Death Row Killers

Christian Longo became one of America’s most notorious family killers after murdering his wife and three young children before fleeing the country and assuming a new identity in Mexico. The horrifying case shocked the United States in 2001 due to the brutality of the crimes and Longo’s efforts to escape responsibility by reinventing himself as a carefree tourist while his family’s bodies were being recovered from the Oregon coast. Longo was portrayed as a manipulative conman who spent years hiding financial fraud, lies and personal failures behind the image of a devoted husband and father. His case later gained worldwide attention through books, documentaries and the film adaptation of True Story, which explored Longo’s deception, narcissism and relationship with journalist Michael Finkel.

David Alan Gore was an American serial killer who, along with his cousin Fred Waterfield, committed at least six murders of women in and around Vero Beach, Florida, from 1981 to 1983. Known collectively as the "Killing Cousins," the pair exploited Gore's position as an auxiliary sheriff's deputy and his knowledge of local citrus groves to lure victims, often using a badge or vehicle to gain trust before subjecting them to sexual assault, torture, and murder.

Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as H.H. Holmes, became one of America's earliest infamous serial killers after carrying out a series of murders during the late nineteenth century. Operating from a specially designed building in Chicago that later became known as the "Murder Castle," Holmes used deception, fraud, and false identities to lure victims. Although he confessed to 27 murders before his execution, historians believe the true number of victims remains uncertain. His case remains one of the most famous in American criminal history.

Justin Jason Keeding, widely known as the “Little Merchant Killer,” became one of the more notorious robbery-murder offenders of the early twentieth century after being linked to violent attacks against rural merchants and storekeepers. Operating during the 1920s, Keeding allegedly targeted isolated business owners in smaller communities, earning his nickname through repeated attacks connected to robbery and financial gain. The case generated significant regional media attention during the era because of the fear surrounding traveling offenders targeting small-town businesses. Authorities portrayed Keeding as a violent drifter willing to kill during robberies, while newspapers sensationalized the crimes through dramatic reporting common during the period. His eventual death in 1926 closed a violent criminal chapter that remained part of regional crime history for years afterward.

John Reginald Halliday Christie became one of the United Kingdom's most infamous serial killers after murdering multiple women, including his wife, at his home in Notting Hill, London, during the 1940s and early 1950s. His crimes, committed at 10 Rillington Place, led to one of Britain's greatest miscarriages of justice when Timothy Evans was wrongly convicted and executed before Christie's guilt was uncovered. The case remains one of the most significant in British criminal history.

John George Haigh, known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer who murdered six people between 1944 and 1949, although he claimed responsibility for three additional killings that could not be substantiated. Haigh targeted people he believed could provide him with financial gain, killing them before dissolving their bodies in concentrated sulphuric acid and exploiting their property and possessions. His final victim, wealthy widow Olive Durand-Deacon, was murdered at his workshop in Crawley, where investigators subsequently discovered human remains and other evidence linking him to the killings. Convicted of murder at Lewes Assizes in July 1949, Haigh was sentenced to death and hanged at Wandsworth Prison on 10 August 1949.

John Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer and sex offender who murdered multiple victims in Illinois during the 1970s. He became widely known for maintaining a public image as a community figure while committing crimes in secret. Gacy’s case gained notoriety due to the scale of his offences and the contrast between his outward persona and his actions. He was later convicted and sentenced to death, becoming one of the most infamous serial killers in U.S. history.

Mark Howard Wilson Jr. was convicted of murdering brothers Robert Baker, 12, and Tayten Baker, 14, in Melrose, Florida, on August 26, 2020. Wilson was the boyfriend of the boys' aunt, Cynthia Guinan, and had moved with her and their young daughter into a shed on the Baker family's property only five days before the killings. Robert and Tayten were found beaten with a hammer and had their throats cut. Wilson was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, burglary with assault or battery and armed burglary. A jury unanimously recommended death, and in January 2023 a judge sentenced him to death for both murders. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentences in May 2025.