Serial Killers
Jack The Ripper
Jack The Ripper is one of the most famous Serial Killers of all time. He had 5 proven victims and still to this day has not had a name matched to his killer's name "Jack The Ripper". Here is a list of their names and the dates that they were murdered. Notice, that all of the victims were women, some of them were prostitutes.
Mary Nichols, murdered on 31st August 1888.
Annie Chapman, murdered on 8th September 1888.
Elizabeth Stride, murdered on 30th September 1888.
Catherine Eddowes, also murdered on 30th September 1888.
Mary Kelly, murdered on 9th November 1888.
All of the murders of Jack The Ripper took place in London, England. He was believed to have been either a surgeon or a butcher. There was even a theory that The Ripper was Queen Elizabeth's grandson. There were dozens and dozens of suspects but not one of them proved to be guilty. A reward for The Ripper was never posted because the police didn't want a lot of false accusations. The New York Times wrote about The Ripper, making the case more public and a popular topic of chatter. They wrote about how the London Police were "stupid" for not finding the killer, while in fact, they were doing the best they could with what evidence and technology that they had.
Wineville Chicken Coop Murders
In 1928, there was a case known as The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders. The murders took place in Riverside County, California. The murderers were Gordon Northcott and his mother Sarah Louise Northcott. Together, they kidnapped and molested up to 20 boys. Typically, after molesting the children, Gordon would drive his victims home and let them go. The ones that "knew too much", he killed. They decapitated the boys and then buried them in the chicken coop in their yard. The secret of the murders were revealed by Gordon's nephew, Sanford Clark while he was visiting Gordon in California. While visiting, Gordon beat and sexually abused Sanford. When Sanford's mother came to check up on him, he told her about what had been going on. His mom went to the police and eventually Gordon and Sarah Northcott were in custody. Sarah Louise Northcott was sentenced to life inprisonment on December 31, 1928. She did not get the death penalty because she was a woman. On February 13, 1929, Gordon Northcott was sentenced to death, and he was hanged on October 2, 1930, at the age of 23. Wineville changed its name to Mira Loma on November 1, 1930, because of the bad publicity of the murders. Sarah Lousie Northcott died in 1944.
H.H. Holmes
Herman Webster Mudgett, later known as H.H. Holmes, was one of the first documented American serial killer. As a kid, Holmes was forced by other kids to touch the remains of a human skeleton after finding out that he was afraid of the local doctor. This soon turned into an obsession with death for Holmes. In 1884, he got his doctor's degree from the University of Michigan. While studying at the university, Holmes stole bodies from the laboratory and sold the disfigured skeletons. Holmes married, married again (while still married to first wife),filed for divorce from his first wife (never got finalized), and married again (while married to both former wives), all in the course of 16 years. Holmes eventually moved to Chicago and worked at a drugstore. He built a 3-story "castle" which was distinctly built for murder. The choice of death for his victims varied from gassing them, to suffocating them, to burning them alive, to slashing their skin to shreds.
Holmes turned his victims into skeletons and then sold them to medical schools. In July 1894, Holmes was arrested for a horse swindle. He was eventually bailed out, but while imprisoned, he promised another inmate $500. Holmes planned with Benjamin Pitezel to swindle an insurance company. Instead of following the plan, Holmes killed Pitezel and convinced Pitezel's wife to let him take off across the country with three of her children. He killed the children while traveling and the police were tipped off by Holmes' former cell mate that he owed the $500 to. He was arrested in Boston on November 17, 1894. The verified number of his victims were 27 but it is possible that he killed up to 200 people. On May 7, 1896, Holmes was hanged at Moyamensing Prison.
John Wayne Gacy
John Wayne Gacy is known as "The Killer Clown". He was caught sexually assaulting two teenage boys and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was well behaved in prison so he was released on parole. Over the years, he would volunteer to dress up as "Pogo the Clown". Eventually, police found the bones of thirty-three young men in Gacy's yard and house. All of the murders took place between 1972 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. He spent 14 years on death row before he was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.