Dangerous serial killers with nicknames aren't just found on TV shows like "Dexter," there have been plenty of nicknamed serial killers in real life as well. Many of the murderers on this list have haunted us for decades now, whether in America, England, or other countries. Some serial killers are given a nickname by the press, while others give themselves an alias. From "The Butcher of Rostov" to "Doctor Death," these men and women have all committed horrible killings.
We expect the judicial system to incarcerate criminals like those on this list, yet often the suspect is never actually caught or is freed after just a few years of imprisonment. Some of these nicknamed serial killers were only suspected, but never convicted.
This list includes basic information on these serial killers, such as their real names, nicknames, associated murder weapons, number of victims, and information about the aftermath of their detainment or sentencing. Some of these serial killers have been released from prison, let out on parole, or have even escaped from imprisonment and are currently on the loose.
No matter how these dangerous killers got their nicknames, they all committed some truly horrible crimes, gruesome enough to earn them a place in the pop culture lexicon.
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Andrei Chikatilo
Nickname: The Butcher of Rostov
Chikatilo was a Soviet serial killer who committed the sexual assault, murder, and mutilation of at least 52 women and children in Russia between 1978 and 1990. Believing he was the killer, police carried out surveillance on Chikatilo which eventually provided adequate grounds for an arrest.
He confessed to a total of 56 murders and was tried for 53 of the killings in April 1992. Victims' relatives demanded that authorities release him so they could kill him themselves. However, he was convicted and sentenced to death for 52 of the murders in October 1992. He was subsequently executed by firing squad in February 1994.
David Berkowitz
Nicknames: Son of Sam, the .44 Caliber Killer
David Berkowitz carried out a series of shootings in the summer of 1976. Using a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver, he shot 6 people dead and wounded 7 others. Berkowitz sent a series of taunting letters to police and the press promising further shootings, terrorizing the people of New York City.
Berkowitz was captured in August 1977 and confessed to all of the killings. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each murder, to be served consecutively and is unlikely to ever be released.
Dennis Nilsen
Nicknames: Muswell Hill Murderer, Kindly Killer
The British equivalent of Jeffrey Dahmer, Nilsen was a homosexual killer who murdered 15 gay men in his home in London, England between 1978 and 1983. He kept his victims’ bodies before dissecting their remains and disposing of their bodies by burning or flushing the remains down the toilet. This led to his capture, when human flesh was discovered in his sewage system.
Nilsen was convicted in 1983 of six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He remains imprisoned at Full Sutton maximum security prison in Yorkshire, England, without the chance of release.
Dennis Rader
Nickname: Bind, Torture, Kill (BTK)
Dennis Raider murdered 10 people in Wichita, Kansas between 1974 and 1991. Obsessed with notoriety, Raider sent taunting letters to police under his nickname. He stalked his victims before breaking into their homes, then bound their limbs before strangling them.
After disappearing in 1988, BTK remerged 2005 when he sent a floppy disc to the press, which was to be his downfall. Tracing him via the floppy disc, Rader was arrested, charged, and immediately confessed. He is serving 10 consecutive life sentences with an earliest possible release date of February 26, 2180.
Fritz Haarmann
Nickname: The Butcher from Hanover
Fritz Haarmann, an unassuming and sympathetic-looking man, used his friendly manner to serve him well as both a police informant and a sexual sadist. Over six years he murdered at least 24 vagrants and male prostitutes - killings he considered an act of love. Haarman claimed he only wanted to bring peace to his victims and had a strict preference for boys he found handsome.
It all came to an end when the discarded skulls of his victims began washing up on the shore of the river Leine in Germany. In 1925, while in prison awaiting his execution (by beheading), he was shown a photo of a missing boy whom the police believed Haarmann had killed. After one look at the ugly boy’s picture he scoffed at the idea of killing such an ungainly kid.
Gary Ridgway
Nickname: The Green River Killer
Ridgway was one of the United States's most prolific serial killers. He was arrested in 2001 for 4 murders, though he confessed to killing at least 70 women in Washington State throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
He avoided the death penalty by providing detailed confessions and leading police to the dumping sites of his victims, five of whom he dumped in the Green River leading to the press giving him his nickname. He was convicted of 49 murders and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
Harold Shipman
Nickname: Doctor Death
Dr. Harold Fredrick Shipman was a English doctor and is one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history, proven to have been responsible for up 250 murders. A trusted doctor, he was well respected in his community, however colleagues and local undertakers began raising concerns over the high death rate in the area and the large number of cremation forms for elderly women that he had countersigned. Several bodies were later exhumed and post mortems revealed diamorphine within their system.
It was later established that Shipman had purposely injected fatal doses of the drug in a huge number of patients, causing their deaths. He then forged their wills so he could inherit large sums of money and completed cremation requests to destroy the victim’s bodies. He was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences and it was recommended that he never be released. Shipman hanged himself in January 2004 in his cell at Wakefield Prison.
Richard Ramirez
Nickname: Night Stalker
Ricardo Leyva "Richard" Muñoz Ramírez was an American serial killer and Satan worshipper who terrorized Los Angeles between 1984 and 1985. Ramirez broke into the homes of many of his victims, shooting, stabbing, raping, and mutilating his victims who ranged from a 9-year-old girl and a married couple in their late sixties. Notably, he smeared pentagrams on the walls of the crime scenes.
Captured in 1985, Ramirez was sentenced to death and remained on California’s death row for 23 years until he died in his cell in June 2013.
Ted Bundy
Nickname: Lady Killer
One of the most widely known murderers of the 20th century, Ted Bundy was an American serial killer and rapist who kidnapped or overpowered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s. Bundy typically approached his female victims in a public place and led them to secluded areas where he would sexually assault and kill them. He decapitated at least 12 victims and kept the severed heads in his apartment as trophies.
Repeatedly captured, he twice managed to escape from police and court houses before going on to commit three further killings. Convicted of multiple murders he was sentenced to death in 1980. He was executed by the electric chair in 1989.
Joe Metheny
Nickname: The Cannibal Killer
Beginning in 1976, at the age of 21, Metheny would murder his victims and bury their bodies, sometimes stripping them for meat he would claim to use at his roadside open-pit food stand. The Cannibal Killer was said to have viewed his victims as meat rather than people and said that people couldn't tell the difference between the human meat and the pork he mixed it in with.
Metheny was caught in 1996 and later sentenced to death for the murders of three women (though he confessed to stabbing or strangling a total of four women and three men), a ruling that would be overturned to a life sentence in 2000.
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