The serial killers they have existed practically throughout the history of humanity, since perverse minds are not something attributable only to the twentieth or twenty-first century. The old and distant West was a time where anarchy reigned and evildoers were at their ease. In the next article we want to tell you about 10 serial killers of the West and their stories in North America.
It is difficult to imagine the horror of living in an almost lawless land, in which to travel you had to cross large areas left by the hand of God. In these remote parts of civilization it was easy for people with bad intentions to carry out their most terrible fantasies. Therefore, it is not surprising that there were serial killers in the wildest West and, on occasion, they got away with it. Let's see some cases.
The Serial Killers of the West
1. Bloody Benders
The Bloody Benders top our list of Western serial killers. It was a family that moved to Kansas in 1870. This family of 4 would end up taking the lives of 21 people and were one of the worst serial killers in the West. They played the role of a loving family that welcomed the weary guests of the trip in their charming and cozy inn. Once installed, the Benders robbed them, beat them to death and then buried them in the garden. His story is known thanks to some witnesses who managed to escape. The most worrisome is that they never paid for their crimes and remained unaccounted for. Still today it is unknown what became of them.
2. Stephen Dee Richards
It is popularly known as the Ted Bundy of the old West, although in his time he was known as the Nebraska demon. He did not look for a single profile at the time of assassination, since he came to kill people as varied as a young man or a family mother and their three children. Richards ended up murdering nine people and was hanged in 1879.
3. Charles Kennedy
Kennedy, another serial killer in the West, lived near Eagle Nest, in New Mexico. His wife reported that Kennedy was dedicated to welcoming guests in his house to remove their belongings and kill them. But Charles went too far, murdering his own son and locking up his wife. When he managed to escape, he denounced him and Charles ended up in prison. His end was more tragic, as a group of men took him out of his cell, tied a rope around his neck and dragged him with a horse until he died strangled.
4. Boone Helm
Levi Boone Helm was known as the cannibal of Kentucky. He sowed fear in Oregon and Idaho by stealing and killing many people. The nickname was put on him after he was caught with his men by a snowstorm, all but him died. Boone managed to survive by feeding on the bodies of his companions. This near-death experience did not prevent him from continuing to steal and murder. He was finally captured, convicted and hanged.
5. The annihilator
Another of the serial killers of the West was known as the "annihilator of servants" and killed 7 women and a man in Texas between 1884 and 1885, although he also mutilated 8 other people. It was believed that the motive for the crimes was racism, since most of its victims were black and were part of the service of different places, hence its nickname.
6. James Miller
Known as "Miller the murderer", James was a hitman who killed on commission, one of the coldest serial killers in the West. He came to take the life of his sister's fiancé simply because he did not like it. He was arrested for that murder, but released by a simple technicality. Miller ended up turning his passion for killing into a profession and won large sums of money to end the lives of some people. As James had a pious appearance, no one in his community suspected his double life until he killed a former US Marshal, which caused all his people to turn against him and end up hanging him.
7. John Wesley Hardin
Although he was the son of a preacher, that did not prevent Hardin from getting into trouble at an early age. His first murder was committed at age 15 and he did not stop. It is believed that he killed 42 people. He was finally imprisoned and after spending 17 years in prison, he moved to El Paso, Texas.
One day, after a discussion with a law enforcement officer named John Selman, he shot Hardin in the head and ended the life of another of the most feared serial killers in the West.
8. Bill Longley
Longley is another of the serial killers of the West and was a book psychopath. At the age of 20 he had already killed several times. He was an avowed racist and killed anyone who bothered him. A jewel…
9. John Jeremiah Garrison
For Garrison, the penultimate of our Western serial killers, it all started when his wife was murdered by a Native American and John sought revenge on all of his tribe. Legend has it that he killed more than 300 people from the tribe of crows and then devour their livers. He died in 1900, ruined and alone.
10. Delphine LaLaurie
Within this list of serial killers of the West is Delphine LaLaurie , the only woman among all these bloodthirsty characters, who also belonged to the wealthy high society of Orleans. LaLaurie went down in history for the monstrous treatment he gave his slaves. That torture to which they were subjected was discovered in 1834, when an old slave tried to burn down his house in order to escape the brutal punishments to which he subjected them.
Attracted by the fire, the authorities moved to the house where they found the rest of the slaves in a deplorable state. Although thanks to the power enjoyed by LaLaurie there were no consequences for her. It was the other neighbors of Delphine, who in an act of compassion for the slaves and the circumstances in which they lived, succeeded in expelling the entire LaLaurie family from the village and allowing the slaves to stay and live in the house.
This is the story of 10 of the best-known serial killers of the West but surely there were more of those who are unknown to exist and who surely acted with impunity because of the insufficient presence of vigilance at the time. Do you know some other serial killers from the West? Tell us! We will be happy to read you!