"example of a power/control-oriented serial killer. He traveled around the United States seeking women to control. Many serial killers claim that a violent culture influenced them to commit murders. During his final interview, Ted Bundy stated that hardcore pornography was responsible for his actions. Others idolise figures for their deeds or perceived vigilante justice, such as Peter Kürten, who idolized Jack the Ripper, or John Wayne Gacy and Ed Kemper, who both idolized the actor John Wayne. Many movies, books, and documentaries have been written about serial killers, detailing the lives and crimes that have been committed. The movie, ""Bundy"","
"of the FX true crime anthology television series, ""American Crime Story."" Johnnie Cochran Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr. (; October 2, 1937 – March 29, 2005) was an American lawyer best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Cochran represented Sean Combs during his trial on gun and bribery charges, as well as Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Todd Bridges, football player Jim Brown, Snoop Dogg, former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe, 1992 Los Angeles riot beating victim Reginald Oliver Denny, and"
"Timothy Wilson Spencer Timothy Wilson Spencer (March 17, 1962 – April 27, 1994), also known as the ""Southside Strangler"", was a serial killer who committed three rapes and murders in Richmond, Virginia and one in Arlington, Virginia in the fall of 1987. In addition, he is believed to have committed at least one previous murder, in 1984, for which a different man, David Vasquez, was wrongfully convicted. He was known to police as a prolific home burglar. Spencer became the first serial killer in the United States to be convicted on the basis of DNA evidence, with David Vasquez being"
"1977. On June 7, serial killer Ted Bundy, already serving a state prison sentence in Utah for kidnapping, was taken to Aspen to be tried for the murder of Caryn Campbell outside Snowmass the previous year. A onetime law student, he had chosen to represent himself, and thus was not shackled or handcuffed. During a recess in the proceedings, he went to the courthouse's law library on the second floor, ostensibly to review a map of the area prosecutors had introduced as evidence against him. As soon as he was alone he jumped out the window, above the ground, and"
"David Berkowitz David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco, June 1, 1953), known also as the Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer who pleaded guilty to eight separate shooting attacks that began in New York City during the summer of 1976. The crimes were perpetrated with a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver. He killed six people and wounded seven others by July 1977. As the number of victims increased, Berkowitz eluded the biggest police manhunt in the history of New York City while leaving letters that mocked the police and promised further crimes, which"
"Earle Nelson Earle Leonard Nelson (née Ferral; May 12, 1897January 13, 1928), also known in the media as the ""Gorilla Man,"" the ""Gorilla Killer,"" and the ""Dark Strangler,"" was an American serial killer, rapist, and necrophile. He was the first known American serial sex murderer of the twentieth century. Born and raised in San Francisco, California by his devoutly Pentecostal grandmother, Nelson exhibited bizarre behavior as a child, which was compounded by head injuries he sustained in a bicycling accident at age ten. After committing various minor offenses in early adulthood, he was institutionalized in Napa for a time. Nelson"
"Gary Ridgway Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49, making him the most prolific serial killer in United States history according to confirmed murders. He killed a myriad of teenage girls and women in the state of Washington during the 1980s and 1990s and is now thought to have killed more than 90. Most of Ridgway's victims were alleged to be sex"
"William Bonin William George Bonin (January 8, 1947 – February 23, 1996), also known as the Freeway Killer, was an American serial killer and twice-paroled sex offender who committed the rape, torture, and murder of a minimum of 21 boys and young men in a series of killings in 1979 and 1980 in southern California. Bonin is also suspected of committing a further 15 murders. Described by the prosecutor at his first trial as ""the most arch-evil person who ever existed"", Bonin was convicted of 14 of the murders linked to the ""Freeway Killer"" in two separate trials in 1982"
"Robert Garrow Robert Garrow (March 4, 1936 – September 11, 1978) was an American spree killer who was active in New York in the early 1970s. His criminal trial, known as the Buried Bodies Case, became an important case in legal ethics after his attorneys refused to disclose the location of the bodies of two of his victims, citing attorney-client privilege. Robert Garrow Jr. was born in Dannemora, New York, to French-Canadian parents Robert Garrow Sr. and his wife, Margaret; they were poor farmers. Garrow later claimed his parents were severe, violent disciplinarians who regularly physically abused their children with"
"Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy (born Theodore Robert Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer, kidnapper, rapist, burglar, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. Shortly before his execution and after more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 homicides that he committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978. The true number of victims is unknown and possibly higher. Many of Bundy's young female victims regarded him as handsome and charismatic, which were traits that he exploited to win their trust."
"Herbert Mullin Herbert William Mullin (born April 18, 1947) is an American serial killer who killed thirteen people in California in the early 1970s. He confessed to the killings, which he claimed prevented earthquakes. In 1973, after a trial to determine whether he was insane or culpable, he was convicted of two murders in the first degree and nine in the second, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mullin was born on April 18, 1947 in Salinas, California but grew up in Santa Cruz. His father, a World War II veteran, was strict but not abusive and frequently discussed his heroic"
"Charles Cullen Charles Edmund Cullen (born February 22, 1960) is an American serial killer. Cullen confessed to authorities that he killed up to forty patients during the course of his sixteen-year career as a nurse in New Jersey. However, in subsequent interviews with police, psychiatrists, and journalists, it became apparent that he had killed many more, whom he could not specifically remember by name, though he could often remember details of their murders. Experts have estimated that Cullen may ultimately be responsible for 400 deaths, which would make him the most prolific serial killer in recorded history. Cullen was born"
"had also been dismembered prior to their disposal. Collectively, Bonin, Kraft and Kearney may have claimed up to 131 victims. William Bonin William George Bonin (January 8, 1947 – February 23, 1996), also known as the Freeway Killer, was an American serial killer and twice-paroled sex offender who committed the rape, torture, and murder of a minimum of 21 boys and young men in a series of killings in 1979 and 1980 in southern California. Bonin is also suspected of committing a further 15 murders. Described by the prosecutor at his first trial as ""the most arch-evil person who ever"
"right to a hearing again in 2012. In 2016, attorney Scott Currey, who represented Kemper at his 2007 hearing, relayed to the media that Kemper believes no one is ever going to grant him parole and that he is ""happy going about his life in prison"". Kemper was denied parole in 2017 and is next eligible in 2024. Edmund Kemper Edmund Emil Kemper III (born December 18, 1948) is an American serial killer and necrophile who murdered ten people, including his paternal grandparents and mother. He is noted for his large size, at , and for his high IQ, at"
"Wayne Williams Wayne Bertram Williams (born May 27, 1958) is a serial killer who was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1982 for killing two adult men in Atlanta, Georgia. After his conviction, the Atlanta Police Department announced that Williams was responsible for at least 23 of the 29 Atlanta murders of 1979–1981, or the Atlanta Child Murders. However, he was never tried for the child murders, and continues to maintain his innocence of all the murders. Wayne Williams was born on May 27, 1958 and raised in the Dixie Hills neighborhood of southwest Atlanta, Georgia by Homer"
"Johnnie Cochran Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr. (; October 2, 1937 – March 29, 2005) was an American lawyer best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Cochran represented Sean Combs during his trial on gun and bribery charges, as well as Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Todd Bridges, football player Jim Brown, Snoop Dogg, former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe, 1992 Los Angeles riot beating victim Reginald Oliver Denny, and inmate and activist Geronimo Pratt. He represented athlete Marion Jones when"
"was known for frequent biblical quotations in the courtroom. Cowart died of a heart attack at the age of 62. Bundy was executed two years later in 1989. Edward Cowart Edward D. Cowart (February 17, 1925 – August 3, 1987) was an American judge (Dade County Circuit Court Judge). He is best known as presiding judge at the trial of serial killer Ted Bundy, a one-time law student who was arrested for a series of murders from at least 1974 to 1978 and represented himself in court. Cowart imposed a death sentence, and is remembered for his sympathetic post-sentencing remarks"
"Joseph Christopher Joseph Gerard Christopher (July 26, 1955 – March 1, 1993) was an American serial killer who gained infamy for a series of murders in the early 1980s. He is believed to have killed at least twelve individuals and wounded numerous others. Joseph Gerard Christopher was born in Buffalo, New York on July 26, 1955, as the only son born to Therese (née Hurley) and Nicholas Christopher. His mother was a registered nurse, and his father was a maintenance worker with the city's Sanitation Department. Joseph had two older sisters and one younger sister. Nicholas was an outdoorsman and"
"the founding of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Yronwode was an expert witness for the defense. In 1992, the convicted serial killer Kenneth Bianchi, one-half of the pair known as the Hillside Stranglers, sued Yronwode for 8.5 million dollars for having an image of his face depicted on a trading card; he claimed his face was his trademark. The judge dismissed the case after ruling that, if Bianchi had been using his face as a trademark when he was killing women, he would not have tried to hide it from the police. Also in 1992, Eclipse was a plaintiff"
"Carlton Gary Carlton Michael Gary (September 24, 1950 – March 15, 2018) was an American serial killer convicted of the three murders of elderly women in Columbus, Georgia, between 1977 and 1978, though he is suspected of at least four more. Gary was arrested in December 1978 for an armed robbery and sentenced to 21 years in prison. He escaped from custody in 1983 and was caught once more a year later. Evidence was found linking him to the earlier murders and he was convicted and sentenced to death in August 1986. On March 15, 2018, Gary was executed by"
"Tony Costa Antone Charles ""Tony"" Costa (August 2, 1944 – May 12, 1974) was an American carpenter who achieved notoriety for committing serial murders in and around the town of Truro in 1969. The case gained international attention when district attorney Edmund Dinis, in comments to the media, claimed ""The hearts of each girl had been removed from the bodies and were not in the graves…Each body was cut into as many parts as there are joints."" Dinis also claimed that there were teeth marks found on the bodies. These claims produced a stream of national and international media outlets"
"further describes previous journalistic investigation of Browne's claims as ""surprisingly slipshod"" and uncritical of his story. Robert Charles Browne Robert Charles Browne (born October 31, 1952) is an American man convicted of two murders and serving a double-life sentence in the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility. Browne is also a self-professed serial killer, alleging that he killed 48 people, mostly women and one in South Vietnam during his time in the US Military. Though many claims made by Browne remain uncorroborated, if accurate his account would make him one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. Browne was born"
"Rodney Alcala Rodney James Alcala (born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor; August 23, 1943) is an American convicted rapist and serial killer. He was sentenced to death in California in 2010 for five murders committed in that state between 1977 and 1979. In 2013, he received an additional sentence of 25 years to life after pleading guilty to two homicides committed in New York in 1971 and 1977. His true victim count remains unknown, and could be much higher. Prosecutors said that Alcala ""toyed"" with his victims, strangling them until they lost consciousness, then waiting until they revived, sometimes repeating this"
"the Mississippi State Penitentiary while in the shower. Donald Leroy Evans Donald Leroy Evans (July 5, 1957 – January 5, 1999) was an American serial killer who murdered at least three people from 1985 to 1991. He was known for confessing to killing victims at parks and rest areas across more than twenty U.S. states. Born in Michigan, Evans was convicted of his first crime in Galveston, Texas, for the rape of a local woman in 1986. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but served only five. After his parole in 1991, he returned to Galveston and took"
"him into accusing Porter. Another student noted that the shot had been fired by a left-handed shooter; Porter was right-handed. On January 29, 1999, Inez Jackson, the estranged wife of Alstory Simon, came forward and claimed that she had been with Simon when he killed Hilliard in retaliation for ""skimming money from drug deals."" She also said that she had never met or seen Porter. Her nephew, whose apartment Simon allegedly fled to after the shooting, came forward to corroborate her story. Four days later, on February 3, Simon himself appeared to confess to the crime on videotape. Protess and"
"Edward Cowart Edward D. Cowart (February 17, 1925 – August 3, 1987) was an American judge (Dade County Circuit Court Judge). He is best known as presiding judge at the trial of serial killer Ted Bundy, a one-time law student who was arrested for a series of murders from at least 1974 to 1978 and represented himself in court. Cowart imposed a death sentence, and is remembered for his sympathetic post-sentencing remarks to Bundy: Before entering the judiciary, Cowart served as a Miami police officer. He sat on the bench for 14 years, earning wide respect among Florida lawyers. He"
"Donald Harvey Donald Harvey (April 15, 1952 – March 30, 2017) was an American serial killer and orderly who claimed to have murdered 87 people, though official estimates are between 37 and 57 victims. Harvey said he started out killing to ""ease the pain"" of patients. As time progressed, he began to enjoy it more and more and became a self-described ""angel of death"". Harvey was serving 28 life sentences at the Toledo Correctional Institution in Toledo, Ohio, having pleaded guilty to murder charges to avoid the death penalty. Donald Harvey worked around the medical profession from the age of"
"My Brother the Serial Killer My Brother the Serial Killer is a 2012 American television documentary about serial killer Glen Rogers, otherwise known as the ""Casanova Killer"", who was convicted for a series of murders and arsons. The documentary was narrated by Rogers' brother Clay Rogers and aired on Investigation Discovery in November 2012. ""My Brother the Serial Killer"" received widespread media attention for Clay's claims that his brother was responsible for the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman. ""My Brother the Serial Killer"" chronicles the background of Rogers and looks into prior assertions that he"
"came. Newspapers United States Census Peter Kudzinowski Peter Kudzinowski (August 13, 1903 – December 21, 1929) was an American serial killer whose known victims were 20-year-old Harry Quinn, 5-year-old Julia Mlodzianowski, and 7-year-old Joseph Storelli—whose murder he went on trial for. An alcoholic, he confessed to his crimes while jailed for public intoxication in order to lift the burden of consciousness, stating he committed his murders in an equal state of intoxication. He was sentenced to death by the state of New Jersey after a quick legal process and spent a year on death row before he was executed in"
"Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (; May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender, who committed the rape, murder, and dismemberment of 17 men and boys from 1978 to 1991. Many of his later murders involved necrophilia, cannibalism, and the permanent preservation of body parts — typically all or part of the skeleton. Although diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and a psychotic disorder, Dahmer was found to be legally sane at his trial. Convicted of 15 of the 16 murders"
"Gary Gilmore executed on television."" Gary Gilmore Gary Mark Gilmore (December 4, 1940 – January 17, 1977) was an American criminal who gained international attention for demanding the implementation of his death sentence for two murders he committed in Utah. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a new series of death penalty statutes in the 1976 decision ""Gregg v. Georgia"", he became the first person in almost ten years to be executed in the United States. These new statutes avoided the problems under the 1972 decision in ""Furman v. Georgia,"" which had resulted in earlier death penalty statutes being deemed"
"Glen Edward Rogers Glen Edward Rogers (born July 15, 1962), also known as ""The Cross Country Killer"" or ""The Casanova Killer"", is an American serial killer. He was convicted of two murders and is a suspect in numerous others throughout the United States, including being mentioned, and considered by investigators in Los Angeles County, as a possible alternative suspect to O.J. Simpson in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, although as of 2018 nothing has developed regarding these allegations. Rogers was featured on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list after a crime spree that began on"
"Gary Gilmore Gary Mark Gilmore (December 4, 1940 – January 17, 1977) was an American criminal who gained international attention for demanding the implementation of his death sentence for two murders he committed in Utah. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a new series of death penalty statutes in the 1976 decision ""Gregg v. Georgia"", he became the first person in almost ten years to be executed in the United States. These new statutes avoided the problems under the 1972 decision in ""Furman v. Georgia,"" which had resulted in earlier death penalty statutes being deemed as ""cruel and unusual"" punishment,"