10 Shocking Serial Killers in Our History

Serial killers don’t just take lives. They distort the meaning of humanity itself. Behind their calm faces often lurk minds twisted by obsession, cruelty, and power. These aren’t stories for the faint-hearted. They’re a brutal reminder of what happens when darkness is left unchecked.

I’ve spent years researching the darkest corners of criminal psychology. And some of these stories still keep me awake at night.

Javed Iqbal Mughal ranks among the most horrifying criminals in Pakistan’s history. In 1999, he confessed to sexually abusing and killing 100 young boys in Lahore. He didn’t stop there. After murdering them, he dissolved their bodies in hydrochloric acid and disposed of the remains in city sewers.

Iqbal operated with chilling precision. He would lure street children and young boys—many homeless and vulnerable—with promises of food, shelter, or small jobs. Once inside his home, he drugged and raped them before carrying out his horrific plan. Iqbal later wrote to a newspaper editor and the police, confessing in detail and expressing that his crimes were a revenge for police mistreatment.

He was arrested shortly after. The judge sentenced him to death in 2000, declaring he should be strangled in front of the parents of his victims, and his body should be dissolved in acid—just as he did to the boys. But he never saw that sentence carried out. Iqbal was found dead in his prison cell, allegedly by suicide, though many suspect foul play.

Colin Ireland, a former British soldier, turned into a calculating killer in the early 1990s. Unlike many serial killers driven by impulse, Ireland was methodical. He set out with the explicit goal of becoming a serial killer.

His victims were homosexual men, whom he met in London’s gay bars. Ireland would gain their trust, follow them home, and then bind, torture, and kill them. He turned their framed photos away so he wouldn’t feel watched while committing his crimes. In a twisted display of arrogance, he even called the police to mock them.

Between 1993 and 1994, he murdered five men. It wasn’t a mistake that got him caught—it was his own need for attention. After voluntarily confessing, he received a whole-life sentence. He died in prison in 2012.

Long before the term “serial killer” existed, Gilles de Rais shocked 15th-century France with his crimes. A nobleman and decorated soldier who fought alongside Joan of Arc, de Rais led a double life darker than fiction.

From 1432 to 1440, he kidnapped, raped, and killed children—mainly boys—on his estates. Historians estimate the number of victims to be between 100 and 200. He mutilated the children before and after death, sometimes ejaculating on their corpses. De Rais believed he could summon demons and gain wealth through black magic.

His arrest in 1440 ended one of the most brutal killing sprees in medieval Europe. He was hanged and burned, though the full scale of his crimes still haunts historical records.

Dennis Nilsen, a former police officer and civil servant, murdered at least 15 men between 1978 and 1983 in London. His victims were often homeless or vulnerable, drawn in by Nilsen’s calm demeanor and offer of shelter.

He strangled or drowned them, then lived with the corpses for days or weeks. Nilsen would wash, dress, and even sleep beside the bodies. Once decomposition set in, he dismembered the corpses and flushed the remains down the toilet or burned them.

It all unraveled when neighbors complained about clogged drains. A plumber discovered flesh and bones in the pipes, leading to Nilsen’s arrest. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1983 and died in prison in 2018.

Joachim Kroll, born in Germany in 1933, preyed on women and children for over two decades. His reign of terror between 1955 and 1976 earned him a terrifying reputation.

Kroll strangled his victims, then engaged in acts of necrophilia and cannibalism. He claimed that eating human flesh saved him money on groceries. The police discovered his crimes in 1976 after investigating a plumbing issue. Human remains were found blocking the apartment building’s pipes.

He confessed to killing 14 people but hinted there may have been more. Kroll was sentenced to nine life terms and died of a heart attack in 1991.

Jeffrey Dahmer shocked the world with the sheer scale and depravity of his crimes. Between 1978 and 1991, Dahmer murdered 17 young men, most of whom were people of color. His methods included rape, mutilation, necrophilia, and cannibalism.

He kept body parts—skulls, hearts, and even genitals—in his freezer. Dahmer also drilled holes into some of his victims’ skulls, injecting acid in an attempt to create “sex zombies.”

His crimes came to light when one of his intended victims escaped and alerted police. Upon entering his apartment, officers discovered the horrors inside. Dahmer was sentenced to 16 life terms. In 1994, another inmate killed him in prison.

Robert Black used his job as a delivery van driver to hunt and abduct girls across the UK. Between 1981 and 1986, he abducted and murdered at least four girls aged 5 to 11, though police suspect the true number may be higher.

He carefully selected locations with low surveillance and minimal public presence. He was caught in 1990 when a witness saw him forcibly abducting a girl and called the police. They found the girl alive in his van.

After his arrest, investigators linked him to multiple unsolved cases across the UK and Europe. Black was serving multiple life sentences when he died in 2016.

Andrei Chikatilo terrorized the Soviet Union for over a decade. From 1978 to 1990, he murdered at least 52 people—mostly women and children. He would lure his victims into secluded areas before stabbing, mutilating, and sometimes cannibalizing them.

Chikatilo’s crimes were particularly grotesque. He would often gouge out victims’ eyes, believing they could trap his soul. His psychological profile baffled Soviet investigators, especially because he led a seemingly normal life as a teacher and family man.

He was finally arrested in 1990. After a highly publicized trial, he was executed in 1994 with a single gunshot to the back of the head.

Richard Chase earned his nickname from his obsession with blood. Suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, he believed his own blood was turning to dust and needed to be replenished.

Between 1977 and 1978, Chase killed six people in California. He would drink their blood, eat their organs, and engage in acts of necrophilia. Chase targeted random homes, often choosing victims who had left their doors unlocked.

He was caught after police tracked down his car and found evidence linking him to the killings. Found guilty but insane, he was sentenced to death. In 1980, Chase committed suicide in his prison cell.

Ted Bundy is often remembered as the most “normal-looking” serial killer in U.S. history. His charm, intelligence, and clean-cut appearance masked a deeply disturbed mind. Between 1974 and 1978, Bundy murdered more than 30 women—possibly more.

He faked injuries to lure women into his car, where he would then bludgeon, rape, and kill them. He revisited some crime scenes, engaging in necrophilia with decomposing corpses. He escaped from prison twice and continued killing while on the run.

Bundy was finally caught in 1978. After years of trial and multiple appeals, he was executed in Florida’s electric chair in 1989. His final words: “Give my love to my family and friends.”

When we think of danger, we often imagine it lurking in dark alleys or remote woods. We don’t expect it to wear a nurse’s uniform and cradle newborns in a hospital’s neonatal ward. But that’s exactly what made Lucy Letby’s crimes so terrifying.

Born on 4 January 1990 in Hereford, England, Lucy Letby appeared to be a compassionate, dedicated neonatal nurse. She studied at the University of Chester and joined the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2011 as a student before becoming a full-time staff nurse in 2012. Her role placed her at the frontline of fragile new lives—babies born too soon, too small, or with serious complications.

Between June 2015 and June 2016, Letby murdered seven infants and attempted to murder seven more. All of them were under her care. Some victims were twins. In at least one case, she killed both children in a twin pair. What haunts me most is not just how she carried out her crimes, but how no one imagined she was capable of them—until it was too late.

Letby used a range of disturbing methods. In some cases, she injected air into babies’ bloodstreams. In others, she tampered with feeding tubes, poisoned infants with insulin, or physically assaulted them. She committed these acts in a place built to protect the most vulnerable. And she did so with a terrifying calm.

Doctors and consultants had begun raising concerns as early as mid-2015 when a sudden spike in unexplained collapses and infant deaths emerged. Despite repeated internal warnings, hospital management initially dismissed the patterns. Some even defended Letby and pressured staff to stop questioning her involvement.

It wasn’t until 2018 that police formally launched an investigation into the deaths. After painstaking review of medical records, autopsy reports, and internal emails, authorities arrested Letby in 2018, 2019, and finally in 2020, when she was formally charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.

During her trial, which ran for nearly 10 months, prosecutors described Letby as a calculated killer who struck when no one was watching. She often worked night shifts. She recorded disturbing notes, including one that read, “I am evil, I did this.”

Despite denying all charges, the jury found her guilty in August 2023 of seven murders and seven attempted murders, making her the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history.

Letby showed no visible remorse during her sentencing and even refused to appear in court to face the victims’ families. The judge sentenced her to a whole-life order, meaning she will never be eligible for release.

Letby’s case shook the UK’s medical and legal communities to the core. The idea that a nurse—someone trained to heal—could become a predator inside a neonatal unit left the country in disbelief. The British government has since launched an independent public inquiry, aiming to expose not only Letby’s crimes but also how institutional failures allowed her to kill over and over without immediate consequence.

The case raised disturbing questions. How did hospital administrators ignore the warnings? Why weren’t earlier signs of tampering enough to trigger police involvement? And how many lives could have been saved if someone had simply listened?

The Letby case forces us to confront something painful: evil doesn’t always come with a warning. Sometimes it blends in, smiles politely, and signs the night shift log like everyone else.

For me, this case hits harder than most. It’s not just about loss. It’s about trust—broken in the most sacred space imaginable.