Straight Killers

Harold Frederick Shipman became one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history after murdering patients under his care while working as a general practitioner in England. Convicted of 15 murders in 2000, a subsequent public inquiry concluded he had likely killed at least 215 patients, with some estimates suggesting the true total exceeded 250. Shipman's abuse of trust, combined with the enormous scale of his crimes, fundamentally changed patient safety, death certification, and medical oversight throughout the United Kingdom.

Herbert William Mullin became one of California's most infamous serial killers after murdering 13 people in and around Santa Cruz between October 1972 and February 1973. Mullin later claimed he believed the killings were necessary to prevent catastrophic earthquakes, a delusion linked to severe mental illness. His short but deadly murder spree ended with his arrest in February 1973, and his case remains one of the most widely studied examples of psychosis and serial homicide in the United States.

Israel Keyes became one of America's most infamous serial killers after carrying out a series of meticulously planned murders across multiple states between 2001 and 2012. Unlike many serial offenders, Keyes travelled extensively, buried "kill kits" years in advance, and deliberately selected victims with no personal connection to him. Although he confessed to eight murders, investigators believe the true number of victims may never be known due to his suicide before revealing the full extent of his crimes.

Ivan Milat was an Australian serial killer responsible for the murders of multiple backpackers in New South Wales between 1989 and 1992. His crimes became one of the most notorious cases in Australian criminal history. Milat targeted travellers and used deception to gain their trust before carrying out violent attacks. He was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, remaining incarcerated until his death in 2019.

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.

James Toliver Craig, an Aurora, Colorado, dentist, murdered his wife of 23 years, Angela Craig, by poisoning her over a ten-day period in March 2023. Prosecutors established that Craig secretly obtained arsenic, cyanide and tetrahydrozoline while Angela repeatedly became seriously ill and required hospital treatment, ultimately administering a fatal dose of cyanide while she was hospitalised. Investigators uncovered internet searches about lethal and difficult-to-detect poisons, financial difficulties and extramarital affairs, while Craig later attempted to manufacture evidence supporting a suicide narrative and solicited the murder of the lead detective. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder and five solicitation charges in July 2025, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Jamie Reynolds murdered 17-year-old Georgia Williams in Wellington, Shropshire, on 26 May 2013 after luring his friend to his parents' home under the pretence of taking photographs. Reynolds had meticulously planned the killing around his fascination with hanging and violent pornography, using a ligature to strangle Georgia before sexually abusing her body and abandoning her in woodland near Wrexham. He fled the area but was arrested in Glasgow three days later. Reynolds pleaded guilty to murder in December 2013 and was sentenced to a whole-life prison term, meaning he will never be released.

Jared James Dicus murdered his 21-year-old wife, Anggy Diaz, at their home in Waller County, Texas, on January 11, 2023, less than three months after they were married. After killing Diaz with a kitchen knife, Dicus decapitated and partially dismembered her body before confessing to investigators. He later pleaded guilty to murder, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in July 2024, waived his right to appeal and any insanity defense, and remained incarcerated until his death in prison in January 2026 from a self-inflicted injury.