List of serial killers by number of victims
Name Country Years active Proven victims Possible victims Notes
Carl Eugene Watts United States 1974 to 1982 14 80+ Believed to have killed over 80 women in multiple states , in 1982 Watts accepted a plea bargain in Texas in which he would plead guilty to a lesser charge and be granted immunity from murder charges in exchange for providing information on his victims ; as a result he confessed to 12 murders and was sentenced to 60 years in prison on the lesser charge . He was sentenced to life imprisonment in separate trials in Michigan in 2004 and 2007 , and died of cancer a week after the 2007 sentence was handed down
Philipp Tyurin Soviet Union 1945 to 1946 14 29 Known as the Leningrad Maniac and the Hellraiser ; murdered people for monetary reasons at his hut in Leningrad ; executed 1947
Zdzisław Marchwicki Poland 1964 to 1970 14 21+ Also known as Vampire of Zagłębie . Killed 14 women in 1964-1970 in Poland 's region of Dąbrowa Basin . Zdzisław Marchwicki was most likely the man responsible for the killings ; however , his guilt remains in dispute . Executed in 1977
Monster of Florence Italy 1968 to 1985 14 16 Unidentified killer who shot couples in lovers lanes and mutilated the women , taking their sexual organs and in the last two cases , also their left breast . 69-year-old farmer Pietro Pacciani was controversially convicted of 14 crimes in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison , but he was released following allegations that the scant evidence had been planted in an attempt to close the case , which was by then the largest and most mediatic in Italy 's criminal history . Pacciani was scheduled for retrial in 1998 when he died after taking medication contraindicated to his heart problems . Pacciani 's two alleged accomplices , Mario Vanni and Giancarlo Lotti , were sentenced to life and 30 years in prison , respectively . Some believe that none of the accused were guilty , and that Lotti incriminated himself and the other two because he was homeless and wanted to live in prison
Joachim Kroll West Germany 1955 to 1976 14 Known as the Ruhr Cannibal and The Duisburg Man-Eater ; died from a heart attack in prison in 1991
Arthur Shawcross United States 1972 to 1989 14 Committed arson and burglary , served two years of a five-year sentence . Within a year of his release , he raped and murdered two children in 1972 . Under a plea bargain , he was sentenced to 25 years . Released after serving 14 1 / 2 years , he began killing again a year later , targeting prostitutes . Known as the Genesee River Killer , Genesee River Strangler , Rochester Strangler , and Monster of the Rivers , he strangled and battered his victims . Sentenced to life without parole . Died of cardiac arrest in 2008
The Doodler United States 1974 to 1975 14 Unidentified serial killer who sketched then stabbed to death 14 gay men in San Francisco . Surviving victims did not wish to testify , so the killer was not identified
Marcelo Costa de Andrade Brazil 1991 14 Known as The Vampire of Niterói . Raped and killed 14 children in Rio de Janeiro and Niterói . Drank the blood of his victims . Found not guilty by reason of insanity
Julio Pérez Silva Chile 1998 to 2001 14 Known as The Psychopath from Alto Hospicio ; killed 14 women . Sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004
Sergey Shipilov Russia 1995 to 1999 14 Known as the Velsk Chikatilo ; killed female hitchhikers in the town of Velsk , most of them while out on prison leave ; sentenced to life imprisonment
Abdufatto Zamanov Russia 2002 to 2004 14 Killed people out of personal hostility ; also raped two young girls ; sentenced to life imprisonment
Jeong Nam-gyu South Korea 2004 to 2006 14 Kidnapped , raped and murdered people ; committed suicide
Amir Qayyum Pakistan 2005 14 Known as The brick killer . Killed 14 homeless men with rocks or bricks when they were asleep . Sentenced to death in May 2006
Jake Bird United States 1930s to 1947 13 44 Sentenced to death for the murders of two people ; confessed to 44 other murders ; 11 were substantiated and he was suspected in the others . Executed by hanging in 1949
Belle Gunness United States 1900 ? to 1908 ? 13 40+ Norwegian-born murder-for-profit killer who murdered her suitors and relatives in Indiana . High possibility of committing over 40 murders . May have faked her own death in the fire that destroyed her home in 1908 ; her children had died of strychnine poisoning before the fire , and the woman 's body found next to them was decapitated and , reportedly , smaller than Gunness ' own . Ultimate fate unknown
Cleveland Torso Murderer United States 1934 to 1938 13 40+ Unidentified serial killer , also known as The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run , who targeted drifters and derelicts , of whom only two were identified , between 1934 and 1938 in Cleveland , Ohio
Kaspars Petrovs Latvia 2003 13 38+ Confessed to strangling 38 elderly residents of Riga , Latvia , in 2003 . Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the robbery and murder of 13
Richard Ramirez United States 1984 to 1985 13 20 Killed 13 people between 28 June 1984 , and 24 August 1985 , in Los Angeles . Known as the Night Stalker . Ramirez was sentenced to death in 1989 , and died of B-cell lymphoma in 2013 while still on death row
Sleepy Hollow Killer South Africa South Africa 1990s to 2007 13 16+ Raped and murdered women , mostly sex workers , around Pietermaritzburg and the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal
Peter Sutcliffe United Kingdom 1975 to 1980 13 15 Killed 13 women between 30 October 1975 , and 17 November 1980 . Most victims were killed by a combination of bludgeoning and stabbing , and all but two were killed in the county of Yorkshire . Owing to the modus operandi and location of the murders , Sutcliffe became known as the Yorkshire Ripper . Sentenced to 20 concurrent life sentences . After three years he was sent to a secure psychiatric facility , where he served 25 years before being found fit to leave in 2009 . Government officials and courts ruled in 2010 that he will never be released . In 2015 , he was declared no longer mentally ill , and transferred to a maximum security prison
Serial killers with 10 to 14 proven victims
This part of the list contains all serial killers with less than 15 proven victims who acted alone and were neither medical professionals nor contract killers .
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, in two or more separate events over a period of time, for primarily psychological reasons. There are gaps of time between the killings, which may range from a few days to months, or many years. This list shows serial killers from the 20th century to present day by number of victims. In many cases, the exact number of victims assigned to a serial killer is not known, and even if that person is convicted of a few, there can be the possibility that they killed many more. Organization and ranking of serial killings is made difficult by the complex nature of serial killers and incomplete knowledge of the full extent of many killers' crimes. To address this, multiple categories have been provided in order to more accurately describe the nature of certain serial murders. This is not a reflection of an individual's overall rank, which may or may not vary depending on personal opinion concerning the nature and circumstances of their crimes. The fourth column in the table states the number of victims definitely assigned to that particular serial killer, and thus the table is in order of that figure. The fifth column states the number of possible victims the killer could have murdered. Some of these crimes are unsolved, but were included because they are the work of a serial killer, despite nobody being caught. This list does not necessarily include war criminals or members of democidal governments, such as Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo, Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, or Pol Pot. Only serial killers with 10 confirmed or suspected murders should be included on this list.