Deceased Killers

Charles Whitman was an American mass murderer responsible for the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting in Austin. Prior to the attack, he killed members of his family before carrying out a public shooting that resulted in multiple deaths and injuries. The incident became one of the earliest widely documented mass shootings in modern U.S. history. Whitman was killed by police during the attack, ending the event.

Clifford Robert Olson Jr., known as the "Beast of British Columbia," was a Canadian serial killer who murdered 11 children and teenagers in British Columbia between November 1980 and July 1981. His victims, eight girls and three boys, ranged from nine to 17 years old and were abducted from communities around Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Olson was arrested in August 1981 after police surveillance caught him attempting to pick up two young hitchhikers. He pleaded guilty to 11 counts of first-degree murder in January 1982 and received 11 concurrent life sentences with no parole eligibility for 25 years. He remained imprisoned until his death from cancer in September 2011.

Colin Ireland became one of the United Kingdom's most infamous serial killers after murdering five gay men in London over a seven-week period in 1993. Seeking notoriety, Ireland later admitted he deliberately set out to become a serial killer after reading an article suggesting Britain had none. Nicknamed the "Gay Slayer," he targeted men he met in London pubs before strangling them in their own homes. His brief but deadly murder spree shocked Britain and remains one of the country's most disturbing examples of predatory serial homicide.

Damian Rzeszowski was convicted of six counts of manslaughter after killing his wife Izabela, their children Kinga and Kacper, his father-in-law Marek Garstka, and family friend Marta de la Haye and her daughter Julia in St Helier, Jersey, on August 14, 2011. Rzeszowski attacked the victims with kitchen knives during a violent episode following the breakdown of his marriage. His defence successfully argued diminished responsibility caused by severe depression and psychotic symptoms, and he was cleared of murder. He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for each victim, to run concurrently. Rzeszowski died by suicide in prison in 2018.

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.

David Parker Ray became one of the most infamous serial offenders in American history after constructing a soundproof torture chamber inside a trailer on his property in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Known as the "Toy-Box Killer," Ray was convicted of kidnapping, torture, and sexual offences against multiple women. Although investigators suspected he murdered numerous victims over several decades, no homicide convictions were ever secured because no bodies were recovered. His crimes remain among the most disturbing criminal investigations in modern American history.

Dennis Andrew Nilsen became one of the United Kingdom's most infamous serial killers after murdering at least 15 young men and boys in London between 1978 and 1983. Often referred to as the "Muswell Hill Murderer," Nilsen lured vulnerable victims to his home before strangling them and keeping their bodies for extended periods. His crimes were uncovered only after human remains blocked drains at his apartment building, leading to one of Britain's most shocking homicide investigations.

Dezi Freeman became one of Australia’s most notorious fugitives after allegedly murdering two Victorian police officers during a police raid at a rural property near Porepunkah in 2025. The shocking ambush triggered one of the largest manhunts in Australian history after Freeman disappeared into rugged alpine bushland heavily armed and determined to avoid capture. The case generated enormous national attention because Freeman allegedly shot police officers serving a warrant connected to child abuse material investigations before vanishing into the wilderness for more than seven months. His eventual death in a police shootout near the Victoria-New South Wales border in March 2026 brought an end to a massive tactical operation that consumed police resources across multiple states.