"Best" serial killer?

Charles Manson never killed anyone, so technically he's not a "serial killer".

"Best" is not an adjective I'd use with "serial killer". Most depraved, manipulative, prolific, sure. But not "best". Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer, used his own son's picture to lure his (Ridgeway's) victims. The more women he killed, the more depraved his actions. From wikipedia: "Ridgway confessed to more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer. Over a period of five months of police and prosecutor interviews, he confessed to 48 murders: Forty-two of the 48 murders on the police's list of probable Green River Killer victims and six more murders, including one as late as 2000. On February 9, 2004, county prosecutors began to release the videotape records of Ridgway's confessions. In one taped interview, he told investigators initially that he was responsible for the deaths of 65 women, but in another taped interview with Sheriff Reichert on December 31, 2003, Ridgway claimed to have murdered 71 victims, and confessed to have had sex with them prior to killing them, a detail which he did not reveal until after his sentencing. He also confessed that he had sex with his victims' bodies after he murdered them, but claimed he began burying the later victims so that he would resist the urge to revisit them. Ridgway is incarcerated at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ridgway This is an exceedingly sick individual.

...umm...I'd hafta say the BTK or the ZODIAC...sorry!!

Not to be cheeky - but they all got caught, so they're all failures by definition. If I have to choose among the three - Manson didn't kill anyone himself and instead sent others to do his bidding -he gets props for amazing powers of persuasion, but zip for being a killer. Ramirez raped old ladies, so he gets negative points for making me picture these gruesome encounters. Also, when he was caught, he was chased by a bunch of civilians and was calling for the police for help -pathetic considering the dude was going for satanic-showmanship. Ridgeway, killed the most people -four dozen or so if I recall, for the longest time before getting caught, he didn't dress in costume, spout demonic sayings and was calm when caught, so if I'm picking among this crowd, I'd say he was the best at it.

Charles Manson wasn't a serial killer. Serial killers are nothing to idolize, I will honestly never understand why people treat them as celebrities. They are sick people who commit inhuman crimes. I can see why people would be fascinated in their motives or the workings of their minds, but for someone to look at them in the context of who was the "best" one is pretty disturbing. Having said that, I pick none of the above. Albert Fish was the "best" one because he was also a cannibal.

I'm glad that you spelled their names with lower case letters.......they don't deserve the capitalization. Sorry, I don't have a fav.

Well, I would not hand out a prize for "Best Serial Killer", but I'm just weird like that. Out of the choices I would have to say Ridgeway. Best at having incredibly good dumb luck that is. Without a whole lot of effort on his part he managed to elude police for 20+ years and rack up an astounding number of murders in the process.

I think it would be either Charles Manson or Jeffery Dahmer. Most people dont like to consider Charles Manson a Serial Killer. But in some ways he is a serial killer. In order to classify somebody a serial killer they have to commit over 3 murders in the same form usually every couple weeks or so. Charles Manson and his Family murdered 7 people in 2 seperate sets of muders and he organized the killings which would classify him as a serial killer. But Charles Manson was only accused for the murders of 7 people. He himself said that he had murdered 35 people all together. And he was also involved in the murder of Gary Hinman, Crowe, and Shorty Shea.

neither, has to be the Zodiac killer or john wayne gacy aka pogo the clown