Mary Bell, aged 11, was found guilty of manslaughter of a 4-year-old and a 3-year-old.

Dr. J. Bodkin Adams was accused and acquitted of killing an old lady in Eastbourne. Not much of a story you say? Believe me, this case will continue to fascinate when the more recent case of Dr. Shipman has been long forgotten. Dr. Adams served hundreds of rich old folk, treating their ailments with a mixture of unctuousness and dangerous drugs. An Irish loner, not afraid to display his greed for food and legacies, he was a natural target for both envy and contempt. A long, long gossip campaign finally reached the press in 1956 ("Inquiry into 400 Wills"), the police investigation snowballed, and Dr. Adams appeared at the Old Bailey in 1957 accused of the murder by opiate overdose of Mrs. Edith Morell.

1997-1999: Angel Maturino Resendiz was convicted of murdering a Houston woman, but was linked by confessions and evidence to at least 12 other killings nationwide

Not many people who knew him would have suspected that John Wayne Gacy, a respected member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Des Plaines, Ill., a performing clown at neighborhood children's parties, a precinct captain in the local Democratic party, and the owner of his own contracting business would come to be known as one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history.

Nor would his childhood in any particular way set off red flags that a monster was in the making. Gacy, a middle child, was born in Chicago in 1942 into a blue-collar family. He had two sisters, one two years older and the other two years younger. According to the book Killer Clown, by Terry Sullivan and Peter Maiken, Gacy seemed to have a regular childhood with the exception of his turbulent relationship with his father, John Wayne Gacy Sr. The authors describe the father as an unpleasant, abusive alcoholic prone to physically and verbally assaulting his children. The authors describe Gacy as deeply loving his father and wanting desperately to gain his approval and attention, but failing to win him over.

According to the book The Man Who Killed Boys by Clifford L. Lindecker, Gacy was struck in the head with a playground swing when he was 11 years old. He suffered from blackouts until the age of 16, when a doctor diagnosed him with a blood clot on the brain and corrected the condition with medication.

After attending four high schools during his senior year and never graduating, Gacy dropped out of school and left Chicago for Las Vegas. While there, he worked part time as a janitor for Palm Mortuary. Unhappy in Vegas, he returned to Chicago a few months later.

During the early 1960’s, Gacy enrolled in a business college and developed a talent for salesmanship. A natural salesman, he could talk his way in and out of practically any situation. Upon graduating, he went to work as a management trainee at Nunn Bush Shoe Co in downtown Chicago. He excelled in his position and within weeks was transferred to Springfield, Ill., to manage a men’s clothing outlet for the company, where he remained employed for nearly a year.

In 1964, Gacy married Marilyn Myer, a co-worker. Shortly after the wedding, the newlyweds relocated to her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. Marilyn’s father prompted the move by offering Gacy a position in the family’s chicken restaurant. A year later, Gacy's father died in Chicago.

In 1966, at the request of his father-in-law, Gacy took over management of the family’s chicken restaurant. Gacy became a well-known and liked member of the community, according to later accounts in the Waterloo Courier.

But all was not well with Gacy. The future serial killer would be arrested for the first time in 1968. The felony charge -- attempting to coerce a male employee into homosexual acts -- came as a big surprise to those who thought they knew this likable father of two toddlers, especially his wife of four years. Gacy pled guilty to sodomy and was sentenced to 10 years in Iowa’s State Men’s Reformatory in Anamosa. His wife filed for divorce following the sentencing. Angered, Gacy informed her he did not want to see his children again and would henceforth consider her and the two kids dead.

After serving 18 months, Gacy was paroled on Oct. 18, 1971 and returned to Chicago. Unknown to his parole officer, Gacy was arrested by Chicago police on Feb. 12 -- eight months after his release from prison -- and charged with attempted rape and disorderly conduct. A gay youth had complained to authorities that Gacy had picked him up at the Greyhound station in downtown Chicago. He told police that Gacy took him back to his house and attempted to have sex with him. However, the charges were dropped when the boy failed to appear in court for the hearing.

Shortly after returning to Chicago, Gacy went to work as a construction contractor. Three years later, in 1975, he started his own construction business, PDM Contractors. That July he remarried a recently divorced woman he had met through mutual friends and, with financial assistance from his mother, moved into a house in Des Plaines, a middle-class Chicago suburb.

Gacy had a talent for business. According to the Des Plaines Journal, he was known by local merchants as a sharp businessman. He often gained contracts by undercutting his competitors' bids. He was able to cut costs by hiring on a number of teenage boys. (At least five of these boys became his victims.) His business grew.

Gacy spent part of his leisure time hosting elaborate street parties for friends and neighbors, dressing as a clown, and entertaining children at local hospitals. He also immersed himself in organizations such as the Jaycees and the local Democratic party. As a Democratic precinct captain he once had his picture taken with First Lady Rosalyn Carter.

Gacy’s second wife divorced him in March of 1976. According to accounts in Harlan Mendenhall’s book, Fall of the House of Gacy, she felt she could no longer cope with the marriage due to her husband's unpredictable moods and bizarre obsession with homosexual magazines. The couple did not have children.

On Dec. 12, 1978, the police again focused their attention on John Wayne Gacy. Robert Piest, a teenage stock boy at a Nisson Pharmacy in Des Plaines, had come up missing. Gacy was the last person seen with the boy prior to his disappearance. When investigators ran a background check on Gacy, they were surprised to discover that he had previously served time for committing sodomy on a teenage boy. With this incriminating information, investigators were able to obtain a warrant to search Gacy’s house.

During the execution of the warrant, investigators entered a crawl space located beneath the home. A rancid odor was quickly noticed. The smell was believed to be faulty sewage lines and was dismissed. Without any noticeable incriminating evidence, investigators returned to headquarters to run tests on the evidence they seized.

During a review of the items confiscated from Gacy’s house, investigators soon realized that they had unknowingly seized a piece of critical evidence. One of the rings found at Gacy’s house belonged to another teenager who had disappeared a year earlier. They also discovered that a receipt for a roll of film found at Gacy’s home had belonged to a co-worker of Robert Piest who had given it to Robert the day of his disappearance.

With this new information, investigators began to realize the possible enormity of the case that was unfolding before them. Following the discovery of their new information, it was not long before investigators were able to obtain a second search warrant for Gacy’s home.

On Dec. 22, 1978, Gacy, realizing that his dark secrets were about to be exposed, went to the police to confess. Shortly into the confessions, Gacy waived his Miranda rights and told detectives, ''There are four Johns.'' He later explained that there was John the contractor, John the clown, and John the politician. The fourth person went by the name of Jack Hanley. Jack was the killer and did all the evil things.

According to accounts in Killer Clown, Gacy informed investigators that his first killing took place in January 1972, and the second two years later in January 1974. He further confessed that he lured his victims into being handcuffed. Gacy would tell his victim that he wanted to show him a "pair of trick handcuffs" he used in his clown act, claiming there was a special way to unlock the cuffs and daring the youth to break out of them. Once the youth was securely manacled, he would kill him by pulling a rope or board against their throats, as he raped them. Gacy admitted to sometimes keeping the dead bodies under his bed or in the attic for several hours before eventually burying them in the crawl space

Gacy went on to make voluntary confessions to over two dozen murders, although he couldn't answer all the questions posed by the police, often responding, ''You'll have to ask Jack that.'' He also drew them a detailed map to the locations of 28 shallow graves under his house and garage. Further he admitted to dumping five other victims into the Des Plaines River.

Less than an hour after the initial dig at Gacy’s house began, investigators discovered the first body in a crawl space under the home. As the days and weeks passed, the body count grew. So did the media coverage, exponentially. The macabre excavations at Gacy's modest home in Des Plaines led the national news night after night. The house itself became almost as familiar to American and foreign viewing audiences as The White House.

The details of the dig were riveting. Some of the victims had been buried so close together that police believed they were probably killed or buried at the same time. By the end of January, police and construction crews had gutted the entire house and exhumed twenty-seven bodies. The search had taken longer than expected due to the frozen ground and the winter cold.

During this time, four bodies that had been discovered in the Des Plaines River were linked to Gacy by driver’s licenses and other personal items found in his home.

While the identities of the 32 victims began to surface, investigators discovered that all of the victims were young men ranging from their early teens to mid-twenties. While most were male prostitutes known to solicit at "Bunghouse Square" in Chicago, some were young boys who simply disappeared for no apparent reason, and at least five were employees of PDM Contracting at one point or another.

Surprisingly, the excavations and the dragging of the river did not turn up the corpse of Robert Piest.

As the search for bodies came to and end, two young men, Robert Donnelly and Jeff Rignall came forward and spoke to investigators. The youths both felt extremely lucky to be alive and their stories were startlingly similar in detail even though their run ins with Gacy happened on different days. Each claimed that sometime in December of 1977, he had been abducted at gunpoint by Gacy, chloroformed, tortured, whipped and raped. For reasons only know to Gacy himself, both youths were spared their lives. Whether it was fear or embarrassment, neither youth had wished to pursue the matter directly after it had occurred.

Finally in April 1979, the remains of Robert Piest were discovered along the Illinois River. An autopsy later determined that he had died as a result of suffocation. Gacy was charged with his death.

1983: Henry Lee Lucas was arrested on murder charges and told police he had have killed as many as 600 people. He later recanted. Lucas had 13 murder convictions and was sentenced to at least 10 life terms, then was sentenced to death in Texas for the murder of a hitchhiker known as "Orange Socks." Then-Gov. George W. Bush commuted that to life in prison, his only commutation as governor.

1989-1990: Aileen Wuornos, a rare female serial killer, was convicted of murdering six men while working as a prostitute along highways in central Florida.

1984-1985: Charles Ng and Leonard Lake were convicted of murdering 11 people

1984-1985: Richard Ramirez was convicted of killing 14 people during break-ins in the Los Angeles area

On November 17 1989, the 75th Precinct of the New York police received a letter with the opening words ‘This is the zodiac’. The letter, addressed to the anti-crime department, contained a warning of 12 murders; One for each of the 12 zodiac signs.

The killer claimed one murder had already taken place. With no evidence linking the letter to any actual known murder the police dismissed it as a hoax and nothing more was known for 5 months.

On March 8, 1990 at 1.45 am, Mario Orozco is shot in the back by a mystery assailant whilst walking through Brooklyn. Though the bullet was lodged next to Mario’s spine he survives the attack.

Three weeks later on March 29, 1990 34 year old Ecuadorian Germán Montenedro drunkenly makes his way home after an argument with his girlfriend. Suddenly Germán crashes to the ground, knocked unconscious by the hard pavement. The bullet had punctured Germáns left hand side cutting through his liver, finally resting on the right hand side of his body. Germán awoke in pain, but alive. He was able to reach his fathers house and eventually to hospital. A second survivor of the mystery gunman.

Just 2 days had passed when 78 year old Joe Proce was walking through Queens in the early hours near to his home, when an unknown man approached him. After a brief argument about money Joe turns his back and crashes to the floor having been shot. The bullet would enter his lower back hitting his kidney. Joe’s neighbours called 911, and an ambulance would take Joe to hospital having survived the attack. Joe would later die in hospital (24 June 1990).

The New York Post receives a letter on the 6th June addressed to the editor, it read

This is the Zodiac the twelve sign
Will die when the belts in the heaven are seen

The first sign is dead on March 8 1990 1:45 AM
White man with cane shoot on the back in the street

The second sign is dead on March 29 1990 2:57 AM
White man with black coat shoot in the side in front of house

The third sign is dead on May 31 1990 2:04 AM
White old man with cane shoot in front of house

No more games pigs

All shoot in Brooklyn with .380 RNL or 9mm
No grooves on bullet

The top of the letter would be marked with a large circle intersected with a cross.

It was a further 13 days before the newspaper let the public know of the threats with the headline ‘RIDDLE OF THE ZODIAC KILLER’. Two days after the New York Post printed the Zodiac letter a fourth shooting took place. Larry Parham was asleep on a bench in Central Park when the unidentified assailant now known as the Zodiac shoots him in the chest, the bullet somehow misses his aorta and exits Larry’s body via the right armpit. Due to the early morning hours it would be a couple of hours before an ambulance was on the scene, once again the zodiacs victim would survive the shooting. A note would be found at the scene containing the now familiar circle intersected with a cross.

The New York Post would receive a second letter from the Zodiac.

This is the Zodiac I have seen the post and you say
The note sent to the post not similar to any of
The San Fransisco Zodiac letter you are
Wrong the hand writing looked different it is
One of the same Zodiac one Zodiac

The letter would go on to say

Fourth sign dead shoot in Central Park
White man sleeping on bench with little
Black bag shoot in chest

In addition the Zodiac included a drawing of the original Zodiac killer taken from Robert Graysmiths book about the San Fransisco Zodiac of the 1960’s. In fact New York Post journalists made contact with Robert Graysmith, to ask if he had any insight into these shootings. Graysmith would check that the suspects in the original case had not moved to New York – none had.

The New York police would release a wanted poster of a black man seen speaking to Larry before he was shot. In the subsequent furore police would question several people for ‘looking like’ the suspect. Astrologers would predict that the next victim would be a Leo causing panic amongst Leos.

There would be no further shootings attributed to the Zodiac for over 2 years. August 10th 1992 and the silence would end. Patricia Fonti was walking through Highland Park asking passers by for cigarettes, one particularly helpful man would give her some if she followed him, Patricia obliged. Once secluded Patricia was struck. The first bullet had passed straight through her. Still moving, a second bullet hit but still Patricia would not go down. The Zodiac kicked Patricia, but still no effect. A knife was drawn and Zodiac stabbed Patricia all over her body. She was dead having suffered 2 punctured lungs and a perforated kidney. In total police would find over 100 stab wounds on her body. Patricia was the Zodiacs first direct victim.

Ten months later (4 June 1993) Jim Weber would be shot in the buttocks, but would survive. The next victim would not. The Zodiac would shoot Joseph Diacone through the neck at close range just before midnight on 20th July 1993. October 2nd 1993 and the Zodiac would strike again. Diane Ballard would be shot through the neck the bullet missing vital arteries but lodging against her spine. The Zodiac runs away believing Diane was dead, but she survived the shooting.

It was 4 years into the New York shootings 3 people are dead a further 6 shot the police had no arrests and no clue to the assailant. On the 10th March 1994 officer Brian Fleming stopped a Hispanic male on suspicion of carrying a weapon. When searched, Officer Fleming found a 3 ½” dagger and a zip gun which when disarmed was found to hold a .22 calibre bullet. Heriberto Seda was subsequently arrested for possession of a gun. Seda’s fingerprints would be taken, as is normal procedure, and placed in the cells awaiting arraignment the next day. At arraignment Seda was granted bail. In an error by the police the gun was labelled incorrectly, was never tested and was destroyed. All charges were dropped, the records sealed and his fingerprint card destroyed by order of the court. Seda was a free man.

The New York Post would receive a further letter from the Zodiac on the 3rd August 1994 admitting to the shootings of Patricia Fonti & Jim Weber. Also included on the letter were the words

Sleep my little dead how we loathe them

And

NYPD 0
Zodiac 9

The Zodiac would again disappear. The NYPD, having got fingerprints taken from the Zodiac letters, would now routinely check anybody arrested within the area to see if there was a match. None were found. One Zodiac suspect would have his urine secretly tested in the hope of a DNA match (a DNA sample was retrieved from the saliva from the zodiac envelopes). The result was negative.

June 18th 1996 and Heriberto Seda and his half sister Gladys (known as Chachi) were arguing in their humble home because Chachi had invited a friend (Wilbur Rios) over, they were laughing. Seda considered that sinful and demanded that he leave. Chachi turned her back on her brother and was shot in the buttocks with a .41 shotgun. In pain Chachi managed to escape the flat to the neighbours’ who dialled 911. Wilber Rios meanwhile was barricading himself into one of the bedrooms.

Shortly after midday NYPD officers arrived at the scene responding to a ‘10-34’ and were greeted with shots fired from the 3rd floor window. An exchange of gunfire between Seda and NYPD officers ensued. Fifteen minutes into the siege and negotiations began between Seda and DS Joey Herbert. After three hours of slow talking, and no shots, Seda suddenly decided to surrender and asked for Joey Herbert to escort him out. When police officers entered Seda’s room they discovered an array of weapons including nine pipe bombs and a crossbow.

Heriberto ‘Eddie’ Seda was arrested by Detective Danny Powers and charged with 15 counts of attempted murder and multiple counts of possession of deadly weapons and explosives. Asked to write a confession Seda duly obliged. He was asked to rewrite the confession and include the shooting at the cops. Seda happily rewrote it. Once again Powers read the confession and spotted the use of symbols, including one that looked like a cross. Powers talked to Joey Herbert about his idea, Joey read through the note paying particular attention to the handwriting and became excited, exclaiming, “This is the Zodiac”. Copies of the Zodiac letters were quickly retrieved for comparison. Seda’s fingerprints were also taken, and questioning began again on the suspect.

Joey Herbert & Louie Savarese talked to Eddie about the shoot out, Seda politely discussed it. As soon as the conversation turned to the Zodiac Seda clammed up, looking at the floor. The detectives had their answer. Meanwhile the fingerprints were being compared to the Zodiacs. It took 3 expert opinions before the answer came. Zodiac and Heriberto Seda were the same person. At 8.00 pm the officers told Seda to confess who he was. No reply. After almost 3 hours of persuading, badgering and shouting, Seda began to come clean about the shootings, eventually signing a written confession. Seda would be charged as the Zodiac killer.

1996-1998: Robert L. Yates Jr. was convicted of two murders but admitted to 15

Charles Manson never killed anybody. He was the mastermind behind the Tate murders in the late 1960's, providing specific instructions to his followers. This small-time thief managed to charm young hippie girls into doing his bidding. His obsession with the lyrics of rock group The Beatles made him believe a race war was coming. While everybody fought it out, his band of followers would wait in the desert, only to return when things calmed down. Before being sentenced to die in California's gas chamber (later commuted to life) he recorded some music, committed petty crimes and hung out with hippie chicks. He remains in Pelican Bay State Prison, a highly secure facility for incorrigible offenders, to this day.