Sometimes it's best to trust your gut. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at instances in which serial killers were suspected of committing crimes before they were officially identified and caught.
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00:00 The killer's identity was a mystery until 2001, when officials announced they arrested
00:04 Gary Ridgeway.
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at instances in which serial killers were
00:10 suspected of committing crimes before they were officially identified and caught.
00:14 But ultimately what happened is he really started to break down psychologically.
00:21 David Berkowitz.
00:22 The son of Sam terrorized New York between 1976 and '77, killing six people and wounding
00:28 another seven.
00:30 And it's something that we all have to worry about.
00:31 What is your wife saying?
00:33 She wouldn't even come out tonight.
00:34 The entire city was placed on high alert, and a massive manhunt was underway to catch
00:38 the random shooter, and he was caught thanks to the suspicions of one Cecilia Davis.
00:43 Davis saw a police officer ticketing a car and soon spotted a man walking from that direction.
00:48 A woman who says she saw a police officer's ticket Berkowitz's car the night of the last
00:53 murder after hearing shots and being approached by a man with a dark object in his hand.
00:58 The man deeply troubled her as he was carrying a dark object and seemed to be studying her.
01:03 Soon after arriving home, she heard gunshots.
01:06 Rightfully fearing that the man was dangerous, Davis contacted the police.
01:10 They identified the ticketed car as belonging to one David Berkowitz, and with that, the
01:14 son of Sam was finally identified and caught.
01:17 It was just a break from reality.
01:20 I thought I was doing something to appease the devil.
01:25 I'm sorry for it.
01:26 Anthony Sowell.
01:27 Also going by "The Cleveland Strangler" and "The Imperial Avenue Murderer," Anthony Sowell
01:32 killed at least 11 victims between 2007 and 2009.
01:36 Anthony Sowell would lure his victims in with conversation and what I call props.
01:44 He was finally captured thanks to a woman named Latundra Billups, who told the police
01:48 that Sowell had sexually assaulted her.
01:50 When Sowell was arrested, police found human remains littered throughout his house and
01:54 buried on his property.
01:55 It appears that this man had a sustainable appetite that he had to feel.
02:01 Five of the bodies have been identified as women.
02:04 But suspicions had been raised before this, particularly from one Lori Frazier.
02:09 Frazier was a partner of Sowell's and she lived with him for some time.
02:12 She reportedly smelled decaying bodies in the house, but Sowell told her the smell was
02:16 coming from a nearby sausage shop.
02:18 The awful odor on Imperial Avenue brought health inspectors back again that summer.
02:23 They blamed Ray's sausage, who sits right next door to Sowell.
02:26 Frazier escaped with her life, but her intuition would prove tragically correct.
02:31 Andre Ciccatillo, a true monster.
02:34 Andre Ciccatillo is responsible for at least 52 murders between 1978 and 1990.
02:40 Some of the bodies were still fresh, which gave us a broader picture of the injuries
02:44 and the killer's behavior at the site of crime.
02:48 Before he was caught, Ciccatillo was the subject of a psychological profile done by Dr. Alexander
02:52 Bukhanovsky.
02:53 It's said he would be between 45 and 50.
02:56 By 1985, around the time the profile was made, Ciccatillo was 49.
03:01 It's said he had a difficult childhood.
03:04 Ciccatillo was born in a famine and often starved.
03:06 Young Andre realized that he was not like the other boys in the youth league.
03:11 He never fit in very well, and he felt embarrassed and humiliated generally.
03:16 It's said he was well-educated.
03:18 He graduated from Rostov University.
03:20 It's said he traveled a lot.
03:22 He was a factory supply clerk and traveled widely.
03:24 A lot of the bodies were found near transportation points, bus stations, train stations in particular,
03:32 which indicated that the killer, whoever he was, was somebody who used the Soviet transportation
03:38 system extensively.
03:39 It's said he was married with children.
03:42 Ciccatillo had been married since 1963 and had two children.
03:45 Basically, Bukhanovsky had him to a T.
03:48 Robert Hanson
03:50 A very unique serial killer, Robert Hanson would abduct women, often sex workers, and
03:55 take them to the Alaskan wilderness.
03:56 And it said, "This is the greatest mass murder in the history of Alaska."
04:00 Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather.
04:03 I had no idea.
04:04 It is then believed that he hunted these women like game, often tracking them with a knife
04:09 and a semi-automatic rifle.
04:10 One girl named Cindy Paulson escaped from Hanson, and a passing driver picked her up
04:14 and called the police.
04:16 We found her in handcuffs with very little clothes on.
04:20 She was real credible.
04:21 She was very scared.
04:22 She was very frightened.
04:24 And she told us her story.
04:26 They questioned Hanson about his involvement in the kidnapping, but his gentle personality
04:30 convinced them of his innocence.
04:32 The FBI was then brought in, and like Andre Ciccatillo, they made a profile that perfectly
04:37 matched Hanson.
04:38 Realizing they had the right guy all along, police arrested Hanson again, and he confessed
04:43 to the crimes.
04:44 Finally, it was time to confess.
04:47 Time for Hanson to cut a deal.
04:52 Hanson said he would confess to the murders that could be proven, as long as the trial
04:55 was given no publicity and that his family be left alone.
04:59 Charles Cullen.
05:01 While working as a nurse in New Jersey, Charles Cullen took the lives of dozens, possibly
05:05 even hundreds of patients by making them overdose.
05:08 In Cullen's case, all of his victims were patients assigned to hospital units where
05:12 he worked as a nurse.
05:13 Despite his high body count, Cullen wasn't nearly as smooth as he may have believed.
05:18 Several co-workers suspected that he was killing patients, and even brought it up to the local
05:22 district attorney, but the case was dismissed.
05:25 He was the main suspect for poisoning random bags of saline.
05:30 If you talk to the investigators there, they'll tell you Cullen was our man, we knew he was
05:34 dirty.
05:35 They couldn't prove anything.
05:36 It's all circumstantial.
05:37 They fire him, he moved on.
05:38 Other officials were warned by the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System that
05:43 a doctor was likely killing patients.
05:45 Finally, a co-worker named Amy Loughran contacted the authorities over Cullen's suspicious behavior,
05:50 and they convinced Loughran to talk to Cullen while wearing a wire.
05:54 Were you angry?
05:55 I was sad for my patients.
05:58 I was, so many things were going through my mind.
06:01 I was sad.
06:03 I didn't see it.
06:06 I felt betrayed by my own intuition.
06:08 The conversation contained enough evidence to have Cullen arrested, and he was given
06:13 18 life sentences.
06:15 Paul Bernardo
06:16 When it comes to Canadian criminals, it doesn't get much more notorious than Paul Bernardo.
06:21 There never was before, never was since, such a string of attacks like that.
06:28 People were scared stiff for a very long time.
06:30 Bernardo committed a series of sexual assaults, and later killed three people with his wife,
06:35 Carla Homolka, including Homolka's younger sister, Tammy.
06:38 However, many people held theories about Bernardo long before he was captured.
06:42 The police questioned Bernardo multiple times in relation to his possible involvement in
06:47 both the murders and the sexual assaults, and even took DNA samples.
06:51 I asked Bernardo to provide samples of his hair and saliva and blood, gave them up right
06:58 away.
06:59 By doing this, this is my opinion, he was trying to deflect any suspicion on himself
07:05 by being so cooperative.
07:07 These samples would later be used to take him down.
07:10 Meanwhile, people who knew Bernardo reported him to the police, including John Motile,
07:15 an acquaintance, and Tina Smyrnas, the wife of one of Bernardo's friends.
07:19 Smyrnas' tip came before Bernardo had killed anyone.
07:23 What was certain, however, was that together, Bernardo and Homolka were a deadly duo.
07:28 Jeffrey Dahmer
07:29 It seems inconceivable that Jeffrey Dahmer was able to kill and dismember so many people
07:34 in his small Milwaukee apartment.
07:36 Without detection, 31-year-old Jeffrey Dahmer had killed 17 young men across a 13-year period.
07:44 But one neighbor was highly suspicious of Dahmer, and her name was Glinda Cleveland.
07:48 Cleveland was one of many neighbors who reported rotting smells coming from Dahmer's apartment.
07:53 But she took the complaints one step further by actually speaking with the authorities.
07:58 When I say what I have to say and I know it to be true, I don't feel that I have to constantly
08:02 keep repeating myself.
08:03 And I think that can be said for everyone.
08:06 Cleveland saw a victim named Conorack Synthesomphone running from their apartment building and
08:10 attempted to report her suspicions to the police, but they ignored her.
08:14 She also contacted the FBI in a desperate attempt to have someone listen, but they too
08:19 ignored her warnings.
08:21 Dahmer would claim four more victims before he was captured on the night of July 22, 1991.
08:27 The first day was local television, second day national television, by the third day
08:31 it was international television.
08:32 They were able to show video of these items coming out of the front door of this apartment
08:39 building that's not usual.
08:41 John Wayne Gacy
08:42 One of the most active serial killers in American history, the killer clown took at least 33
08:48 lives throughout the 1970s, burying 26 of them in the crawlspace of his Chicago home.
08:53 He would become one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.
08:57 Gacy's legendary crime spree finally came to an end thanks to the work of police chief
09:01 Joseph Kozenczak.
09:02 A boy named Robert Peast had gone missing after speaking to a contractor.
09:06 This contractor was identified as John Wayne Gacy, whom Kozenczak learned had a serious
09:11 criminal record.
09:12 They supplied us with some information pertaining to his telephone number, and through the phone
09:18 number we were able to determine his full name and address.
09:24 And that's the first time we ever knew the name John Wayne Gacy.
09:30 He launched an investigation into Gacy, and even had him tailed by police officers.
09:34 While searching Gacy's home, one officer noticed a rotting smell coming from the heating duct.
09:39 They later explored the crawlspace and found numerous bodies, and the rest is history.
09:44 "The mounting evidence convinced detectives that they should begin digging in the crawlspace
09:48 under Gacy's house."
09:49 Ted Bundy
09:50 Often regarded as a remorseless psychopath, Ted Bundy claimed at least 20 lives throughout
09:55 the 1970s.
09:56 "He was a master predator.
09:58 It was as well planned as military action."
10:01 "He's become the most infamous serial killer in American history."
10:06 Bundy's infamous killing spree began in the Pacific Northwest in 1974, where he killed
10:11 eight and left another with permanent brain damage.
10:14 He then moved east to Utah, leaving behind a trail of bodies and some dumbfounded authorities.
10:19 "He went to Utah, and girls started disappearing in Salt Lake City suburbs around there, much
10:28 in the same way that girls had been disappearing in Washington state."
10:35 However, they were not without hope.
10:39 Investigators compiled a computerized database, and Ted Bundy's name continuously appeared
10:44 as a potential suspect.
10:45 In fact, Bundy was considered one of the prime suspects in the murder spree when he was arrested
10:49 in Utah in 1975.
10:50 "An off-duty Utah State Police officer saw him prowling around a neighborhood in the
10:56 Volkswagen, stopped him.
10:57 They charged him with possession of burglary tools.
11:01 Were able to use his photograph in a photographic lineup, and Carol Duranche was able to pick
11:05 him out."
11:06 Unfortunately, Bundy would escape from prison and kill again before he was apprehended for
11:11 good in 1978.
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11:29 Gary Ridgway
11:30 While names like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer have become enduring artifacts of American
11:35 culture, most people ignore Gary Ridgway, aka the Green River Killer.
11:39 "We started putting him under surveillance, and sure enough, he's still out cruising.
11:42 He's still out there, obviously, watching girls work in the street, because we were
11:46 watching him watch them."
11:48 This despite the fact that Ridgway is the second most prolific killer in American history,
11:53 having been convicted of 49 murders.
11:56 Ridgway was finally apprehended on November 30, 2001, but he'd been a primary suspect
12:01 for nearly 20 years.
12:03 Ridgway was arrested for prostitution in 1982 and was quickly suspected of being the Green
12:08 River Killer.
12:09 "We had a very strong circumstantial case against Gary Ridgway in 1987.
12:15 What we didn't have was any physical evidence to substantiate the circumstances."
12:20 He was even given a polygraph test and was forced to provide hair and saliva samples.
12:25 It was these very samples that took down Ridgway in 2001, as they were finally tested for DNA
12:32 and matched what was found on the victims.
12:34 "And Mr. Ridgway, is it your desire to plead guilty to the 48 charges of aggravated murder
12:38 in the first degree because you believe that you are guilty of each of those offenses?"
12:44 "Yes."
12:45 Do you think you would have caught these red flags?
12:48 Let us know in the comments below.
12:49 "The Dimer case was an awakening for Milwaukee in many ways.
12:53 An awakening that there were people who were missing, who were not followed up on."
12:59 [music]