Learn About 5 of the Most Notorious Criminals of the past 50 Years

It’s hard to definitively come up with the most notorious American criminals from the past 50 years, but these men and women absolutely belong in the conversation. Each and every one of these killers was responsible for the murders of multiple innocent people, and their names alone still bring up images of death and mayhem.

This list is not complete by any means, but there is no denying that these five criminals shocked and terrified millions of Americans – and people around the world – with their wicked deeds.

1. John Wayne Gacy

Notoroius serial killer John Wayne Gacy was executed 25 years ago today.

Posted by Investigation Discovery on Friday, May 10, 2019

In the annals of American serial killers, John Wayne Gacy remains one of the most terrifying. Gacy worked as a contractor in the Chicago area, and he was active in local politics. He also entertained area children by dressing as a character he called “Pogo the Clown.”

Little did friends, family, and neighbors know that, underneath his normal facade, Gacy was a serial killer who preyed on boys and young men. After murdering his victims, Gacy buried many of them in the crawlspace under his home.

He was finally arrested in December 1978 and was eventually convicted of an astounding 33 murders. Gacy was executed by lethal injection in Illinois in 1994 when he was 52 years old.

2. Aileen Wuornos 

Aileen Wuornos was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.

Posted by Investigation Discovery on Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Aileen Wuornos‘ life story is one of remarkable tragedy almost from the very beginning. She was born to teenage parents in 1956. Soon after, her mother abandoned her, and her father, whom she never met, hanged himself in a prison cell when Wuornos was 12. She ended up being raised by her grandparents, but that was no better; she suffered from sexual abuse from a young age, becoming pregnant at the age of 14.

Wuornos began working as a prostitute when she was only 15, and this twisted her towards a lifetime of depravity. In 1989, after spending some time drifting and some time in jail, Wuornos committed her first murder. Before her capture in a Florida bar in 1991, Aileen Wuornos murdered an additional six men, later claiming that she killed them in self-defense.

Wuornos was convicted and was executed by lethal injection in Florida in 2002, marking the end of a tragic life filled with hatred and violence.

3. Jeffrey Dahmer

Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was finally caught on this day in 1991.

Posted by Investigation Discovery on Monday, July 22, 2019

The name Dahmer is synonymous with evil, and there are many reasons why; in fact, there are exactly 16 reasons. That is the number of men that Jeffrey Dahmer killed during a murder spree that lasted from 1987 until his capture in 1991. Dahmer also killed a man in 1978 when he was only 18 years old.

Dahmer lived in an apartment building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and that apartment – #213 – became a torture chamber for the men who crossed its threshold. Dahmer picked up many of his victims at gay bars and lured them back to his apartment, where he then murdered them, dismembered their bodies, and – in some cases – ate their body parts.

Dahmer’s neighbors complained of foul smells and loud noises coming from apartment 213. They even heard chainsaws running on occasion. On July 22, 1991, Dahmer’s horrific life as a free man came to an end when he was arrested after a victim managed to escape Dahmer’s apartment before being killed. Arresting officers found a literal house of horrors, filled with severed heads, human hearts, and other body parts and bones.

Dahmer confessed and was sentenced to life in prison. In November 1994, Dahmer, then 34 years old, was beaten to death in a Wisconsin prison by another inmate.

4. Dennis Rader

BTK's Daughter Kerri Rawson Speaks Out

Imagine what it's like to learn your father is a notorious serial killer. Watch more without signing in ➡ https://id.network/BTKUntoldStories

Posted by Investigation Discovery on Thursday, September 26, 2019

Dennis Rader, also known as “BTK” (Bind, Torture, Kill) is one of the more perplexing serial killers in American history because he followed no specific patterns and some of his murders occurred years apart.

From 1974 until his eventual capture in 2005, Rader kept the citizens of Wichita, Kansas, and surrounding areas in complete terror with his murders and the taunting letters he sent to police and news outlets.

Rader murdered 10 people, including two children, between 1974 and 1991, and he remained a free man for another 14 years before he was captured. A minor slip-up proved to be his undoing: police were able to trace a floppy disk he sent them back to his church, which led to his arrest in February 2005. Rader confessed to his crimes and was sentenced to life behind bars.

Today, Dennis Rader is 74 years old, and he will spend the rest of his days behind bars in a maximum-security prison in Kansas.

5. Charles Manson

Charles Manson's name alone sends a chill down our spines.

Posted by Investigation Discovery on Thursday, May 9, 2019

The fact remains that Charles Manson never actually killed anyone (that we know of), but he was responsible for directing the murders of 7 people and one unborn child over the course of two terrifying nights in August 1969. The murders of Hollywood star Sharon Tate, her friends, and a separate middle-aged married couple shook Los Angeles to its core and captured the attention of the nation.

When the truth came out a few months later that a group of young hippies led by a charismatic ex-convict named Charles Manson was responsible for the murders, Americans were riveted.

A lengthy and dramatic trial ensued and Manson and several of his followers were put behind bars for life. After spending decades in prison in California, Charles Manson died in November 2017 at the age of 83.

 

Who else do you think belongs on the list of the most notorious American criminals of the past 50 years? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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15 Documentaries About Serial Killers That Are Worth Your Time

It seems like there’s a never-ending flood of true crime and serial killer documentaries out there, which makes it challenging to sort through the good and the bad. Who has time for that?

Well, here’s some good news: other people have already done the work for us!

People from the Buzzfeed Community offered their opinions about what they believe are the best documentaries about serial killers. Add these to your queue.

1. BTK: A Killer Among Us (2019)

2. Monster in My Family: Happy Face Killer (2015)

3. Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019)

4. Cropsey (2009)

5. Manson (1973)

6. The Pig Farm (2011)

7. Albert Fish: In Sin He Found Salvation (2007)

8. Carl Panzram: The Spirit of Hatred and Vengeance (2011)

9. Serial Killers: Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo (1995)

10. Born to Kill? Richard Trenton Chase: The Vampire of Sacramento (2010)

11. The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (2015)

12. This Is the Zodiac Speaking (2008)

13. Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003)

14. Ed Gein: The Real Leatherface (2004)

15. The Jeffrey Dahmer Files (2012)

Are there any other documentaries that you think need to be included?

Share them in the comments, please.

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15 People Share What Celebrities They Think Would Be Outed as Serial Killers

First off, I think this would be a great movie. Secondly, who do you think you would pick if you were posed with this question:

“If the headline “Celebrity outed as serial killer” appeared, who would you expect it to be about?

AskReddit users offered up their opinions. I can’t wait to dig into these!

Share your thoughts in the comments!

1. Prime suspect

“It almost pains me to say this because he is one of if not the best actors in the world, but Daniel Day-Lewis. The man protects his privacy extremely well. Doesn’t do a lot of movies (retired now) and stays as clean as possible. He is the prime guy.”

2. No way!

“Bill Murray.

“No one will ever believe you.”

turns to walk away

“You’ll never have the chance to tell them.”

3. Not a good legacy

“I hope that Tom Hanks dies peacefully in his sleep at a grand old age, with an untarnished history and nothing but funny stories about colleagues and strangers he helped and made happy.

And then they go to clear out the basement of his mansion and just find hundreds and hundreds of human heads in various states of decay.”

4. Say it ain’t so

“Carrot Top.”

5. A killer trifecta

“The first names that popped in my head were Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Jim Carrey.”

6. A disturbed dick…

“Andy Dick… the dude is f*cking disturbed. Oh… he’s also a dick.”

7. I hope not. One of my favorite directors…

“David Fincher. Between Se7en, Zodiac, Mindhunter, and the rest of his entire filmography, he really seems fascinated with compelling serial killers, sociopaths, and psychopaths. The performances of these characters are always unique, captivating, and unnerving.

They have an air of authenticity to them. Fincher makes some great films, and I’m not seriously suggesting the dude’s a serial killer, but he’s probably the only famous person I can think of where, upon being revealed as a serial killer, a common first reaction would be, “…Yeah okay, that explains a lot.”

8. Might not be a stretch?

“Quentin Tarantino… just cause.”

9. It’s all in the eyes

“The Olsen twins. They got some menacing eyes.”

10. I think you’re right on the money

“There’s a distinct lack of female celebrities on this list. I definitely think Tilda Swinton could murder us all one day.”

11. Insane if he wants to

“Nic Cage. Have you seen the memes about the Ghost Rider movies having zero CGI and that it was all him? He can be insane if he wants to.”

12. A true villain

“Elon Musk is one face scar away from being a James Bond villain.”

13. Good old Woody

“Woody Allen. Anyone who marries their wife’s adopted young daughter is seriously creepy.”

14. Look at the track record

“Brad Pitt. If a man can leave both Angelina Jolie AND Jennifer Anniston he’s capable of anything.”

15. Can’t put my finger on it…

“Definitely Katy Perry. Something is off about her.”

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Take a Look at Photos of the Real Serial Killers in ‘Mindhunter’ and the Actors Who Portrayed Them

The second season on the hit show Mindhunter dropped on Netflix in August and fans are pretty happy about how the new episodes turned out.

The show is based on true events surrounding how the FBI established their behavioral science unit in the 1970s to study serial killers and other murderers. In real life, as in the show, the investigators interviewed serial killers to try to learn how their minds worked, back when “serial killer” was a new concept.

Here are photos of the real-life killers and the actors who portray them in the show.

1. David Berkowitz: “The Son of Sam” – Played by Oliver Cooper

Photo Credit: Netflix

2. Charles Manson – Played by Damon Herriman

Photo Credit: Netflix

3. Charles “Tex” Watson – Played by Christopher Backus

View this post on Instagram

Away from Manson, Tex Watson’s ambitions were growing. “I decided to call up an old girl friend… Her name was Luella {a pseudonym} and I'd gotten to know her casually while Rich and I were still living at the house on the beach. During the week we were waiting for our army physicals, he'd taken me to see her once and… I felt she'd been especially friendly to me that day. Right now I needed a friend. I got a lover. The first time I hitchhiked over to her apartment I ended up moving in. Luella… didn't have a real job; she kept herself going by dealing a little grass and LSD among her friends – nothing big time but enough to get by. She had an old Hollywood-Spanish apartment with eucalyptus trees all around and a patio that overlooked the driveway to an exclusive private club for professional magicians and entertainment stars. Sometimes we'd sunbathe on the deck, drinking beer and smoking grass while we watched all the big limousines drive up for parties, dumping out beautiful people whom we could never quite recognize. It was an easy life that Luella and I fell into. Combining her contacts with mine, we found we could sell a lot more dope than she'd been doing on her own…" It certainly sounds like Watson thought of himself as a drug dealer. In just a few months, he and ‘Louella’ (real name Rosina Kroner) would aim for a big score, with disastrous effects.

A post shared by Manson Family MTTS (@mansonfamily_mtts) on

Photo Credit: Netflix

4. Dennis Rader: The BTK Killer – Played by Sonny Valicenti

Photo Credit: Netflix

5. William “Junior” Pierce: Played by Michael Filipowich

6. William Henry Hance: Played by Corey Allen

Photo Credit: Instagram,fathergore

7. Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr.: Played by Robert Aramayo 

Photo Credit: Netflix

8. Ed Kemper: Played by Cameron Britton

Photo Credit: Netflix

9. Wayne Williams: Played by Christopher Livingston

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#waynewilliams #theatlantachildmurders

A post shared by Murder Homes (@murderhomes) on

Photo Credit: Netflix

10. Paul Bateson: Played by Morgan Kelly

Photo Credit: Netflix

I don’t know about you, but I’m really hoping that Mindhunter keeps going.

Have you watched season two yet? Let us know what you think in the comments!

The post Take a Look at Photos of the Real Serial Killers in ‘Mindhunter’ and the Actors Who Portrayed Them appeared first on UberFacts.

Documentary Claims That Meghan Markle Is Related to America’s First Serial Killer

Meghan Markle has been in the news non-stop lately because of her recent marriage to Prince Harry, but it’s another story about the new member of the Royal Family that is causing some people to scratch their heads.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

A BBC documentary entitled Meet the Markles claims that Markle is distantly related to the man known as America’s first serial killer, H.H. Holmes.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Jeff Mudgett, Holmes’ great-great-grandson, discovered that he and Markle are eighth cousins. Holmes is believed to have killed dozens of people in Chicago in a “murder castle” he had specially constructed with secret rooms and chambers.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Mudgett makes the claim based on Holmes’ diaries that he inherited. He said about the connection to Markle: “We did a study with the FBI and CIA and Scotland Yard regarding handwriting analysis. It turns out [H. H. Holmes] was Jack the Ripper. This means Meghan is related to Jack the Ripper. I don’t think the Queen knows. I am not proud he is my ancestor. Meghan won’t be either.”

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Holmes was executed in Philadelphia in 1896. I have a feeling we probably won’t be hearing from Markle about this story.

h/t: Mental Floss

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