Research one of the first serial killers. Share your thoughts and information with the class, make sure you give the name, what they did and your thoughts about this person and the cases. You can include any links or videos in your comment.
First American Serial Killer—- Dr. H.H. Holmes
First Female American Serial Killer- Lavenia Fisher
First African American Serial Killer– Sydney Jones
First Modern Serial Killer– Jack the Ripper
First african american Female serial killer- Clementine Barnabet
Most Prolific with 60 kills: Dr. Michael Swango or Donald Evans
Other other firsts……….you find
Other info: (can choose one of these also)
Males
– 28.9 is average age at first kill
• 9 is the youngest (Robert Dale Segee)
• 72 is the oldest (Ray Copeland)
• Females
– 30.3 is average age at first kill
• 11 is youngest (Mary Flora Bell)
• 66 is oldest (Faye Copeland)
wuhscriminalscience 
I researched Jack the Ripper or Whitechapel Murder or Leather Apron. He was in London in 1888 when the murders occured. Nobody really knows the exact amount of murders that he commited but the usual assumption is somewhere around 5. (A person must commit 3 or more murders to be considered a serial killer). Another assumption is that 4 of his victims were prostitutes. The 4 murders that were directly pointed towards Jack happened in a four month period. Nobody knows who Jack the Ripper was and it is one of the most famous unsolved cases. I feel nowadays serial killers are more brutal then back in Jack the Ripper’s days. Also more people are murdered nowadays. I also feel like who ever Jack was, he was very smart for not getting caught. But i also feel if he commited those crimes during our time period, i guarentee with all of our technology, we could catch him easily.
Lavenia Fisher is nuts. She is a murderer along with her husband and several other men. Lavenia and her posse killed over onehundred travlers in their hotel, the Six Mile Wayfarer House.
To continue, Lavenia and her gang was genious in their crimes. To be a handsome man staying at the six mile may be the last place you stay. As men would enter the hotel they may be lured or seduced by Lavenia, the hotel owners wife. She would sit down and talk to the travelers, about their life, where they have been, why they are staying the night, and offer tea. The reason for talking to the travelers is because usually ” the rooms are all full” and she would wait with them until a room opened up. There was only one specific room she offered her victims and it was quite boobie trapped. The tea she offered the victims was laced with an herb to induce sleepyness, the bed in the jinxed room was on a fall out floor that led to an underground dungeon. One of their victims didn’t like tea, so politely dumped it out behind her back, and felt insecure about his stay so slept in a chair by the door, he woke up to a big noise and a missing bed. He ran to authorities to report the odditites and thus the fishers were thrown in prison. After a failed escape they were sentenced to be hanged, which made Mr. Fisher repent to God, but Lavenia said “If you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to me – I’ll carry it.” and she proceeded to jump off the gallows herself. A brilliant and unique killing method for an 1819’s couple.
Jack the Ripper
The Jack the Ripper murders occurred in the East End of London in 1888. Jack the ripper had only five victims, and wasn’t as prolific compared to those since. An interesting fact is that the identity of Jack the Ripper is actualy unknown, the murderer was never brought to justice. These murders were over only a twelve week span as well, from August 31st 1888 to November 9th 1888. Yet there is little doubt that he is the world’s most famous serial killer, who hasn’t heard of Jack the Ripper before. Most of this is due to the tramendous world wide news coverage. His five victums were Mary Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Kelly.
Hi mrs. smith. This is Grant Bodmer from your criminal science class from second semester of last year. i keep getting emails for this blog from when i was enrolled in your criminal science class. I should be studying for my college anatomy class but i don’t feel like it so i am going to do this instead.
I did some quick research on Jack the Ripper and he remains to be unknown to this day. Jack the Ripper killed 11 people who were prostitutes and is was usually done by cutting their throats. Some cases the organs of the victims were also cut open. The name Jack the Ripper came from a letter that was supposedly written by Jack the Ripper himself. But no one knows exactly who wrote it. My thoughts on this serial killer is that the are crazy and it is ashamed they were never brought to justice.
Dr. Michael Swango also called the “Dr. of death” is a doctor who was convicted in 2000,in two separate cases of murdering his patients. The numbers of suspected deaths differ according to various publications, but estimates range from 35-60. “Instead of using his medical license to become a healer, Swango inveigled his way into the confidence of hospital administrators (and), once in their trust and in their employ, he searched for victims and took their lives.” said by Loretta Lynch, U.S. District Attorney. Swango was a viscious serial killer. He killed peeople by poisoning them usually with succinocholine. He was Sentenced to life in prison, with a chance of parole after 20 years, in Ohio on October 18, 2000. Which seems like a very light punishment for all the killings he has done. You would think that he would get a life sentence.
Herman Webster Mudgett aka H. H. Holmes is one of America’s first well documented serial killers. He killed 4 to 200 people during 1889 to 1895; he was convicted of 4, and confessed to 27. He killed all these people through a hotel in Chicago that he had custom built by several builders to include a pharmacy that he befriended and killed the previous owner for. The hotel contained shops and that same pharmacy on the bottom floor, offices and 100 or so windowless and some soundproof rooms, doorways that opened to brick walls, stairways to nowhere, one way doors, and other oddities. With this hotel of horror, he tortured and killed his guests by either gassing them in the soundproof rooms or suffocating them in a soundproof bank vault. The bodies were disposed of in the basement by means of a secret chute and either dissected, crafted and sold as skeletons and individual organs to medical schools, or cremated, or placed in lime pits, or stretched on a rack. This building was dubbed “the Castle” by locals, later called the “Murder Castle.” He was eventually caught in Boston on unrelated charges, and almost got away clean had a custodian not reported to police that he wasn’t allowed to clean the upper floors. He was tried and hanged in 1896. His entire story is a real life horror flick before there were horror flicks, and his hotel sounds like the 1889 version of Saw. Holmes was a very disturbed man, which stemmed from childhood bullying. He was clearly a smart man to evade capture and kill so many people. In a nutshell, he got screwed up as a kid, became crazy, killed a lot of people and got everything he deserved.
I researched Michael Swango aka the doctor of death. He was convicted in 2000 for two seprate cases. It was belived that if he started killing when he started working at Ohio State University’s medical program, it would make him the most prolific serial killer of all time. His muder spree was from 1983 to 1997. Many blame the hospital for not noticing that Swango was killing so many people. He did not fit the match for an averange serial killer. He had charm and serinty. He was also good looking. This personallity and good looks covered up his crimes for sometime. (not done)
Swango killed his patients and coworkers by poisoning them with the deadly poison arsenic. After being arrested and released he tired to find other medical jobs. In the years following Swango worked to falsify records and change his name so could be a doctor again. After many year of hopping from hospital to hospital leaving a wake of victims he was finally tried for the murders he had committed in his medical practices. On July 11, 2000, Michael J. Swango pleaded guilty to killing three of his patients, and fraud charges. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
(done)
Jack the Ripper is the most known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was murdering in the impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district in London during 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer. The letter is widely believed to have been a hoax, and may have been written by a journalist in an attempt to heighten interest in the story.
Clementine Barnabet was only 18 years old when she confessed to splitting open victims’ heads with an axe. She was the only one out of eight others that admitted this and that she helped assist in four other murders. While in court, she showed no remorse and even laughed while explaining how she killed the victims. She confessed to murdering a total of 10 people. She said that she helped murder the second victims because of their rufusal to obey a message to god. Authorities were shocked at her brutal details in her confession. She later admitted to be the head of a cult, “Church of the Sacrifice.” Her cult did not follow any law, and believed they were protected from any punishment. There never seemed to be any motive or attachment to the victims, and it is believed that the victims were chosen at random. Each slaughter was said to be a “sacrificial ceremony.” The murders’ numbers began to grow and Clementine herself did not know how many people belonged to her cult. Police arrested and convicted at least 50 people. Clementine and all of ther cult members were african americans, as well as all the victims.
In 1912, Clementine Barnabet was the first female African American serial killer, and she was only 18 years old. Claimed to be working with the Church of the Sacrifice, Louisiana native personally axed 17 people to death. These killings were believed to be a human sacrifice could lead to immortality and/or riches and was used as a devotion to the church. Therefore, she was not the only one to murder anyone – in total 40 people, from 7 different families, were murdered by individuals from the church.
Barnabet individually killed her victims on Sunday nights. She completely slaughtered entire families while they were sleeping – completely mutilating the victims’ bodies with an ax. Due to this mutilation and additional ceremonial sacrifice traditions, typically nothing was left behind by the murderers to clue investigators in on why the murder was committed or could identify the murderers.
According to past Church of the Sacrifice’s traditions, the church was an equal opportunity type cult. There were an equal number of men and female members, and they were all responsible for participating in murders equally.
There’s a lot of romantic/mysterious feelings regarding Jack the Ripper. As the first modern serial killer, he has gone down in history as one of the most greatest monsters in history. In actuality, he was only confirmed to have killed roughly five women. What made him terrifying in at the time, however, was the way he made the city of London panic by leaving his mutilated corpses in plain sight. By doing so, he demonstrated a need for attention surprisingly common in some of the best serial killers.
The reason the idea of “Jack the Ripper” is so alluring today is because of the mystery and controversy surrounding his reign over London. His identity was never officially confirmed. He was never caught– I suppose that’s what made him good at what he did. A man who kills four to eight women and flaunts it in the face of the police and the press but still doesn’t get caught is pretty impressive. It also didn’t help that Jack the Ripper was one of the first serial killers to be covered by the press. The press published countless rumours and stories about Jack the Ripper that only exaggerated his power.
In short, Jack the Ripper was a killer who wanted credit for his work (why else would he have left his victims in the open or write letters to the police?). The press, in a way, put him on a pedestal of infamy and thus his name is still among the most famous of serial killers.
I researched Jack the Ripper who was the first modern serial killer. He was also known as the White Chapel Murderer. His murders occurred in the east end of London in 1888. He murdered somewhere around five people. Some people think he shouldn’t be as famous as he is. He only killed about five people, when other serial killers killed many more. His reign only lasted a mere twelve or so weeks so he wasn’t large for very long. The reason why he is so famous is because of how the media portrayed him. He was the first serial killer that the media actually did news and wrote about. The media gave daily updates on Jack the Ripper. Also, the area where the killings were was seen as evil. He is also famous because a journalist came up with the name “Jack the Ripper”. The name is creepy and would make people remember him better. Lastly, one of the main reasons why he is famous is because he never got caught. If he was around today and did his crimes, I don’t think he would have gotten away with those murders. We have so much technology now than when we did in the 1800’s.
Jack the Ripper is one of the most infamous serial killers of all time. Yet, to this day 120 years or so ago, he is still unidentified. The murders took place in East London in the years of 1888-1891. Over the course of 3 years there were 11 female victims. The first victim was Emma Elizabeth Smith who was murdered on Tuesday April 3, 1888. She was assulted and robbed on Osborn Streen in Whitechapel. Four days later on August 7, 1888 Martha Tabran was found in the George Yard Buildings in Whitechapel as well. On Friday August 31, 1888 Mary Ann Nichols was found on Buck’s Row in Whitechapel. On Saturday September 8, 1888 Annie Chapman was found in Rear Yard at 29 Hanbury Street, in Spitalfields. Catherine Eddows was found on September 30, 1888 in Mitre Square in Aldgate, which is right in the city of London. On the same day Elizabeth Stride was found in a yard at the side of 40 Berner Street in St. George, which is to the east of Whitechapel. Mary Jane Kelly was the next victim who was found on November 9, 1888 on 13 Miller’s Court. Almost a month later Jack the Ripper struck again. This time Rose Mylett was his victim who was found in Clarke’s Yard. Almost six months later another murder occurs. Alice McKenzie was found on July 17, 1889 in Castle Alley, Whitechapel. On September 10,1889 an unknown female torso was found which is seemed to be likined to the Jack the Ripper case. The last victim was found on February 12, 1891 under a railway arch, in Whitechapel. Since most of the people who were murdered were prostitues, Jack the Ripper would wait until the victim began to lift her skirt. With both hands holding the skirt, he would then grab the women around the throat and strangle her until she lost consciousness. Once the victim was unconscious, he would lower his victims with their heads tilted to the left. After their heads were down on the ground he would slice their throat. There were a number of suspects in the case, but none of them were ever commited of the crime.
I know that back then they did not have any of the forensic information that we have today. If this was to happen today I do believe that the murderer would be convicted of the crime.
Mary Flora Bell was born May, 26 1957. She was convicted in 1968 of manslaughter of two children, Martin Brown and Brian Howe. Martin was four years old and Brian was three years old when she killed them. May’s mom, Betty, was a prostitiute so she was always gone from home and no one is sure who Mary’s biological father was. On May, 25, 1968 Mary strangles Matin Brown. On July 31, 1968 Mary and her friend Norma Bell (hich tghere is no relation between them) strangled three year old Brian Howe. Mary carved and “N” into his stomach with a razor after he died nut with a different hand the “N” was changed to an “M”. Mary then cut off his hair with scissors, which were then used to scratch his legs and mutilate his penis. She was in prison for 12 years and was then releasedd and given a new name to start her life over. She had a daughter at age twenty-three four years after being relesased from prison. At age 18, Mary’s daughter lost her anonymity but in 2003 the anonymity was garunteed for life. In the year of 2009 Mary became a grandmother. Mary was ten years old at her her first murder and one day away from being eleven at the time of her second murder.
Jack the Ripper is a serial killer who killed a number of prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888. It isn’t clear how many women Jack the Ripper killed. It is generally said that he killed five but some have written that he murdered less and others say he murdered more than seven.The five that people usually say he killed are, Mary Ann on August 31, 1888, Annie Chapman on September 8, 1888, Elizabeth Stride on September 30, 1888, Catharine Eddowes on September 30, 1888, and Mary Jane in 1888. All the woman he killed were prostitutes and killed in 1888. The Ripper seized the women by their throats and strangled them until they were unconscious. Every autopsy on the victims indicated strangling. After strangling he would lower the victim to the ground and cut their throats open. From the the autopsies we can tell that Jack had experience using a knife and probably had anatomical knowledge. Back when Jack the Ripper committed the crimes they did not have the forensic insight we have today so The Ripper was never caught. The only way to catch the killers back then was to catch tem in the act or get them to confess to the murder(s). In my opinion I believe anyone who is capable of murder is eerie and disgusting. I also believe that for his time he had to have been somewhat smart seeing how he must have had anatomical knowledge and was not caught. In this day and age know forensic research and technology would have probably been able to catch him and law enforcement would have been able to prosecute him for the crimes.
http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/serialkillers/jack.htm
I researched Clementine Barnabet. She was a half- blood negro priestess of a church in Lafayette, Louisiana. At this church groups of people would make sacrifices of people, they thought this would gain them riches and immortality. Clementine was the first to achieve at these task. She chopped 17 people with an ax to their death. Seven complete families were killed and the cults total sacrifices they made was an outstanding 40 people. Not only did she do this to sacrifice people for her own sake but if one was to go against “God’s Word” they would be murdered by Ms. Barnabet. What this cult of people did was on Sunday evenings sneak into the homes of others and mutilate them until the entire family lay there chopped into pieces. Al their limbs would be scattered around them. Nothing was ever left behind at the scene of the crime so they could never identify anything. After many years a mexican family started the crimes again and would do them around the same area and make sacrifices at the same alter that these old cult members used to use. It really surprises me that they didn’t get caught earlier or that evidence could never be found.
I chose to research one of the first american serial killers, Dr. H.H. Holmes. As soon as i began reading, hints of an oddity about Holmes showed up. As a kid, Holmes expressed interests in medicine, and practiced surgeries on animals, and as a medical student stole corpses to experiment with. He eventually took over a pharmacy business, to which the previous boss had disappeared. He created a house full of traps and torture devices, in which he killed his victims. He built the building to have numerous windowless rooms, staircases to nowhere, and gas lines. After torturing and killing his victims, he put them down a chute that led to the basement, where the bodies were burned. I also found it interesting that he had a tendency to become engaged, and then his fiances would disappear. Holmes also took part in insurance scams, which led to his downfall. After Holmes fell through on his part of a scam with partner Marion Hedgepeth released the information to the police. The police discovered that he was behind scams, but they weren’t able to catch him before he killed one of his other partners and his family. It is unknown exactly how many murders Holmes committed but estimates are somewhere between 20-100, some estimates reaching as high as 200. I also found it interesting that he lived in Chicago, which is fairly close.
I reasearched jack the ripper. He was a serial killer from the east part of london in 1888. one thing that puzzles many people is why he is so famous. i would have to say its because he is one of the first of the serial killer trend. plus he only had a total of five victims over a period of 12 weeks. compared to some modern day serial killers he isnt really much of one. For one fact he defiantly wasnt famous because of the media of his time.
It is generally believed that there were five victims of Jack the Ripper. They were:-
■Mary Nichols, murdered on 31st August 1888.
■Annie Chapman, murdered on 8th September 1888.
■Elizabeth Stride, murdered on 30th September 1888.
■Catherine Eddowes, also murdered on 30th September 1888.
■Mary Kelly, murdered on 9th November 1888.
the area in which these took place in was a breeding ground for disease and chaos of all sorts. i think the name they gave him later on as jack the ripper is what made him a famous serial killer. He doesnt seem like he should be as well know as he is around the world.
i reasearched H. H. Holmes. He was a serial killer in the 1880’s in the chicago area. He confessed to 27 murders and 4 of them were confirmed. the body count could be as high as 200. Holmes opened a hotal 2-miles from the worlds fair, and it was opened for one purpose.. to murder people. He mostly selected females. I think he was a crazy man for opening a hotal, just to kill people. He also made secert rooms in his hotal for killing. Like a room fitted with gas lines, a sound proof room, and a bank vault.
I researched the first american serial killer, Lavinia Fisher. Fisher and her husband lived in Charleston, South Carolina and owned a hotel, where many of their customers went missing. From the research I did it was never a proven fact that the Fishers had anything to do with the disapearances, but there were many ideas as to how the couple killed the men who stayed at their hotel. One of which was that Lavinia would ask men on dates finding out about their personal lives, such as their jobs to see whether or not they had money, then give them poisoned tea.To make sure their victims were dead, her husband, John Fisher would stab them. John Peoples, a fur trader staying at the hotel said that the couple had been very welcoming, especially Lavinia. It is said that Lavinia offered Peoples tea, but he declined since he didn’t like tea and went off to bed. Being very suspicious Peoples sat in a chair in the corner instead of the bed, and a trap door dropped the bed into a cellar where John Fisher was waiting with an ax, he escaped and told authorities. The couple was then arrested and their property was searched where many bodies were found, and they were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.
I researched America’s first serial killer, H.H. Holmes. Around the 1890’s, Holmes opened a hotel in Chicago for the world fair, it was a block long, three stories high, and was called by people in the neighborhood the “castle”. Once his hotel was opened, the killings began. Most of his victims were employees of the hotel, who Holmes required have a life insurance policy which he would pay for but would also be the beneficiary, and hotel guests. After being murdered, the bodies were taken to the basement of the hotel where some were disected and sold as skeletons to medical schools. After the wold fair had ended, Holmes left Chicago and reappeared in Fort Worth, Texas, where he had inherited property. Holmes left Texas soon after and moved around the United States and Canada, and was eventually arrested in 1894. Holmes was put on trial for murder, was found guilty, and was hanged in 1896.
Herman Webster Mudgett is a well known serial killer in america. the total amount of people he has killed in unknownbut he was convicted of 4 deaths and then admited to another 27..all of his victims were killed in hotel in Chicago that he had built by several people to include a pharmacy station that he actually took over because he killed the previous owner of it. MAny brick walls, windowless rooms were in this hotel. weird stairways to absolutely nothing, one way doors, and other things of that matter..in his hotel, he had killed his victims by either some type of suffocation.he got rid of the bodies in the basement by a chutehe hold many of the bodies actualy to research companies or sold the organs or used them as racks (i think it said. didnt really understand that part) The hotel was nicknamed by by people in the community and later called the “Murder Castle.” ironicly he was caught because of a charge that had nothing to with his murders, and almost he almost had got awaywith the murders all clean but a custodian oddly told police about how he couldnt clean the upper part of the hotel. 1896 he was convited and killed.. He was a weird minded man whom had a lot of free time it seems. and karma caught up with him because his death also consisted of suffocatioin; he was hung.
Jack the Ripper was history’s most famous unsolved crimes. He was a serial killer that murdered and mutilated at least five prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888 and no one was ever arrested or tried for the murders. While the murders were taking place, the assailant was know as the Whitechapel Murder or “Leather Apron.”
These are victims of Jack the Ripper that experts had agreed on:
Mary Ann (Polly) Nichols, murdered on Bucks’ Row, Friday, August 31, 1888.
Annie Chapman, murdered at 29 Hanbury Street, Saturday, September 8, 1888.
Elizabeth Stride, murdered on Berner Street, Sunday, September 30, 1888.
Catharine Eddowes, murdered in Mitre Square, Sunday, September 30, 1888.
Mary Jane (Marie Jeanette) Kelly, murdered at Number 13 Miller’s Court, Friday, November 9, 1888.
Observers say that there were other murders around that time but most of the other ones were not made from Jack the Ripper. There were 27 different male suspects and none of them were found to be the killer. Jack the Ripper would also write hundreds of letters to the police, yet the police still could never track him down.
It’s very unfortunate that Jack the Ripper was never found and prosecuted for his crimes, and so he therefore got to live out his life with no punishment for the murders he commited. I’m sure back in that time of year it was harder to track down a killer when they didn’t have the upgraded technology that is used today to hunt down people, but I’m sure if they thought harder than they did they could have found him and prosecuted him.