List of serial killers active in the 2020s
Active between the years of 2020 and 2029
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of serial killers who were active between 2020 and the present. A serial killer is typically defined as an individual who murders more than two people with a cooling-off period.[1] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines serial murder as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone".[2]
Convicted serial killers
2020
| Name | Country | Years active | Proven victims | Current status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosario Alfonso |  Mexico |
2018–2020 | 3 | Serving a sentence of 70 years in prison | Murdered at least three women between December 2018 and January 2020. Absolved of a fourth murder.[3] |
| Kenyel Brown |  United States |
2019–2020 | 6 | Committed suicide before apprehension | Known as the "Metro Detroit Serial Killer". Robbed and murdered six people from 2019 to 2020 in Wayne County, Michigan, later committing suicide.[4] |
| Travis Lewis | United States |
1996–2020 | 3 | Committed suicide before apprehension | Murdered three members of a family in the same house from 1996 to 2020. After murdering his third victim, he drowned himself in Horseshoe Lake.[5] |
| Andrey Yezhov |  Russia |
2010–2020 | 7 | Committed suicide before trial | Known as "The Kashirsky Maniac"; linked to nine sexually motivated attacks against elderly women and young girls, seven of which were fatal. A month after he was arrested, he hanged himself in his prison cell.[6] |
| Omar Santos Loera | Mexico |
2010–2020 | 3 | Committed suicide before trial | Murdered two people with a saber in 2010 and was arrested, but escaped in less than a year. He later murdered his girlfriend in 2020.[7] |
| Ismael Antonio Sánchez and José Rojas |  Argentina |
2019–2020 | 3 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Along with other two men, they murdered an agricultural producer in June 2020, and were later linked to two other murders which took place between November 2019 and January 2020.[8][9] |
| Hugo Bustamante Pérez |  Chile |
2005–2020 | 3 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Murdered his girlfriend and her son in 2005 and hid their bodies in a metal barrel. Released in 2016 just to kill the daughter of his new girlfriend in 2020.[10] In 2024, while in prison, he confessed to two other homicides.[11] |
| Lissa María Caiza |  Ecuador |
2020 | 4 | Serving a sentence of 56 years in prison | Known as "Mrs. Poison"; murdered her children, her boyfriend and a friend, and it is believed that she killed one more man. She is accused of having tried to murder ten people, including her mother and brothers.[12][13] |
| Karel Šťovíček |  Czech Republic |
1998–2020 | 3 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Caused the death of a pensioner during a robbery; after release, he murdered two women in the Bohemian Paradise area during sexual encounters.[14] |
| Yuri Sparikhin |  Soviet Union Russia |
1980–2020 | 4 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Known as "The Novorossiysk Maniac"; violent recidivist and sex offender who raped a woman and killed another in Krasnodar shortly after being released from prison. Previously convicted for murdering a neighbor in 1980 and two children in 2001.[15] |
| Diego Ruiz Restrepo | Chile |
2020 | 8 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Known as "The Psychopath of Meiggs"; Murdered random homeless people by stabbing them in November 2020.[16] |
| Harold Haulman |  Germany United States |
1999–2020 | 3 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment without parole | Convicted of murdering three people in the United States and Germany and suspected of an additional one. He lured his last two victims through dating apps.[17] |
| Omar Fernandez Herrada |  Bolivia |
2017–2020 | 4 | Serving a sentence of 30 years in prison | Murdered four people, including his cousin, with two accomplices.[18] |
| Siyamcela Sobambela |  South Africa |
2020 | 3 | 25 years imprisonment | Known as "The Breede Valley Serial Killer". Murdered three female acquaintances and then buried them in shallow graves.[19] |
| Maina Ramulu |  India |
2003–2020 | 16 | Convicted; awaiting sentencing | Convicted of murdering sixteen women during three separate murder sprees due to his hatred of women. He has now been charged with the murders of two more women committed after he was released from prison in 2020.[20] |
| Rustam Kiknadze |  Kazakhstan |
2004–2020 | 5 | Sentenced to 26 years imprisonment | Raped, murdered two women and set their bodies on fire in 2004; paroled in 2014, but re-arrested for sexually abusing a disabled young girl; paroled on a second occasion in 2020 and killed three more women in Taraz that year; sentenced to 26 years imprisonment.[21] |
| Wellington Kachidza | South Africa |
2019–2020 | 6 | Life imprisonment | Known as "The Tshwane Extortionist Serial Murderer". Illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe who kidnapped and bludgeoned to death six people in Tshwane to extort money from their families.[22] |
| Maniram Sen | India |
2000–2020 | 5 | Convicted of five murders; awaiting trial for sixth | After being released from prison in 2017 for murdering five people in 2000, Sen allegedly bludgeoned a journalist to death with a stone on November 8, 2020.[23] |
| Adre Baroz | United States |
2020 | 5 | Sentenced to five consecutive life sentences plus 140 years | Murdered five people in seven weeks in southern Colorado.[24][25] |
| Joshua Dotson | United States |
2020 | 5 | Serving a sentence of 261 years in prison | A young man shot and killed five people, including his girlfriend and her unborn child. He called himself a serial killer and compared himself to Michael Myers.[26] |
2021
| Name | Country | Years active | Proven victims | Current status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Gavin | United States |
2015–2021 | 3 | Sentenced to 30 years to life in prison | Killed three residents of the Carter G. Woodson Houses in Brooklyn, where he also lived. He was arrested after using the third victim's credit card. He pleaded guilty in 2026.[27] |
| Tracy Walker | United States |
1991–2021 | 4 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Stabbed three homeless people to death in Rancho Dominguez; previously convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Los Angeles.[28] |
| Sean Michael Lannon | United States |
2021 | 5 | Serving a combined sentence of 95 years in prison | Bludgeoned a man to death in New Jersey and murdered four other people, including his ex-wife, in New Mexico. He confessed to murdering an additional 11 people, most of whom were drug dealers, but his claims have not been substantiated.[29] |
| Hugo Ernesto Osorio Chávez |  El Salvador |
2019–2021 | 14 | Serving a sentence of seventy years in prison | Raped and murdered fourteen women and girls with nine accomplices, and is suspected of having raped and murdered a further four to 26.[30][31] |
| Andrés Mendoza | Mexico |
2001–2021 | 19 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Murdered and cannibalized seventeen women, a man, and a child.[32] |
| Masten Milimu Wanjala |  Kenya |
2015–2021 | 10 | Lynched by mob while awaiting trial | Murdered young boys in Nairobi and drank their blood. After escaping from prison, he was lynched by a mob.[33] |
| Karen Oviedo | Argentina |
2019–2021 | 2 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Known as «the Guaymallén poisoner», poisoned her partner Rolando Ángel Aquino and his 9-year-old stepson, Elián Aquino with ethylene glycol (car antifreeze).[34][35] |
| Fabricio Eloy Ludeña | Ecuador |
2017–2021 | 3 | Committed suicide before trial | Known as "The Undertaker of Dayuma", murdered three men and is believed to have killed a fourth in 2017. While awaiting trial, he hanged himself in his jail cell.[36] |
| José Tiago Correia Soroka |  Brazil |
2021 | 3 | One hundred and four years in prison | Fatally strangled three gay men he contacted through a dating app. He is also a suspect in two other homicides; the death of a doctor in 2016, and his former boss, a gay man. He was captured after attempting to murder another victim.[37] |
| Richard Choque | Bolivia |
2009–2021 | 4 | Serving a sentence of 30 years in prison | Convicted of murdering a woman in 2013. He bribed a judge and kidnapped, raped, and murdered at least two more women once released. He had already killed his cousin in 2009.[38] |
| Shavkat Shayakhmedov |  Tajikistan Russia |
1994–2021 | 5 | Died in prison | Known as "The Zalegoshchensky Maniac"; Uzbekistani-Russian who raped and murdered four children and one adult woman in the Sughd Region and the Oryol Oblast.[39] |
| Dmitry Kazakov | Russia |
2009–2021 | 6 | Committed suicide before trial | Murdered security guards and one woman during robberies in Novosibirsk and Tomsk Oblasts.[40] |
| Keith Gibson | United States |
2008–2021 | 3 | Serving a life sentence | Killed a man in a robbery in Wilmington, Delaware in 2008. Convicted of two shooting deaths that occurred in May and June 2021 in Delaware, and is suspected of four other murders that occurred in Philadelphia that same year.[41][42] |
| Jason Thornburg | United States |
2017–2021 | 3 | Sentenced to death in Texas in 2024. Currently incarcerated on death row. | Convicted of murdering, dismembering and cannibalising three people in Fort Worth, Texas in September 2021. Additionally confessed to the murder of his missing girlfriend in Arizona in 2017 and the murder of his friend in Texas in May 2021.[43] |
| Themba Dube | South Africa |
2021 | 6 | Life imprisonment | Known as "The Polokwane Serial Killer." Illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe who lured six women to isolated areas under the pretense of offering them jobs, where he robbed, raped, and then strangled them to death. Acquitted in one murder due to a lack of evidence.[44] |
| Kwon Jae-chan |  South Korea |
2003–2021 | 3 | Serving a death sentence | Robbed and murdered three people in Incheon between 2003 and 2021.[45] |
| William Marcano Hernández | United States |
2018–2021 | 6 | One hundred years and five months in prison | Puerto Rican who shot and killed a father and son in 2018, another man in 2020, and three 19-year-old males in an abandoned park in 2021.[46] |
2022
| Name | Country | Years active | Proven victims | Current status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Kiselev | Russia |
2003–2022 | 3 | 13.5 years imprisonment | Known as "The Tie Maniac"; strangled two female acquaintances in Perm, using a tie that matched the color of their socks; paroled from a 20-year sentence in 2022, after which he killed another woman in an identical manner.[47] |
| Necati Akpınar |  Turkey |
1984–2022 | 3 | Life imprisonment | Murdered three of his wives during arguments in Manisa, receiving a life sentence for the final one.[48] |
| Nhlanhla Mlotshwa | South Africa |
2021–2022 | 3 | Life imprisonment | Raped and murdered three women in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.[49] |
| William Devonshire | United States |
2003–2022 | 3 | Died before trial | Murdered a woman in Sarasota, Florida, after being released from prison for a murder he committed in Delaware in 2003. On June 5, 2022, he died in the Sarasota County Jail after refusing to take his medication. Shortly after his death, he was linked by DNA to the murder of another woman in the same area.[50][51] |
| Roula Pispirigou |  Greece |
2019–2022 | 3 | Life imprisonment | Known as "the modern Medea," she murdered her three daughters: the first, a 5-year-old girl, was allegedly suffocated in 2019, a 6-month-old baby in 2021, and finally, her eldest, a 9-year-old daughter, was poisoned with ketamine. She was sentenced to life in prison.[52] |
| Freddrick Jackson | United States |
2020–2022 | 4 | Serving a 50 year sentence | Fatally shot four people in Little Rock, Arkansas.[53] |
| Jeremy Skibicki |  Canada |
2022 | 4 | Incarcerated | Murdered four Indigenous-Canadian women between March and May 2022. Found guilty of first-degree murder on all counts on July 11, 2024.[54] |
| Brenda Agüero | Argentina |
2022 | 5 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Murdered five newborn babies and tried to kill eight others.[55] |
| Tyrone Steele | United States |
2022 | 4 | Serving four life sentences | Shot four to five people to death in New Orleans in a 45-day span.[56][57] |
| John Mark Richardson | United States |
2022 | 3 | Serving three sentences of life imprisonment | Shot three black men to death in Greensboro, North Carolina, one of whom he dismembered.[58] |
| Sifiso Mkhwanazi | South Africa |
2022 | 6 | Life imprisonment | Raped and murdered six women in Johannesburg from April to October 2022.[59] |
| Malachi Uwem |  Nigeria |
2022 | 15 | Shot and killed by police during an attempted escape | Leader of a gang who robbed and murdered fifteen people with accomplices. He and another gang member were shot and killed while attempting to escape police custody.[60] |
| Roberto José Carmona | Argentina |
1986–2022 | 4 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Known as "The Human Hyena", in 1986 he kidnapped, raped and murdered a young woman named Gabriela Ceppi. Once in prison, he killed two other inmates. In 2022 he escaped from prison, during which he kidnapped and murdered a taxi driver in order to steal his vehicle.[61] |
| Andrew Hammond | United States |
2020–2022 | 3 | Serving three sentences of life without parole | Shot and killed three men in Fresno, California.[62] |
| Rease Pence | United States |
2022 | 3 | Serving a 122 year and 6 month sentence for two of his murders and a 40 to 60 year sentence for the third murder | Murdered 3 people in Michigan in the span of just over a month.[63][64] |
| Alonzo Brown | United States |
2022 | 3 | Serving a sentence of 56 years to life in prison | Shot and killed three people, two of whom were randomly chosen, between January and June 2022 in Las Vegas.[65] |
| Harvey Marcelin | United States |
1963–2022 | 3 | Awaiting sentencing. | Murdered 3 women in New York.[66] |
2023
| Name | Country | Years active | Proven victims | Current status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slamet Tohari |  Indonesia |
2020–2023 | 12 | Serving a death sentence | Scammed and poisoned people with cyanide before burying them near his home in Banjarnegara.[67] |
| Efraín Sarmiento Cuero |  Colombia |
2017–2023 | 3 | Serving a sentence of forty four years in prison | Murdered his two girlfriends between 2017 and 2019, and his wife in 2023 during a prison visit.[68] |
| Raul Meza Jr. | United States |
1982–2023 | 3 | Serving a life sentence | Murdered an 8-year-old girl in 1982 in Austin, Texas. He has also pleaded guilty and confessed to the murder of Gloria Lofton in mid-2019, and the murder of his roommate Jesse Fraga on May 20, 2023. Suspect in as many as ten other homicides.[69][70][71] |
| Juan Carlos Villa | Colombia |
2012–2023 | 11 | Serving a sentence of forty five years in prison | Known as "The Dwarf" for his short height. He tortured and killed ten elderly people and one minor.[72] |
| Kulthum Akbari |  Iran |
2001–2023 | 11 | Serving ten death sentences and an additional ten-year prison sentence | Poisoned several couples and then stole their belongings in Sari.[73] |
| Rebecca Auborn | United States |
2022–2023 | 4 | Sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison, with eligibility for parole only after serving 60 years. [74] | Sex worker who killed and robbed clients with fentanyl overdoses, in Columbus, Ohio.[75][76] |
| Denis Kazungu |  Rwanda |
2023 | 14 | Serving a life sentence | Lured 14 people to his home in Kigali, where he robbed and murdered them before dumping them in a hole in the kitchen.[77] |
| Alexei Varakin | Russia |
2010–2023 | 4 | Judged unfit to stand trial and interned at a psychiatric institution | Sentenced to compulsory treatment after murdering two prostitutes in St. Petersburg in 2010. After his release in 2021, he killed two more prostitutes in Moscow in 2023 and was arrested.[78] |
| Heather Pressdee | United States |
2022–2023 | 3 | Sentenced to three consecutive life sentences plus 380 to 760 years | Intentionally administered lethal doses of insulin to nursing patients throughout five Pennsylvania nursing homes. Sentenced on charges related to three murders and 19 attempts of committing murder,[79] while being connected to the deaths of 17 patients in total.[80][81] |
| Lucho Plátano | Chile |
2022–2023 | 4 | Incarcerated | Criminal who murdered four people in the Santiago Metropolitan Region between 2022 and 2023.[82] |
| José Leonardo Quevedo Turizo | Colombia |
2022–2023 | 4 | Serving a 39 year sentence | Formed romantic relationships with gay men and hanged them in their homes.[83] |
| Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn |  Thailand |
2015–2023 | 14 | Serving a death sentence | Poisoning 14 people with cyanide. The victims were friends and acquaintances whom she either had borrowed money from or killed to steal their possessions.[84][85] |
| Richard Fox | United States |
1976–2023 | 4 | Sentenced to both 40 years to life and 25 years to life | Killed a woman in the early 2000s and two other women in 2021 and 2023 in the Buffalo, New York area. Also admitted to killing his grandmother in 1976, but could not be prosecuted due to statute of limitations laws.[86][87] |
2024
| Name | Country | Years active | Proven victims | Current status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Ford | United States |
2003–2024 | 3 | Died by suicide before he could be arrested for the 2024 murders | Convicted of one murder in 2003; confirmed to have committed two more plus one attempted murder in 2024.[88] |
| Nikolai Ageyev | Russia |
2006–2024 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Murdered a cellmate while serving a sentence for robbery; paroled in 2018, whereupon he raped and murdered an elderly woman and a young girl in separate incidents; while serving a life sentence, he murdered a second cellmate.[89] |
| Miguel Cortés Miranda | Mexico |
2012–2024 | 3 | Died awaiting trial | Known as "The Monster of Iztacalco"; chemist who raped and murdered young women and teenagers across Mexico City.[90] |
| Michelle Angélica Piñeda Valdez | Mexico |
2010s–2024 | 20+[91][92] | Sentenced to 50 years in prison[93] | Nicknamed La Chely or La narcosatanica she was part of a gang of hitmen linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, called "Los Artistas Asesinos", Piñeda, along with other members of the group, performed rituals satanic in which they extracted the hearts of their victims, with machetes or knives.[94][95][96] |
| David Brinson | United States |
1990–2024 | 5 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Massacred four men on June 12, 1990 and murdered his wife who came to visit him in prison in California on November 13, 2024.[97][98] |
| Tavakal Khamidov |  Ukraine Russia (confessed) |
2000s–2024 | 11 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Uzbekistani who strangled and stoned 11 people, first killing a roommate in Russia before fleeing to Ukraine, where he resumed his killing spree. He was apprehended in early 2024 after committing his final murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2025.[99] |
| Nguyen Thi Hong Bich |  Vietnam |
2023–2024 | 3 | Sentenced to death | Motivated by financial gain or family troubles, she poisoned her husband, a niece, and two nephews, one of whom survived.[100] |
2025
| Name | Country | Years active | Proven victims | Current status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Todd Givens | United States |
2001–2025 | 3 | Sentenced to death | Convicted of killing two people in 2001 and later linked to the fatal stabbing of a fellow inmate at Salinas Valley State Prison while already incarcerated.[101] |
| Kumarbek Abdyrov |  Kyrgyzstan |
2011–2025 | 4 | Committed suicide before trial | Known as "The Bishkek Monster"; taxi driver who raped and strangled to death teenagers and young women around Bishkek.[102] |
| Hiroki Kishinami |  Japan |
2024–2025 | 4 | 5 years imprisonment | Known as the "Grim Reaper" or "Guide to Death". Assisted the suicides of five suicidal people for the purpose of having sex and stealing money, and killed four of them by carbon monoxide poisoning.[103] |
| Nasr Al Deen Ghazi |  Egypt |
2022–2025 | 3 | Sentenced to death | Known as the "The Butcher of Alexandria". Lawyer who murdered his wife and two clients and buried them on the floor of his home.[104][105] |
| Sherif Abdulai |  Ghana |
2021–2025 | 23 | Serving a sentence of life imprisonment | Known as the "Cristos", "Saani" or "God of War", he killed and cannibalized a total of 23 people in 4 locations in the Upper West.[106][107][108][109] |
| Andreina Lamota Solís | Ecuador |
2022–2025 | 2 | Sentenced to 40 years in prison[110][111] | Known as "The Sauces Butcher", she murdered and dismembered her mother after she refused to lend her money. After murdering her, she covered up her death by imitating her voice with artificial intelligence. After her arrest, she was linked to the death of a friend who disappeared on January 8, 2022 and the poisoning of her boss on July 21, 2022.[112][113] |
2026
| Name | Country | Years active | Proven victims | Current status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sabuj Sheikh |  Bangladesh |
2014–2026 | 7 | Died before trial | Known as "Psycho Samrat"; pretended to be homeless and burned six people to death between 2025 and 2026. It was revealed that he had also committed a murder in 2014.[114][115][116] |
Unsolved serial killings
| Alias | Country | Years active | Proven victims | Possible victims | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highway of Death | Mexico |
2020–present | 71 | 86–200+ | A 136-mile stretch of Federal Highway 85 where, since 2020, at least seventy-one men, women, and children have disappeared or been murdered. The eighteen survivors said that they were abducted by armed men and tortured. It's suspected that cartels are responsible for many of the murders, but there is also a possibility that lone criminals are responsible for some of them.[117][118] |
| Highway of Tears | Canada |
1970–present | 80 | 80+ | A corridor of Highway 16 where, since 1970, at least eighty girls and women, primarily indigenous, have gone missing or been murdered.[119] |
| Toy Car Murders | Mexico |
2019–2023 | 5 | 6 | Alleged vigilante who killed car thieves in Sinaloa with a shot to the head minutes after stealing. Toy cars were found on the body of all the victims. Due to this distinctive mark, the alleged murderer is popularly known as "El Asesino del Carrito" (The Toy Car Killer) or "El Juguetero" (The Toy-Maker). It is believed that they would be vigilante justice actions by one or more organized persons.[120][121][122] |
| Cuauhtémoc killings | Mexico |
2021 | 5 | 5 | The rapes and murders of five women in Cuauhtémoc, Mexico. The victims were found in vacant lots with their throats slit. One of the victims is unidentified. Mario Alberto Berrios Muñoz, a serial killer murdered in 2023, is the main suspect.[123] |
| Little Rock serial stabbings | United States |
2020–2021 | 3 | 3 | The fatal stabbings of three people in Little Rock, Arkansas.[124] |
| Janikhel grave |  Pakistan |
2020 | 4 | 4 | A grave containing the mutilated bodies of four teenage boys. One victim was decapitated, one was shot, and two were stoned to death.[125] |
| Chicago serial shootings | United States |
2020 | 6 | 6 | Six people were shot dead between March and November 2020. A man who was a teenager at the time of the killings was charged in connection with them in 2025.[126] |
| Fana beheadings |  Mali |
2018–2020 | 10 | 10 | The ritualistic decapitations of ten Fana residents.[127] |
| "Vampire" | Kenya |
2022–2024 | 42 | 42 | A 33-year-old Kenyan man was accused of killing 42 women in Nairobi between 2022 and 2024. After his arrest, he escaped custody and has not been heard from since.[128] |