Serial Killers That Were Never Caught

I've always been fascinated by the motives of serial killers, especially the ones that were always two steps ahead of the police. The ones who were never caught, the few who managed to pull off crimes so heinous it led the people who sought to find them in circles for decades. These four serial killers are still notoriously famous for their crimes, leading some people to still obsessively to this day try to put a name and face to their crimes. In chronological order, here are four serial killers still unnamed to this day.

1.) Jack The Ripper (1888)

One of the most notorious serial killers remembered today is Jack the Ripper. From movies like From Hell to numerous documentaries, this is by far the most infamous serial killers that was never caught. To this day, no one can do anything but speculate their own views of the crimes. Was it a man or woman? Did he/she have any medical knowledge of the female anatomy? What was the motive for attacking only prostitutes? Were there more than just the canonical five murders? So many questions are still being asked to this day with every person making their own assumptions. Each of the murders were horrific by themselves, but all five together provided us one of the most anticlimactic "who did it" games in the last 129 years.

2.) The Atlanta Ripper (1911)

Probably one of the more lesser known serial killers is the one with the most confirmed kills. With 15 confirmed murders and 6 more possible connected murders of women in the African American community of Atlanta, the streets were a terrifying place to be. Multiple reports of a tall African American man were accounted for but the identity to this day is still a mystery. Two known similarities with all the victims were that of an almost nearly severed necks and smashed in heads. Unfortunately, because of the time period in history and the race of the victims, it wasn't published in the paper until after the eighth murder.

3.) The Axeman of New Orleans (1918-1919)

A widely fantasized urban legend in the New Orleans community is that of the Axeman. The Axeman has been immortalized in television shows and movies, one of the more recent is that of American Horror Story: Coven. Earning his nickname by his weapon of choice, he only managed to kill six people in total out of the eighteen. The only common occurrence for the twelve people who were injured was the lack of memory of the actual event. Many people were suspected and arrested, but due to lack of evidence, all were released. There are some people who strictly believe it was a promotional opportunity for the early jazz era. Like most serial killers, though, the Axeman disappeared as quickly as he appeared in history, but forever marking it by still being unsolved for almost 100 years.

4.) The Zodiac Killer (1960s-1970s)

The Zodiac Killer and his crimes are still driving police investigators to this day insane, getting his name from the symbol he left on his letters that taunted media and police alike. Claiming to have killed up to 37 people, the narcissistic serial killer was only linked to 5 confirmed kills and two attempted kills. Along with the letters were four cryptograms or ciphers; to this day, only one has been deciphered. The first two kills happened on December 20, 1968 and were two teenagers. Fast forward six years later to the last letter received claiming it was Zodiac=37 SFPD=0. The only suspect they had was Arthur Leigh Allen , but due to lack of circumstantial evidence, he was never accused. Only after his death in 1992 were his personal possessions seized, only to come up short in the evidence findings. It was only in 2010 that it was publicly announced that all the evidence against Arthur Leigh Allen as the Zodiac Killer had turned out to be negative. Several more people throughout the years have claimed to have known the Zodiac Killer, while others claimed to have seen a person that closely resembled the Zodiac Killer's police sketch. There are also those who claim another person claimed to be the Zodiac Killer in confidence. No one knows why the letters just stopped in January of 1974, although many speculate he was either incarcerated or died. Although he was never caught, I believe his narcissism would have been his downfall if he had continued. To this day, the case file of the Zodiac Killer is open in the California Department of Justice.

Of all the serial killers that haven't been caught, these four have always fascinated me. Now don't get me wrong, others like Dahmer , Manson, Bundy and Gacy all catch my attention as well, but in the end they all were caught and revealed why they did what they did. These four serial killers were never found or tried, which makes their motives a mystery, and who doesn't love a good mystery...