A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them.[1] [2] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines serial killing as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone".[3]
Name | Nickname / AKA | Years active | data-sort-type="number" | Proven victims! | data-sort-type="number" | Possible victims! | Status | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1568–1571 | 59 | N/A | Executed | Soldier turned robber and serial killer with the alleged highest number of victims in the Czech lands. | [4] | ||||
1529–1533 | 14 | 16 | Exiled | Noblewoman who was infamous for the rumours of her mistreatment of the serfs on the estates of her spouse, which she tended during his absences. She was brought to trial in 1533 and convicted for the murder of 14 people, though she was allegedly the murderer of 30 people. She was sentenced to imprisonment in a tower in Prague Castle. | [5] | ||||
2001–2002 | 8 | 2 | Life imprisonment | Pair of Czech-Slovak serial killers who robbed and murdered several retirees. Five people survived their attacks. In total, they were convicted of committing 17 serious crimes and both were sentenced to life imprisonment. | |||||
Heparin killer | 2006 | 7 | 14 | Life imprisonment | Male nurse in Havlíčkův Brod who murdered seven patients by lethal injection. | [6] | |||
Death | 1951–1956 | 7 | Several | Executed | Convicted of killing at least seven people. While primarily sexually-motivated, he also robbed his victims, and at trial, he was convicted of 127 total crimes. | [7] | |||
1888–1898 | 7 | 0 | Executed | Bought a farm from the widow of serial killer Josef Englich and moved in with his wife. He gradually poisoned six children who were born to them on the farm. Unexplained deaths eventually led to the divorce and Novotný remarried. He also poisoned the son from this marriage. The motive was his general hatred of children. | [8] | ||||
Moravian Babinský | 1887 | 6 | 0 | Executed | A robber murderer who, after his release from Mírov Prison murdered and robbed six people and shot a Catholic priest in just a few days. | [9] | |||
Orlík killers | 1991–1993 | 5 | 0 | Kopáč died in prison Černý: Life imprisonment Kuna released in 2013 | Gang of serial killers who, between 1991 and 1993, killed five people (mostly businessmen) for monetary gain. One of the members committed a murder on his own and attempted another, but the victim in the latter attack survived. | ||||
1948–1951 | 5 | 10+ | Executed | Acted as a conduit through the Iron Curtain who killed and robbed several people he was supposed to smuggle across the border. | [10] | ||||
1991–1994 | 5 | 3 | Died in prison | Killed for selfish reasons. He was not charged in the three murders because no bodies were found. | |||||
1978–1981 | 5 | 3 | Executed | Sexual murderer who committed murders during his trips around the country, making his capture much more difficult. He committed cannibalism on one of the victims. | [11] | ||||
1993–1996 | 5 | 0 | Life imprisonment | Member of the "Kolín Gang", sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 5 people. | [12] | ||||
1885 | 5 | 0 | Executed | Married on a farm in Komárov, where a widowed woman lived with her daughter, parents and grandparents. According to custom, he was supposed to pay them off and then house them in exchange and take care of them until they died. For financial reasons, he gradually poisoned all members of the household except his wife with arsenic. | [13] | ||||
Ondrej Gažik František Gaži František Daniš | 1990 | 5 | 0 | Imprisonment | Pensioner killers. They killed their victims with objects they brought to the crime scene or found there. They also used punches and stomping on lying victims. The two attacked did not die until several days after the attack. Initially, all three perpetrators received a life sentence, Gaži and Daniš's sentence was reduced to 25 years. | [14] | |||
Moravian horror | 1927 | 4 | 0 | Executed | Murdered three policemen and a prison officer during escape attempt. He also attempted to kill seven other policemen. | ||||
1981–2003 | 4 | 0 | Life imprisonment | ||||||
1572–1585 | 4 | 0 | Executed | Roman Catholic priest and dean of the Olomouc chapter, responsible for the poisoning of four archbishops. | |||||
The Roudnice Monster | 1926–1936 | 3 | 2+ | Executed | Killed at least one child and two women around Roudnice nad Labem between 1926 and 1936. Convicted of these crimes and two attempted murders, he was sentenced to death and subsequently executed in 1938. | ||||
Jan Janeček | Serynek | 1870 | 3 | 1+ | Executed | Robbed and murdered several people. Executed in 1871; last person to be publicly executed in Austria-Hungary. | [15] | ||
Jaroslav Malý | 1986 | 3 | 1 | Life imprisonment | After his release from prison, where he spent 30 months for two crimes of a violent nature, he decided to take revenge on society with one murder for every ten months of his "unjust" sentence and killed three random victims with a shot to the head. He was sentenced to death for his act, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. In prison, he likely helped a fellow inmate commit suicide. | [16] | |||
Karel Dvořák | 1959–1973 | 3 | 0 | Executed | [17] | ||||
2001 | 3 | 0 | Life imprisonment | Brutally attacked and robbed elderly women. Four victims survived his attacks. | [18] | ||||
Spartakiad killer | 1985 | 3 | 0 | Released in 2004 | |||||
Taxi killer | 2014 | 3 | 0 | Life imprisonment | Killed three taxi drivers. | [19] | |||
Jaroslav Hejna | 2003 | 3 | 0 | Life imprisonment | Murdered three people for selfish reasons. His friend Marek Dohnal helped him remove the bodies of the first two victims. | [20] | |||
2009–2012 | 3 | 0 | Life imprisonment | Killed during robberies in senior citizens' homes. Two of the victims were his relatives. | [21] | ||||
1990–1991 | 3 | 0 | Murdered in 2006 | [22] | |||||
1998–2020 | 3 | 0 | Life imprisonment | Caused the death of a pensioner during a robbery; after release, murdered two women in sexual encounters | [23] |
Name | Years active | data-sort-type="number" | Proven victims! | data-sort-type="number" | Possible victims! | Region where active | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990–1991 Prague murders | 1990–1991 | 3 | 0 | Prague | Killed 3 women in 1990 and 1991. Investigator of murders believes that the killer either left the country or died after the last murder. | [24] | ||
Name | Nickname / AKA | Years active | data-sort-type="number" | Proven victims! | data-sort-type="number" | Possible victims! | Status | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1994–1995 | 4 | 1 | Life imprisonment | In 1994, he killed a guard in Sokolov. Year later he murdered three members of a Vietnamese family, including a six-year-old child and a pregnant woman. Police also believed he committed another murder which was not proven to him at court due to procedural error.[25] | |||||
Sušice Monster | 1957–1960 | 2 | 10+ | Executed | Nurse convicted for the killing of two newborn babies in Sušice in 1960. She claimed to have killed at least ten newborns between 1957 and 1960, and was executed by hanging in 1961. |