21st Century Serial Killers

Rank the Most Wicked 21st Century Serial Killers

Right IconThis ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet.

 1 
Richard Ramirez
(Serial Killer)
Richard Ramirez
306
Birthdate: February 29, 1960
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: El Paso, Texas, United States
Died: June 7, 2013

American serial killer, rapist, and burglar, Richard Ramirez terrorised the people of California, primarily Los Angeles, between 1984 and 1985 before being eventually captured by the police. The brutal criminal, also known as Night Stalker, was finally found guilty of 43 charges, including 13 murders and was sentenced to death. While on a death row, he died of cancer. 

 2 
Edmund Kemper
(Serial Killer)
Edmund Kemper
108
Birthdate: December 18, 1948
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Burbank, California

Edmund Kemper is a serial killer, rapist and a necrophile. He was charged, convicted and sentenced to eight concurrent life sentences in 1973 for murdering ten people, including his paternal grandparents and mother. Most of his victims were female college students and hitchhikers, whom he lured into his vehicle and then killed them. He later decapitated and violated them.

 3 
Christopher Scarver
(Serial Killer)
Christopher Scarver
151
Birthdate: July 6, 1969
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Christopher Scarver is a convicted murderer whose physical assault on Jesse Anderson and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer at the Columbia Correctional Institution resulted in the death of both Anderson and Dahmer. Already sentenced to life for killing a man named Steve Lohman, Christopher Scarver received two more life sentences for killing Anderson and Dahmer.

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 4 
David Berkowitz
(Serial Killer)
David Berkowitz
97
Birthdate: June 1, 1953
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

A convicted serial killer, David Berkowitz is believed to have killed six people and wounded seven others. He eluded the police for several months before being captured. He is currently serving six consecutive life sentences in the maximum-security prison, Shawangunk Correctional Facility. He was popularized by the media under the name “Son of Sam.”

 5 
Gary Ridgway
(Serial Killer)
Gary Ridgway
104
Birthdate: February 18, 1949
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Nicknamed “the Green River Killer,” Gary Ridgway is a serial killer convicted of killing 49 women by driving them to remote locations, strangling them, and then disposing of their bodies in the Green River. DNA technology helped the police nab him. He had served in the Vietnam War earlier.
 6 
Dennis Rader (BTK Killer)
163
Birthdate: March 9, 1945
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Pittsburg, Kansas, United States
Dennis Rader, better known as BTK, an abbreviated form of “blind, torture, kill,” is an American serial killer. He murdered 10 people and then sent letters to the police and the media, explaining his crimes. Following a 10-year hiatus, he began sending letters again, leading to his arrest and conviction.
 7 
Joseph James DeAngelo
(Serial Killer)
Joseph James DeAngelo
88
Birthdate: November 8, 1945
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Bath, New York, United States

Joseph James DeAngelo is an American serial killer, rapist and burglar who carried out his crimes for many years in 1970s and 1980s and was finally captured by the police in 2018. The former police officer and auto mechanic, who was known by various names like Golden State Killer and Visalia Ransacker, was sentenced to life in prison in 2020.

 8 
Peter Sutcliffe
(British Serial Killer)
Peter Sutcliffe
85
Birthdate: June 2, 1946
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Bingley, England
Died: November 13, 2020

English serial killer Peter Sutcliffe was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper as he was likened to the infamous unidentified serial killer, Jack the Ripper, by the press. Convicted of killing 13 women and injuring nine other, Peter Sutcliffe was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2000, ITV aired a crime drama miniseries based on Peter Sutcliffe's murders titled This Is Personal.

 9 
Karla Homolka
(Canadian Serial Killer)
Karla Homolka
140
Birthdate: May 4, 1970
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Port Credit, Mississauga, Canada

Karla Homolka raped and killed three minors along with her ex-husband Paul Bernardo. After their arrest, Bernardo was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Homolka served 12 years in prison following a plea bargain. Although she had claimed that she was an unwilling accomplice to the killings, a videotape that surfaced after the plea bargain suggested otherwise, resulting in public outrage.

 10 
David Parker Ray
(Serial Rapist, Serial Killer)
David Parker Ray
72
Birthdate: November 6, 1939
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Belen, New Mexico
Died: May 28, 2002
David Parker Ray was said to have killed 60 women from Arizona and New Mexico. He earned the nickname “Toy-Box Killer” for using a sound-proof truck full of items of sexual torture, which he named his “toy box.” Though convicted of kidnapping and torture, he escaped a murder conviction.
 11 
Dennis Nilsen
(Scottish Serial Killer and Necrophile)
Dennis Nilsen
75
Birthdate: November 23, 1945
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Fraserburgh, Scotland
Died: May 12, 2018

Dennis Nilsen was a Scottish necrophile and serial killer who killed at least 12 boys and young men between 1978 and 1983. Also known as the Muswell Hill Murderer, Nilsen committed these crimes in London, England, where he would lure his victims into his house before strangulating them to death. He was convicted in 1983 of six counts of murder.

 12 
Rodney Alcala
(American Serial Killer and Sex Offender)
Rodney Alcala
65
Birthdate: August 23, 1943
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: San Antonio, Texas, United States
Died: July 24, 2021
Rodney Alcala received a death sentence for five murders in the 1970s, and 25 years for two more murders. Known as “The Dating Game Killer” for his appearance on the show The Dating Game in the middle of the murders, Alcala also collected explicit photos of his victims.
 13 
Tsutomu Miyazaki
(Japanese Serial Killer)
Tsutomu Miyazaki
51
Birthdate: August 21, 1962
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Itsukaichi, Tokyo
Died: June 17, 2008
Japanese serial killer, rapist, and cannibal Tsutomu Miyazaki, better known as the Otaku Murderer or the Little Girl Murderer, kidnapped and killed four girls, from ages 4 to 7, and then dismembered the bodies and indulged in necrophilia. He was convicted in 1997 and hanged to death in 2008.
 14 
Wayne Williams
(Serial Killer)
Wayne Williams
33
Birthdate: May 27, 1958
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Wayne Williams is an American serial killer currently serving life imprisonment for the murders of two men in Atlanta, Georgia. Although he is convicted of only two murders, Wayne Williams is suspected to have committed at least 23 of the 30 murders that took place in Atlanta between 1979 and 1981. His chilling story has inspired TV series and films.

 15 
The Long Island Serial Killer
(Serial killer)
The Long Island Serial Killer
20
Birthplace: United States
 16 
Lee Boyd Malvo
(American Serial Killer)
Lee Boyd Malvo
38
Birthdate: February 18, 1985
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Kingston, Jamaica

Lee Boyd Malvo was involved in the Beltway sniper attacks of 2002, which killed 10 people and injured three in the Washington Metropolitan Area. He had befriended his accomplice in the act, John Allen Muhammad, as a juvenile. Malvo is currently serving multiple life sentences at a supermax prison.

 17 
Alexander Pichushkin
(Serial Killer)
Alexander Pichushkin
16
Birthdate: April 9, 1974
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Mytishchi

Known as the Chessboard Killer, Alexander Pichushkin set out to kill people matching all the 64 squares on his chessboard, and would cross out a square with every kill. Mostly targeting elderly people, he managed to kill about 48 to 60 people and was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment.

 18 
Beverley Allitt
(Serial Killer)
Beverley Allitt
43
Birthdate: October 4, 1968
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Grantham, Lincolnshire, England

Beverley Allitt is an English serial child killer, convicted ,of murdering four children and grievously injuring several others. Previously employed as a State Enrolled Nurse, she attacked 13 children over a 59-day period, out of which four died. She received 13 life sentences for the crimes and is detained at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

 19 
Marc Dutroux
(Belgian Serial Killer)
Marc Dutroux
14
Birthdate: November 6, 1956
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Ixelles, Belgium
In 2004, the notorious Belgian serial killer Marc Dutroux was convicted on charges of murder, kidnapping and rape and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Earlier, his case aroused widespread public outrage at the inefficiency and corruption of the Belgium’s law enforcement agency and led to the White March which was one of the largest demonstrations in Europe since WWII. 
 20 
Tommy Lynn Sells
(Serial Killer)
Tommy Lynn Sells
14
Birthdate: June 28, 1964
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Oakland, California, United States
Died: April 3, 2014
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
 21 
Genene Jones
(Nurse Who Killed Several Infants)
Genene Jones
35
Birthdate: July 13, 1950
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Texas
 22 
Moses Sithole
(South African Serial Killer and Rapist)
Moses Sithole
15
Birthdate: November 17, 1964
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Vosloorus, South Africa

Moses Sithole is a South African rapist and serial killer who killed at least 38 people between 1994 and 1995. Nicknamed the ABC Killer, as he started murdering women in Atteridgeville before continuing his killing spree in Boksburg and then in Cleveland, Sithole was imprisoned in 1997 and is currently incarcerated in Bloemfontein at the Mangaung Correctional Centre.

 23 
Richard Cottingham
(Serial killer)
Richard Cottingham
16
Birthdate: November 25, 1946
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: The Bronx, USA
 24 
William Heirens
(Serial Killer)
William Heirens
10
Birthdate: November 15, 1928
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Evanston, Illinois
Died: March 5, 2012
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
 25 
Cary Stayner
(Serial Killer)
Cary Stayner
32
Birthdate: August 13, 1961
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Merced, California

Cary Stayner is a serial killer convicted of the murders of four women in 1999. He had a troubled childhood. His brother Steven was a kidnap victim, and Cary himself was allegedly molested as a young boy. As a young man, he became involved with drugs and entered the world of crime. He is currently on death row.

 26 
Randall Woodfield
(Serial killer)
Randall Woodfield
15
Birthdate: December 26, 1950
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Salem, Oregon, United States

Randall Woodfield is a serial killer and rapist linked to a total of 18 murders and is suspected of having killed up to 44 victims. He was dubbed the I-5 Killer or the I-5 Bandit by the media. He began committing sexual assaults and robberies in 1975 and started murdering people in 1980. He was finally arrested in March 1981.  

 27 
Christopher Dorner
(Former Officer of the Los Angeles Police Department Who Committed a Series of Shootings)
Christopher Dorner
12
Birthdate: June 4, 1979
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: New York, United States
Died: February 12, 2013
 28 
Ahmad Suradji
(Serial Killer)
Ahmad Suradji
24
Birthdate: January 10, 1949
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Medan
Died: July 10, 2008

Ahmad Suradji’s dead father apparently asked him to collect the saliva of 70 women to gain invincibility, in a dream. This made him kill 42 girls and women, and then bury their bodies in a sugarcane plantation. The Indonesian serial killer was eventually convicted and executed by a firing squad.

 29 
Vera Renczi
(Serial killer)
Vera Renczi
12
Birthdate: 1903 AD
Birthplace: Bucharest, Romania
Died: 1960 AD
 30 
Juana Barraza
(Mexican Serial Killer Sentenced to 759 Years in Prison for Killing of 16 Elderly Women)
Juana Barraza
10
Birthdate: December 27, 1957
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Hidalgo, Mexico
 31 
Charles Cullen
(American Serial Killer and Former Nurse)
Charles Cullen
40
Birthdate: February 22, 1960
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: West Orange, New Jersey, United States

Charles Cullen is an American serial killer and former nurse. He was convicted of murdering hundreds of patients during his 16-year career as a nurse in several New Jersey medical centers. Charles Cullen confessed to killing as many as 40 of his victims; 29 of which were confirmed. His life and career have inspired several films, including The Good Nurse.

 32 
Nikolai Dzhumagaliev
(Serial killer)
Nikolai Dzhumagaliev
4
Birthdate: November 15, 1952
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic
 33 
Yukio Yamaji
(Serial killer)
Yukio Yamaji
11
Birthdate: August 21, 1983
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Japan
Died: July 28, 2009
 34 
Irina Gaidamachuk
(Serial killer)
Irina Gaidamachuk
25
Birthdate: September 26, 1972
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Nyagan, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Soviet Union
 35 
Patrice Alègre
(French Serial Killer & Rapist)
Patrice Alègre
6
Birthdate: June 20, 1968
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Toulouse, France

Patrice Alègre is a French serial killer who raped and killed his victims. In 2002, he was convicted of six rapes, five murders, and an attempted murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Patrice Alègre's abusive childhood is said to be one of the reasons behind his sex-related crimes later in his life.

 36 
Bobby Jack Fowler
(Criminal)
Bobby Jack Fowler
4
Birthdate: June 12, 1939
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Texas, United States
Died: May 15, 2006
 37 
Neddy Smith
(Australian Drug Trafficker, Rapist, and Murderer)
Neddy Smith
6
Birthdate: November 27, 1944
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Australia
Died: September 8, 2021
 38 
Fernando Hernández Leyva
(Serial killer)
Fernando Hernández Leyva
5
Birthdate: November 30, 1964
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
 39 
Mikhail Popkov
(Serial killer)
Mikhail Popkov
21
Birthdate: March 7, 1964
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Angarsk, Russia
 40 
Stephen Port
(British Serial Killer and Serial Rapist)
Stephen Port
0
Birthdate: February 22, 1975
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England
 41 
Charles Sobhraj
(French Serial Killer, Fraudster, and Thief)
Charles Sobhraj
83
Birthdate: April 6, 1944
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Charles Sobhraj, better known as the “Bikini Killer” and “The Serpent,” is an infamous criminal who was convicted of murdering twelve tourists in Southeast Asia in the 1970s, purely out of his hatred for hippies. After serving jail time in India, he is now serving a life sentence in Nepal.
 42 
Niels Högel
(Nurse)
Niels Högel
13
Birthdate: December 30, 1976
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Wilhelmshaven, Germany
 43 
Robert Hansen
(American Serial Killer)
Robert Hansen
68
Birthdate: February 15, 1939
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Estherville, Iowa, United States
Died: August 21, 2014

One of America’s most notorious serial killers, Robert Hansen was called ‘The Butcher Baker’ as he owned a bakery. He is said to have killed seventeen women and raped many others in and around Anchorage, Alaska, during the 1970s and 1980s. Most of his victims were strippers and sex workers. He was sentenced to 461 years in prison in 1984.

 44 
Kristen Gilbert
(American Serial Killer and Former Nurse)
Kristen Gilbert
12
Birthdate: November 13, 1967
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Fall River, Massachusetts, United States

Kristen Gilbert is an American serial killer who worked as a nurse. She was convicted of two attempted murders and four murders of patients admitted to the Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Massachusetts. Nicknamed The Angel of Death, Kristen Gilbert was found guilty of inducing cardiac arrest in patients at the hospital.

 45 
Maria Gruber
(Austrian Murderer)
Maria Gruber
0
Birthplace: Austria
 46 
Paul Bernardo
(Canadian Serial Rapist and Serial Killer)
Paul Bernardo
40
Birthdate: August 27, 1964
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
 47 
Grim Sleeper
(Criminal)
Grim Sleeper
25
Birthdate: August 30, 1952
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, United States
Died: March 28, 2020
 48 
Russell Williams
(Canadian Serial Killer)
Russell Williams
5
Birthdate: March 7, 1963
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom

British-born Canadian colonel Russell Williams made headlines after his arrest for the murders of Jessica Lloyd and Marie-France Comeau, apart from multiple sexual assaults. The serial killer was later convicted, stripped of his military ranks, and sentenced to life imprisonment. A character in J.K. Rowling’s Troubled Blood was modeled on him.

 49 
Levi Bellfield
(British Serial Killer Who Was Found Guilty of Murdering Three Women)
Levi Bellfield
41
Birthdate: May 17, 1968
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Isleworth, London, England

Levi Bellfield is an English sex offender, serial killer, rapist, burglar, and kidnapper. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008 after he was found guilty of the murders of Amélie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell. Levi Bellfield is currently imprisoned at HM Prison Frankland. The investigation that led to Levi Bellfield's arrest was dramatized in a TV drama titled Manhunt.

 50 
John Allen Muhammad
(American Convicted Murderer)
John Allen Muhammad
22
Birthdate: December 31, 1960
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Died: November 10, 2009

John Muhammad was an American criminal, most infamous for the D.C. sniper attacks which he carried along with a juvenile partner, killing 10 people in 2002. Born John Williams, he changed his surname and was believed to be an admirer of Osama bin-Laden. He was executed with a lethal injection. He had also faced charges of abuse by his ex-wife.