Source: toptenhq.com

6. The Torso Murderer

(Torso)

Okay…okay…I’m back now. Whooooo. Had to take a break there, step away, eat some candy, and watch some children’s cartoons just to get out of this dark headspace.

But, you know, at least none of these guys is REAL, right?

Well, except this one. This one is real.

After taking down Al Capone, Elliot Ness moved to Cleveland, where he stumbled onto some of America’s most successful serial killers. The Torso Murderer was so named for the fact that he removed his victims’ heads and hands, eliminating the police’s ability to check for fingerprints or dental records. And since this was before DNA testing, this means that only two of the killer’s 12 confirmed victims have ever been identified. But he’s on this list because of his depiction in Bendis and Andreyko’s graphic novel Torso, one of my personal favorite crime stories.

Fictionalized based on seriously researched theories of who the real killer was, this version of the Torso Murderer was a close relative of a local Congressman, which left him out of the reach of the law, living out his days in hospital confinement. They say the true stories are the scariest ones, and in this case, they’re right.