Try refreshing the page. H.H. Holmes, byname of Herman Mudgett, (born May 16, 1861?, Gilmanton, New Hampshire, U.S.—died May 7, 1896, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), American swindler and confidence trickster who is widely considered the country's first known serial killer.
The unidentified killer Jack the Ripper, who has been called the first modern serial killer, killed at least five women, and possibly more, in London in 1888. He was the subject of a massive manhunt and investigation by the Metropolitan Police, during which many modern criminal investigation techniques were pioneered.
Serial killers. Australians convicted of multiple murders: Catherine Birnie, rape and murder of four women in Perth in 1986. David Birnie (1951–2005) rape and murder of four women in Perth in 1986.
The FBI did not recognize female serial killers until the 1990s. They called these crimes sexual killing, and sexual killing is almost always indicative of a male murderer. But there are well-known women who murdered far more victims than men did. Jolly Jane Toppan was a nurse in Boston in the late 1800s.
Eight-year-old Amarjeet Sada was all smiles when he was brought to the police station in 2007 in connection with the murder of an infant. Sada, known as the world's youngest serial killer, was held after three murders, two of which went unreported.
Aileen Wuornos, America's first female serial killer.
The most prolific modern serial killer is arguably doctor Harold Shipman, with 218 probable murders and possibly as many as 250 (see "Medical professionals", below). However, he was actually convicted of a sample of 15 murders.
Numbers peaked in the 1970s when there were nearly 300 known active serial killers in the U.S. In the 1980s, there were more than 250 active killers who accounted for between 120 and 180 deaths per year. By the time the 2010s rolled around there were fewer than 50 known active killers.
The "Zodiac Killer," a self-given pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s, and whose crimes are widely considered the most famous unsolved murder case in American history.
While the origin of the term "serial killer" may be slightly ambiguous, it is quite clear which country is home to the highest number of serial killers. The United States is the runaway leader in this category, with more documented serial killers in its history than the next ten closest countries combined.
In April, 1873 on a homestead in Labette County, Kansas, another of these stories was unfolding—one that would leave a local family with a nickname that remains infamous almost 150 years later. This is the story of the Bloody Benders, America's first family of serial killers.
In addition, 82 percent of American serial killers were white, 15 percent were black, and 2.5 percent were Hispanic.
Carl Panzram was considered the most cold-blooded killer in history, not only because of the crimes he committed or the nature of them, but majorly because he never felt bad for them!
Some murderers, such as Albert Fish, Boone Helm, Andrei Chikatilo, and Jeffrey Dahmer, are known to have devoured their victims after killing them.
John George Haigh (/heɪɡ/; 24 July 1909 – 10 August 1949), commonly known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine.
Lesbian prostitute Aileen Wuornos was popularly termed ''America's first female serial killer. '' Between 1989 and 1990, she killed six men, later testifying they had raped or attempted to rape her.
Black or African American people account for only 12.4% of all people living in the United States, yet 24% of serial killer victims are Black. As mentioned, most serial killers target vulnerable people. These are often young people who have high-risk lifestyles, especially sex workers.
The database tracks serial killings all the way back to 1900 and includes serial killers from over 115 countries. The U.S. leads the rest of the world in documented serial killers, with a whopping 3,613 serial killers as of 2020 (England is not-so-close second, with known 176 serial killers as of 2020).