Time.com did an intriguing article on crimes of the century. To me, crime of the century should be a crime that no one will ever forget. However, half the crimes I have never heard of, so I decided to expand on Time.com Crime of the Century list with a list of American Serial Killers.
Herman Mudgett. Herman Mudgett was the first documented serial killer. Based out of Chicago, Mudgett was known as H.H. Holmes. Many believe that his actual death count was around 27, but Mudgett admitted to killing over 200 people.
Holmes had a respectable business in a three story building, which he was having remodeled. In the course of the construction work he fired and hired so many people that he eventually employee 500 people. The building was later dubbed the Murder Castle, where Holmes would perform murders. Whether it was 27 or 200, Holmes committed more murder than even Ted Bundy.
Richard Kuklinski. Richard Kuklinski, better known as the Iceman, was a profession hitman. Kuklinski claimed to have killed over 240 men over the course of his career through 1948 until 1986.
Kuklinski lived in New Jersey and was employed by DeCavalcante crime family and New York’s five families. The Iceman died in 2006, at 70 years old. He got to spend the last few years of his life living in Dumont with his wife and children.
Donald Harvey. Donald Harvey was a serial killer out of Kentucky and Ohio. Officially the death toll ranges from 36-57, but Harvey insist he has murdered 87 people. Donald Harvey was referred to as the Angel of Death.
Originally, Harvey began murdering to ease his patients pain, but found pure enjoyment in the act that he began to kill solely for the pleasure of it. Harvey is currently in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility serving four consecutive life sentences.
John Wayne Gacy. Unlike Harvey, Kuklinski and Mudgett, John Wayne Gacy made the Times Crimes of the Century list. Between 1972 and 1978, Gacy raped and murdered a minimum of 33 boys, most of them were teenagers.
Some of Gacy’s bodies were found in the Des Plaines River, but 26 were buried under his house, while 3 more were buried in other areas. Gacy was dubbed ‘Dick Breath Clown’ because he would throw parties and to entertain the children he would dress up as a clown. Gacy died in 1994.
Jane Toppan. Jane Toppan was one of the first female serial killers in history. Toppan confessed to killing 31 people for the sole purpose of lust.
Toppan killing spree took place in Massachusetts between 1885-1901. Toppan died in Taunton Insane hospital. At the time of her trial, she confessed to killing 11 people. Many people believe this was to get the jury to declare her insane in the hopes she would be released earlier.
Gerard John Schaefer. Gerard John Schaefer was one of few police officers that go sour. During his term as deputy sheriff in Florida, Schaefer was convicted of killing 2 people. However, Schaefer put into writing he was responsible for murdering over 30 females, of varies ages.
Schaefer died in prison in 1995 after he was stabbed by inmate Vincent Rivera.
Patrick Wayne Kearney. Patrick Wayne Kearney was a serial kill out of California. Between 1965-1977, Kearney prayed on young men. He would either find his victims hitchhiking on the side of the road, or picked them up in gay bars. Kearney would shoot them, then dismember their bodies.
As of 2009, Kearney was imprisoned at California State Prison.
Wayne Williams. Wayne Willams was dubbed ‘The Atlanta Monster’, ‘The Atlanta Child Killer’ and ‘The Atlanta Child Murderer’. Originally convicted of two murders, police declared 23-29 murders were solved with Williams being responsible.
The murders took place between 1979-1981. In 2005, 4 of the cases of the young boys were reopened, but eventually closed one year later.
Whether or not, the remaining 29 victims is still in questioned by many. Williams still denies the murders of the additional victims.
Dean Corll. Dean Corll was one of three men responsible for what was known as the Houston Mass Murders. During 1970-1973, when the murders took place, it was said to be the worse case of murders in history.
Corll was murdered in 1973 by one of his accomplishes. Corll and his accomplices would lore young men to join them either to party or a lift home. Over the course of several days, they would sexual assault and torture them before finally strangling them or shooting them. The total count was around 27 deaths.
Leonard Lake & Charles Ng. Leonard Lake was another American Serial, but unlike many he had a partner in Charles Ng. The two men were survivalist that tortured their victims. After Ng was shoplifting, Lake was arrested for being with him. Lake gave the police false identification at the time. The police later figured out who Lake was, and went to his ranch. Upon arriving there, the police dug up 12 corpses.
The bodies included to families, five men, and one female. The youngest of Lakes and Ng victims were two infant babies. In 1985, prior to arrival to the ranch, Lake committed suicide during an interrogation.
The driver’s license Lake was using was for a person that had gone missing several weeks early, and the car he was using belong to another missing man. In 1992, police found the another remain on the ranch. Lakes total is believed to be around 25 deaths.
Juan Corona. Juan Corona was a migrant working based out of California. In 1971 police discovered 25 bodies of laborers in shallow graves in the orchards of different ranches Corona had worked. Corona is around 76 years old, and is serving 25 life sentences.
At the time, his crimes were considered to be the worse in history. Police also feel their could be more remains buried in the orchards.
Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy is one of the most notorious names when it comes to Serial Killers. Bundy eventually confessed to killing over 30 people, but the estimates are between 26-100. Between six states, Bundy would bludgeon his victims before strangling them to death.
Bundy also escaped from jail two times during his spree. Once in 1975, and again in 1977. Bundy was one of the few serial killers that has died by state execution.
Earle Nelson. Earle Nelson was referred to the Dark Strangler and the Gorilla Killer. Between February 1926 and June 1927, Nelson murdered over 22 people between 8 states and Canada.
Nelson would pretend to rent a room, and would than strangle his ladies victims. He would than perform crimes of necrophilia and mutilation on some of them. In 1928 Winnipeg sentenced Nelson to death.
Carl Eugene Watts. Carl Watts was often called Coral and was the American serial killer known as the Sunday Morning Slasher. Watts is suspected of killing more than 100 women, and if this is discovered to be true he will be the most prolific killer in American history. In 1982 he was given immunity for over a dozen of the murders after plea bargain. He was scheduled to be released from the Michigan prison in 2006, but ended up serving two life sentences for two different murders.
Paul John Knowles. Paul Knowles was referred to many as the Casanova killer. Knowles was tied to the deaths of 18 people, but claimed 35. Knowles victims ranged from 7 years old all the way up to 65 years old. He was shot to death by Federal agents after trying to escape custody.
Joel Rifkin. Joel Rifkin was another serial killer. He was convicted of killing nine women, but is believed to have killed at least 17. Rifkin’s victims were prostitutes, and were all dismembered. Rifkin was arrested after being pulled over for not having a license plate. The police detected an odor from the trunk, and upon investigation discovered the body of Tiffany Bresciani. Bresciani was the girlfriend of Dave Insurgent who many may remember from the punk band Reagan Youth.
Robert Hansen. Robert Hansen was a serial killer based out of Alaska. For three years he murdered between 17 and 21 people. Hansen was eventually caught after his last victim, Cindy Paulson, managed to escape. After deny the crimes, police found jewelry belonging to the murder victims.
Jeffrey Dahmer. Like Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer is a name many will never forget. For thirteen years, Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys. Unlike many serial killers, his crimes were considered to be gruesome. After Dahmer sexually assaulted and tortured his victims to death, he would than perform acts of necrophilia before dismembering them and committing acts of cannibalism. Dahmer died in 1994 after being beat to death by a fellow inmate.
This is not the full list of serial killers in America. There have been at least thirty others, all with deaths ranging from 2 on up to 16. Unlike many other countries on the list of Serial Killers, there is no other country listed as much as the United States.
