When you think of a serial killer, you probably envision a solitary figure — probably a male — stalking the night with a weapon and an ugly leer. That’s often true, but sometimes, the nastiest people come in pairs.
Throughout the 20th century, there have been some notable killers that have made this deadly pastime into a couple’s affair. This just proves that getting a boyfriend or girlfriend isn’t the benchmark of stability. In fact, as far as these couples are concerned, it’s quite the opposite.
1. Suzan and James Carson
After doing many drugs and moving to a marijuana farm in San Francisco, these two took it upon themselves to kill anyone they felt gave off an “evil energy.” Their first victim was their roommate, who they bludgeoned with a frying pan and stabbed almost a dozen times. They killed at least two more people, and received life sentences.
2. Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate — the Badlands Killers
Inspiring films like Natural Born Killers, these two young murderers swept across the American Midwest in the 1950s, killing almost everyone in their path. It started when 14-year-old Fugate’s mother and stepfather disapproved of her 19-year-old boyfriend, Starkweather, so Starkweather murdered them, along with Fugate’s two-year-old sister. They killed 11 people and two dogs in eight days before being captured. Starkweather was executed, and Fugate got a life sentence. However, she paroled in 1976, and now lives in Michigan.
3. Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck — the Lonely Hearts Killers
While in prison, Fernandez became interested in the occult, and believed that he could use these powers to woo women, steal their money, and disappear. When he got out, he promptly began scamming women. Then he met Beck, who wanted to stay with him. She even dumped her two kids at the Salvation Army to do so.
She agreed to let Fernandez continue his scams, but her jealousy caused her to attack and kill some of the women. Eventually, the couple decided it was easier to just kill them all. Finally, someone noticed when a young widow and her two-year-old went missing, and the couple was finally caught. Together, they killed about 20 people. They were both sentenced to death by electrocution in Sing Sing’s famous chair.
4. Faye and Ray Copeland
This couple proves that old people aren’t always innocent. Ray and Faye, 76 and 69, respectively, lured drifters onto their property in the early 1990s, hiring them to buy cattle with fake checks. They’d then sell the cattle for a huge markup and murder the drifter to avoid giving them a cut. They killed five people this way, and were only caught when the sixth drifter spied human remains on the property.
Evil until the end, Faye tried to get out of a conviction by saying that Ray abused her, but her complicity was proven when a quilt made from the dead drifters’ clothes was found in her possession. Given the death penalty, Faye’s sentence was commuted to life. Ray died in 1993, and Faye died of natural causes 10 years later.
5. Gwendolyn Graham and Catherine May Wood
This couple met while working at a nursing home in Michigan. When the sex got dull, they got their thrills by murdering elderly women at the home, and then having sex next to the bodies. They even bragged about it to coworkers, but no one believed them. Graham and Wood broke up when Wood refused to kill a woman just for fun, and she would eventually break down and turn Graham and herself in. Graham got life, but for her cooperation, Wood got 20 years.
6. Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole
This pair met at a soup kitchen in 1973 and quickly became lovers — and killers. It’s not clear when the killing started, but when Lucas was arrested for a weapons charge in 1983, he started bragging about all the people he’d killed.
Upon hearing this, Toole also began confessing, and together, the couple admitted to hundreds of murders. The exact details and truths were never uncovered, but their information helped close 246 missing persons cases. Unlike many of the other killers, they had no preferred method of killing and targeted anyone, regardless of age, race, or sex. They were both given life sentences.
7. Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka
As a twisted “wedding present,” Homolka gave Bernardo her 15-year-old sister. After drugging the girl, the couple raped her while videotaping the crime. The sister, barely conscious, ended up choking to death on her own vomit. The death was not ruled a homicide, so the couple continued raping and murdering girls. However, Homolka turned on Bernardo in 1993 after he beat her, and negotiated a 12-year sentence in exchange for her cooperation. He was sentenced to life, and she was released in 2005.
8. Myra Hindley and Ian Brady
Hindley fell in love with Brady and his neo-Nazi ideals in the 1960s, even dying her hair blond to be more “Aryan.” Of course, that was the least of it. They hatched a plan for the perfect murder, and kidnapped, raped, and murdered a 16-year-old girl. This led to the similar attacks and murders of five more children between 1963 and 1965. Eventually, though, their perfect crimes unraveled and they were both sentenced to life in prison. Brady is currently spending the remainder of his life in a psychiatric ward.
9. Charlene and Gerald Gallego
From 1978 to 1980, this couple raped and murdered nine young women, including a 13-yaer-old and a pregnant woman. Apparently, they shared a twisted fantasy of having “young, disposable sex slaves.” They were finally apprehended when someone witnessed them kidnapping a young woman and wrote down the license plate number. Charlene testified against Gerald and got 16 years, while Gerald got the death penalty, but he died in prison before it was carried out.
10. Fred and Rosemary West
These two were messed up from the start. Rosemary murdered Fred’s stepdaughter and, with Fred’s approval, worked as a prostitute in his home, often with their children present. Fred also took to sexually abusing his daughters.
Between 1973 and 1987, the couple murdered nine women, including one of their own daughters. This was the murder that eventually led the police to investigate, and in all, the couple was charged with 21 counts of murder. Fred hanged himself while awaiting trial, and Rosemary got life in prison.
(via All Day)
So if that doesn’t make you feel a little less than romantic, we don’t know what will. Luckily, these creeps have all been caught.
