Los Angeles also known as L. A is the City of Angels. It is located in the US state of Southern California. It is the second most populous city in the US after NYC. It is the hub for the nation’s film and television entertainment industry. The city is mostly famous due to its glamour, high street lifestyle and fame. It’s home to many famous artists and 90s classic movie stars. Due to its remarkable fame and wealthy lifestyle, it is also a hub for extreme violence and crime rates.
This city has given rise to some psychopaths and criminals who are famous in history and TV show documentaries due to their brutality. The primary focus is mainly on some notorious serial killers that dwell in Los Angeles. A serial killer is a person who kills a series of people over some time.
Every serial killer follows a different pattern to kill people, some of them torture the victims, keep them hostages or attempt to kill on the spot. It is still unclear what is exactly the motive behind these heinous crimes. According to psychology, the tendency of abnormal psychological responses and severe mental trauma could be the reason to be blamed. These patterns bring fear and terror to their victims as the serial killer has no mercy for them.
Let’s dig into LA’s top ten most vicious serial killers that will give you chills and goosebumps:
10) The Lonely Hearts Killer:
Source: Wikipedia
The Lonely Hearts Killer was the title of Harvey Glatman, who murdered three or more glamorous models through his deceitful tactics between 1957 and 1958. His pattern can be determined by his frequent hangouts with modeling agencies. He used to introduce himself to the models as a fashion photographer and vowed to secure modeling gigs for famous magazines. The models who caught his attention were then in contact with Glatman, who would deceitfully lure them to the studio apartment for the shooting.
He would then bind them, rape and strangle them to death. His victims were models who fell prey to Glatman’s trap. His disturbing violent crimes were also marked by disturbing photographs of the models in the toolbox. His heinous crime finally caught the attention of the police. He was caught by police struggling with his fourth victim. He confessed all his crimes and was executed in the gas chamber of San Quentin State Prison.
9) The Grimm Sleeper:
Source: Wikipedia
The Grimm Sleeper also known as Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was given this title due to the hiatus of fourteen years between his string of crimes. Franklin’s victims were mostly the prostitutes, whose deaths were initially reported as No Human Involved deaths. Later, under the community’s pressure the cases were re-examined, leading to the discovery of classic serial killing.
Franklin usually approached his victims by offering them lifts and rides. After reaching the destination, the victims were sexually assaulted and murdered in cold blood. The bodies were later disposed of in a dumpster so authorities could not find the clue. Franklin met his dreadful end when one of the victims survived and confessed to his crimes. He was sentenced to death and was executed in 2020.
8) The Highway Killer:
Source: Wikipedia
The Highway Killer also known as William Bonin was a serial killer that terrorised L. A with his heinous crimes. His troubled childhood psychologically impacted his criminal activities. His approach for deceitful tactics was hitchhiking young girls and boys. He would lure the victims into his van and then strangle them to death by binding them and torturing them.
He and his accomplices too helped and supported him in these abhorrent crimes. The nature of these crimes was very complicated hence, a highly competent police force solved these crimes. In 1982, he was arrested and charged with the death sentence for the confession of killing fourteen young boys. He was the first person who was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison.
7) The Hillside Strangler:
Source: Wikipedia
The Hillside Strangler is given the title to two cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono due to their nature of dumping the bodies in hills after murdering the victims hence “Hillside Strangler”. They were involved in a serial killing spree between 1977 to 1978. They approached their victims by tricking them into going with them safely as they were off-duty officers. After the tricking, they would hurt and kill them. The bodies were then dumped in the hills.
The police tried to investigate these cases but couldn’t find a clue. However, one of the members was finally caught and confessed to the crime along with his partner. Both the criminals were convicted with charges and sentenced to prison.
6) The Trash Bag Killer:
Source: Wikipedia
The Trash Bag Killer is the title given to Patrick Kearney for the nature of crimes he committed, after disposing them off in Trash Bag. His troubled childhood had influenced him to become a criminal. He was romantically involved with a man, David Hill. When the pair argued with each other, Kearney would run off to the woods, pick up hitchhikers and kill them eventually. His nature of crime was that he would strangle the victims to death and then cut off their bodies disposing them into a trash bag.
The series of killings came into the spotlight when one of the victims escaped and confessed to the authorities. Following the arrest of Kearney, he confessed to killing more than 20 victims. Currently, he is facing a life sentence in prison for his heinous crimes.
5) The Skid Row Slasher:
Source: Reddit
The Skid Row Slasher also known as Vaughn Orrin Greenwood was a serial killer from the mid-1970s. His nature of serial killings was marked by brutally murdering more than eleven individuals. His approach was by slashing the throats of the victims and inflicting severe wounds on their bodies. According to some sources, he was also involved in cannibalism as he drank the blood of his victims.
These monstrous acts opened the eyes of authorities as he was caught during robbery charges in 1975. These charges later tracked him down to the linking of the “Slashed Throats” case. He was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment for his involvement in atrocious crimes.
4) The Score Card Killer:
Source: Wikipedia
The Score Card Killer was the title given to Randy Kraft, who left a trail of some monstrous murders from 1971-1983. He approached his victims by offering them rides. Most of them were military personnel. He would subject them to sexual assault, torture and murder. In most of the cases, sadistic methods and mutilation are also involved. The title of Score Card is given to him because, during his arrest, the authorities recovered a list containing information about victims resembling a ”Score Card“.
He was caught by authorities in 1983 and was sentenced to death for his heinous crime.
3) The Night Stalker:
Source: Wikipedia
The Night Stalker also known as Richard Ramirez was an American serial killer and rapist. He was involved in abhorrent crimes from 1984 to 1985. His nature of crime was during the night time hence giving him the title of “The Night Stalker”. He approached his victims in the middle of the dark, attacking them, stabbing them and sexually assaulting them. He used to leave some kind of evidence behind that made it evident that he was into black magic.
He was captured and sentenced to death for his atrocious crimes but he died in prison due to his fatal disease.
2) The Golden State Killer:
Source: Wikipedia
The Golden State Killer also known as Joseph James was a serial killer who brought terror to LA between 1974 to 1986. He approached his victims by breaking into their homes assaulting them victims and stealing their possessions. He was also involved in more than fifty rape cases involving more than 200 robberies. He was arrested for his involvement in heinous crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2020.
1) The Manson Family:
Source: Wikipedia
The Manson Family was a cult that was involved in the killings of many people. This cult was founded by Charles Manson. Since childhood, his life has been affected by many unfortunate events. These events influenced his mental health thus, resulting in the formation of a cult. This cult attracted many young women who started becoming followers. Unlike other cults that were based on a religious basis, this cult had bizarre beliefs and ideas. He was a racist against white supremacy and killed most of the whites.
The cult had a drug-influenced lifestyle like frequent usage of amphetamines, LSD and many hallucinating drugs. Mostly hippie culture and people living communally are attracted to this.
