Victim Targets - Men

Stanley "Tookie" Williams was an influential Los Angeles gang figure who co-founded the Crips with Raymond Washington before being convicted of four murders committed during two robberies in 1979. Sentenced to death in 1981, Williams spent more than two decades on California's death row while consistently maintaining his innocence of the murders. During his imprisonment, he renounced gang life, wrote books warning young people about gangs and became an anti-gang activist whose work attracted international attention and Nobel Peace Prize nominations. His supporters sought clemency based on his claimed rehabilitation, but California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected the request, and Williams was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison on December 13, 2005.

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.

Andrew Phillip Cunanan carried out a five-victim murder spree across four states between April and July 1997 that culminated in the fatal shooting of Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace outside his Miami Beach home. Beginning with the murder of his former friend Jeffrey Trail in Minnesota, Cunanan killed architect David Madson, wealthy Chicago developer Lee Miglin and New Jersey cemetery caretaker William Reese before targeting Versace. The nationwide manhunt that followed became one of the largest in FBI history. Eight days after killing Versace, Cunanan died by suicide aboard a houseboat in Miami Beach as law enforcement closed in.

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.

Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer who murdered multiple men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Operating primarily along highways, she targeted men she encountered while working as a sex worker. Her case gained widespread attention due to her background, her claims of self-defense, and the rarity of a female serial killer receiving the death penalty. Wuornos was convicted of multiple murders and executed in 2002.