A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people, with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separate events. Their psychological gratification is the motivation for the killings, and many serial murders involve sexual contact with the victims at different points during the murder process. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, and attention seeking, and killings may be executed as such. The victims tend to have things in common, such as demographic profile, appearance, gender, or race. As a group, serial killers suffer from a variety of personality disorders. Most are often not adjudicated as insane under the law. Although a serial killer is a distinct classification that differs from that of a mass murderer, spree killer, or contract killer, there are overlaps between them.
A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders in a short time, often in multiple locations. There are different opinions about what durations of time a killing spree may take place in. The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics has spoken of "almost no time break between murders", but some academics consider that a killing spree may last weeks or months, e.g. the case of Andrew Cunanan, who murdered five people over three months, however the FBI categorizes him as a serial killer.
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a 1986 American independent psychological horror film directed and co-written by John McNaughton about the random crime spree of a serial killer who seemingly operates with impunity. It stars Michael Rooker in his film debut as the nomadic killer Henry, Tom Towles as Otis, a prison buddy with whom Henry is living, and Tracy Arnold as Becky, Otis's sister. The characters of Henry and Otis are loosely based on convicted real life serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole.
Kevin is a fictional character in Frank Miller's graphic novel series Sin City, featured prominently in The Hard Goodbye. He is a mute, cannibalistic serial killer who preys on the titular city's prostitutes, The Girls of Old Town. He is protected by the powerful Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark, who also acts as his accomplice. Kevin lives at the Roark family farm, and uses the basement as an execution chamber for his victims; after he kills and eats them, he stuffs and mounts their heads on the walls like hunting trophies.
The Borrower is a 1991 American science fiction horror film directed by John McNaughton and starring Rae Dawn Chong, Tom Towles and Antonio Fargas. The story revolves around an alien serial killer, who is sent to Earth to live among humans as a form of penalty.
In the Light of the Moon is a 2000 crime horror film directed by Chuck Parello, and written by Stephen Johnston. It is based on the crimes of Ed Gein, an American murderer who killed at least two women in Plainfield, Wisconsin during the 1950s. It stars Steve Railsback as Gein, and Carrie Snodgress as Gein's domineering, fundamentalist mother, Augusta.
Satanás is a 2007 Colombian film written and directed by Andi Baiz. It is adapted from the novel of the same title by Mario Mendoza Zambrano which is based on the spree killing committed by Campo Elías Delgado that took place in Bogotá in 1986. It was Colombia's submission to the 80th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Kiyotaka Katsuta was a Japanese serial killer and thief.
The brothers Shen Changyin and Shen Changping were Chinese serial killers and cannibals who murdered and ate the livers of 11 sex workers between June 2003 and August 2004. They were aided by Li Chunling and three other female accomplices.
Bloodmoon is a 1997 American action/martial arts film directed and choreographed by Tony Leung Siu Hung. The film was produced by Keith W. Strandberg and Ng See Yuen and stars Gary Daniels, Chuck Jeffreys, and Darren Shahlavi.
August Underground is a 2001 American exploitation horror film directed by Fred Vogel, who co-wrote it with Allen Peters. The film stars Vogel as a serial killer named Peter, who kidnaps and kills several innocent people, while his unnamed accomplice, played by Peters, films and documents the murders.
The Peterborough ditch murders were a series of murders which took place in Cambridgeshire, England, in March 2013. All three victims were male and died from stab wounds. Their bodies were discovered dumped in ditches outside Peterborough. In Hereford, two other men were stabbed but survived. The perpetrator was Joanna Christine Dennehy, a Cambridgeshire woman, who was later sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.
The I-70 killer is an unidentified American serial killer who is known to have killed six store clerks in the Midwest in the spring of 1992. His/Her nickname derives from the fact that several of the stores in which his/her victims worked were located a few miles off of Interstate 70.
Gholamreza Khoshroo Kuran Kurdieh was an Iranian serial killer known as the Night Bat.
Fanuel Makamu, known as The Mpumalanga Serial Rapist, is a South African robber, rapist and serial killer. Along with his accomplice, Henry Maile, the duo robbed, raped and killed women and nearby witnesses on streets between February and September 2000. Maile was killed during apprehension, and Makamu was sentenced to 165 years' imprisonment.
Larry Lee Ranes and Danny Arthur Ranes were American serial killer brothers who committed their crime sprees predominantly in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Larry, a suspect in the murders of five people in the 1960s, was sentenced to life imprisonment for one murder in 1964; Danny was convicted of four sexually-motivated murders between March and August 1972 with accomplice Brent Eugene Koster, for which both were sentenced to life imprisonment. Their case is notable for the fact that, unlike other siblings who engage in crime, Larry and Danny operated completely independently of one another.
Kim Dae-doo was a South Korean serial killer who killed 17 people during a 55-day killing spree from August to October 1975. Kim was considered as one of the worst and most prolific criminals in South Korea's history, and he was executed for his crimes in 1976.
