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Albert DeSalvo
AP/REX/Shutterstock; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis/Getty
Along with Curtis, Henry Fonda also starred in the eponymous ‘68 film as John Bottomly, the chief detective who obtained DeSalvo’s admission about the killings.
02of 08
Ed Gein
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Steve Railsback starred in the 2000 filmEd Gein, which recounted the life of the same-named Wisconsin farmer and killer who inspiredSilence of the Lambs’ Hannibal Lecter,Psychoand multiple other fictional monsters.
While Gein only confessed to murdering two women, investigators have long believed he had more victims. He was a notorious body-snatcher who dug up at least 40 corpses, using the human skin to make masks. In addition to the 2000 movie, Gein’s crimes have been adapted in other films, including 2007’sEd Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield.
03of 08
Joe Ball
Wikimedia Commons; Courtesy Everett
In the 1930s, several women linked to saloon owner Joe Ball vanished from South Texas. That led investigators to his business, where, before they could question him, Ball pulled a gun and killed himself with a bullet through his heart.
Thoughmany of the details remain unclear, It is believed Ball killed as many as 20 women — some of whom he fed to alligators he kept in a manmade pond.
04of 08
Henry Lee Lucas
Pete Fisher/UPI/Getty; Greycat Films/courtesy Everett
Michael Rooker is now perhaps best known for his role as Yondu in theGuardians of the Galaxyfranchise. But in 1986, he first turned heads with his chilling portrayal of Texas convict Henry Lee Lucas inHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.
05of 08
Ted Bundy
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Years before his longrunning role onNCIS, Mark Harmon was seen on television screens across America in 1986 as serial killer Ted Bundy, who confessed to 30 homicides committed between 1974 and 1978.
NBC aired the two-part seriesThe Deliberate Strangerthat May, and Harmon was praised for his work.
In 2019, Zac Efron starred in a feature film about Bundy,Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.
06of 08Robert Christian HansenAnchorage Daily News/MCT/Getty; Voltage PicturesRobert Christian Hansen, who died in 2014 from lingering health issues, abducted, raped, and killed at least 17 women, hunting them down in the woods of Anchorage, Alaska. The killings happened between 1971 and 1983, and Hansen received a 461-year prison sentence following his conviction in late 1983.Jon Cusack portrayed the mass killer in2013’sThe Frozen Groundopposite Nicholas Cage as the state trooper working to track him down.
06of 08
Robert Christian Hansen
Anchorage Daily News/MCT/Getty; Voltage Pictures
Robert Christian Hansen, who died in 2014 from lingering health issues, abducted, raped, and killed at least 17 women, hunting them down in the woods of Anchorage, Alaska. The killings happened between 1971 and 1983, and Hansen received a 461-year prison sentence following his conviction in late 1983.
Jon Cusack portrayed the mass killer in2013’sThe Frozen Groundopposite Nicholas Cage as the state trooper working to track him down.
07of 08Jeffrey DahmerRalf-Finn Hestoft/Corbis/Getty; Courtesy EverettJeremy Renner got his big break as one of America’s most infamous serial murderers: Jeffrey Dahmer.The 2002 filmDahmertakes a haunting look at the life of the “Milwaukee Cannibal,” who raped, murdered and dismembered 17 young men and boys between 1978 and 1991, when he was finally captured.Dahmer, who would die less than three years into his life sentence, also confessed to consuming parts of his victims’ bodies.
07of 08
Jeffrey Dahmer
Ralf-Finn Hestoft/Corbis/Getty; Courtesy Everett
Jeremy Renner got his big break as one of America’s most infamous serial murderers: Jeffrey Dahmer.
The 2002 filmDahmertakes a haunting look at the life of the “Milwaukee Cannibal,” who raped, murdered and dismembered 17 young men and boys between 1978 and 1991, when he was finally captured.
Dahmer, who would die less than three years into his life sentence, also confessed to consuming parts of his victims’ bodies.
08of 08
Aileen Wuornos
News-Journal/AP; Newmarket/courtesy Everett
In 2004, Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her portrayal of Aileen Wuornos, the Florida serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least seven men.
In 2002, a year before her story would be told on the big screen, she received a lethal injection.
source: people.com
