Albert Fish preyed on young children in the early 1900s, molesting, murdering, and even cannibalizing them. He wasn't caught until the 1930s, when three of his most horrifying crimes came to light.
"The Boogey Man", AKA Albert Fish, attacked over 100 children, many of them unidentified. A traumatic childhood created a twisted old man, tormented by religious delusions and sick sexual fantasies.
He had no pattern. No victim type. No consistent MO. And he killed across the country. Nicknamed the "Casanova Killer" for his good looks, Paul John Knowles confounded the police.
A lust killer who dreamed to be known as an outlaw, Paul John Knowles sought infamy. He was so desperate to be remembered; he recorded his own confession to multiple murders while still a free man, and shared the tapes with his lawyer.
He targeted and killed multiple women in the 1980's; then mysteriously disappeared. Fourteen years later, he started killing again. Why would he stop? And why, after so long, would he come back?
Lonnie Franklin Jr. offered rides to Los Angeles women, only to kill them, photograph them, and leave their bodies to be found like trash on the street.
"The Giggling Granny", Nannie Doss' home cooked meals were served with a side of poison. Was she suffering from Munchausen-by-Proxy, or did she just feel trapped by mid-20th century society?
Behind the cheerful demeanor of a sweet southern grandma, lurked a vicious killer. Nannie Doss poisoned her husbands, killed her children, and even went after her own mother.
Struggling with a low IQ, Gary Ridgway always wanted to be the best at just one thing. That one thing turned out to be serial murder. The most prolific American serial killer, Ridgway claims to have killed almost eighty women.
What makes someone evil? And how evil is Gary, serial killer and necrophiliac? Greg and Vanessa discuss his sex addiction, how he lured his victims, and the great lengths he went to in order to evade the police for nearly twenty years.
Norwegian immigrant Belle Gunness was one of America's deadliest black widows. Suitors answering her personal ads seeking romance found themselves at the wrong end of Belle's meat cleaver.
A fire rages at black widow Belle Gunness's murder farm, where her many victims lie buried below her hog pen. After deputies find a headless woman's body in the ashes, authorities believe that Belle was murdered by her jealous farmhand.
Nurses are trained to save lives. But this nurse killed. Charles Cullen overdosed his elderly patients on digoxin and insulin, passing off over 40 deaths as natural before authorities finally got involved.
Charles Cullen was one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. As a nurse, he went from hospital to hospital, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.
Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom was meant to be a place for people to dance and enjoy themselves. Instead, Bible John, one of Scotland's most infamous serial killers, used the dance hall as a hunting ground.
Bible John left gruesomely specific crime scenes. This week, Greg and Vanessa scrutinize this killer's disturbing methods for any semblance of meaning.
After meeting at Alpine Manor in Michigan, nurses' aides Gwen Graham and Cathy Wood began a romantic relationship that eventually earned them the nickname "The Lethal Lovers."
He's the world's most famous killer. But how could a series of crimes committed in a few weeks in 1888 still be so famous nearly 130 years after the fact?
He was never caught. So why did Jack the Ripper stop killing? In the finale, Greg, Vanessa, Carter, and Wenndy follow the years-long search for Jack the Ripper, ranging from bloodhound trials to DNA testing.
One of the most prolific serial killers ever to live, Andrei Chikatilo murdered 53 people between 1978 and 1990. Greg and Vanessa examine how Chikatilo was molded by the horrors of World War II in Ukraine and then the Soviet Union.
Andrei Chikatilo killed with increasing frequency over twelve years. Greg and Vanessa explain how the Soviet system of criminal profiling allowed a monster like Chikatilo to evade the police.
William Bonin drove California's freeways, picking up hitchhiking men and boys and driving them to their deaths. As a child, he was abused by almost everyone he met, family, classmates and authority figures.
When Myra Hindley, an ambitious, yet violent, young woman met Ian Brady, an unemotional man with a twisted mind, their deepening love became a source of tragedy.
Known as the "Killer Clown," Gacy tortured and then murdered at least 33 teenage boys. But for many years, he appeared to be an outstanding member of his community...all while hiding his victims' bodies underneath his house.
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, young peasant girls who went to the Castle Cachtice were being led to death at the hands of the Blood Countess.
During his medical career, Shipman rose to be a respectable family doctor who treated his patients with outstanding care. Behind closed doors, he operated as Dr. Death, and injected his victims with deadly doses of diamorphine.
In 1986, Ahmad Suradji had dreamed of becoming a mystic healer in his community. But this dream also led him to believe he could become invincible - by murdering young women and slurping their saliva.
Many people innocently dream of having super powers. But Ahmad Suradji's dreams led him to become a murderous "Sorcerer from Hell" who killed 42 women in his quest to become invincible.
Patrick Wayne Kearney was born in Los Angeles, California in 1939. As a child, he was tormented relentlessly by schoolmates, and found happiness in slaughtering animals.
After luring in victims using a false sense of security, Patrick Wayne Kearney earned his title as "The Trash Bag Killer" by murdering a confirmed 21 young men and leaving their remains in trash bags.
From 1962 to 1964, Albert DeSalvo took advantage of this trust. He swayed women into letting him through the front door, only to leave them as victims of "The Boston Strangler."
After being admitted to Bridgewater State Hospital, Albert DeSalvo began confiding in other patients, bragging about his crimes and admitting he was the Boston Strangler.
After his girlfriend Maria was murdered by gang members, Pedro Rodrigues Filho made it his mission to avenge her death, and kill as many criminals as possible.
Henry Lee Lucas served only 10 years for killing his abusive mother. After being released early due to overcrowding, he longed for a sense of family and befriended fellow murderer Ottis Toole.
Kathleen Folbigg was born in Australia on June 14, 1967. As a child, she grew up in a foster home and only discovered as a teenager that her birth mother was murdered by her father.
Luis Garavito was born in Colombia in 1957 to an abusive, alcoholic father and a time of civil unrest. At the age of sixteen, Garavito was kicked out of the house.