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Lists about infamous repeat murderers to chill your blood and remind you to lock your doors and windows and maybe keep a knife under your pillow.

Real Serial Killers

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True Crime

List of serial killers who were never caught in their lifetime. It&rsquo;s comforting to know that most serial killers get caught and put behind bars to pay for their crimes. Families of the victims get some sort of peace knowing that justice has been served, while locals get the relief of knowing that a dangerous person has been taken off the streets. Unfortunately, not all serial killers are apprehended. Throughout history, a few serial killers have escaped the grasps of law enforcement, due to their cunning and ability to stay under the radar. 

Many of the unsolved serial killer crimes became huge mysteries in human history, from the elusive Zodiac Killer to the menacing Jack the Ripper, with no definitive suspects attached to the crimes. Other serial killers got away with the crimes until after their deaths, when their names were attached to the crimes nobody knew they committed in their lifetime. Some of these are <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/serial-killers-who-are-free/ranker-crime" target="_blank">serial killers on the loose</a>, currently under investigation.

Which serial killers managed to never get caught? The killers on this list are mostly known by their media-given nicknames due to their elusive nature. Whether they will ever be discovered is still a mystery.

Serial Killers Who Were Never Caught | List of Serial Killers Who Went Free

28 Serial Killers Who Were Never Caught

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Charlie Chop-Off

Charlie Chop-off

Charlie Chop-off is the pseudonym given to an unidentified American serial killer known to have killed three black children and one Puerto Rican child in Manhattan between 1972 and 1973. This assailant is also known to have attempted to murder one other child.
All the victims of this assailant were male, and the majority of murders committed by this individual involved the genital mutilation or attempted genital mutilation of the victims.While the case is still considered an open one, Erno Soto was held as a suspect and confessed to one of the murders, but was considered unfit for trial and sent back to a mental institution.

Zodiac Killer

Zodiac Killer is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California from at least the late 1960s to the early 1970s. The Zodiac murdered victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29 were targeted, with two of the men surviving attempted murder. The Zodiac himself claimed up to 37 victims. The killer originated the name "Zodiac" in a series of taunting letters sent to the local Bay Area press. These letters included four cryptograms (or ciphers). Of the four cryptograms sent, only one has been definitively solved.Suspects have been named by law enforcement and amateur investigators, but no conclusive evidence has surfaced. The San Francisco Police Department marked the case "inactive" in April 2004, but re-opened it at some point prior to March 2007. The case also remains open in the city of Vallejo, as well as in Napa County and Solano County. The California Department of Justice has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.

The Moonlight Murderer

Phantom Killer

The Texarkana Moonlight Murders, a term coined by the news media, were a series of unsolved murders and other violent crimes committed in and around Texarkana in the spring of 1946 by an unidentified serial killer known as the "Phantom Killer" or "Phantom Slayer". The killer is credited with attacking eight people within ten weeks, five of whom were killed. The attacks happened on weekends between February 22, 1946 and May 3, 1946. The first two victims, Jimmy Hollis and Mary Larey, survived. The first double-murder, which involved Richard Griffin and Polly Ann Moore, happened four weeks later. The second double-homicide, involving Paul Martin and Betty Jo Booker, occurred exactly three weeks after the first murders. Finally, almost exactly three weeks later, Virgil Starks was killed and his wife, Katie, was severely wounded. The Texas Rangers came in to investigate, including the famous M. T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas.
The murders sent the town of Texarkana into a state of panic throughout the summer. At dusk, city inhabitants heavily armed themselves and locked themselves indoors while police patrolled streets and neighborhoods. Although many businesses lost customers at night, stores sold out of guns, ammunition, locks, and many other protective devices. Several rumors began to spread, including that the killer was caught, or that a third and even fourth double-homicide had been committed. Most of the town hid in fear inside their houses or hotels, sometimes even leaving town. Some youths took matters into their own hands by trying to bait the Phantom so they could kill him. After three months without Phantom attacks, the Texas Rangers slowly and quietly left town to keep the Phantom from believing he was safe to strike again. The murders were reported nationally and internationally by several publications.The 1976 film The Town That Dreaded Sundown was released internationally and is loosely based on the events, despite its claim that "only the names have been changed". Because the movie claimed that the "story you are about to see is true, where it happened and how it happened," the fabricated parts created much of the myth and folklore around the murders for several decades. The disappearance of Virginia Carpenter, a cold case in Texarkana in 1948, has been speculated as the work of the Phantom. 
The prime suspect in the case was Youell Swinney, who was linked to the murders by statements from his wife. Swinney's wife refused to testify against him, and he was never convicted. Two of the lead investigators in the case, however, believed him to be guilty, and the 2014 book The Phantom Killer: Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders by Dr. James Presley also points to Swinney as the culprit of all five attacks. Presley believes that there is enough evidence to close the case.

The Atlanta Ripper

Atlanta Ripper

The Atlanta Ripper was the mystery murderer of fifteen Atlanta women in 1911.
May 28, 1911, The body of Belle Walker, an African -American cook, was found 25 yards from her home on Garibaldi Street in Atlanta. Her throat had been cut by an unknown slayer, and the crime was reported in the Atlanta Constitution under the headline "Negro Woman Killed; No Clue to Slayer" On June 15, another black woman, Addie Watts, was found with her throat slashed, followed on June 27 by Lizzie Watkins. The search for the serial killer, called "the Atlanta Ripper" by the press, found six different suspects, but no convictions were ever made, nor was the crime ever solved. By the end of 1911, fifteen women, all black or dark-skinned, all in their early 20s, had been murdered in the same manner. The "Ripper" may have had as many as 21 victims, but there is no conclusive proof that the murders were carried out by one person.

List of serial killers who were never caught in their lifetime. It’s comforting to know that most serial killers get caught and put behind bars to pay for ...