhovsky |
Russia |
| Anatoly Yelemianovich Slivko |
Russia |
| Alexander Nikolayevich Spesivtsev |
Russia |
| Silvo Plut |
Slovenia |
| Metod Trobec |
Slovenia |
| Sibusiso Duma |
South Africa |
| Maoupa Cedric Maake |
South Africa |
| Jimmy Maketta |
South Africa |
| Johannes Mashiane |
South Africa |
| Elifasi Msomi |
South Africa |
| Nicholas Lungisa Ncama |
South Africa |
| David Randitsheni |
South Africa |
| Samuel Sidyno |
South Africa |
| Norman Avzal Simons |
South Africa |
| Moses Sithole |
South Africa |
| Sipho Mandla Agmatir Thwala |
South Africa |
| Cornelius Gerhardus van Rooyen |
South Africa |
| Stewart Wilken |
South Africa |
| Elias Xitavhudzi |
South Africa |
| Christopher Mhlengwa Zikode |
South Africa |
| Yoo Young-Cheol |
South Korea |
| Francisco Garcia Escalero |
Spain |
| José Antonio Rodríguez Vega |
Spain |
| Manuel Delgado Villegas |
Spain |
| Thomas Quick |
Sweden |
| Adnan Çolak |
Turkey |
| Özgür Dengiz |
Turkey |
| Anatoly Yuriyovych Onoprienko |
Ukraine |
| Serhiy Tkach |
Ukraine |
| Vladislav Volkovich |
Ukraine |
| Vladimir Kondratenko |
Ukraine |
| Robert Black |
United Kingdom |
| Ian Brady |
United Kingdom |
| William Burke |
United Kingdom |
| William Hare |
United Kingdom |
| George Chapman |
United Kingdom |
| John Reginald Halliday Christie |
United Kingdom |
| Robert George Clements |
United Kingdom |
| Dr. Thomas Neill Cream |
United Kingdom |
| Frederick Bailey Deeming |
United Kingdom |
| John Duffy |
United Kingdom |
| David Mulcahy |
United Kingdom |
| Vladimir Kondratenko |
United Kingdom |
| Kenneth Erskine |
United Kingdom |
| Steven John Grieveson |
United Kingdom |
| John George Haigh |
United Kingdom |
| Archibald Thomson Hall |
United Kingdom |
| Anthony John Hardy |
United Kingdom |
| Trevor Joseph Hardy |
United Kingdom |
| Philip Herbert |
United Kingdom |
| Colin Ireland |
United Kingdom |
| Michele Lupo |
United Kingdom |
| Patrick Mackay |
United Kingdom |
| Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel |
United Kingdom |
| Robert John Maudsley |
United Kingdom |
| Peter Moore |
United Kingdom |
| Raymond Leslie Morris |
United Kingdom |
| Robert Clive Napper |
United Kingdom |
| Donald Neilson |
United Kingdom |
| Dennis Andrew Nilsen |
United Kingdom |
| Colin Campbell Norris |
United Kingdom |
| Vladimir Kondratenko |
United Kingdom |
| William Palmer |
United Kingdom |
| Harold Frederick Shipman |
United Kingdom |
| George Joseph Smith |
United Kingdom |
| John Thomas Straffen |
United Kingdom |
| Peter William Sutcliffe |
United Kingdom |
| Peter Britton Tobin |
United Kingdom |
| Thomas Griffiths Wainewright |
United Kingdom |
| Frederick Walter Stephen West |
United Kingdom |
| Steven Gerald James Wright |
United Kingdom |
| Graham Frederick Young |
United Kingdom |
| Joseph D. Ball |
United States |
| Herbert Richard Baumeister |
United States |
| Kenneth Alessio Bianchi |
United States |
| William George Bonin |
United States |
| Anthony Ray Briley |
United States |
| James Briley |
United States |
| Linwood Briley |
United States |
| Theodore Robert Bundy |
United States |
| Richard Trenton Chase |
United States |
| Dean Arnold Corll |
United States |
| Elmer Wayne Henley |
United States |
| Juan Vallejo Corona |
United States |
| Charles Edmund Cullen |
United States |
| Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer |
United States |
| Ronald Joseph Dominique |
United States |
| Donald Leroy Evans |
United States |
| Raymond Fernandez |
United States |
| John Wayne Gacy, Jr. |
United States |
| Donald Henry Gaskins Jr. |
United States |
| Lorenzo Jerome Gilyard Jr. |
United States |
| Robert Christian Hansen |
United States |
| Donald Harvey |
United States |
| Charles Ray Hatcher |
United States |
| Dr. Henry Howard Holmes |
United States |
| Patrick Wayne Kearney |
United States |
| Paul John Knowles |
United States |
| Randy Steven Kraft |
United States |
| Leonard Lake |
United States |
| Charles Chi-Tat Ng |
United States |
| Henry Lee Lucas |
United States |
| Orville Lynn Majors |
United States |
| Earle Leonard Nelson |
United States |
| Carl Panzram |
United States |
| Richard Ramírez |
United States |
| David Parker Ray |
United States |
| Angel Maturino Reséndiz |
United States |
| Gary Leon Ridgway |
United States |
| Gerard John Schaefer |
United States |
| Tommy Lynn Sells |
United States |
| Gerald Eugene Stano |
United States |
| William Lester Suff |
United States |
| Joseph Michael Swango |
United States |
| Carl Eugene Watts |
United States |
| Wayne Bertram Williams |
United States |
| Robert Lee Yates Jr. |
United States |
| Randall Brent Woodfield |
United States |
| Dorangel Vargas |
Venezuela |
|
List of Female Serial Killers
Female serial killers are very rare and most of their crimes tend to be either for material needs or are crimes of passion. It is more difficult to point out the psychology that drives women to go on a serial killing spree. While studies have shown that most women who are serial killers tend to suffer from Münchausen syndrome, this observation may not be true for every serial killer. Given below is a list of serial killers who were women.
| List of Serial Killers (Female) |
| Name |
Nationality |
| Catherine Birnie |
Australia |
| Kathleen Folbigg |
Australia |
| Caroline Grills |
Australia |
| Martha Rendell |
Australia |
| Elfriede Blauensteiner |
Austria |
| Irene Leidolf |
Austria |
| Marie Fikáčková |
Czech |
| Raya |
Egypt |
| Sakina |
Egypt |
| Marie Brinvilliers |
France |
| Hélčne Jégado |
France |
| Christine Malčvre |
France |
| Jeanne Weber |
France |
| Gesche Gottfried |
France |
| Marianne Nölle |
Germany |
| Anna Zwanziger |
Germany |
| Elizabeth Ecsed |
Hungary |
| Junko Ogata |
Japan |
| Juana Barraza |
Mexico |
| Delfina González |
Mexico |
| María González |
Mexico |
| Maria Swanenburg |
Netherlands |
| Williamina Dean |
New Zealand |
| Vera Renczi |
Romania |
| Darya Saltykova |
Russia |
| Daisy De Melker |
South Africa |
| Francisca Ballesteros |
Spain |
| Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés |
Spain |
| Beverley Gail Allitt |
UK |
|
| Name |
Nationality |
| Mary Ann Britland |
UK |
| Myra Hindley |
UK |
| Mary Ann Cotton |
UK |
| Amelia Elizabeth Dyer |
UK |
| Amelia Sach |
UK |
| Annie Walters |
UK |
| Rosemary West |
UK |
| Catherine Wilson |
UK |
| Mary Elizabeth Wilson |
UK |
| Amy Archer-Gilligan |
USA |
| Suzan Carson |
USA |
| Cynthia Coffman |
USA |
| Carroll Cole |
USA |
| Nannie Doss |
USA |
| Martha Beck |
USA |
| Charlene Gallego |
USA |
| Kristen Gilbert |
USA |
| Gwendolyn Graham |
USA |
| Cathy Wood |
USA |
| Dana Sue Gray |
USA |
| Belle Sorenson Gunness |
USA |
| Anna Marie Hahn |
USA |
| Waneta Ethel Hoyt |
USA |
| Genene Anne Jones |
USA |
| Rhonda Bell Martin |
USA |
| Marie Noe |
USA |
| Marybeth Tinning |
USA |
| Jane Toppan |
USA |
| Aileen Carol Wuornos |
USA |
|
The list of top 10 serial killers also includes names like Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac killer. These names though are not included in this list as their true identity remains unknown till date. This list in America, UK, Russia and other countries lists those murderers who were convicted for their crimes and proven guilty.
