Here Are 14 Infamous Serial Killers And Their Actual Police Composite Sketches

Safe to say that the initial sketches aren't always exactly *spot-on.*

🚨This post contains extremely disturbing cases about murder and sexual assault, so please continue at your own discretion.🚨

If you know anything about true crime, you know that police composite sketches can be crucial to finding a criminal. Some are spot-on, but sometimes miscommunication can lead to sketches with little to no similarities to the criminal.

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

Rodney Alcala, aka "The Dating Game Killer," was convicted because he looked just like his composite.

But I'll let you be the judge of the similarities between these sketches and the criminals they're intending to portray.

1. Joseph James DeAngelo

FBI via AP, Sacramento County Sheriff's Office via AP

Also known as the "Golden State Killer," DeAngelo committed 13 murders, 50 sexual assaults, and 120 burglaries across California over a span of 43 years, starting in 1975 and ending with his arrest in 2018. He was a former cop in the areas where the crimes occurred, which kept his cover until genetic genealogy linked him to the crimes.

2. Dennis Rader

Oxygen / NBCUniversal, Sedwick County Sheriff's Occide via Getty Images

Rader, who coined himself the "BTK Killer," killed at least 10 people, each time committing the murders by first binding and torturing the victims. Rader was the one who accidentally tipped off his identity, nearly 25 years after his crimes.

3. Ted Bundy

Oxygen / NBCUniversal, GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

Bundy is known as one of America's most infamous serial killers. He was responsible for at least 30 sexual assaults, kidnappings, and murders. Bundy was known to often escape when in police custody — he fled from a law library when he was on break momentarily from trial, and later escaped again from his jail cell.

4. Jeffrey Dahmer

u/ChrissyBrown1127 / Via reddit.com, Curt Borgwardt / Sygma via Getty Images

Dahmer, known as the "Milwaukee Cannibal," was a convicted serial killer and sex offender who murdered 17 young men from 1978 to 1991. He would lure men from malls, bus stops, and bars with the promise of sex and money, only to murder and dismember them in his Milwaukee apartment.

5. Richard Ramirez

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive, Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

Ramirez, infamously known as the "Night Stalker," committed at least 11 sexual assaults, 13 murders, and 14 burglaries. He was responsible for the wave of panic that terrified Southern California residents in the summer of 1985.

6. David Berkowitz

New York Daily News Archive / NY Daily News via Getty Images, Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Berkowitz, dubbed the "Son of Sam," killed six people and terrorized the city of New York for more than a year. Once he was arrested, Berkowitz claimed his neighbor's pet Labrador, which was named Sam, was possessed by a demon and told him to commit the murders.

7. Ted Kaczynski

Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images, Donaldson Collection / Getty Images

Ted Kaczynski, infamously known by his nickname of the "Unabomber," is a domestic terrorist who conducted a series of bomb attacks over a span of 17 years. His campaign, which started in the late 1970s and ended with his arrest in 1996, killed three people and injured 23. The nationwide manhunt by the FBI to identify and capture Kaczynski was one of the bureau's longest and most expensive manhunts.

8. Richard Chase

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Richard Chase earned his nickname, the "Vampire of Sacramento," by committing six known murders and drinking the blood of each victim. He had a fascination with blood and believed that by drinking it, he would absorb nutrients.

9. Gary Leon Ridgway

True Crime Magazine, Matteo Omied / Alamy Stock Photo

Known as the "Green River Killer," Ridgway murdered at least 49 women in Washington state from 1982 to his arrest in 2001. His first few victims were usually found around Green River, which birthed his infamous nickname. He went on to plead guilty to 49 counts of aggravated first-degree murder.

10. Kenneth Bianchi

The Bellingham Herald File

As one half of the Hillside Stranglers, Bianchi pleaded guilty to 12 of the Hillside Strangler murders that were committed in 1977 and 1978. Despite his total of seven life sentences, he has repeatedly filed appeals. All of which have been denied by courts, including by the Supreme Court.

11. Angelo Buono

The Bellingham Herald File, Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Buono is the other half of the Hillside Stranglers and the older cousin of Bianchi. The murderous duo would usually lure victims into their car by flashing fake police badges to mislead them. Buono was eventually captured when Bianchi was arrested and offered his name as a part of a plea deal.

12. Albert DeSalvo

National Star Chronicle, Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Via Getty Images

DeSalvo, known by his infamous nickname the "Boston Strangler," was a convicted rapist who made a jailhouse confession that he was the Boston Strangler and killed 11 women. His crimes baffled the five different District Attorney's offices that were investing the murders, since the crimes were so spread out. He was never charged for the murders, since his DNA wasn't linked to the case until after his death.

13. Tommy Lynn Sells

CBSNews, Val Verde County Sheriff via AP

Sells was convicted and executed for the murder of a 13-year-old girl, but he has also been linked to at least 17 other murders. He was executed in 2014 by lethal injection but has always blamed his murderous rage on an abusive childhood.

14. And Aileen Wuornos

Florida Criminal Activity Bulletin, Florida DOC / Getty Images

Aileen Wuornos is one of the most infamous American female serial killers. She was a former sex worker who killed seven men between 1989 and 1990. Tyria Moore, who was Wuornos's romantic partner and partner in crime, eventually reported her to the police, leading to Wuornos being the 10th woman executed by the state of Florida.