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A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three murders, others extend it to four or lessen it to two.
Harold Schechter is an American true crime writer who specializes in serial killers. He is a Professor Emeritus at Queens College, City University of New York where he taught classes in American literature and myth criticism for forty-two years. Schechter's essays have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and the International Herald Tribune. He is the editor of the Library of America volume, True Crime: An American Anthology. His newest book, published in September 2023, is Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects.
Dennis Lynn Rader, also known as BTK, is an American serial killer who murdered at least ten people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991. Although Rader occasionally killed or attempted to kill men and children, he typically targeted women. His victims were often bound, sometimes with objects from their homes, and either suffocated with a plastic bag or manually strangled with a ligature.
Henry Lee Lucas, also known as The Confession Killer, was an American convicted murderer. Lucas was convicted of murdering his mother in 1960 and two others in 1983. He rose to infamy as a claimed serial killer while incarcerated for these crimes when he falsely confessed to approximately six hundred other murders to Texas Rangers and other law enforcement officials. Many unsolved cases were closed based on the confessions and the murders officially attributed to Lucas. Lucas was convicted of murdering eleven people and condemned to death for a single case with a then-unidentified victim, later identified as Debra Jackson.
The Bender family, more well known as the Bloody Benders, were a family of serial killers in Labette County, Kansas, United States, from May 1871 to December 1872. The family supposedly consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira, their son John Jr., and their daughter Kate. Contemporary newspaper accounts reported that the Benders' neighbors claimed John and Kate were actually husband and wife, possibly via a common-law marriage.
Jane Toppan, nicknamed Jolly Jane, was an American serial killer who is known to have committed twelve murders in Massachusetts between 1895 and 1901; she confessed to a total of thirty-one murders. The killings were carried out in Toppan's capacity as a nurse, targeting patients and their family members. Toppan, who admitted to have committed the murders to satisfy a sexual fetish, was quoted as saying that her ambition was "to have killed more people—helpless people—than any other man or woman who ever lived".
Belle Gunness, born Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth, nicknamed Hell's Belle, was a Norwegian-American serial killer who was active in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908. Gunness is thought to have killed at least fourteen people, most of whom were men she enticed to visit her rural Indiana property through personal advertisements, while some sources speculate her involvement in as many as forty murders making her one of the most prolific female serial killers in history. Gunness seemingly died in a fire in 1908, but it is popularly believed that she faked her death. Her actual fate is unconfirmed.
Strychnine poisoning can be fatal to humans and other animals and can occur by inhalation, swallowing or absorption through eyes or mouth. It produces some of the most dramatic and painful symptoms of any known toxic reaction, making it quite noticeable and a common choice for assassinations and poison attacks. For this reason, strychnine poisoning is often portrayed in literature and film, such as the murder mysteries written by Agatha Christie.
An angel of mercy or angel of death is a type of criminal offender who is usually employed as a medical practitioner or a caregiver and intentionally harms or kills people under their care. The angel of mercy is often in a position of power and may decide the victim would be better off if they no longer suffered from whatever severe illness is plaguing them. This person then uses their knowledge to kill the victim. In some cases, as time goes on, this behavior escalates to encompass the healthy and the easily treated.
Vera Renczi, was a Romanian serial killer who was charged with poisoning 35 individuals including her two husbands, multiple lovers, and her son with arsenic during the 1920s.
Donald Harvey was an American serial killer who claimed to have murdered 87 people, though official estimates are between 37 and 57 victims. He was able to do this during his time as a hospital orderly. His spree took place between 1970 and 1987.
Agnus McVee was said to be a Canadian serial killer. McVee ran a hotel and store at 108 Mile House on the Cariboo Wagon Road from 1875 to 1885 during the Cariboo Gold Rush. Along with her husband Jim McVee and her son-in-law Al Riley, she is said to have killed many miners for their gold and kidnapped women for sale to miners as white slaves. The story has achieved local prominence, but documentary evidence is absent.
Rodney James Alcala was an American serial killer and sex offender who was sentenced to death in California for five murders committed between 1977 and 1979, receiving an additional sentence of 25 years to life after pleading guilty to two further homicides committed in New York State in 1971 and 1977. While he has been conclusively linked to eight murders, Alcala's true number of victims remains unknown and could be much higher – authorities believe the actual number is as high as 130.
Kenneth Erskine is a British serial killer who became known as The Stockwell Strangler. He committed the murders of 7–11 senior citizens in London between April and July 1986.
Necrophilia is a pathological fascination with dead bodies, which often takes the form of a desire to engage with them in sexual activities, such as intercourse. Though prohibited by the laws of many countries, there have been many reported cases of necrophilia throughout history.
Stephen John Port is a British serial killer and serial rapist. He has been convicted of the murder of four young men and multiple rapes and sexual assaults of a number of others. Port received a sentence of life imprisonment with a whole life order on 25 November 2016.
KD Kempamma, infamously known as Cyanide Mallika, is India's first convicted female serial killer. Commencing with her first murder in 1999 Kempamma killed 6 women over the next 8 years, 5 between October and December in 2007. She befriended victims from female temple devotees and portrayed herself as a deeply pious woman. After gaining their confidence she would call them to another temple, ask them to dress in their best clothing and jewellery and give them 'holy water' with cyanide to drink. She was caught by police trying to dispose of the jewellery and confessed under interrogation. She was the first woman to be sentenced to death in Karnataka.
References
- ↑ Sniffin, Bill (May 24, 2015). "Bartlett tale would be a fine movie". Wyoming Tribune Eagle . Retrieved April 6, 2023.
- ↑ "150 YEARS AGO: WYOMING'S FIRST SERIAL KILLER CLAIMED 22 VICTIMS". Y95 Country . January 14, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- 1 2 3 Ballinger, Dean W. (July 1963). "Polly Bartlett, Wyoming's Amazing Poisoner" (PDF). Real West. pp. 22–25, 58–60. Retrieved March 19, 2023– via Buckrail.
- ↑ Magaraci, Kim (October 7, 2021). "The Story Of The Serial Killer Who Terrorized This Small Wyoming Town Is Truly Frightening". Only in Your State . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
- ↑ "Murderess of Slaughterhouse Gulch, Polly Bartlett (Truth or Legend) HD 1080p". 50 States of Madness (Podcast). October 6, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2023– via YouTube.
- ↑ "Polly Bartlett, Serial Killer? Old Legend or 1960s Hoax? – Wyoming, 1868". Unknown Gender History. July 1, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2023– via Blogspot.
- ↑ "Wyoming's worst serial killer: The Murderess of Slaughterhouse Gulch". Buckrail. December 8, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ↑ Schwamle, Bill (January 29, 2019). "Is This Woman Wyoming's Most Deadly Serial Killer?". My Country 95.5 . Retrieved March 19, 2023.