John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) Gacy was a serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 young men and teenage boys at his home in Illinois during the 1970s. He preferred to torture his captive before killing them by either asphyxiation or strangulation with a garrote (McEvoy). Although Gacy was known for entertaining children at parades and hospitals through his clown costume facade or alter ego “Pogo the Clown,” there was nothing cheerful about his horrific crimes. Gacy also spoke of himself in the third person, saying the slayings and sex acts were committed by "Jack" or "John." His killings are most commonly traced to his abusive childhood and struggles with homosexuality (McEvoy).

 

Ted Bundy (1946-1989) Bundy was a serial killer, rapist, and necrophiliac who admitted to killing 30 women in the 1970s, though some experts believe this count might be over 100 (Piccotti). He received 3 separate death sentences for the murders of two Chi Omega sorority members at Florida State University and a 12-year-old girl. His murders usually followed a gruesome pattern: He often raped his victims before beating them to death. Bundy often lured women into his car by pretending to be injured and asking for their help. He spent 9 years on death row appealing his sentence and was later ultimately executed by electric chair in 1989 (Piccotti). 

 

David Berkowtiz (1953-present) Berkowitz, also known as Son of Sam, is a serial killer who terrorized the New York City area in July of 1976 & 1977, killing 6 people and wounding 7. From a young age, Berkowitz began to show early signs of his future violent behavior patterns such as petty larceny and pyromania (Crime Museum). During his killing spree, he sent letters to New York newspapers, signing them “Son of Sam,” a reference to a demon he believed lived inside the black Labrador retriever owned by his neighbor Sam Carr. When police searched Berkowitz’s apartment, they found Satanic graffiti drawn on the walls, and diaries detailing his alleged 1,400 arsons in the NY area (Crime Museum). 

 

Joel Rifkin (1959-present) Rifkin is a serial killer who went on a string of murders in New York in the 1990s. The mistreatment and isolation experienced during his childhood and teen years eventually wore on Rifkin who began to daydream about raping and stabbing women (Biography.Com Editors). In 1972, Rifkin was inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock film Frenzy, and became fixated on the idea of strangling prostitutes. In 1989, he killed his first woman, Heidi Balch. He then dismembered her body, removing her teeth and fingertips, putting her head in a paint can left in the woods on a golf course, disposing of her legs farther north, and dumping her remaining torso and arms into the East River around New York City (Biography.Com Editors). Her remains were not identified until 2013. His reign of terror came to an end in 1993 when Rifkin was pulled over by the police who discovered a corpse in his car.

 

Jeffrey Dahmer (1960-1994) Dahmer was a serial killer who took the lives of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. Over the course of more than 13 years, Dahmer sought out his victims, mostly Black men, at gay bars, malls, and bus stops, lured them home promising money or sex, and laced alcohol with drugs before strangling them to death. He would then engage in sex acts with the corpses before dismembering them and disposing of them, often keeping body parts as souvenirs (McEvoy). He frequently took photos of his victims at various stages of the murder process, so he could recollect each act afterward and relive the experience. Dahmer was captured in 1991 and sentenced to 16 life terms. He was killed by fellow prison inmate Christopher Scarver in 1994 

(McEvoy).

 

Works Cited

Biography.Com Editors. (2023, October 3). Joel Rifkin: Biography, Serial Killer, House & Seinfeld. https://www.biography.com/crime/joel-rifkin. https://www.biography.com/crime/joel-rifkin

Crime Museum. (2023, December 15). David Berkowitz: Son of Sam Killer. https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/david-berkowitz/

McEvoy, C. (2023, June 16). John Wayne Gacy: Biography, Serial Killer, killer clown. Biography . https://www.biography.com/crime/john-wayne-gacy

McEvoy, C. (2023, September 15). Jeffrey Dahmer . Biography . https://www.biography.com/crime/jeffrey-dahmer.

Piccotti, T. (2024, May 15). 15 Notorious Serial Killers and Their Chilling Crimes. Biography . https://www.biography.com/crime/g60732709/famous-serial-killers

Piccotti, T. (2024, June 26). Ted Bundy. Biography . https://www.biography.com/crime/ted-bundy