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Aileen Wuornos,Monster
Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who became a serial killer, admitted to fatally shooting and robbing six men between 1989 and 1990. The so-called “Damsel of Death” is suspected of killing a seventh man.
Wuornos was executed at the age of 46 in 2002 shortly after declining her last meal; her last words were, “I’ll be back.” Her life and crimes were depicted in the 2003 movie,Monster, starring Charlize Theron as Wuornos. Theron went on to win an Oscar for her gritty portrayal.
02of 09
John du Pont,Foxcatcher
On the morning of January 26, 1996, multimillionaireJohn du Pontdrove to the guesthouse on his 2,000 acre Pennsylvania estate and pumped three fatal shots into 36-year-old Olympic wrestlerDave Schultzas Schultz worked on his car in the driveway. Du Pont then fled to his mansion and barricaded himself inside for two days, but was finally taken into custody after he walked outside to fix a boiler authorities had turned off.
Du Pont was later found guilty of third-degree murder but mentally ill. Why du Pont, who died in prison in 2010 at the age of 72, killed Schultz remains a mystery, but his troubled past became the subject of the 2014 film,Foxcatcher, starring Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo andChanning Tatum.
03of 09James ‘Whitey’ Bulger,Black MassDonaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty;MobsterJames “Whitey” Bulgerwas alleged to have killed 19 people, including two women, many of whom died while he was an FBI informant. But after getting tipped off that law enforcement was after him, Bulger, the head of South Boston’s murderous Winter Hill Gang, went on the lam with girlfriend Catherine Greig and eluded federal authorities for more than 16 years. In 2011, he was finally caught: He had been living the life of a retiree in a modest two-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica, California.Bulger, who hated his nickname, inspired the 2015 movie,Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp. However, Bulgersaidhe had no plans to watch it. “Johnny Depp might as well have been playing the Mad Hatter all over again as far as James Bulger is concerned,” Bulger’s lawyer Hank Brennan told PEOPLE at the time.
03of 09
James ‘Whitey’ Bulger,Black Mass
Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty;
MobsterJames “Whitey” Bulgerwas alleged to have killed 19 people, including two women, many of whom died while he was an FBI informant. But after getting tipped off that law enforcement was after him, Bulger, the head of South Boston’s murderous Winter Hill Gang, went on the lam with girlfriend Catherine Greig and eluded federal authorities for more than 16 years. In 2011, he was finally caught: He had been living the life of a retiree in a modest two-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica, California.
Bulger, who hated his nickname, inspired the 2015 movie,Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp. However, Bulgersaidhe had no plans to watch it. “Johnny Depp might as well have been playing the Mad Hatter all over again as far as James Bulger is concerned,” Bulger’s lawyer Hank Brennan told PEOPLE at the time.
04of 09
David Berkowitz,Summer of Sam
For more than a year starting in 1976, David Berkowitz — the self-styledSon of Sam— began a reign of terror, killing six people and wounding seven in eight separate shootings in New York City’s outer boroughs.
During his rampage, the postal worker sent taunting letters to the police and a newspaper columnist, but he was arrested after police traced him to the crimes after he wasissued a parking ticket. After he was caught, Berkowitz claimed a dog spoke to him and told him to kill. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six consecutive life terms. While in prison, herechristened himselfthe “Son of Hope,” and claimed to be a born-again Christian.
A movie about the panic he caused became the subject ofSpike Lee’s 1999 movie,Summer of Sam, starring John Leguizamo andAdrien Brody.
05of 09
Robert Durst,All Good Things
Real estate scionRobert Durstwas the inspiration behind Andrew Jarecki’s 2010 film,All Good Things, starring Ryan Gosling. However, it was Jarecki’s HBO’s six-part documentary seriesThe Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durstthat put the reclusive multimillionaire on the map and into the clutches of Los Angeles police.
He now sits in a Los Angeles County jail awaiting trial.
06of 09Richard Hickock and Perry Edward Smith,In Cold BloodColumbia/Kobal/REX/ShutterstockIt was the crime that made rural Americans start locking their doors at night. Truman Capote’s bestselling book,In Cold Blood, told the story of Richard Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, the killersbehind the slaughterof Herbert Clutter, his wife, Bonnie Mae, their 16-year-old daughter, Nancy, and 15-year-old son Kenyon in their rural Kansas home in 1959.Smith and Hickock were later convicted and put to death and Capote’s book was turned into a 1967 movie starringRobert Blake. Blake himself was charged with the killing of his second wife,Bonny Lee Bakley, who was shot and killed outside the Studio City restaurant where she and Blake had dined. Blake was later acquitted of the charges but found liable in civil court for her death.
06of 09
Richard Hickock and Perry Edward Smith,In Cold Blood
Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
It was the crime that made rural Americans start locking their doors at night. Truman Capote’s bestselling book,In Cold Blood, told the story of Richard Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, the killersbehind the slaughterof Herbert Clutter, his wife, Bonnie Mae, their 16-year-old daughter, Nancy, and 15-year-old son Kenyon in their rural Kansas home in 1959.
Smith and Hickock were later convicted and put to death and Capote’s book was turned into a 1967 movie starringRobert Blake. Blake himself was charged with the killing of his second wife,Bonny Lee Bakley, who was shot and killed outside the Studio City restaurant where she and Blake had dined. Blake was later acquitted of the charges but found liable in civil court for her death.
07of 09
The Zodiac Killer,Zodiac
Perhaps the most famous unsolved serial killing case in United States history, theZodiackiller was linked to five deaths in Northern California in the late 1960s. During his reign of terror, he sent coded letters to newspapers and threatened to shoot up a school bus full of children, using a cross within a circle as his insignia.
Several suspects were questioned and there have been dozens of theories about who the killer is, but the Zodiac has never been caught. The case later became the subject of David Fincher’s 2007 filmZodiacstarringJake Gyllenhaal,Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo.
08of 09
Bernie Tiede,Bernie
On the same day the bullet-riddled body of 81-year-old wealthy Texas widow Marjorie Nugent was found in her freezer beneath packages of frozen food, her killer,Bernie Tiede, confessed to the 1996 slaying.
09of 09
Pamela Smart,To Die For
Pamela Smart, a former New Hampshire school administrator, was convicted in 1991 for convincing her then 16-year-old student lover, William “Billy” Flynn, to fatally shoot her husband Gregg.
Flynn was released from prison in 2015 after serving nearly 25 years, but Smart remains behind bars serving a life sentence. Smart’s actions inspired the 1995 Gus Van Sant movie,To Die For, starringNicole Kidman.
source: people.com
