20 Infamous Serial Killers in California

20 Infamous Serial Killers in California

Originally published by Faith in February 2023 and updated by Faith in May 2024.

When people think about California, they picture sunset and people surfing. The state is well known for having a laid-back vibe and being a great destination for people who want to relax and unwind. The state is also a place where people go with the hopes of being stars. However, the state of California has a dark side as it is home to some of the most notorious serial killers in American history. The killers have done despicable things that left the residents horrified. This article will explore the twenty infamous killers in California to equip the reader with knowledge about the topic.

1 Lawrence Bitttaker

A picture of Lawrence during his trial. Photo by Kieronoldham-Wikimedia –

Bittaker together with his accomplice Norris terrorized the Los Angeles area in 1979 when they went on a killing spree for six months which resulted in the loss of five young women. Lawrence and Norris first met when they were in prison and got to bond for their interest in sadism.

Bittaker’s strategy was to entice young women into his van where he and Norris would use several tools from the infamous “toolbox” on them. They even made audio recordings of their actions, which when played in the courtroom during their trial caused some people to throw up. Bittaker is still incarcerated in California on death row, where he is known as “Pliers” in a sadistic manner.

2 Joseph James DeAngelo

Joseph James was a rapist in the 1970s and he terrorized the people of Northern California as he would break into the homes of his victims and attack them. These break-ins went on for three years and they invoked fear among residents of Contra Costa and Sacramento as they feared they could be the next victim.

Forty years later, authorities in Santa Ana revealed that they had charged the man responsible for the crimes. The man was Joseph James DeAngelo who was charged with 13 counts of murder and kidnapping with the intention of committing a robbery. He was found guilty and sentenced to eight life sentences without parole.

3 The Doodler

A sketch of the Doodler by the San Fransisco County Police-Wikimedia

The Doodler is said to have been responsible for more than 14 death in the San Fransisco area. The killer targeted the gay community. After taking his victim, the Doodler would sketch the victim before killing them and hence the nickname. His first victim was known as Geral Cavanaugh who was found at Ocean Beach in San Fransisco. Soon after, Joseph Steven met the same fate. It is believed that he picked up his victims in gay bars. Sadly, the identity of the Doodler has never been discovered despite the efforts of the local authorities.

4 The Zebra Killers

This was a group of African American serial killers that decided to terrorize people in the early 1970s. their attacks were racially motivated and they liked to refer to themselves as the Death Angels. Local authorities believe that during the time they were active, they may have had a body count as high as seventy-three.

Their first victim was a couple known as Quita and Richard Hague. The group raped Quita and slashed her with a machete before proceeding to use the same weapon on Richard. Anthony Harris, an acquittance who acknowledged seeing all of the murders firsthand, assisted in the eventual capture of the Zebra killers.

5 Richard Ramirez

A mug shot of Ramirez by Los Angeles Police Department-Wikimedia

Popularly known as the Night Stalker, Ramirez was a deranged serial killer that instilled fear into the residents of northern California. During his deadly spree in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the middle of the 1980s, Ramirez assaulted an estimated 25 victims and killed at least 13.

By the time Ramirez was captured in November 1985, he had terrorised millions of people living in Los Angeles by killing large numbers of men and women of all ages in a variety of cruel ways, such as by strangulation, bludgeoning, and execution-style shootings. Ramirez received a death sentence in 1988 after being found guilty of 13 charges of capital crimes. In 2013 at San Quentin State Prison, he passed away from lymphoma.

6 Ed Kemper

Kemper is one of the most prolific serial killers in the state of California. The killer killed 10 people and also killed his own mother and grandfather. This is quite chilling in that someone can kill their family without any remorse. Kemper started off by killing his grandfather when he was fifteen years old.

 He then started picking up hitchhikers who were students at Freno State University and cut their heads off before having sex with their corpses. He then killed his mother just before he was apprehended by smashing her head with a hammer. He was charged with several counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

7 The Zodiac Killer

A sketch of the Zodiac Killer by Wolfman-Wikimedia

Perhaps one of the most infamous American criminals to escape justice is The Zodiac. The Zodiac killed at least five people when he struck northern California in the late 1960s. He usually targeted young couples and either shot or stabbed them. The Zodiac, a man who was seen wearing a black hood, became well-known for sending a string of cyphers to the San Francisco Examiner in an effort to mock the authorities.

Some people discounted the letters, which were initially thought to offer hints about his identity, as mere rubbish meant to be a red herring. To date, the identity of the Zodiac killer is not known.

8 Chester Turner

Chester was a serial killer who operated between 1987 and 1998 in the southern part of Los Angeles. The killer targeted women who were drug addicts by luring them with the promise that he was going to give them drugs and then proceeded to strangle them with his bare hands. Turner killed six women during this time and was convicted of murder and he is currently on California’s death row.

9 Timothy Joseph McGhee

The gang leader based in the northeast part of Los Angeles was sentenced to death for the murder of three people. It is said that McGhee boasted of his hatred for the police and his love for killing. McGhee was found guilty of murder in 2007 by a jury for the three shootings of gang members that occurred between 1997 and 2001. McGhee was also found guilty by the jury of the attempted murder of four additional individuals, including two Los Angeles police officers who were ambushed in Atwater Village early one morning as they pursued three other Toonerville gang members.

10 The Scorecard Killer

A mug shot of Randy Kraft by Quentin State Prison-Wikimedia

His real name is Randy Kraft but he was also known as the Scorecard Killer and the Southern California Strangler. The serial killer was arrested in 1983 and at the time of his arrest, the corpse of his victim was still in the car. He committed several murders from 1972 to 1983. Kraft would pick up young men load them with alcohol and proceed to interrogate them before killing them. Kraft was convicted of 16 murders but it is believed that his victims were higher than that. He is currently imprisoned on death row in California.

11 Juan Corona

Juan Corona was a Mexican-American serial killer who was active in the 1970s. The serial killer was convicted of killing 25 migrant workers in Yuba City, California. His victims were his workers whom he would hire and then lure them into remote areas before proceeding to hack them to death with a Machete. He disposed of the bodies of his victims by burying them in shallow graves.

The serial killer went undetected for a long time until one of the workers that he had killed was noticed to be missing. This led to an investigation where law enforcement authorities discovered the grisly burial sites where the victims had been buried. Juan was then arrested and convicted of 25 counts of murder in 1973. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Juan served his sentence at the California State Prison until he died in 2019.

12 Charles Ng & Leonard Lake

A mugshot of Charles Ng. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Charles Ng and Leonard Lake were partners who went on a killing spree in the mid-1980s. The pair committed a series of gruesome murders in their remote cabin that was located in Calaveras County, California. They would kidnap, rape and then proceed to kill their victims in the cabin. They also recorded the gruesome acts that they did to their victims which is quite scary.

Lake was arrested in 1985 on an unrelated charge and he killed himself while in custody by taking cyanide that he had sown into his clothing. Charles on the other hand fled to Canada where he was arrested after a massive manhunt. He was extradited to California and charged with 11 counts of murder even though the number of victims they killed is believed to be higher. He was sentenced to death and is now being held at the Californian Medical Facility.

13 Patrick Kearney

The serial killer who was popularly known as the Trash Bag Murderer was active in the 1970s. During this time, Kearney murdered at least 21 young boys and men ranging from 8 to 38 years. His victims were mostly hitchhikers and men he would pick up from gay bars. He would then shoot them before putting their bodies in trash bags and disposing them in rural areas of Los Angeles. He was finally apprehended when one of his victims managed to escape and alert law enforcement authorities. He was convicted of 21 murders and sentenced to death. In 1995, Patrick Kearney was executed in the gas chamber.

14 William Bonin

A mugshot of William Bonin. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 Popularly known as the Freeway Killer, William Bonin was one of the most notorious serial killers to ever operate in California. Bonin was active between 1972 and 1980 and he would pick up hitchhikers along the Freeway as his victims hence the nickname. During this time, the serial killer is said to have murdered at least 21 men and boys. His modus operandi involved kidnapping his victims before proceeding to sexually assault them and beat them to death.

Bonin would then dump their bodies along the freeway in Southern California. He was finally arrested in 1980 when he was stopped at a traffic stop. After his arrest, he confessed to the killings and was not even remorseful about his actions to the extent that he would taunt the victim’s families with what he did. He was found guilty of 14 counts of murder and sentenced to death. In 1996, Bonin was executed by lethal injection.

15 Rodney Alcala

Alcala was a serial killer active in the 1970s. He was also known as the Dating Game Killer in that in the middle of his killing spree, he managed to be a contestant in the dating show The Dating Game without being detected. He targeted young women and children as his victims with his known victims being Robin Samsoe, 12 and Giorgia Wixted, 27. However, he is suspected to have had a higher victim count not only in California but also in other states like New York. after his arrest, he was found guilty of Samsoe’s murder and sentenced to death but the conviction was overturned. His luck did not last as he was sentenced to death again in 2010 for five murders that were committed in California between 1977 and 1979. He is now on death row in California.

16 Hillside Stranglers

A mugshot of Angelo Buono, one of the Hillside Stranglers. Californian law enforcement, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Angelo Buono Jr. and Kenneth Bianchi were the duo that made up the Hillside Stranglers and terrorised the residents of the Los Angeles area between October 1977 and February 1978. During the time they were active, the two sexually assaulted, tortured and killed at least 10 girls who were between 12 and 28 years old.

Their modus operandi involved kidnapping their victims and taking them to Buono’s house where they would proceed to torture them for days before killing them by strangulation. They dumped their bodies in vacant hills and plots in Los Angeles. Bianchi was arrested first for the murder of two women in Washington state. This led to the arrest of Buono where they found overwhelming evidence against them. The two had separate trials but they were both sentenced to life in prison.

17 Sunset Strip Killers

The Sunset Strip Killers were a couple Douglas Clark and Carol Bundy who went on a killing spree in 1980 and left 6 murders on their trail. The two went on a one-month killing spree where they would lure sex workers around the Sunset Strip Area with the promise of money and drugs and then take them to remote areas where they would sexually assault them before killing them by strangulation. They were finally arrested in August 1980 and Bundy agreed to testify against Douglas so that she could get a reduced sentence. Clark was convicted of six counts of murder and sentenced to death while Bundy was sentenced to life imprisonment. It is important to note that Carol Bundy had no relation to the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy.

18 Harvey Glatman

A mugshot of Harvey Glatman. 

Glatman who also went by The Lonely Hearts Killer was a serial killer who was active in the 1950s in Los Angeles. He targeted lonely women who were seeking companionship through nightmare-themed photography adverts. Glatman would tie the victims and sexually assault them before strangling them to death. He would then keep pieces of clothing as souvenirs. He was finally arrested in 1958 when he let one of his intended victims go. After his arrest, he confessed to the murders and even took the police to where he buried his victims. He was found guilty and executed by the gas chamber in 1959.

19 Samuel Little

Little is among the most prolific serial killers ever to exist. The extent of his crimes is not known but he confessed to killing 93 victims across 20 states including California between 1970 and 2005. The majority of his victims were younger black women, many of whom were drug addicts or prostitutes. Little would often visit areas where women were weak, enticing them with the lure of money or narcotics, then murdering them and disposing of their remains. He could recall every aspect of his crimes with amazing clarity.

In 2014, Little, then 74 years old, was found guilty of three murders in California. Shortly afterwards, he started to confess to several other crimes around the nation. He was still serving his sentence until he died in 2020.

20 Herbert Mullin

Serial killer Herbert Mullin.

The serial killer was active in Santa Cruz, California in the 1970s. In a year between 1972 and 1973, Mulin killed 13 people. He was not picky when it came to his victims as he killed family members and even strangers. His choice of weapon also varied with him using firearms, blunt objects and knives. He was finally arrested in 1973 after he confessed to his crimes. He was convicted of 10 murders and sentenced to life in prison.