Killers
By Charles Montaldo, About.com Guide
Serial Killers
What triggers serial killers to kill? While it is true that many come from abused childhoods, not all do. Many serial killers exhibit narcissistic personalities, not all do. Also many abuse animals at a young age - but not all do. Is it possible some people are just born as serial killers?
- Rodney Alcala - The Dating Game Killer
- Richard Angelo - The Angel of Death
- Cesar Barone - Rapist and Killer
- Herbert Richard "Herb" Baumeister
- David Berkowitz - The Son of Sam
- William Bonin - The Freeway Killer
- Jerry Brudos - The Shoe-Fetish Slayer
- Ted Bundy - The Campus Killer
- Angelo Buono - The Hillside Strangler
- Richard Chase - The Vampire of Sacramento
- Dean Corll - The Candy Man
- Juan Corona - The Machete Murderer
- Albert Fish - The Brooklyn Vampire
- John Wayne Gacy the "Killer Clown"
- Donald Gaskins - Pee Wee
- Ed Gein - The Plainfield Ghoul
- Kristen Gilbert - Angel of Death
- Pedro Alonso Lopez - The Monster of the Andes
- Dennis Rader - The BTK Killer
- Richard Speck - Born to Raise Hell
Couples Who Kill
Trying to understand what makes serial killers kill is difficult, but even more difficult to understand is when the serial killers are couples. Although they represent just a small percentage of all serial killings, their crimes are among the most horrific in nature. How do they find each other? How do they know the other one will kill? How do they know they won't become a victim?
- Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris
- Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka
- Ian Brady and Myra Hindley
- Angelo Buono, Jr. and Kenneth Bianchi
- Alton Coleman and Debra Brown
- Ray and Faye Copeland
- Gary Lewingdon and Thaddeus Lewingdon
- Charles Chi-tat Ng and Leonard Lake
- Jacqueline Williams and Fedell Caffey
Parents Who Kill
The public is always shocked by criminal cases such as Andrea Yates, a mother of five who methodically drowned all of her children in a bathtub then calmly called police, but parents who kill their children are more common than we might think.
- Kenisha Berry
- Janie Lou Gibbs
- Harold and Michelle Johnson
- Frances Elaine Newton
- Darlie Routier
- Susan Smith
Killer Husbands
"Till Death Do Us Part" is taken to the extreme by these men who killed their wives. Why did they do it? Some out of rage and jealousy, some out of pure greed and some did it just to get back at the women who left them.
Black Widows
The belief that women are less likely to be violent killers is quickly dispelled when you take a look at the following black widows and see who they killed and how they did it. More often than not, these women killed for money, or because they couldn't stand their mates, but some just killed because they could not stop themselves.