Austin has its first known serial killer in 138 years, but questions remain on Rainey Street deaths (2024)

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Austin has its first known serial killer in 138 years, but questions remain on Rainey Street deaths? ›

The Servant Girl Annihilator, also known as the Austin Axe Murderer and the Midnight Assassin, was an unidentified American serial killer who preyed upon the city of Austin, Texas, between 1884 and 1885. The sobriquet originated with the writer O. Henry.

The Servant Girl Annihilator, also known as the Austin Axe Murderer and the Midnight Assassin, was an unidentified American serial killer who preyed upon the city of Austin, Texas, between 1884 and 1885. The sobriquet originated with the writer O. Henry.

Jack the Ripper (Unidentified Serial Killer ∼1888)

Jack the Ripper may be a name that everyone knows, but no one can be certain of his true identity. Whoever he (or she) really was, Jack the Ripper was definitely deranged.

The unidentified killer Jack the Ripper, who has been called the first modern serial killer, killed at least five women, and possibly more, in London in 1888. He was the subject of a massive manhunt and investigation by the Metropolitan Police, during which many modern criminal investigation techniques were pioneered.

The 1980s were a time of notorious serial killers—Jeffrey Dahmer, Aileen Wuornos, Samuel Little—but also of advances in forensics that helped lead to their capture.

Austin has its first known serial killer since the "Servant Girl Annihilator" was believed to have killed eight women in 1885, according to city authorities. They never captured a suspect in that case.

AUSTIN, Texas — A man suspected of killing multiple people over the course of more than 40 years was arrested by the Austin Police Department, and they're calling him a "serial killer." Raul Meza Jr., 62, confessed to the fatal stabbing of his 80-year-old roommate in Pflugerville and was later connected to the death of ...

Try refreshing the page. H.H. Holmes, byname of Herman Mudgett, (born May 16, 1861?, Gilmanton, New Hampshire, U.S.—died May 7, 1896, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), American swindler and confidence trickster who is widely considered the country's first known serial killer.

America's first prolific serial killer designed a castle of crime with only murder and malice in mind. A man of many alias and few scruples, H.H. Holmes horrified the nation. Inspired by the riches of insurance fraud, Holmes murdered men, women, and children across the country. Read more about it!

Aileen Wuornos, 46, was executed by lethal injection on Oct. 9, 2002, for the deaths of six men along Central Florida highways in 1989 and 1990. She was known as America's first female serial killer. Wuornos appears in court in December 1991.

Who is the most famous serial killer in real life? ›

The most prolific modern serial killer is arguably doctor Harold Shipman, with 218 probable murders and possibly as many as 250 (see "Medical professionals", below). However, he was actually convicted of a sample of 15 murders.

The U.S. records more than twice the number of serial killers as the next 25 countries combined. Reports of serial killers spiked in America starting in the 1950s and peaked in the 1980s.

The FBI did not recognize female serial killers until the 1990s. They called these crimes sexual killing, and sexual killing is almost always indicative of a male murderer. But there are well-known women who murdered far more victims than men did. Jolly Jane Toppan was a nurse in Boston in the late 1800s.

The "Zodiac Killer," a self-given pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s, and whose crimes are widely considered the most famous unsolved murder case in American history.

As mentioned, most serial killers target vulnerable people. These are often young people who have high-risk lifestyles, especially sex workers.

Kenneth Allen McDuff (March 21, 1946 – November 17, 1998) was an American serial killer.

Price committed his first murder at the age of 13 in Warwick, Rhode Island on the night of July 27, 1987, Price broke into a home that was only two houses away from his own whereupon he took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed 27-year-old Rebecca Spencer 58 times, killing her.

Charles Frederick Albright (August 10, 1933 – August 22, 2020) also known as the Eyeball Killer, was an American murderer and suspected serial killer from Texas who was convicted of killing one woman and suspected of killing two others in 1991.

Larry Hall was born as a twin in Wabash, Indiana on December 11, 1962, to parents Robert Hall, a cemetery worker, and Aera Hall, a homemaker. He spent his first few days in a neonatal intensive care unit due to lack of oxygen after his twin brother Gary "fed on him in the womb" in a monochorionic pregnancy.

Who is the legendary serial killer? ›

Jeffrey Dahmer

It was there that some of the gruesome details of his life of killing were seen via photos of mutilated bodies and body parts strewn across the apartment. He even had a vat of acid he used to dispose of victims. In all, Dahmer killed 17 people, mostly young men of color.

Investigators say Raul Meza, 62, may be responsible for a dozen murders, including the stabbing death of an elderly man in Pflugerville earlier this month. It comes more than 40 years after Meza pled guilty to raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl in South Austin.

Eight-year-old Amarjeet Sada was all smiles when he was brought to the police station in 2007 in connection with the murder of an infant. Sada, known as the world's youngest serial killer, was held after three murders, two of which went unreported.

Ana di Pištonja, also known as Baba Anujka or even the Banat Witch, was an accomplished amateur chemist who used her skills to kill up to 150 people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In April, 1873 on a homestead in Labette County, Kansas, another of these stories was unfolding—one that would leave a local family with a nickname that remains infamous almost 150 years later. This is the story of the Bloody Benders, America's first family of serial killers.

Amelia Elizabeth Dyer (née Hobley; 1836 – 10 June 1896), popularly dubbed the Ogress of Reading, was an English serial killer who murdered infants in her care over a thirty-year period during the Victorian era.

Aileen Wuornos, in full Aileen Carol Wuornos, originally Aileen Pittman, (born February 29, 1956, Rochester, Michigan, U.S.—died October 9, 2002, Starke, Florida), American serial killer who murdered at least seven people in 1989–90.

But both Hitler and Stalin were outdone by Mao Zedong. From 1958 to 1962, his Great Leap Forward policy led to the deaths of up to 45 million people—easily making it the biggest episode of mass murder ever recorded.

What city has the most serial killers? ›

New York. Coming in at number one, we have New York. As of 2023, New York has been home to 18 serial killers, and has a total number of 677 serial killer victims.

John George Haigh (/heɪɡ/; 24 July 1909 – 10 August 1949), commonly known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine.

In addition, 82 percent of American serial killers were white, 15 percent were black, and 2.5 percent were Hispanic.

Even though there are fewer serial killers stalking American streets, the culture at large remains fascinated by the horrific, sordid tales of who Fox calls “the legacy killers.” Serial killers may have an oversized cultural presence given how unlikely it is for people to encounter them, but Fox says it is still ...

The Phillipines have never spawned a documented a verified serial killer, though some have made claims that they are serial killers. No evidence has supported these claims. There is no question that serial killers, while found in many countries, are more prolific in Western countries.

There has been around 60 notorious female serial killers in United States history.

Richard Ramirez, in full Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez, byname Night Stalker, (born February 29, 1960, El Paso, Texas, U.S.—died June 7, 2013, Greenbrae, California), American serial killer, rapist, and burglar who murdered at least 13 people in California in 1984–85.

Some believe that Jack the Ripper once walked the streets of Austin, where he perfected his grisly art before going to London.

1. Joe Ball. Ball, also known as the Butcher of Elmendorf was a serial killer in Texas who murdered two women who were working at his bar and he buried them on the beach.

Who was the Texas Ranger serial killer? ›

Texas Ranger James Holland was famous for eliciting confessions, especially from serial killers. He'd been credited with obtaining dozens of confessions from a California prisoner named Samuel Little, whom the Federal Bureau of Investigation was calling the “most prolific” murderer in U.S. history.

H.H. Holmes, byname of Herman Mudgett, (born May 16, 1861?, Gilmanton, New Hampshire, U.S.—died May 7, 1896, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), American swindler and confidence trickster who is widely considered the country's first known serial killer.

In recent years, an American serial killer called H.H. Holmes has been put in the frame as a likely candidate to be Jack the Ripper. Dr H.H. Holmes is regarded as America's first ever serial killer after he confessed to murdering over 20 people in his infamous Illinois “hotel” in the late 19th century.

The evidence that proves the identity of Jack the Ripper

A shawl found by the body of Catherine Eddowes that contains 'forensic stains' has been used to identify the killer as Aaron Kosminski, a 23-year-old barber from Poland.

A forensic investigation published in Journal of Forensic Sciences has identified the killer as Aaron Kosminski, a 23-year-old Polish barber and prime suspect at the time.

New York. Coming in at number one, we have New York. As of 2023, New York has been home to 18 serial killers, and has a total number of 677 serial killer victims. David Richard Berkowitz, known as “The Son of Sam,” is New York's most infamous serial killer.

New York is the state with the most serial killers, with a total of 18 serial killers born in the state. California comes in as the second state with the most serial killers, with 15, followed by Texas with 8, and Illinois and Ohio with 7 each.

Billy Kipkorir Chemirmir (born December 8, 1972) is a Kenyan convicted murderer and suspected serial killer accused of the murders of elderly women in Dallas, Texas and its surrounding suburbs. As of June 2022, Chemirmir has been indicted for 22 murders. As of October 2022 he has been convicted of two of the murders.

Who was the real Texas Ranger? ›

“Walker lived more in his short life than your average ten men live in their long lives combined. He is the Walker, Texas Ranger, that should be most remembered.”