Robert Keller - The Deadly Dozen: Americas 12 Worst Serial Killers

Compiling any Best of or Worst of list throws up a number of challenges for the author, and that is particularly true when the selection criteria is not easily quantifiable. Now wait a moment, I hear you say, surely the worst serial killers are those with the highest number of victims?

Lets examine that idea for a moment.

According to Wikipedia.com, the 12 most prolific serial killers in American history (with victim numbers in parenthesis) are; Gary Ridgeway (49); Donald Harvey (37); Theodore Robert Bundy (35); John Wayne Gacy (33); Jane Toppan (31); Dean Corll (28); Juan Corona (25); Wayne Williams (24); Ronald Dominique (23); Earle Nelson (22); Patrick Kearney (21); and William Bonin (21).

A horrible collective, Im sure youll agree. But a quick glance at the list tells me that Ive included only five of these cases on my Worst of list.

Why is that?

Well, first off, victim numbers are not as reliable as they at first seem. Generally, these figures are derived from murders for which the killer has been convicted. But it is not uncommon for jurisdictions to opt out of putting a serial killer on trial for a particular murder. This may apply if the killer has already been convicted elsewhere, or if the prosecution does not believe they have a winnable case.

Then theres the issue of confessions. Serial killers (and psychopaths in general) are habitual liars. Often, as in the cases of Henry Lee Lucas and Donald Leroy Evans, they claim credit for crimes they didnt commit. In other instances, theyll withhold information for use as a bargaining tool, or as a means of taunting the authorities or the victims families. As a result, published victim numbers tend to be unreliable.

And are victim numbers the best criteria for ranking such a list anyway? What about level of depravity? What about degree of infamy?

Yes, I know these criteria are nebulous, but should they not play a part? If the intention is to compile a list of the worst serial killers, then I believe they must, since relying solely on victim count would exclude such infamous psychos as David Berkowitz and Jeffrey Dahmer.

In the end, a list such as the one presented in this book, comes down to the authors own particular bias, the cases that fascinate or frighten him. That is certainly the filter Ive applied, selecting cases based on a loose conglomeration of ranking factors, including the aforementioned, victim count, level of depravity, and degree of infamy. Ive also added another metric. Call it the fear factor, call it the degree of creepiness, the ability of a case to get under ones skin.

The decision to cap the list at 12 also means that a number of notorious cases have been omitted. Those that almost made the cut, but didnt, include the Hillside Strangler, Earle Nelson, Wayne Williams and Coral Watts. Perhaps they might form the basis for another book.

Here then are the 12 deadly psychopaths I consider to be the worst serial killers in American criminal history.

: Known as the Son of Sam, Berkowitz was a deeply disturbed young man who prowled the streets of New York dispensing death with his .44 caliber revolver.

: One of a trio of deadly psychopaths who trawled the freeways of Southern California during the late 70s and early 80s. Bonin was a depraved child killer who abducted, raped and tortured more than 20 teenaged boys.

: Albert De Salvo took the fall but most experts agree that he was not the Strangler. So who was the real killer? And how did he get away with the series of brutal murders that so terrified the citizens of Boston?

: Charming, intelligent and lethal, Bundy is Americas most notorious serial killer, a deadly fiend who cut a swathe of destruction across the country, raping, killing and committing necrophilia on his young victims.

: Along with two willing teenaged accomplices, Corll orchestrated what was at the time the biggest murder spree in American history, raping torturing and killing at least 25 young boys.

: Hideously depraved killer who preyed on young homosexual men in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, cannibalizing them and conducting bizarre experiments on their bodies.

: He looked like a frail old man, but Albert Fish was actually a psychotic child killer and torturer, with a taste for human flesh.

: Cold-hearted killer who raped, tortured and strangled at least 33 young men, burying their bodies in the crawlspace of his Chicago house.

: The least well known of Californias three Freeway Killers. And yet Kraft was both the most prolific and the most depraved, responsible for the torture killings of as many as 67 young men.

: Known as the BTK Killer (after his M.O.: B ind, T orture, K ill) Radar held the citizens of Wichita, Kansas in a state of fear for over 30 years, during which time he claimed 10 known victims.

: A satanic burglar who went by the terrifying pseudonym,

The Night Stalker, Ramirez raped, battered, shot and stabbed his victims during a bloody reign of terror in 1980s Los Angeles.

: As the horrific Green River Killer, Ridgeway engaged the Washington police in a deadly game of cat and mouse, claiming more that 60 victims over two decades.