How many serial killers have not been caught? Well, according to the FBI, the number of serial killers never caught in the US varies between 25 and 50. American culture has always had a fascination with serial killers. Sometimes, they are elevated to the level of myth.
We want to read more about them. We want to know more about their mystery. Sometimes, sadly, we will never know the true identity of the serial killer.
Today, we will take a look at some of the serial murderers who got away.
The Babysitter
This unidentified serial killer killed at least four children in Oakland County, Michigan between 1976 and 1977. That is how he got the nickname The Babysitter.
He bathed each child prior to the murder. Experts believed he had some form of twisted parental instinct.
At the time, the investigation sent a mass hysteria in the state of Michigan because he only targeted babies and children. Parents got obsessed with educating their children on stranger danger and started several neighborhood watch initiatives.
Each of the children was discovered fully clothed and washed. The case remains open to this day.
Redhead Murderer
He is also famous as the Bible Belt Strangler. He killed between 6 and 11 people from 1978 to 1992 in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania.
The Redhead Murders were a string of killings committed along the Bible Belt in the US in the 1980s. Many of the victims were never identified. The police only knew they had red or reddish hair. The killer dumped their bodies on major highways in the US.
Investigation believed the victims were engaged in either hitchhiking or sex work. A pair of senior citizens discovered the first body along one of the area’s highways in Littleton, West Virginia. But the unsolved murders remain a mystery.
Bible John
This murderer killed his victims at Barrowland Ballroom. He killed 3 victims by rape, beating, and murder from February 1968 to October 1969.
Three young women were murdered in Glasgow, Scotland after attending the Barrowland Ballroom. The police quickly established that the murders were the work of just one man. But there were no clues left behind to find out more.
There have been several suspects over the years. Yet, to this day, Bible John’s true identity remains uncovered and the case remains a mystery.
According to one of the victims that drove in a taxi, he quoted from the Bible, and he said his name was John Templeton or Sempleson. There have been 50,000 witness statements in the files and the police have interviewed more than 1,000 possible suspects. To this day, more than 100 detectives have worked on the case.
Highway of Tears Killers
When you think of serial killers, you probably think of the United States of America. But Canada has had its fair share of brutal murderers. And that list includes the most famous unresolved case, the Highway of Tears killers.
The murders span almost a 50 years period, making it nearly impossible to resolve. Police even believed there have been multiple killers along the Highway of Tears. The first murder happened in 1969 and the last known is in 2011. Between that period, there have been at least 18 and possibly even as many as 40 predominately aboriginal women murdered there.
Zodiac Killer
This killer killed 5 people and injured 2 more between the 1960s and the 1970s. He shocked the nation with the brutality of his crimes and the way in which he toyed with law enforcement. He toyed with both police and the media by sending letters and cryptograms to the press.
The Zodiac killer dared the public to crack his puzzles and catch him. Only one of his letters was ever deciphered, revealing he killed in order to collect slaves for his afterlife.
While he claimed responsibility for 37 murders, the police agree on only seven confirmed attacks, two of which survived. The attacks include a cab driver and three different sets of male-female couples. Two men survived his attack.
The Cleveland Torso Murderer
Also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, he killed victims using decapitation, castration, dismemberment, and more. He killed between 12 and 20 people from 1935 to 1938.
This American serial killer remains unidentified to this day. He targeted drifters, which is why victims have never been identified. You have to remember that back in the 1930s, forensics was not as advanced as it is today.
He had no preference for men or women. He beheaded each victim, and then in some cases, he cut the torso in half.
Alphabet Killer
These murders occurred in the early 1970s in Rochester, New York. The police gave the name Alphabet Murders because all three victims, young girls, had alliterative first and last names. They were Carmen Colon, Wanda Walkowicz, and Michelle Maenza.
He raped and strangled each victim. Like in other cases of serial killers that were never caught, there have been promising leads over the years. But nothing that could lead to the conclusion of the case.
Freeway Phantom
From 1971 to 1972, the Freeway Phantom killed six young black girls between the age of 10 and 18. He abducted each victim while they walked to the store, to school, or to their home. He then raped and strangled them before dumping their bodies along the highway.
He operated in the Washington, DC area. For the second-to-last victim, he left a note, reading, “This is tantamount to my insensitivity to people especially women. I will admit the others when you catch me if you can!” And it was signed as Free-way Phantom.
Long Island Serial Killer
He also goes by aliases The Gilgo Beach Killer, The Seashore Serial Killer, The Craigslist Ripper, and many more.
He targeted prostitutes and escorts, killing between 10 and 16 women from 1996 to 2006. His true identity has never been uncovered.
After killing the women, he dumped their bodies aside along the Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach, Jones Beach State Park, and Oak Beach.
Charlie Chop-Off
Charlie operated in Manhattan from 1972 to 1974, killing 5 black children during that two-year period. He got his nickname because he committed genital mutilation on his male victims.
There has been one suspect for this case. The police arrested Erno Soto in May 1974, after trying to abduct a young boy.
He was a mental patient from the Manhattan State Hospital. Soto confessed to the 1973 murder of an 8-year old Steven Cropper. Sadly, the police could never link him to the rest of the murders.
Servant Girl Annihilator
This is one of America’s earliest serial killers never caught. This person operated from December 1884 to December 1885 and killed 8 people.
He got his nickname for targeting servants, but he also had one male victim. He attacked each murder victim while they slept in their beds. He had to drag several women outside to kill them.
These killings instigated a wave of paranoia and fear in Texas at the time.
The Doodler
This serial killer had a practice sketching his male victims prior to having sex with them and stabbing them to death.
He operated in the San Francisco area from January 1974 to September 1975. He targeted the gay men, claiming 14 lives and injuring three more.
Because of their homosexual life, the surviving victims didn’t want to speak to the police. They feared they might get outed as gays.
Jack the Ripper
This guy is arguably the most iconic serial killer of all time. And that is because he never got caught. Credited for jumpstarting western culture’s serial killer fixation, Jack killed 5 women in the impoverished Whitechapel district of London in 1888.
The media frenzy surrounding the case contributed to public obsession with Jack the Ripper. There are more than 100 theories surrounding the identity of the Ripper.
