Javed Iqbal
Considered as the most notorious serial killer in Pakistan’s history, Javed Iqbal confessed to sexually abusing and killing 100 children during the late 1990’s.
Iqbal was arrested and jailed on charges of rape when he was in his twenties. His mother tried to get him out of jail but failed to do so. By the time Iqbal completed his sentence, his mother had passed away.
Iqbal claimed in a statement that the motive for his murders was that he wanted to hear wails of a ‘100 mothers’ as revenge. He specifically targeted street boys and attracted them by opening a gaming shop in Shad Bagh, Lahore, by opening a fish aquarium and then a gym.
He offered free gaming tokens and discounted products to lure the young unsuspecting victims. At times he would throw some money on the floor, wait for some boy to pick it up and claim the ‘young thief’ needed to be punished in another room. He often sexually assaulted his victims in his shops or his home, strangling them to death afterwards, chopping their bodies into pieces and throwing them in acid.
In 1999, Iqbal sent a letter to a newspaper confessing to his crimes. Remains of young boys were found inside acid vats when police raided his home.
“Javed Iqbal has been found guilty of 100 murders. The sentence is that he should be strangled 100 times… His body should be cut into 100 pieces and put in acid, as he did with his victims,” said the Judge at the time.
However, Javed Iqbal committed suicide inside jail.
Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper was a serial killer active in London around the year 1888. His actual name is unknown, as the criminal was never identified nor apprehended. He primarily targeted female prostitutes, beheading them and then mutilating their bodies. He often stole abdominal organs after the murder.
Jack the Ripper has been a part of popular culture ever since.
Rafiq Soomro
Rafiq Soomro was a rickshaw driver who killed at least two women and a girl in Karachi. He would pick up his victims and take them to his home where he would rape and then kill them. Bodies of his victims were then chopped and dropped off in different parties of Karachi.
Charles Manson
The notorious American cult leader ordered his followers to killed a number of victims, most famously the actress Sharon Tate.
Zodiac killer
The self-proclaimed ‘Zodiac killer’ was responsible for killing five people between 1969 and 1974 and taunted authorities by publishing letters in newspapers. He was never identified and the case is still open.
John Wayne Gacy The Killer Clown
John Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer who killed at least 33 young boys after sexually assaulting them. He was widely liked by his neighbours and played the role of a clown at parties where he identified and lured his victims.
Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy, the American serial killer, confessed to killing and sexually assaulting at least 33 victims, most of whom were women. He would often pretended to be disabled or an authority figure to lure unsuspecting victims. At least 12 of his victims were decapitated and he kept their severed heads in his home as trophies.
Amir Qayyum The Brick Killer
Amir Qayyum, known as the Brick killer, targeted homeless men on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan. He killed at least 14 men. He killed all of them using bricks.
Andrei Chikatilo The Butcher of Rostov
Born in USSR, Chikatilo, known as the Red Ripper, the Butcher of Rostov, killed at least 52 women and children between 1978 and 1990.
Aileen Wuornos
Ailen Wuornos was a sex worker who killed at least seven men. She claimed the men had raped her during the time she worked as a prostitute.
Gary Ridgway The Green River Killer
Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, killed at least 49 young women. He would often show them a picture of his son to gain their trust and then strangle them to death. He threw their bodies in the Green River, earning him the nickname.
Richard Ramirez The Night Stalker
The American serial killer was active in California between 1984 and 1985. Nicknamed The Night Stalker, he killed at least 14 people.