There’s bad boys and girls, and then there are these 15 people: cold-blooded serial killers who tortured and abused their victims – and eventually got caught for it. The publicity that followed their cases shone a spotlight on the gorgeous bone structure, handsome faces, beautiful bodies, and charming personalities that comprised these lethal criminals. In fact, they got so much publicity for their good looks, they found themselves with major fan followings behind bars! It seems that anyone will go after crazy if it’s sexy enough! And perhaps it's those good looks that drew the victims of these crimes to the murderers in the firs place.

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While there have been plenty of good-looking killers, this list only covers those who went back for more than one victim, which is why you won’t be finding the likes of Jodi Arias in this particular article. Instead, we’ve reserved this space for the lowest of the low, the handsome and beautiful men and women who became monsters. Some worked in pairs and some worked alone, some are still alive and others are long gone, but their hotness transcends time – and got them more than a few beloved (and disturbed) fans in the process.

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Trauma is the most common element in the lives of the worst serial killers in history. So, although they may look nothing like Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger, we promise you that the following 25 true crime stories about serial killers, will keep you up at night.

15 Charlene Williams

With gingery hair and sharp bone structure, Charlene Williams was one half of a serial killing-duo with her husband, Gerald Armond, murdering 10 victims in Sacramento, California between 1978 and 1980. An attractive young woman, Williams used her charm and good looks to win over Armond while at a poker club, and became his sixth wife. However, this proved to be a catalyst for the violent Armond, and the couple teamed up in a terrifying bout of sex-fuelled killings of children and young women. While Armond was positioned as the ringleader in these bloody activities, Williams had her fair share of influence, one morning ordering Armond to wake up because she “wanted a girl”.

In 1984, the couple was tried, with Williams testifying against her husband and partner and pleading guilty in the state of Nevada (she was exempt from California). She received a sentence of 16 years and 8 months. Armond was sentenced to death twice, but died of rectal cancer at the age of 56 in 2002.

14 Theodore Durrant

If you’re a fan of a little lip tickle, then maybe mustachioed Theodore Durrant is the man for you! Also known as “The Demon of the Belfry”, Durrant killed two young women way back in 1895. Over a period of less than two weeks, Durrant abducted, raped, and killed Blanche Lamont, aged 20, and Minnie Williams, aged 21. Of course, with a face as nice as his and with a youthful vigor (Durrant was only 23 at the time), it was easy for him to capture Lamont’s attention – many people who last saw the two together stated that they seemed very close, with Durrant tapping lightly at her gloves.

While his moustache was impeccable, Durrant was sloppy, and witnesses found the bodies of the women: one wedged inside a cabinet, the other in the belfry, her head between two floorboards. Since Durrant had tried to pawn women’s rings earlier, police found sufficient evidence to try him, and hang him the same year as his crimes.

13 Charles Starkweather

Perhaps you have a thing for bad boys, and if so, this James Dean lookalike might be the serial killer to win your heart! After seeing the James Dean film, Rebel Without a Cause, Starkweather tried to emulate the look, and also became enamoed with the romantically rebellious spirit – which is likely what partly attracted his young girlfriend (and co-killer), 13-year-old Caril Ann Fugate (Starkweather was 18 when they met).

The inspiration behind the film, Natural Born Killers, Starkweather and Fugate went on a murderous rampage that lasted 60 days, from 1957 to 1958, murdering 11 people in total, including Fugate’s mother, stepfather, and two-year-old half-sister. After being apprehended in 1958, Starkweather was given the death penalty and sent to the electric chair. He was 20 years old. Fugate tried to deny her culpability, citing her young age, but was sentenced as well, and served 17 years until she was paroled in 1976.

12 Charles Schmid

The second Charles on our list, Charles Schmid, is a bit more of the dark and dangerous type when it comes to good looks – emphasis on the “dangerous”. With three victims to his name, Schmid – who was called “The Pied Piper of Tucson” – weirdly became a bit of a cult hero among disaffected Tucson youth, even though he drew a fake mole on his face to make himself “look meaner”.

In 1964, at the age of 21, Schmid announced that he wanted to kill a girl and thought he could get away with it. His victim was a 15-year-old girl, whom he lured from home, raped, killed, and buried in a shallow grave. Later, he murdered his 17-year-old girlfriend, who had become too clingy for his liking, and her 13-year-old sister – because nothing says “tough” like doing away with teenage girls. Due to his boasts of what he’d done, Schmid was imprisoned, escaped once, and died from stab wounds he suffered while in a prison brawl in 1975.

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11 Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka

The only Canadian entry on our list, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka were known as “Ken & Barbie” for their blonde, tanned, good looks and penchant for excess – including murder. While Bernardo already had a history of violent behaviour (it was later discovered that he was the Scarborough Rapist, who terrorized and brutalized multiple women in their homes throughout the 1980s), Homolka’s dark side really came to light when the two joined forces. It seems that Ken really did belong with Barbie! Throughout the early 1990s, Bernardo and Homolka raped and murdered three young women, including Homolka’s own younger sister.

As one of the most controversial cases In Canadian history, Homolka claimed that she had been manipulated, threatened, and abused by Bernardo in order to commit the murders, while the prosecution claimed she was a willing and enthusiastic participant. The result of the trials was Bernardo’s lifelong incarceration and Homolka’s sentence of 12 years. She was released in 2005 under a series of strict conditions.

10 Kenneth Bianchi

Another murderer with a mustache, Kenneth Bianchi looks like the kind of guy your mom might bring home – but you’d be the one to call him “daddy”. He also happens to be one half of the “Hillside Stranglers” with his cousin, Angelo Buono. From October 1977 to February 1978, the pair raped and murdered 10 victims in Los Angeles, posing as police officers to pick up prostitutes before moving on to middle-class women and girls. The two usually left the bodies on an LA hillside, which is what earned them their nickname.

Once they were caught, Bianchi, a pathological liar, claimed he had multiple personality disorder and tried to use an insanity defense. Of course, his lie didn’t fool anyone, and he received six life sentences while his cousin was given life without parole. A testament to his effect on women, Bianchi later married a Louisiana pen pal, and the two wed in a prison chapel ceremony in 1989.

9 Richard Ramirez

If you’re interested in the kind of bad boy who has a real dark side and cheekbones that could gut glass, maybe Richard Ramirez is the kind of BF you’re looking for! Also known by the scary name the “Night Stalker”, Ramirez broke into California homes in the 1980s, raping and torturing more than 25 victims and killing at least 13 over two years.

A juvenile delinquent with a rough past, Ramirez was drawn to the darkness of Satan worship, making his victims swear allegiance to the Devil and carving pentagrams into their skin. Completely unapologetic of his crimes, Ramirez was unfazed when he was given 19 death sentences in 1989, saying “No big deal. Death always comes with the territory.” Like the last entry, Ramirez also found love behind bars, in the form of freelance magazine editor, Doreen Lioy, who married the murderer in 1996, saying he was funny and charming. Too bad for Lioy, Ramirez died in 2013 after complications pertaining to B-cell lymphoma.

8 Charles Manson

There must be something about the name Charles, because this is the third entry on our list! While Charles Manson did not directly murder anyone, preferring to confer the dirty work upon his dedicated band of cult followers, he still earns a spot for his notorious actions in organizing the murders of Sharon Tate and other members of the Hollywood elite. Despite standing at a tiny 5'2', Manson was able to use his charisma and good looks to enamor his followers, who called themselves his family, to commit heinous acts in his name. With regular use of hallucinogenic drugs like LCD and mushrooms, and surrounded by a group of disillusioned, impressionable young girls, Manson ordered the murders of five people, including the pregnant Tate.

Despite not physically taking part in the crimes, Manson was convicted of first-degree murder, his death sentence commuted to life in prison. He’s still got his fair share of admirers, despite being in his 80s, the most recent being a woman in her 20s named Afton Burton.

7 Elizabeth Bathory

Unfortunately, this lethal looker doesn’t give us the benefit of having photographic evidence of her beauty, so we have to make do with historical documentation and portraits. Renowned for her creamy complexion, slim figure, and delicate features, it was perhaps Elizabeth Bathory’s obsession with her appearance that led her to torture and murder about six hundred young women and girls, earning her a reputation for being a vampire and the name of “Blood Countess”. Drivers for windows 7 ultimate.

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Much has been mythologized about Bathory (she is said to be one of the inspirations for Bram Stoker’s Dracula), so it’s difficult to determine what is truth and what is urban legend. Allegedly, she captured these women as part of dark satanic blood rituals, and would bathe in their blood in a misguided attempt to retain her youth. More likely, she enjoyed the power such destruction afforded her. Whatever way you look at it, her body count is astoundingly high, and one of the reasons she’s such a memorable (and despicable) part of history.

6 Ted Bundy

Regarded as handsome and charismatic by everyone around him, serial rapist and murderer Ted Bundy used his good looks to his advantage, luring multiple women into his trap by pretending to be a “nice guy” in need of some help – before kidnapping them and killing them. His attractiveness was key in his ability to murder over 30 victims, and he later tried to use his charisma and education (he was a law student) to represent himself in court. Of course, it failed him, and he was convicted.

It seems that Bundy’s slipperiness didn’t stop there. He escaped from custody multiple times, the second time in 1977. While on the run, Bundy broke into a sorority house and attacked four women, killing two. Later, he kidnapped and murdered a 12-year-old girl. Like others on this list, despite his distasteful history, Bundy found a woman to marry him, Carole Ann Boone, who later gave birth to his daughter before he was executed in 1989.

5 Joran Van Der Sloot

One of the most recent entries on our list, Joran Van Der Sloot is often described by the media as a good-looking athlete with a frat-boy aesthetic. Although he has only been arrested for one murder, Van Der Sloot’s possible involvement in the rape and murder of Natalee Holloway in 2005 (when he was just 17) puts this criminal right in the number four spot on our list.

While on a class trip to Aruba, Van Der Sloot was the last person seen with Holloway, who was found dumped in a crab pot at sea. Exactly five years later, Van Der Sloot was arrested and charged with the murder of Stephany Flores, whom he beat to death with a tennis racket (Van Der Sloot played tennis as well, lending to his frat-boy image). Sentenced to 28 years in a Peruvian jail, Van Der Sloot has allegedly confessed to Holloway’s murder while behind bars, but you can judge the facts of this beefy bloodthirsty criminal for yourself.

4 Estibaliz Carranza

A true femme fatale, murderer Estibaliz Carranza’s pouty lips are nothing on those lyin’ eyes! Dubbed the “Ice Cream Killer” the Austrian Carranza was convicted of murdering her ex-husband and then her lover two years later, before dismembering them and freezing their bodies. The freezing part, as well as Carranza’s employment as an ice cream parlor owner, are what earned her the strange nickname. Using the noise of the ice cream machine to drown out the sound of the chainsaw she used, Carranza was later declared “mentally abnormal” and dangerous. We’d say so!

Her violent history hasn’t deterred her male admirers, however. Upon being captured, Carranza was two months pregnant by a third man, and later married him while in prison. During her trial, much media interest was generated due to Carranza’s photogenic features, and perhaps now this black widow will have her pick of men – as of January of this year, Carranza was transferred to a men’s prison.

3 Vera Renczi

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Considered one of the most beautiful women in the world at the time, Romanian-born Vera Renczi was known for being boy crazy, running away with multiple lovers in her early teens. It seems that thirsty nature of hers never abated, except she chose to keep her men with her forever – by poisoning them. One of the original black widows, Renczi confessed to taking the lives of no less than 35 individuals, including her two husbands, multiple lovers, and her own son – who discovered what she was doing – throughout the 1920s, using the poison of the day, arsenic.

Her reason for committing these nefarious acts? Jealousy and insecurity. Apparently, every time she suspected the eye of her lover wandering, she would serve him up a glass of arsenic-laced wine – before setting him into a zinc-lined coffin for his eternal rest.

2 Paul John Knowles

It’s no surprise that he’s known as the “Casanova Killer” once you take a look at those cheekbones, jawline, and tousled hair! He also happened to be a lady killer – literally. Paul John Knowles was incarcerated in 1974 and began writing to a divorcée, later proposing to her, which led to his release the same year.

Probably a bad idea, since that’s when Knowles took off on his killing spree that claimed the lives of at least 18 and as many as 35 victims. Knowles wasn’t picky: he murdered children as young as 7 and women as old as 65. Across the country, Knowles regularly kidnapped, raped, and murdered his victims in a variety of ways, including strangulation, shooting, and stabbing. Knowles was later killed by gunshots to the chest after he tried to wrestle a gun away from an officer, ending his young life at 28 but leaving legions of disturbed admirers in his wake.

1 Tiago Henrique Gomes da Rocha

The most recent addition to our list also happens to be the best looking! Brazilian-born Tiago Henrique Gomes da Rocha claims to have murdered 39 people, riding up to them on his motorcycle and threatening to rob them, before shooting them instead, between 2011 and 2014. His victims were primarily women, but da Rocha also targeted random homeless people and homosexuals throughout his murderous rampage.

Claiming anxiety and rage that came from his traumatic upbringing, da Rocha pointed towards his experiences dealing with childhood sexual abuse and his regular romantic rejection by women as the reasons for his crimes. That second excuse might surprise a lot of people, however, as da Rocha has frequently been credited in multiple press outlets as being an “incredibly handsome serial killer”, with a strong build and dark features. Perhaps the women who rejected his advances could just smell crazy!