It is estimated that at least 2 percent of murders are committed by serial offenders. This means that slightly over 2000 serial killers may be roaming the world. Among these serial killers, less than 1% are couples.
Serial Killer couples have been part of history for a long time and they prove that lone predators are not the only ones that account for some of the blood-curdling murders committed. Psychologically, these couples share the bonnie and Clyde Syndrome or Hybristophilia, a close attraction to criminals. Even more closely, they share ‘double madness’, an attachment between close people as a result of a common delusional idea.
10 Serial Killer Couples That You Never knew Existed
1. Rosemary And Fred West
One of the deadliest combinations of perverseness is the union between the English couple Fred West and his wife Rosemary Pauline Letts who is mostly known as Rose West. The couple’s tale is filled with so much horror, including prostitution, rape, torture, and the killing of their victims.
The killer couple was responsible for the death of at least 10 people together and individually.
Fred’s crime started in 1967 and lasted until 1987 while Rose’s murder crime lasted from 1971 to 1987.
The couple met in 1969 shortly after Rose’s 15th birthday. At the time, Fred had already murdered a woman who was pregnant with his child in 1967. Rose on her part was said to have started molesting her 9-year-old brother when she was 13 years old.
When her love affair started with Fred, he lured her into prostitution, and their crimes together began.
By 1973, they had a brush with the law after assaulting and raping beauty queen Caroline Roberts but this only led to them paying a fine. They honed their skills to avoid detection by killing off their victims.
Subsequently, they resorted to luring their victims with Rose’s help after which they assaulted and killed them. In their case, the victims were buried in a cellar or back garden. They were finally apprehended in 1994 and sentenced to life in 1995.
Fred who could not face his new status killed himself while in custody while Rose adjusted to living behind bars. He then asked through a suicide note he left Rose to be buried where his daughter Heather was buried. The couple was responsible for the death of the girl.
2. Cathrine and David Birnie
These Australian killers are also known as Moorhouse Murderers. They tied their victims with chains, raped, and killed them. They killed no fewer than 4 women aged 16 to 31.
They enjoyed their crime spree in 1986 until one of their victims, Kate Moir managed to escape and reported the incident to the police.
They were then arrested. Both of them received four terms of life imprisonment and were also required to serve 20 years before being eligible for parole.
In 2005, David Birnie committed suicide by hanging and Catherine was not allowed to attend his funeral.
In 2010, Catherine Birnie became the third Australian woman in history to have her papers marked “never to be released” after her seeking for parole was denied.
Her youngest son with her first husband called for her execution in 2017. He claimed that his being associated with her landed him being assaulted. However, his wishes were not granted.
Their story has been recorded in several films and TV series, including Deadly Women and Crime Investigation Australia.
3. Innessa Tarverdiyeva and Roman Podkopaev
Perhaps the deadliest among serial killer couples, this Russian couple known as the Gang of Amazons killed at least 30 people in 6 years from 2007 to 2013.
Innessa and Roman committed their crimes with their two daughters, Viktoria Tarverdiyeva and Anastasiya.
While speaking about their murders, Innessa maintained ‘it’s just like any other day’.
After killing scores of people ranging from strangers to goddaughters, they were apprehended by the police. Roman fell in a gun battle with the police while Innessa and her daughters were captured and shipped to face their crimes. The last that was heard of them, she and her daughters are still behind bars.
Apart from murder, the family was also known for robbery.
4. Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka-Ken
Paul Kenneth Bernado also known as The Scarborough Rapist and The Schoolgirl Killer was married to Karla Homolka. Together, they became notable Canadian serial killers.
Their victims are 3 children, including Karla’s sister Tammy Homolka.
Paul’s crime lasted from 1986 to 1992 and it included murder, kidnapping, forcible confinement, and rape. Karla on the other hand started her fling of crime in 1990.
As a couple, their first victim was Karla’s younger sister, Tammy. Bernado became obsessed with her and would even sneak into her room to masturbate while she was asleep. Tammy was later drugged and raped by Bernado with the approval and help of Karla.
The 15-year-old died afterward but it was believed that she had too much alcohol and choked on her vomit.
Their other victims are 15-year-old Jane Doe, 14 years old Leslie Mahaffy, and 15 years old Kristen French from 1991 to 1992.
In 1993, the couple was arrested. Karla got a plea bargain after she gave a lot of information that would be used against Bernado in court. She was then given a 12-year sentence before her release in 2005. She reportedly married her attorney’s brother afterward.
Bernado on the other hand received a life imprisonment sentence.
5. Gerald And Charlene Gallego
This couple is known as the Love Slave Killers. They sexually abused mostly teenage girls and killed 10 people from 1978 to 1980 in Sacramento, California.
Their lives together started after Gerald’s 6 divorces (twice with the same woman) while Charlene was also married twice.
Before they were married, Gerald was already into crime. He was 13 when he sexually assaulted a 6-year-old and since then, he continued to record several other crimes, including murder.
Charlene’s crimes on the other hand began upon her meeting her husband, Gerald. She would lure girls while he would sexually abuse and kill them. The girls were between the ages of 13 to 21 and the killings included shooting, strangulation, and the use of blunt objects, and hammer.
The Love Slave Killers were finally arrested in November 1980 after a witness reported the two while also giving their license plate number.
In June 1983, Gerald was sentenced to death while Charlene who was given a plea deal was given 16 years in prison. She completed her sentence in 1997 and claimed to have been Gerald’s victim that survived. She also claimed that she tried to save some of the girls’ lives.
Her spouse, Gerald died of cancer in 2002 while awaiting execution in prison.
6. Ray And Faye Copeland
In the 1980s Ray (76) and Faye (69) became the oldest serial killer couple in America. They also later became the oldest couple to be sentenced to death in America for the murder of about 5 to 12 people.
Ray Copeland was known for petty crime but when finances were tight, he started to use workers to issue fake checks to purchase livestock. He would then kill his victims afterward.
This crime lasted from 1986 to 1989 when their former employee reported having seen human remains on their land and that Ray had tried to kill him. This led to the arrest of the 2. 5 remains were then found on their farmland.
At trial, Faye disassociated herself from the crime while claiming to have been psychologically and physically abused by him. However, the police found disturbing evidence of a handmade quilt that Faye made out of the dead men’s clothing.
In 1991, Ray was sentenced to death. He died of natural causes in 1993 while on death row.
Faye was given sentenced to life imprisonment by lethal injection. Her case was later appealed and she got a life sentence. In 2022, Governor Bob Holden authorized medical parole for Faye after she suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed. She died at the age of 83 in December 2003.
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7. Monique Olivier and Michel Fourniret
This couple is also known as the Virgin Killer. They abducted young girls in eastern France, raped, and killed them. Their crimes lasted from 1987 to 2004 and were responsible for the killings of at least 8.
Their story started when Michel became penpals with Monique Olivier. At the time, Michel was already a sex offender serving a prison term while his wife Monique was married to another man and had 2 children. She promised to find virgins for Michel if he helped in killing her ex-husband.
Although he never did, Monique and Michel became married and she shopped for young girls for him to rape and kill. They were apprehended in 2003 after a failed attempt to kidnap a 13-year-old girl.
The 2 were arrested in Belgium and extradited to France. In 2008, Michel Fourniret was found guilty of murders and was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Olivier was also sentenced to life but with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Fourniret died at the age of 79 in 2021 after suffering from respiratory problems. Monique on the other hand continues to serve her term in prison.
8. Sarah Jane and John Makin
They were Australian serial killers known for killing at least 15 babies left in their care.
The couple became baby farmers after they suffered financially. Along the line, they started to kill some of the babies from around 1892. Their crimes went unnoticed until when laborers accidentally found 2 buried bodies.
Further investigations led the police to about 15 infants’ bodies buried in the different homes where the family had stayed. They were arrested in 1892.
John Makin was executed by hanging in 1893. Sara served a prison term until she was released quietly and anonymously in 1911 due to health challenges. She died at the age of 72 in 1918.
9. Cynthia Coffman and James Marlow
The couple was accused of the kidnapping and killing of 4 women from October to November 1986. 2 of their victims were also sexually assaulted.
They carried out their crimes in California and Arizona shortly after they left Tenessee after they were married.
After enjoying a short spree of their crime, their end had reached when the authorities found a checkbook belonging to their first victim in a dumpster. Surprisingly, some papers with the couple’s names were also found there.
Over 100 men joined the authority to get the couple apprehended. They were caught hiking through the mountains in stolen clothes.
They were sentenced to death in 1990. Cynthia then became the first woman to be given a death sentence in California since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the state in 1977. Also, she became the longest-serving woman on death row in America, having spent more than 30 years awaiting her execution.
10. Myra Hindley and Ian Brady
Also famous as The Moors Murderers, this couple is an English killer couple. Their victims were 5 children between the ages of 10 to 17 from 1963 to 1965.
Ian Brady reportedly had a disturbing childhood and was violent to the point of killing animals. Myra on the other had a normal childhood until her life turned out when she met Brady, her boyfriend.
The couple worked together. Ian introduced Myra to reading books about Nazi atrocities during lunch breaks at work.
They also had dates to the cinema where they would watch x-rated films and read books about crimes among others.
In 1963, Myra claimed that Brady started talking to her about committing the perfect murder. The same year, they moved into Hindley’s grandmother’s house in June. In July, they murdered their first victim, a 16-year-old named Pauline Reade.
In November 1963, Hindley offered a 12-year-old, John Kilbride a ride. Brady then sexually assaulted them before killing him.
The same pattern followed as they killed John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, and Lesley Ann Downey who were between the ages of 10-12.
In 1965, Brady killed 17 years old Edward Evans but Hindley’s brother-in-law David Smith witnessed. Smith then reported the incident to his wife and the police. A day after, on October 7, 1965, Brady was arrested while Hindley was arrested on 11 October 1965.
They were given life imprisonment. Myra Hindley died a prisoner on November 15, 2002, at the age of 60 while her spouse Ian Brady died on May 15, 2017, at 79.
