The 10 Biggest Serial Killers in History - All Top Everything (2024)

Killed around 650 people (all girls & women)

Born: August 7, 1560 in Nyirbator, Kingdom of Hungary
Died: August 21, 1614 in Csejthe, Kingdom of Hungary (modern-day Cachtice, Slovakia)

Nationality: Hungarian
Profession: Countess of the noble Bathory Family
Span of killings: 1590 – 1610
Location of killings: The Cachtice Castle in modern-day Cachtice, Slovakia

Modus operandi: Tortured and killed young women and girls (usually orphans, widows and peasant women)
Punishment: Arrested in 1610 and sentenced to life imprisonment (died in prison four years later)

Killed around 600 people (all underage boys & girls)

Born: (exact day unknown) 1405 in Champtoce-sur-Loire, Duchy of Anjou, Kingdom of France
Died: October 26, 1440 in Nantes, Duchy of Brittany, Kingdom of France

Nationality: French
Profession: Lord, knight and commander in the French Army during the Hundred Years War
Span of killings: 1432 – 1440
Location of killings: Throughout northwestern France (especially in Anjou & Brittany)

Modus operandi: Kidnapped, raped and killed young boys and girls from poor families he encountered throughout Northwestern France
Punishment: Arrested in September 1440 and hanged to death a month later

Killed around 400 people (all underage boys & girls)

Born: (exact day unknown) 1836 in Bristol, England, UK
Died: June 10, 1896 in London, England, UK

Nationality: British
Profession: Nurse & baby farmer
Span of killings: 1880 – 1896
Location of killings: Bristol, England & later in Reading, England

Modus operandi: Murdered the orphaned and unwanted children she previously adopted for financial reasons
Punishment: Arrested in April 1896 and hanged to death around two months later

Killed around 350 people (all underage girls)

Born: October 8, 1948 in Santa Isabel, Tolima, Colombia
(possibly still alive)

Nationality: Colombian
Profession: None (occasional car thief)
Span of killings: 1969 – 2002 (possibly ongoing)
Location of killings: Andes region of Colombia, Peru and Ecuador

Modus operandi: Raped and murdered underage girls
Punishment: Arrested in 1978 in Peru but released without charge, arrested in 1980 in Ecuador and sentenced to prison until 1994, then deported to Colombia, where he was declared insane and admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Bogota, Colombia. Released from there in 1998.

In 2002, he was suspected to have murdered another girl and is currently wanted by Interpol. His whereabouts remain unknown, however.

Killed around 200 people

Born: May 15, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, USA
Died: May 7, 1896 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Nationality: American
Profession: Businessman & insurance fraudster
Span of killings: unknown start – 1894
Location of killings: Mostly in Chicago, USA, some in several other places in the USA and also in Toronto, Canada

Modus operandi: Killed men, women, and children at random, including friends and family members, and made their bodies disappear afterward. In Chicago, he bought a two-story building which he turned into his “murder castle” and lured his victims there.
Punishment: Arrested in 1894 and hanged to death two years later

Killed around 150 people (all underage girls)

Born: January 22, 1930 in Anolaima, Cundinamarca, Colombia
Died: November 13, 1994 in Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Nationality: Colombian
Profession: Street vendor & occasional thief
Span of killings: Early 1970s – 1986
Location of killings: Barranquilla, Colombia & Guayaquil, Ecuador

Modus operandi: Lured young girls from poor families into forest areas, where he first raped and then strangled them to death
Punishment: Arrested in 1974 in Colombia and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but he escaped prison in 1984 and fled to Ecuador where he continued his killing spree. Arrested again in 1986 in Ecuador and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

In 1994 he was killed in an Ecuadorian prison by an inmate who was the nephew of one of the girls Camargo murdered.

Killed around 140 people (all underage boys)

Born: January 25, 1957 in Genova, Quindio, Colombia
(still alive)

Nationality: Colombian
Profession: Member of a criminal gang & casual laborer
Span of killings: 1992 – 1999
Location of killings: All throughout Colombia

Modus operandi: Targeted young boys aged 6 to 16 from poor families or orphanages, then raped and murdered them
Punishment: Arrested in 1999 and sentenced to 1,853 years in prison (still imprisoned as of now)

Killed around 125 people (all men)

Born: (exact day unknown) 1765 (birthplace unknown)
Died: (exact day unknown) 1840 in Jabalpur, British-owned India

Nationality: Indian
Profession: Leader of the Thuggee cult
Span of killings: 1790 – 1840
Location of killings: North-Central India

Modus operandi: Alongside his cult followers (“Thuggees”) he ambushed and robbed travelers and merchants, then strangled them to death in a ceremonial ritual
Punishment: Arrested in 1840 by British officers and hanged to death in the same year