July 30, 1923Waco, TexasConfessed serial killer Roy Mitchell is executed Multiple murders were committed in or near Waco, Texas over the course of a year, beginning in February of 1922 and ending in January of 1923. On February 11, 1922, 13-year-old Homer Turk was visiting W. H. Barker, his wife (either Lulu, Lou, or Lula),…
A teen is murdered, and his death leads to the arrest of a serial killer
March 13, 1977Los Angeles, CaliforniaJohn Otis LaMay (17) is killed, raped, and dismembered by Patrick Wayne Kearney LaMay’s death was one of several “trash bag murders,” so named for the killer’s penchant for placing the victims’ dismembered remains in industrial trash bags and scattering them along roads or other locations. LaMay was last seen on…
“Monster of the Andes” arrested, eventually convicted of 110 child murders
March 9, 1980 (estimated)Ambato, EcuadorPedro Alonso López (31), the so-called Monster of the Andes, is arrested According to López in an interview after his arrest, his mother ejected him from their home at the age of 8, after he was caught sexually abusing his sister. He was taken in by a neighbor briefly but his…
Woman killed in her apartment by serial killer
March 6, 1945Washington, D.C.Nancy Boyer is killed by Joseph Medley in her apartment Medley had been serving a 30- to 60-year sentence in Michigan State Prison for armed robbery and kidnapping when he approached the warden on November 27, 1944. He claimed he wanted to go downstairs to speak with the other inmates and collect…
Suspected serial killer “Flypaper Lyda” Shaw dies of a heart attack
February 5, 1958Salt Lake City, UtahConvicted murderer and suspected serial killer Lyda Trueblood Shaw dies of a heart attack On May 12, 1921, the recently-married 27-year-old Lyda Southard was arrested in Hawaii on the suspicion of killing her fourth husband, Edward Meyer. Meyer had died suddenly after he, Lyda, and a farmhand named Bill Squires…
