When you think of serial murder, the first thing that comes to mind is often an American nightmare fed to us by podcasts and TV dramas. Yet the truth is far more global: from the humid jungles of Indonesia to the bustling streets of China, the icy expanses of Russia to the sun‑baked outback of Australia, the world is littered with killers whose names rarely make the headlines. Below, we count down ten of the most disturbing murderers you’ve probably never heard of, each one a chilling reminder that evil knows no borders.
Why 10 Global Serial Killers Matter
Understanding these obscure cases helps us see patterns in how societies respond to extreme violence, and why some crimes slip through the cracks. The stories that follow are as unsettling as they are fascinating, offering a macabre tour of the darkest corners of human behavior.
10 Ahmed Suradji, Indonesia
Ahmad Suradji, sometimes called Nasib Kelewang or simply “Datuk,” was a cattle farmer turned ritual‑obsessed murderer in Indonesia. Born on 10 January 1949, he ultimately confessed to strangling 42 girls and women between 1986 and 1996, victims ranging from eleven to thirty years old. His grisly method involved burying each victim up to their waist, then tightening a cable around their necks while chanting a spell he believed would grant him supernatural powers.
Police finally closed in on Suradji on 2 May 1997 after discovering a cluster of bodies near his home in Medan, North Sumatra. He claimed that the ghost of his late father had instructed him to kill seventy women and drink their saliva to become a mystic healer. As a well‑known “dukun” (traditional sorcerer), many women sought his counsel on matters of beauty and wealth, unwittingly walking into his deadly ritual.
The trial began on 11 December 1997, ending with a guilty verdict on 27 April 1998. He was sentenced to death by firing squad and executed on 10 July 2008, sealing the fate of one of Indonesia’s most notorious serial killers.
9 Mikhail Popkov, Russia
Mikhail Viktorovich Popkov served as a police officer in Irkutsk, Siberia, before his murderous side emerged. Born in March 1964 in the Angarsk region of the former Soviet Union, he worked as a security guard and later joined the police force. Under the guise of a uniformed officer, he offered unsuspecting victims a free ride, only to assault and brutally kill them with knives, axes, baseball bats, and other weapons, often leaving the bodies mutilated beyond recognition.
For more than two decades, Popkov evaded capture despite numerous testimonies from survivors. A breakthrough arrived in 2012 when DNA testing of 3,500 police officers linked him to the crimes. He was arrested in 2015, convicted of 22 murders, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Two years later, he confessed to an additional 59 killings, pushing his confirmed victim count to at least 81.
8 Andrei Chikatilo, Russian SFSR
Andrei Chikatilo, dubbed “The Butcher of Rostov” and the “Rostov Ripper,” terrorized the Soviet Union from 1978 to 1990. Born in 1936 in Ukraine, he served in the Soviet army and later worked as a teacher. His murderous spree began with the abduction and murder of a nine‑year‑old girl, followed by a horrifying series of rapes, murders, and mutilations of women, children, and prostitutes across the Rostov region.
Despite mounting rumors and complaints about his behavior from students and colleagues, Chikatilo managed to avoid conviction for years, partly due to the chaotic social and economic conditions of the late Soviet era. An intensive police investigation finally led to his arrest in 1990. He was convicted of 53 murders in 1992 and executed in February 1994.
7 Yang Xinhai, China
Born in July 1968 in Henan province, Yang Xinhai earned the moniker “The Monster Killer.” Growing up as the youngest of four children in poverty, he dropped out of school and worked as a laborer, later landing in re‑education labor camps for theft and robbery. Between 1999 and 2003, Yang embarked on a killing spree that claimed at least 67 lives, including 23 women, across several Chinese provinces.
His modus operandi involved breaking into homes at night, murdering entire families with improvised weapons, and then fleeing the scene. Yang was adept at altering his appearance and meticulously cleaning up evidence, which allowed him to elude capture for years. His reign of terror ended in November 2003 when routine police inspections led to his arrest, and DNA evidence tied him to the crimes.
Convicted of his atrocities, Yang received the death penalty and was executed by firing squad on 14 February 2004.
6 Alexander Pichushkin, Russia
Often referred to as “The Chessboard Killer,” Alexander Pichushkin pursued a twisted hobby of ticking off squares on a chessboard with each victim. Born in April 1974 in Moscow, he suffered a serious head injury as a child and spent time in an institute for the disabled. A talented chess player, he frequently bested older opponents in Bitsa Park, but the death of his beloved grandfather and a subsequent alcohol binge turned his life dark.
Pichushkin claimed his first murder occurred in 1992. He typically lured homeless men with offers of vodka, then struck them from behind with a hammer or similar weapon, leaving bodies in Bitsa Park or dumping them in sewers. The exact tally of his victims remains uncertain.
Authorities arrested him on 16 June 2006 at age 33. He was convicted of 48 murders and three attempted murders in 2007. Because Russia had suspended the death penalty by then, Pichushkin received a life sentence.
5 Anatoly Onoprienko, Soviet Ukraine
Anatoly Yuriyovych Onoprienko, dubbed “The Beast of Ukraine,” “The Terminator,” and “Citizen O,” confessed to slaughtering 52 people between 1989 and 1995. His method involved targeting isolated homes, creating a commotion to draw out the occupants, and then systematically murdering them—starting with the adult male, then the spouse, and finally the children. He often set the houses ablaze and eliminated any witnesses who might expose him.
Onoprienko was apprehended on 16 April 1996, discovered with the murder weapons and a collection of trophies taken from victims. Initially he admitted to eight killings, but later confessed to a total of 52. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes.
4 Martha Rendell, Australia
Martha Rendell, a step‑mother in Western Australia, was convicted and hanged in 1909 for the murder of three children belonging to her husband, Thomas Morris. She poisoned the boys by swabbing their throats with “spirits of salts,” a toxic solution that caused slow, agonizing deaths.
The crimes went unnoticed until one of the surviving siblings, George Morris, reported his step‑mother’s actions. Investigators struggled to identify the effects of the chemicals, but a large purchase of the substance by Rendell raised suspicion. Autopsies eventually revealed severe inflammation and hemorrhaging of the children’s bowels, confirming the poison.
Rendell was executed on 6 October 1909 at Fremantle Prison.
3 Bruno Lüdke, Germany
Bruno Lüdke, a German murderer born in 1909, is believed to have committed more than 80 killings, though the exact number remains unknown. His violent career spanned roughly fifteen years beginning in 1928, and included a series of sadistic sexual crimes.
Lüdke operated during the chaotic interwar period, preying on victims whose disappearances would not be immediately noticed. The Nazi regime labelled him mentally defective and forced him into sterilization under eugenics policies. He was arrested in 1943 on a murder charge, then sent to a Vienna hospital where he became the subject of a Nazi medical experiment, ultimately dying in 1944.
2 Mariam Soulakiotis, Greece
Often called “Mother Rasputin” in Greek folklore, Mariam Soulakiotis was an Orthodox abbess who turned murderous between 1939 and 1951. She lured affluent women into the Peukovounogiatrissas Monastery near Keratea, then coerced them into donating their wealth. When victims resisted, she resorted to torture and, in several cases, murder.
In February 1951, authorities indicted Soulakiotis on charges of homicide, fraud, forgery, blackmail, and torture. She received a life sentence in 1952 and died in prison in 1954, never officially confessing to the crimes.
1 Luis Garavito, Colombia
Luis Garavito, born in January 1957 in Génova, Colombia, is one of the world’s most prolific child murderers. A troubled childhood marked by severe abuse from his father and a neighbor pushed him toward alcoholism and a morbid fascination with children.
From the early 1990s through 1999, Garavito lured vulnerable boys—often from impoverished families—by promising money or drinks while posing as a monk or priest. He sexually assaulted and murdered approximately 140 boys, eventually confessing to 189 murders after his 1999 arrest for assaulting a child.
He was sentenced to 835 years in prison, a staggering punishment that underscores the enormity of his crimes.