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THE MOST NOTORIOUS SERIAL KILLER FROM EVERY STATE (AND DC)
BY MATT MELTZER
@mmeltrez
27861
JENNIFER BUI/THRILLIST
Serial killers. They’ve been fueling syndicated television and morbidly fascinating us for decades. And it's no surprise, considering how many of them the United States has produced (fact: more than any other country in the world). Due to that scary factor, you can pretty much attribute one to every state, be it by birth or by virtue of where they did most of their killing.
So we did. In an effort to educate without glorifying (because, as horrible as it is, this stuff is fascinating), we identified the most notorious serial killer -- be it the most famous, prolific, or historical -- from every state and the District of Columbia (excluding anybody who killed in the last 20 years -- that's just too recent). Still, beware: if you are easily disturbed, offended, or inclined to leave nasty comments castigating authors for even writing about murderers, this story might not be for you. Consider yourself warned.
MORE STUFF YOU WILL LIKE
The Weirdest Law in Every State in America
The Best Movie That Takes Place in Every State
The Biggest Douchebag From Each State
WIKIMEDIA
Alabama
Paul John Knowles (aka the "Cassanova Killer”)
Don’t be confused by the nickname here, this guy was about as charming as a DMV clerk going on lunch break. Despite beginning his murderous rampage with two anger killings -- the result of being dumped by a woman he had seduced while in prison -- all of the women he killed during his 18- to 35-victim rampage (through Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas) were abducted unwillingly. Knowles was eventually caught in Georgia and shot to death while trying to escape deputies escorting him to a crime scene.
Arkansas
The Phantom Killer
The state-line community of Texarkana was sent into a widespread panic during the spring of 1946 when every three weeks to the day, a seemingly random couple was shot to death in their car. Residents were afraid to go outside at night and stores sold out of guns and ammunition. Known as the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, they inspired the film The Town That Dreaded Sundown and remain one of the great unsolved cases in Texas and Arkansas history.
Alaska
Robert Hansen (aka the "Butcher Baker”)
His MO was to abduct local prostitutes, torture them in his house, and then transport them to a cabin in the remote Alaskan wilderness. There, he released them into the wild and -- much like that short story you read in middle school, The Most Dangerous Game -- hunted them like prey. Hansen was eventually caught in 1983 when one of his victims escaped, and he was later dubbed “The Butcher Baker” due to his seemingly timid occupation making bread.
Arizona
Jacob Kell (aka the "Arizona Ripper")
Though he is in no way related to that dude from Highlander, you’ve gotta think the name isn’t a coincidence. Kell was a massive 15-year-old with developmental disabilities who began killing in 1945 by dismembering his parents in their small shack, before kidnapping his sister and murdering 30 people. He was ultimately brought down by a group of vigilantes and never stood trial.
California
Juan Vallejo Corona
While California has had more than its share of high-profile serial killers (the Hillside Strangler, Manson, etc.), the most prolific in state history was this guy; in fact, at the time of his conviction in 1971, he was also the most prolific serial killer in the history of the whole country.
Corona supplied migrant workers to agricultural farms near Yuba City in Northern California and housed many of them in bunkhouses on his property. Which is also where he killed and buried them in shallow graves. Since California lacked the death penalty in 1971, he is currently serving 25 life sentences, one for each victim he was convicted of murdering.
Colorado
Vincent Groves
Debate rages about whether or not this guy is the most prolific serial killer in the history of Colorado. Though he was only convicted of three murders -- and died in prison in 1996 -- advancements in technology have linked him to at least three more deaths, and some say the body count may be as high as 24. From 1978-1988, Groves would meet (and strangle) women in the Denver area. What’s most alarming about his decade of terror, though, is that he actually spent five years in prison for another murder before being let out to continue his spree.
WIKIMEDIA
Connecticut
Michael Bruce Ross (aka the "Roadside Strangler”)
After becoming consumed with fantasies of murder shortly after college, this former Cornell graduate and insurance salesman committed eight killings between 1981 and 1984. While his MO was to leave his victims' bodies in a cornfield, he actually entombed the last one in a stone wall. When he was executed in 2005 by the State of Connecticut, it was the first execution in New England since 1960.
Delaware
Steven Brian Pennell
Most serial killers generally have some sort of traumatic event or psychotic episode in their past that leads them to randomly murder innocent people. Not Steven Pennell, whose psychological examiners described him as “pleasant” after his arrest. In fact, it was that nice-guy front that he used in 1987 and 1988 to abduct female hitchhikers along a stretch of Route 40 near Wilmington before torturing, mutilating, and beating them to death. The 31-year-old father of two was convicted of two murders and died from lethal injection in 1992.
District of Columbia
The Freeway Phantom
Although a number of serial killers have taken lives in the nation’s capital, the most notable to act entirely inside the District was the still-at-large Freeway Phantom. In 1971 and 1972, this killer kidnapped, sexually assualted, and strangled six girls. The bodies were left near freeway on-/off-ramps and, despite the fact that he left a note on one of the victims, he has never been caught.
WIKIMEDIA
Florida
Ted Bundy
The most famous of the many serial killers who've called Florida home, Bundy (who had been described as a charming young man) kidnapped, tortured, and murdered young women. Some of whom he abducted in the same day and location, within a few hours of one another. Bundy escaped from prison twice before being apprehended in Florida in 1978, and while he admitted to more than 35 killings, he's believed to have possibly murdered as many as 100 people. He died in the electric chair at Raiford prison in 1989.
Georgia
Wayne Williams
Wayne Wiliams officially only killed two people, both adult men in 1981. While in prison, however, he was linked to the Atlanta Child Murders, a series of 28 random killings that petrified Atlanta parents between July 1979 and March 1981. While authorities never legally connected Williams to any of the children's deaths, he is generally regarded as the culprit and remains in prison today at age 57.
BY MATT MELTZER
@mmeltrez
JENNIFER BUI/THRILLIST
Serial killers. They’ve been fueling syndicated television and morbidly fascinating us for decades. And it's no surprise, considering how many of them the United States has produced (fact: more than any other country in the world). Due to that scary factor, you can pretty much attribute one to every state, be it by birth or by virtue of where they did most of their killing.
So we did. In an effort to educate without glorifying (because, as horrible as it is, this stuff is fascinating), we identified the most notorious serial killer -- be it the most famous, prolific, or historical -- from every state and the District of Columbia (excluding anybody who killed in the last 20 years -- that's just too recent). Still, beware: if you are easily disturbed, offended, or inclined to leave nasty comments castigating authors for even writing about murderers, this story might not be for you. Consider yourself warned.
MORE STUFF YOU WILL LIKE
The Weirdest Law in Every State in America
The Best Movie That Takes Place in Every State
The Biggest Douchebag From Each State
WIKIMEDIA
Alabama
Paul John Knowles (aka the "Cassanova Killer”)
Don’t be confused by the nickname here, this guy was about as charming as a DMV clerk going on lunch break. Despite beginning his murderous rampage with two anger killings -- the result of being dumped by a woman he had seduced while in prison -- all of the women he killed during his 18- to 35-victim rampage (through Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas) were abducted unwillingly. Knowles was eventually caught in Georgia and shot to death while trying to escape deputies escorting him to a crime scene.
Arkansas
The Phantom Killer
The state-line community of Texarkana was sent into a widespread panic during the spring of 1946 when every three weeks to the day, a seemingly random couple was shot to death in their car. Residents were afraid to go outside at night and stores sold out of guns and ammunition. Known as the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, they inspired the film The Town That Dreaded Sundown and remain one of the great unsolved cases in Texas and Arkansas history.
Alaska
Robert Hansen (aka the "Butcher Baker”)
His MO was to abduct local prostitutes, torture them in his house, and then transport them to a cabin in the remote Alaskan wilderness. There, he released them into the wild and -- much like that short story you read in middle school, The Most Dangerous Game -- hunted them like prey. Hansen was eventually caught in 1983 when one of his victims escaped, and he was later dubbed “The Butcher Baker” due to his seemingly timid occupation making bread.
Arizona
Jacob Kell (aka the "Arizona Ripper")
Though he is in no way related to that dude from Highlander, you’ve gotta think the name isn’t a coincidence. Kell was a massive 15-year-old with developmental disabilities who began killing in 1945 by dismembering his parents in their small shack, before kidnapping his sister and murdering 30 people. He was ultimately brought down by a group of vigilantes and never stood trial.
California
Juan Vallejo Corona
While California has had more than its share of high-profile serial killers (the Hillside Strangler, Manson, etc.), the most prolific in state history was this guy; in fact, at the time of his conviction in 1971, he was also the most prolific serial killer in the history of the whole country.
Corona supplied migrant workers to agricultural farms near Yuba City in Northern California and housed many of them in bunkhouses on his property. Which is also where he killed and buried them in shallow graves. Since California lacked the death penalty in 1971, he is currently serving 25 life sentences, one for each victim he was convicted of murdering.
Colorado
Vincent Groves
Debate rages about whether or not this guy is the most prolific serial killer in the history of Colorado. Though he was only convicted of three murders -- and died in prison in 1996 -- advancements in technology have linked him to at least three more deaths, and some say the body count may be as high as 24. From 1978-1988, Groves would meet (and strangle) women in the Denver area. What’s most alarming about his decade of terror, though, is that he actually spent five years in prison for another murder before being let out to continue his spree.
WIKIMEDIA
Connecticut
Michael Bruce Ross (aka the "Roadside Strangler”)
After becoming consumed with fantasies of murder shortly after college, this former Cornell graduate and insurance salesman committed eight killings between 1981 and 1984. While his MO was to leave his victims' bodies in a cornfield, he actually entombed the last one in a stone wall. When he was executed in 2005 by the State of Connecticut, it was the first execution in New England since 1960.
Delaware
Steven Brian Pennell
Most serial killers generally have some sort of traumatic event or psychotic episode in their past that leads them to randomly murder innocent people. Not Steven Pennell, whose psychological examiners described him as “pleasant” after his arrest. In fact, it was that nice-guy front that he used in 1987 and 1988 to abduct female hitchhikers along a stretch of Route 40 near Wilmington before torturing, mutilating, and beating them to death. The 31-year-old father of two was convicted of two murders and died from lethal injection in 1992.
District of Columbia
The Freeway Phantom
Although a number of serial killers have taken lives in the nation’s capital, the most notable to act entirely inside the District was the still-at-large Freeway Phantom. In 1971 and 1972, this killer kidnapped, sexually assualted, and strangled six girls. The bodies were left near freeway on-/off-ramps and, despite the fact that he left a note on one of the victims, he has never been caught.
WIKIMEDIA
Florida
Ted Bundy
The most famous of the many serial killers who've called Florida home, Bundy (who had been described as a charming young man) kidnapped, tortured, and murdered young women. Some of whom he abducted in the same day and location, within a few hours of one another. Bundy escaped from prison twice before being apprehended in Florida in 1978, and while he admitted to more than 35 killings, he's believed to have possibly murdered as many as 100 people. He died in the electric chair at Raiford prison in 1989.
Georgia
Wayne Williams
Wayne Wiliams officially only killed two people, both adult men in 1981. While in prison, however, he was linked to the Atlanta Child Murders, a series of 28 random killings that petrified Atlanta parents between July 1979 and March 1981. While authorities never legally connected Williams to any of the children's deaths, he is generally regarded as the culprit and remains in prison today at age 57.
