The United States of America is truly the land of opportunities, and that leaves us no doubt that it is one of the greatest countries on the planet. But the history of the country is dark and every now and then we have seen cases that shook the entire country. There have been some bad people who have committed crimes listening to which can send chills down your spine. Most of these cases surrounded ruthless serial killers and psychos. In fact, most of these criminals were the reason the term “serial killer” was unearthed. While some people got away with these notorious crimes, there were also a lot of them who got caught and went to court. Let’s have a look at some of these famous and chilling criminal cases that took place in recent American history.
The Manson Murders
This one is perhaps the most popular criminal case among all of them because unfortunately, one of the victims was a beloved celebrity. On August 8 1969, a few of manson family members broke into a home in LA northern hills and murdered five people including a pregnant woman. That house belonged to the famous Hollywood director Roman Polanski, and one of the victims was his wife and well-known actress Sharon Tate, who was murdered brutally with a knife. Sharon was eight months pregnant at that time. Manson murders did not stop at that; they kept going and were reported to be involved in a few other murders. One man, Charles Manson, was at the centre of these murders, he brainwashed young people and used to recruit them into his cult known as `The family”. Manson was eventually caught with all the members of his cult and was brought to trial. The crimes were so vicious that hardly any good attorney wanted to be on Manson’s side. He was sentenced to death by the court and was ordered to be executed. However, his execution never took place and he died of a natural cause in 2017.
The Son Of Sam
On a Christmas Eve in 1975, a young man who went by the name of David Berkowitz stabbed two women to death multiple times. This was the beginning of something horrible and was the first report of the killer who would be later known as “Son of Sam”. This killer was famous for shooting people and was also given a nickname of “.44 caliber”. It is said that he used to walk directly to people’s car and used to shoot them in cold blood. He was finally arrested in 1977, and by that time he had already killed at least six people and injured eight more. The interesting thing was the police did not catch him on their own; in fact, he sent a confession letter to the police department. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Berkowitz stated that a demon possessed him and a dog came to him who asked him to commit those murders. However, in an inadmissible interview with federal agents, Berkowitz later admitted that he made the demon story up and everyone including the Psychiatrists believed his story.
Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy is one of the most dangerous criminals on this list. He appeared in court numerous times and was charged for murdering 36 women. Bundy himself confessed to these murders, but the authorities suggested that the actual number was even higher. Ted Bundy had a decent background as he graduated in 1972 from the University of Washington. Ironically his major was in psychology. A lot of people who went to college with him described him as someone highly skilled at manipulating people. And that is exactly what he used to do. He used to lure them his female victims by persuading them and used to kill them once they had nowhere to go. He was unlike any other murdered as he was more vicious and killed people in multiple states. In 1979 Ted Bundy was finally convicted for good in Florida and was sent to the electric chair. Bundy and his lawyer made numerous appeals but he got executed ten years after the sentencing. Bundy is arguably the most infamous serial killer of the past century.
People VS OJ Simpson
Unlike the other mentions, this was not a serial killer case. In fact, it was a case where an NBA celebrity was accused of brutally murdering two people including his wife. OJ Simpson is the only person on this list who actually walked away as a free man with a not guilty verdict. On June 12, 1994, OJ’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed brutally in Nicole’s house. When LAPD got to the scene, they were faced with some evidence that directly pointed towards OJ Simpson. This included a pair of gloves and his blood samples all over the crime scene. The blood of the victims was also found in OJ’s house which was 20 minutes away from the scene of the crime. OJ pleaded not guilty and was brought to trial, which is still known as the trial of the century. The trial went on for months and as the case got complex OJ started to get closer to his freedom. When one of the best NFL players was accused of murder and his case was on TV, everyone took an interest in it. OJ hired the best lawyers in town including the great communicator Johnny Cochran and the well-known Los Angeles Criminal Attorney Robert Shapiro. OJ’s best friend, the member of the famous Kardashian family Robert Kardashian was also a part of the lawyer team. This team of lawyers was what they were calling a dream team. Due to the involvement of a racist LAPD officer on the scene of the investigation, the case took an interesting turn. People and jury viewed that as if OJ was being set up by the LAPD and in the end, OJ walked away not guilty. When the case turned into a matter of racism people got more involved and things started to get out of hand. However, OJ Simpson again got involved in a mess and was charged with theft, assault and kidnapping years later. This time he did not walk away and got a sentence of 33 years in prison. He also later admitted that he did kill his wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman, silencing all the debates at once.
BTK Strangler Case
The story of BTK Strangler is a strange case and a criminal who stayed hidden for almost 30 years. This case was not solved until 2005, which is a long time when you consider that the first murder the BTK killer committed was in 1974. Dennis Lynn Ryder from Kansas terrorized Wichita for more than two decades with his vicious and unorthodox killing. He was given the name of BTK because of the way he killed his victims. BTK referred to blind, torture and kill, and that is how Ryder murdered his victims. He did not just kill his victims, but he will blind them first, torture them and then will finally kill them. In 2004 after his last engagement he was finally caught by the authorities and was charged with ten murders. Dennis admitted to all these murders and the court sentenced him for ten life sentences. After 30 years of terrorizing the city, the BTK strangler was finally brought to justice by the dedicated authorities.
The Plainfield Ghoul
Ed Gien, a farmer who turned handyman from Plainfield, Wisconsin committed some crimes in the ’50s that will shake any person to their core. Ed’s parents passed away in the ’40s and after that, he took a dark turn. He began to separate himself from people and started to live a lonely life. In this process, he developed a strange obsession for killing, sexual fantasies, cutting bodies into pieces and cannibalism. First, he started to dig up graves from the cemeteries to satisfy himself with these obsessions. But later in 1954 he started killing older women and kept doing it for a long time. When the authorities finally got on to him, they went to investigate at his farm. What they saw was nothing less of a horror show, the farm was filled with body parts of human beings and there were dead bodies around. He was taken into custody and was charged with the murder of fifteen women. The court deemed him ill and sentenced him to life imprisonment in a mental facility. He was held there until 1984 where he eventually died of Cancer.
The Dating Game Killer
In 1968 a man named Ron Alcala attacked and raped an eight-year-old innocent girl and almost killed her. When the authorities arrived at the scene, they saw that the child was strangled and was barely holding on to life. But Alcala was captured soon and was sent to prison. But when he came out of prison after completing his sentence, he ended up killing four more innocent women, the youngest one being 12 years old. He was given the name dating game killer because of his appearance on the famous game with the same name. He was caught once again and was sentenced to death this time by the California court for his horrible crimes.
