Â鶹APP

15 Infamous Serial Killers Who Went After Homosexuals 

Originally published by Faith in Aprril 2023 and Updated by Faith in March 2024

Serial killers are known for committing murders without any sense of guilt or remorse after they finish killing. Most serial killers usually choose victims at random while there are few who target specific people and ensure that they kill them. There are serial killers who went after people because of their sexual orientation especially homosexual men. This article will explore the serial killers that targeted homosexuals to understand why they go after them,

1 Jeffrey Dahmer

He is one of the most prolific serial killers that ever existed. He committed his first murder when he was 18 years old and he continued killing until he was arrested. At the time of his arrest, Dahmer had killed 15 young men. He picked his victims from bars and he targeted poor African American, Latino or Asian people. After picking up his victim, Dahmer would slip sedatives into his drinks so that he does not put up a fight when they are leaving. He would then take them to his apartment where he would rape them and proceed to kill them. He also dismembered their bodies and refrigerated them and eat the flesh. Dahmer was arrested in 1991 and sentenced to 15 life sentences. However, he did not finish his sentence as he was killed in 1994 by a fellow inmate.

2 Colin Ireland

Popularly known as the Gay Slayer, Colin Ireland targeted gay men as his victims. He killed five victims in a span of three months from March 1993 to June 1993. He was later arrested in July 1993. When he was young, he committed several crimes in that from as early as 16 years old, he started serving time in prison. Colin picked his victims by frequenting gay bars in Coleherne, London where he picked partners who were passive and into sadomasochism. He would then tie them up and the victims would not be suspicious as they thought it was part of the sexual game.

After killing his victim, Colin would do away with any forensic evidence and he even had a change of clothes. This shows that the murders were highly planned. After his arrest, he confessed that he was heterosexual and was only pretending to be gay to get his victims. He was sentenced to life for the five murders and he served his sentence until he died in February 2012 when he was 57 years old.

3 Randy Steven Kraft

A mugshot of Randy Kraft. , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Popularly known as the scorecard killer, Randy Kraft was a serial killer that operated in southern California between 1972 and 1983. He was dubbed the scorecard killer after local authorities found a coded list which is believed to have contained the names of the people he intended to kill. He targeted gay men whom he raped, took pictures and dismembered their bodies. It was discovered that most of his victims were in the Marines and their bodies had high levels of tranquillizers and alcohol which indicates that they were killed while unconscious. He was charged with the murder of 16 men when he was arrested and given the death penalty. However, it is believed that his victim count is as high as 67.

4 John Wayne Gacy

The serial killer was popularly known as the Killer Clown and his crimes spanned from 1967 to 1978. One would expect that a person would commit the crimes far from his house so that they cannot be traced back to them but this was not the case with John Wayne Gacy in that all of his murders were committed inside his house at Norwood Park Township.

 Wayne would bring the victims into his house and handcuff them in the pretence that he was showing them a magic trick. He would then proceed to rape and torture them and then kill them by strangulation. He was arrested in 1978 and 26 bodies of his victims were found buried in his property. He was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection in 1994.

5 Bruce McArthur

A pictute of a flower. The killer dismembered the victims bodies and hid them in flower pots. , , via Wikimedia Commons

Known as the Santa Claus Serial Killer, Bruce McArthur terrorised the Toronto gay community. The serial killer targeted men of Asian and middle eastern descent. During the time he was active which was nearly a decade, he killed eight men and was discovered after the disappearance of Andrew Kinsman who was quite popular in the gay community. Kinsman disappeared after the pride celebrations which worried his friends. CCTV footage revealed him getting into a red Dodge which the police were able to link to Bruce.

When the police found the car, they found traces of blood that DNA confirmed to be Andrew’s. A hard drive containing photos of Andrew’s dead body was found. The drive also had photos of Selim Essen who was part of the Toronto gay community and had vanished two months prior. Bruce was arrested and the bodies of his victims were found dismembered and put in flower pots in a home where he worked as a gardener. The unsuspecting couple that employed him had no idea that their garden had dead people.

6 Stephen Port

The British serial killer killed four men and also raped numerous people. He looked for his victims in gay dating apps where he would give false information about his background to the victims. In one instance he pretended that he had gone to Oxford and served in the Navy. Stephen used gamma-hydroxybutyric acid which is a date rape drug on his victims. He would give the victims the drink then raped them and proceed to murder them. After his arrest in 2015, he was charged with four counts of murder and several counts of rape. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2016.

7 Patrick Wayne Keaney

A picture of a gun. The freeway killer would shoot his victims in the temple before disposing their bodies. , , via Wikimedia Commons

Popularly known as the Freeway Killer and the Trashbag Killer, Patrick Kearney is among the most prolific serial killers that ever terrorised the United States of America. He killed a minimum of 21 men from 1962 to 1977. However, it is believed that his victim count could be as high as 43 which is quite scary. He mostly targeted hitchhikers and men from gay bars. To ensure that he was not caught he would shoot the victim in the temple and dismember the body then dispose of parts of the body that were in trash bags in different locations. He was arrested in 1977 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

8 Michael Fourniret

Also known as the Ogre of Ardennes, Micheal Fournet murdered at least eight young women some believed to have been lesbians between 1897 and 2001. He was arrested in 2003 after he unsuccessfully tried to kidnap a 13-year-old girl who managed to escape and contact local authorities. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and he later received a second sentence when it was revealed that he had killed his mobster companion.

9 Dennis Nilsen

The Scottish serial killer was also known as the Muswell Hill Murderer. His crimes spanned from 1978 to 1983. During this time, he is said to have murdered at least twelve young men. He would lure the men into his house with a bunch of lies and proceed to kill them by strangling them or at times drowning them. After murdering the victims, he would do a ritual where he bathed and dressed the body and then leave it for some time before disposing of the body by burning it or flushing it down the toilet. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and detained at Fort Sutton Maximum Prison.

10 Wayne Williams

A picture of wayne williams. , , via Wikimedia Commons

The American Serial Killer is believed to have killed at least two men in the 1980s. Not all of his victims were gay but some were involved in Atlanta’s gay community. Most of his victims were black with the majority of them being male adolescents.  After his arrest in 1982, he was convicted on two counts of murder and given two life sentences.

11 Dean Corll

Serial killer Dean Corll. , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The notorious serial killer who was active in the early 1970s was popularly known as The Candy Man or the Pied Piper. Corl alongside his teenage accomplices, Elmer Wayne and David Brooks were behind the Houston Mass Murders where between 1970 and 1973, the trio abducted, tortured and sexually assaulted at least 30 men and young men around the Houston Texas area.  The serial killer targeted young and vulnerable children who were friends of his accomplices by promising them job opportunities in the candy factory that he operated where he would then go on to sexually assault them before brutally killing them. Dean did not stand before a court of law to answer for the crimes he had done as he was killed by one of his accomplices, Henly after he tried to kill him and his friends for bringing a girl to his house.

12 Andrew Cunanan

Serial Killer Andrew Cunanan.

The serial killer is well known for the murder of the Italian Fashion designer Gianni Versace which happened in 1997. Before killing the acclaimed fashion designer, the serial killer had killed four other men whom he picked up in his social circles and gay bars. Andrew’s victims were men who were successful in their fields with one of them being a real estate mogul. During this period, he would use aliases with his victims which made him go undetected for a long time.  It was when he killed the fashion designer that he came to the limelight and prompted a nationwide police manhunt which came to an end when he committed suicide on a houseboat in Miami.

13 William Bonin

A mugshot of William Bonin. , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

William Bonin was a serial killer popularly known as the Freeway Strangler or the Freeway Killer. He was active in California from May 1979 to June 1980 and during this one year, he killed at least 21 young boys and men. Bonin committed suicide with four other accomplices but the identity of the people that were helping him was never uncovered. He would target male prostitutes, hitchhikers and school-going boys where he would abduct them using his Ford Econoline van and proceed to tie them up before sexually assaulting them. He gained his nickname the Freeway Killer because most of his victims were found along the Freeway in California. He was finally apprehended on June 11 190 and brought to trial where he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was on death row for fourteen years in San Quentin Prison before he was finally executed in 1996 by lethal injection.

14 Richard Rogers

Richard Rogers famously known as The Last Call Killer was a serial killer who is said to have killed at least two bisexual and gay men. He was active between 1992 and 1993 where he would lure men from piano bars in Manhattan and proceed to kill them. His modus operandi involved dismembering his victims as his occupation was a surgical nurse. After dismembering his victims, he would then put their body parts in garbage bags before disposing of them along the highways in New Jersey. He was finally arrested in 2001 when his DNA sample was found on the trash bags that had the victim’s bodies. He was arraigned in court and found guilty of two counts of murder. Richard was sentenced to life imprisonment and is now serving his sentence in New Jersey State Prison.

15 Anthony Morley

The first Mr Gay UK in 1993 was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of the murder of his lover Damian Oldfield. The serial killer first met with his lover in 1996 when he was a contestant in a television programme known as God’s Gift where Damian was among the audience. Morley killed Damian after being invited to his flat in Leeds where he killed him removed a part of his leg and proceeded to cook it. He later went to a nearby Kebab house drenched in blood and told the attendants to call the police who came to arrest him.

Check out this article on the 10 deadly necrophilia killers here