Some people have made history for saving lives and some made theirs by taking lives. The man Luis Garavito from Colombia has the world’s attention for killing the most people in history.
Many others have followed a similar pattern as Garavito. Even though most of them were killed and others arrested, the world has not gone blank of their deeds. These killers have killed hundreds of people.
This being said, here is a list of the top 10 serial killers – people who have killed the most.
Meet Serial Killers Who Have Killed the Most
1. Luis Garavito
Popularly known as “Conflict” by locals, Luis Garavito is often known as the man who singlehandedly killed the most people in history. He was from Colombia and was known to have killed over 193 people, mostly young boys whom he also sexually and violently abused.
Authorities record that he confessed to having killed more people than he was charged for.
He committed his crimes in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela and was sentenced to 1,853 years and 9 days in prison. This would make him the man with the lengthiest sentence in Colombian history.
However, Colombian law limits imprisonment to 40 years, and, because Garavito helped police find the victims’ bodies, his sentence was further reduced to 22 years.
He later suffered severe eye cancer and leukemia and died on 12 October 2023 at the age of 66.
2. Pedro López
Famous as The Monster of the Andes, Pedro López has been involved in many crimes such as child rape, and serial killing of at least 110 people. There are several unconfirmed reports that the killer might have murdered over 300 people.
Most of his victims were women and young girls. Upon his arrest, he claimed to have killed more than 200 people in Ecuador, and scores of others in Peru and Colombia.
In 1980, he was arrested and sent to 16 years in prison. After his release in 1994, he was deported to Colombia where he was admitted into a mental facility.
Upon his release in 1998, López disappeared and was last seen in 1999. He was declared wanted in 2002 when murders occurred in a similar way as his. Again, in 2012, he was listed as a suspect in another murder in Tunja, Colombia.
At the time of this report, the serial killer has not been found and nothing is known about his whereabouts.
3. Javed Iqbal
Like the man who killed the most, Garavito, Iqbal, a Pakistani also sexually abused young boys between 6 and 16 years and had symbolically killed 100 from 1998 to 1999.
He disposed of the bodies of his victims using acid. According to serial killer, Iqbal, he committed the crimes due to injustice served against him after a boy claimed that he was sodomic towards him.
Watching his life go down the drain, his mother became sad and later died of a heart attack. As such, he wanted to make 100 women cry by killing 100 boys.
In December 1999, he turned himself to a newspaper, claiming his life could be in danger if found by the police. He was later arrested and at his trial, the judge sentenced Iqbal to be strangled publicly and his body to be cut into 100 pieces and put in acid as he did his victims.
On October 9, 2001, he was found dead in his cell at the Kot Lakhpat Jail. His death was ruled as suicide but autopsy showed that he was beaten up before his demise.
4. Mikhail Popkov
He is a Russian serial killer and holds the record for the fourth person who has individually killed the most in the world, and the first in Russia.
His victims were women whom he killed brutally and raped their bodies afterward. For over two decades, from 1992 to 2010, he roamed the streets and attacked his victims. Ruefully, he stayed a freeman while many bodies continued to be discovered.
The Werewolf, as he was widely known was convicted for 83 killings even though he confessed to 86. For his crimes, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was first sentenced in 2018 and was again sentenced in 2020 after he confessed to more killings.
In June 2021, he received more sentences, and similar happened in 2023 when more of his killings were discovered.
5. Daniel Camargo Barbosa
From 1974 to 1986, Daniel Barbosa had his moment of killing spree. The Colombian who was otherwise known as “The Sadist of El Charquito”, “The Monster of the Mangroves”, and Manuel Bulgarin Solis raped and killed at least 72 young struggling girls.
He carried out his heinous crimes in Colombia and Ecuador. The serial killer was arrested on 26 February 1986, only a few minutes after he killed a 9-year-old girl.
In 1989, Camargo was found guilty and convicted to 16 years in prison. He didn’t complete his term as he was stabbed to death in his prison on 13 November 1994.
6. Pedro Rodrigues Filho
A spree killer and serial killer, Pedro Rodrigues Filho may have justified his killings but there is no justification for murder anyway. His victims were drug dealers and criminals of different sorts.
His crimes started when he was 14 and his victims were recorded to be 71. He has however claimed to have killed over 100 people.
Whatever the case, he managed to stay out of being arrested until 1973 when he was 18. The Brazillian was released in 2003 and in 2011, he was again arrested. However, his arrest at the time was not connected to a murder.
After spending 7 years in prison, he was released for good behavior in 2018. To the best of the public, he stayed away from murder following his release.
He also took a career as a YouTuber whose messages were related to crime and keeping away from it.
He was shot dead on March 5, 2023, by two men. No arrests have been made at the time of this report.
See Also: Zodiac Signs Dates, Personality and Meaning
7. Kampatimar Shankariya
Only within a year (1977-1978) the Indian, Kampatimar Shankariya killed a confirmed 70 people. He was known as the man who hit his victims under the neck, right beneath their ears with a hammer. This earned him the name “Kanpatimar”.
He killed for fun but was arrested in 1978. He was hanged to death in 1979.
8. Hoshang Amini
In 1954, Amini who was also known as The Ghost of the Qanat Well started his killing spree that would land him the title of the most prolific serial killer in Iran’s history.
He killed and raped as many as 67 people for about 7 years. His victims were mostly struggling young boys, but he also killed and raped older men and women.
The Ghost of the Qanat Wells as he was widely known, Amini was an Iranian serial killer and rapist. He was apprehended in 1962 and was publicly hanged to death in December 1963.
9. Yang Xinhai
From being a young smart and introverted boy to becoming one of the people who have killed the most in History. He was also a rapist whose criminal acts lasted from 1999 until his arrest in November 2003.
He was found guilty of killing 67 people and raping 23. The Chinese killer who was also known as The Monster Killer was executed by firing squad on February 14, 2004.
10. Abul Djabar
The infamous Abul Djabar was an Afghan serial killer who killed at least 65 people. There are disparities concerning the number of people je jas killed but some sources claimed that he killed as many as 300 people.
Whatever the case, he was also a rapist and his victims were men and young boys. He was executed by hanging on 21 October 1970.
