Intelligence quotient (IQ) tests are generally believed to test a person’s intelligence or a person’s ability to learn. Some researchers believe that IQ tests can measure how successful a person will be in life because the test measures motivation as well as intelligence. Whatever the case, IQ tests are often given to or sought after for serial killers in an effort to learn more about them.
All types of data are collected on known serial killers. Radford University has charts covering numerous life aspects of over 3,000 serial killers. The data ranges from motives to military service to, of course, their IQ levels. The statistics are frightening, but they portray the general serial killer as having an average IQ of 94.7. That number equals an average intelligence (90 to 109). To be a genius, a serial killer would need an IQ of 140 or higher.
In shows like Criminal Minds and in the portrayal of the fictitious character, Hannibal Lector, we are confronted with the idea of the genius serial killer. He makes the perfect villain for our heroes to battle against in a plot that rises, falls, and then reaches a maddening peak as the hero and villain enter the final battle of wits, motive, and determination.
Does the genius serial killer exist? Yes, but he is not as prolific as the media would have you believe. Out of thousands of serial killers, people who have committed 3 or more murders, there are the only a small handful of actual killer geniuses.
IQ CHART:
0-24 Profound Mental Retardation Limited or no ability to communicate, eat, bath, dress and toilet.
25-39 Severe Mental Retardation Limited ability to communicate, eat, bath, dress and toilet. No academic skills.
40-54 Moderate Mental Retardation Some independent self-help skills and very basic academic skills.
55-69 Mild Mental Retardation Usually able to dress/bath independently and can do simple jobs. Elementary school academics.
70-79 Border Line May live independently with difficulties. Can perform simple and repetitive jobs.
80-89 Low Average Can complete vocational education and live independently.
90-109 Average Can complete high school graduation and college with difficulty.
110-119 High Average Typical level of college graduates.
120-129 Superior Typical level of persons with doctoral degrees.
130-144 Gifted Capable of understanding highly, complex academic material.
145-159 Genius Exception intellectual ability and capable of looking beyond known facts.
160-175 Extraordinary genius Extraordinary talent like Albert Einstein.
Here is a list of the most Intelligent serial killers of all time.
| No. | Name | IQ Level | Number of victims |
| 30. | David Berkowitz | IQ 118 | 6 |
| 29. | John Wayne Gacy | IQ 118 | 33 - 34+ |
| 28. | Patrick McCullough | IQ 120 | 3 |
| 27. | Derek Ernest Percy | IQ 122 | 1+ |
| 26. | Michael Bruce Ross | IQ 122 | 8 |
| 25. | Richard Daniel Starrett | IQ 124 | 1 - 5+ |
| 24. | John Joubert | IQ 124 | 3 - 3+ |
| 23. | David Copeland | IQ 125 | 3 |
| 22. | David Carpenter | IQ 125 | 7 - 11 |
| 21. | Timothy Krajcir | IQ 125 | 9 |
| 20. | James Michael DeBardeleben | IQ 127 | 0 - 8+ |
| 19. | John Christie | IQ 128 | 8 - 8+ |
| 18. | Joel Rifkin | IQ 128 | 9 - 17+ |
| 17. | Randy Kraft | IQ 129 | 16 - 67+ |
| 16. | Juan Corona | IQ 130 | 25 - 25+ |
| 15. | Karla Homolka | IQ 131-134 | 3 |
| 14. | Harvey Glatman | IQ 130 - 140 | 3 - 4 |
| 13. | Edmund Kemper | IQ 136 | 10 |
| 12. | Ted Bundy | IQ 136 | 36 - 36+ |
| 11. | Lawrence Bittaker | IQ 138 | 5 |
| 10. | Harold Shipman | IQ 140 | 218 - 250+ |
| 9. | Brian Dugan | IQ 140+ | 3 |
| 8. | Jeffrey Dahmer | IQ 145 | 17 |
| 7. | Andrew Cunanan | IQ 147 | 5 |
| 6. | Carroll Cole | IQ 152 | 15 - 35+ |
| 5. | Charlene Gallego Williams | IQ 160 | 10 |
| 4. | Rodney Alcala | IQ 160 | 8 - 130 |
| 3. | Ted Kaczynski | IQ 167 | 3 |
| 2. | Albert DeSalvo | IQ 172 | 13 |
| 1. | Nathan Leopold, Jr. and Richard Loeb | Leopold, IQ 210 and Loeb, IQ 160-168 | 1 |
(See also 7 Myths About Serial Killers)
(See also The Last Words of 30 Famous Serial Killers)
(See also Top 30 Serial Killers By Number of Victims (20th century))
30. David Berkowitz, IQ 118
 |
| (David Richard Berkowitz) |
Number of victims: 6
David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco; June 1, 1953), known also as the Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer convicted of a series of shooting attacks that began in New York City during the summer of 1976, perpetrated with a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver. He killed six victims and wounded seven others by July 1977. As the number of victims increased, Berkowitz eluded a massive police manhunt while leaving letters that mocked the police and promised further crimes, much publicized by the press. He achieved worldwide notoriety. David Berkowitz IQ was tested at 118.
Berkowitz was arrested by New York City police homicide detectives during August 1977, and was indicted for eight shooting incidents. He confessed to all of them, and claimed to have been obeying the orders of a demon, manifested in the form of a dog ("Harvey") who belonged to his neighbor ("Sam"). Despite his explanation, Berkowitz was found mentally competent and incarcerated in state prison for murder. In the course of further police investigation, Berkowitz was also implicated in many unsolved arsons in the city.
Intense coverage of the case by the media gave almost a celebrity status to Berkowitz, and some observers noted that he seemed to enjoy it. In response, the New York State legislature enacted new legal statutes, known popularly as "Son of Sam laws", designed to keep criminals from profiting financially from the publicity created by their crimes. Despite various amendments and legal challenges, the statutes have remained law in New York, and similar laws have been enacted in several other states.
Berkowitz has been imprisoned since his arrest and is serving six life sentences consecutively. During the mid-1990s, he amended his confession to claim that he had been a member of a violent Satanic cult which orchestrated the incidents as ritual murder. He remains the only person ever charged with the shootings, yet some law enforcement authorities have questioned whether Berkowitz's claims are credible. A new investigation of the murders began during 1996, but was suspended indefinitely after inconclusive findings.
29. John Wayne Gacy, IQ 118
 |
| (John Wayne Gacy, Jr.) |
Number of victims: 33 - 34+
John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994), also known as the Killer Clown, was an American serial killer and rapist. He sexually assaulted and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978 in Cook County, Illinois.
All of Gacy's known murders were committed inside his Norwood Park, Illinois home. His victims would typically be lured to this address by force or deception, and all but one victim were murdered by either asphyxiation or strangulation with a tourniquet (his first victim was stabbed to death). Gacy buried 26 of his victims in the crawl space of his home. Three further victims were buried elsewhere on his property, while the bodies of his last four known victims were discarded in the Des Plaines River.
Convicted of 33 murders, Gacy was sentenced to death for 12 of these killings on March 13, 1980. He spent 14 years on death row before he was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994.
Gacy became known as the "Killer Clown" due to his charitable services at fundraising events, parades, and children's parties where he would dress as "Pogo the Clown", a character he devised himself. John Wayne Gacy IQ was tested at 118.
28. Patrick McCullough, IQ 120
 |
| (Patrick McCullough) |
Number of victims: 3
Patrick McCullough (Jan 20, 1960 - Nov 30, 2001) was explosively angry, even as a child. At first, psychologists thought he was mentally retarded and hyperactive, so he received medications he should never have had. His delayed diagnosis of deafness impeded his development of language skills and contributed to his tantrums. It’s no surprise that he ended up institutionalized.
Later McCullough went to prison for committing two murders. He assaulted several other people and stalked two girlfriends who'd broken up with him. He could not abide rejection. In 2001, when yet another woman tried to end their brief relationship, he shot her to death before ending his own life. Patrick McCullough IQ was tested at 120.
27. Derek Ernest Percy, IQ 122
 |
| (Derek Ernest Percy) |
Number of victims: 1+
Derek Ernest Percy (1948 - July 23, 2013) is a sadistic child-murderer, who was imprisoned for murdering Yvonne Elizabeth Tuohy on a Victorian beach in July 1969. Declared not guilty by reason of insanity, he remains imprisoned because he is considered too dangerous to be released. In December 2005 it was claimed that he had committed other murders but would not admit them for fear of harming any hope of being released in the future. Derek Ernest Percy IQ was tested at 122.
26. Michael Bruce Ross, IQ 122
 |
| (Michael Bruce Ross) |
Number of victims: 8
Michael Bruce Ross (July 26, 1959 – May 13, 2005) was an American serial killer. 1987, Ross was convicted for the murders of four of the eight women he confessed to killing. It took the jury 86 minutes of deliberations to convict him and only four hours to decide on his punishment. He was the first person executed in Connecticut since May 17, 1960, when Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky was electrocuted for a spree of slayings. Michael Bruce Ross IQ was tested at 122.
25. Richard Daniel Starrett, IQ 124
 |
| (Richard Daniel Starrett) |
Number of victims: 1 - 5+
Richard Daniel Starrett (born September 25, 1959) a convicted serial rapist and sex offender. It is believed that Starrett began his murder series in 1988. His known victim was a female. Starrett was known to have murdered his victim by shooting her in the head. He left her body on the side of a river.
In February of 1989 Starrett was arrested for the murder of Jean Taylor McCrea. He was given a life sentences for raping and molesting women, plus 4 more life terms and 50 years for the murder. Although he was only formally charged with the murder of one person, Starrett is suspected of being involved in at least 5 other murders. Richard Daniel Starrett IQ was tested at 124.
24. John Joubert, IQ 124
 |
| (John Joseph Joubert IV) |
Number of victims: 3 - 3+
John Joseph Joubert IV (July 2, 1963 – July 17, 1996) was an American serial killer convicted of the murders of three boys in Maine and Nebraska. In trying to explain the crimes, John Joubert, 33, told The Omaha World-Herald last month: "It was the power and the domination and seeing the fear. That was more exciting than actually causing the harm." He was executed on July 17, 1996 by the electric chair in Nebraska. John Joubert IQ was tested at 124.
23. David Copeland, IQ 125
 |
| (David Copeland) |
Number of victims: 3
David Copeland (born 15 May 1976) is a British Neo-Nazi militant who became known as the "London Nail Bomber" after a 13-day bombing campaign in April 1999 aimed at London's black, South Asian and gay communities that resulted in three people being killed and more than a hundred injured. Copeland was a former member of two far-right political groups, the British National Party and then the National Socialist Movement.
Copeland was diagnosed by five psychiatrists as having paranoid schizophrenia, while one diagnosed a personality disorder not serious enough to avoid a charge of murder. His plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility was not accepted by the prosecution or jury. He was convicted of murder on 30 June 2000, and given six concurrent life sentences. In 2007 the High Court ruled that he must serve at least 50 years.
In June 2014, Copeland attacked a fellow inmate at HM Prison Belmarsh with a shiv – an improvised weapon made from razor blades attached to a toothbrush handle. In October 2015, he pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and was sentenced to a further three years in prison, of which he will serve 18 months. David Copeland IQ was tested at 125.
22. David Carpenter, IQ 125
 |
| (David Joseph Carpenter) |
Number of victims: 7 - 11
David Joseph Carpenter (born May 6, 1930), aka the Trailside Killer, is an American serial killer known for stalking and murdering women on hiking trails near San Francisco, California. Carpenter killed at least 10 people, with one attempted victim, Steven Haertle, surviving.
The "Trailside Killer" was sentenced to die in the gas chamber for the Hansen and Scaggs murders. He was later tried and convicted of murder in five of the other slayings. David Joseph Carpenter IQ was tested at 125.
21. Timothy Krajcir, IQ 125
 |
| (Timothy Wayne Krajcir) |
Number of victims: 9
Timothy Wayne Krajcir (born Timothy Wayne McBride; November 28, 1944) is a convicted American serial killer from West Mahanoy Township, Pennsylvania who has confessed to killing over nine women: five in Missouri and four others in Illinois and Pennsylvania. He was sentenced to 13 consecutive life terms.
"As I entered the pearly gates, I was going to ask St. Peter who did those killings," he said. Timothy Wayne Krajcir IQ was tested at 125.
20. James Michael DeBardeleben, IQ 127
 |
| (James Mitchell "Mike" DeBardeleben II) |
Number of victims: 0 - 8+
James Mitchell "Mike" DeBardeleben II (March 20, 1940 – January 26, 2011) was a convicted kidnapper, rapist, counterfeiter, and suspected serial killer who became known as the "Mall Passer" due to his practice of passing counterfeit bills in shopping malls abutting interstate highways across the USA. After his arrest for counterfeiting, he was found to have committed much more serious sex crimes. He was sentenced to 375 years. Although he was never brought to trial for murder, he was the principal suspect in two homicides and he remains a suspect in several others. He died of pneumonia at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina in early 2011. James Michael DeBardeleben IQ was tested at 127.
19. John Christie, IQ 128
 |
| (John Reginald Halliday Christie) |
Number of victims: 8 - 8+
Over in Yorkshire, England was born John Reginald Halliday Christie, on April 8, 1898. He murdered eight women (possibly more including his wife) by strangulation or by forcing them to breathe in toxic fumes. He kept the bodies in his apartment in Notting Hill, including placing one under the floorboards.
Christie was considered a good student with an IQ of 128, which is “above average”. He received a scholarship to the Halifax secondary school and enlisted with the British Army, receiving an honorable discharge in 1919. During World War II, he served as a constable in the War Reserve Police for four years.
At one point, police were searching his home while investigating the women’s disappearances, and they noticed the smell of rotting flesh. Christie managed to frame someone else for their murders. And so he escaped justice for a while longer. But the other man was found guilty and executed. So when the murders continued they knew they had punished the wrong man. The bodies were then discovered in John Christie’s house. He was found guilty and hanged to death.
18. Joel Rifkin, IQ 128
 |
| (Joel David Rifkin) |
Number of victims: 9 - 17
Joel David Rifkin (born January 20, 1959) is an American serial killer. In 1994, he was sentenced to 203 years in prison for the murders of nine women, mostly drug-addicted prostitutes, between 1989 and 1993. He is believed to have killed up to 17 victims between 1989 and 1993 in New York City and in Long Island, New York. Although Rifkin often hired prostitutes in Brooklyn and Manhattan, he lived in East Meadow, a suburban town on Long Island.
He is also suspected to be responsible for some of the Gilgo Beach Killer murders whose remains were found in March and April 2011. In an April 2011 prison interview with Newsday, Rifkin denied having anything to do with then-recently discovered remains. Experts and victims' rights advocates, however, believe that Rifkin's recent statements have no value.
Rifkin had difficulty fitting in with his peers, and became a frequent target of school bullies. He was excluded from team sports and neighborhood games because of his sloping posture and slow gait. Suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia, he also struggled academically despite his 128 IQ.
17. Randy Kraft, IQ 129
 |
| (Randy Steven Kraft) |
Number of victims: 16 - 67
Randy Steven Kraft (born March 19, 1945) is an American serial killer known as the "Scorecard Killer" and the "Freeway Killer" who committed the rape, torture, mutilation and murder of a minimum of 16 young men in a series of killings spanning between 1972 and 1983, the majority of which had been committed in California. Kraft is also believed to have committed the rape and murder of up to 67 further boys and young men. He was convicted in May 1989 of murdering 16 victims and is currently incarcerated upon death row at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, California.
Kraft became known as the "Scorecard Killer", because upon his arrest investigators discovered a coded list depicting cryptic references to his victims; and the "Freeway Killer", because many of his victims' bodies were discovered beside or near freeways.[6] He shares the latter epithet with two separate and unrelated serial killers, William Bonin and Patrick Kearney.
An employer who tested Kraft reportedly found that he had an IQ of 129, though during the penalty phase of his trial, Kraft’s legal team called UC Irvine neuroscientist Monte Buchsbaum to testify that Kraft had suffered brain damage that might explain his sexual violence. “But there’s a fine line between being a genius and being stupid.”
16. Juan Corona, IQ 130
 |
| (Juan Vallejo Corona) |
Number of victims: 25 - 25+
Juan Vallejo Corona (born c. 1934) is more well known as “the Machete Murderer”. He killed 25 immigrant workers in America, and buried their bodied in fruit fields. The exact victim total remains unknown and may be significantly higher, according to local authorities.
In his early life he suffered a mental breakdown which was been linked to his will to commit murder. But to those around him, he seemed like a normal man. The police became suspicious of him as he worked at all the locations bodies had been discovered. He really was the only link. Don’t let that mistake fool you though, he’s incredibly intelligent and manipulative (IQ Level 130). He was found guilty of all 25 counts of murder, and received a life sentence for each victim. He is currently serving a life sentence in Corcoran State Prison.
15. Karla Homolka, IQ 131-134
 |
| (Karla Leanne Homolka) |
Number of victims: 3
Karla Leanne Homolka (born 4 May 1970), also known as Karla Leanne Teale and Leanne Bordelais, is a convicted Canadian serial killer who, with her husband Paul Bernardo, raped and murdered at least three young women. She attracted worldwide media attention when she was convicted of manslaughter following a plea bargain in the 1991 and 1992 rape-murders of two Ontario teenage girls, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, as well as the rape and death of her sister Tammy.
Karla Homolka has an above average intelligence, testing between 131 and 134 on IQ tests. The standard for near genius or genius is more than 140.
Homolka and Bernardo were arrested in 1993. In 1995, Bernardo was convicted of the two teenagers' murders and received life in prison and a dangerous offender designation, the full maximum sentence allowed in Canada. During the 1993 investigation, Homolka stated to investigators that Bernardo had abused her, and that she had been an unwilling accomplice to the murders. As a result, she struck a deal with prosecutors for a reduced prison sentence of 12 years in exchange for a guilty plea for manslaughter. Homolka scored 5/40 on the Psychopathy Checklist, in contrast to Bernardo's 35/40.
However, videotapes of the crimes were later found that demonstrated that she was a more active participant than she had claimed. As a result, the deal that she had struck with prosecutors was dubbed in the Canadian press the "Deal with the Devil". Public outrage about Homolka's plea deal continued until her high-profile release from prison in 2005. Following her release from prison, she settled in the province of Quebec, where she married again and gave birth to a boy. In 2007, the Canadian press reported that she had left Canada for the Antilles with her husband and their baby, and had changed her name to Leanne Teale. In 2012, journalist Paula Todd found Homolka living in Guadeloupe, under the name Leanne Bordelais, with her husband and their three children. On 17 October 2014, the jury in the first-degree murder trial of Luka Magnotta heard that Karla Homolka is living in Quebec.
14. Harvey Glatman, IQ 130-140
 |
| (Harvey Murray Glatman) |
Number of victims: 3 - 4
Harvey Murray Glatman (December 10, 1927 – September 18, 1959) was an American serial killer active during the late 1950s. He was known in the media as "The Lonely Hearts Killer" and "The Glamour Girl Slayer". He would use several pseudonyms, posing as a professional photographer to lure his victims with the promise of a modelling career. Harvey Glatman has an above average intelligence, testing between 130 and 140 on IQ tests.
Parts of Glatman's career were fictionalized by Jack Webb in 1966 for the two-hour television movie Dragnet, starring his character Sgt. Joe Friday. The film convinced NBC executives to relaunch Dragnet as a TV series in 1967 for a four-year run, although the movie itself was not aired until 1969. Some of the dialogue was reportedly drawn from Glatman's own statements to police, for example:
Suspect: "The reason I killed those girls was 'cause they asked me to. (pause) They did; all of them."
Sgt. Friday: "They asked you to."
Suspect: "Sure. They said they'd rather be dead than be with me."
LAPD Captain Pierce Brooks, who was involved in Glatman's arrest and interrogation, served as a technical advisor for the film.
13. Edmund Kemper, IQ 136
 |
| (Edmund Emil Kemper III) |
Number of victims: 10
On December 18, 1948 in Burbank, California, Edmund Emil Kemper III was born. He was institutionalized at the age of 15 when he gunned down his grandparents, but he was released when he turned 21. He earned the nickname "The Co-ed Butcher" or "The Co-ed Killer" by killing and dismembering six college girls. On April 1973, he murdered his mother while she slept and strangled his mother’s best friend.
Despite his mental illness, Kemper was near-genius with an IQ of 136. He used his intelligence to get himself released from the psychiatric hospital as a juvenile by gaining access to assessment devices. Kemper memorized the responses for each tool and convinced the doctors he was safe to be released when he turned 21.
He was found sane and guilty at his trial, and requested the death penalty for his crimes. However, capital punishment was temporarily suspended in California and he instead received eight life sentences, since when Kemper has been incarcerated in the California Medical Facility.
Kemper is noted for his imposing stature and high intelligence, standing 6-foot-9-inches (2.06 m) tall, weighing over 250 lbs, attributes that left his victims with little chance to overcome him.
12. Ted Bundy, IQ 136
 |
| (Theodore "Ted" Robert Bundy) |
Number of victims: 36 - 36+
Born on November 24, 1949 in Burlington, Vermont, Theodore Robert Bundy was a charming and handsome man on the outside, but a vicious killer on the inside. Though the exact number of victims may be higher, 36 women died by his hands, with some being as young as twelve, across six states.
Bundy’s IQ was tested at 136, which falls in the “gifted” range. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Washington. He put his intelligence to use by tricking his victims in order to lure them in close, including faking injuries and impersonating a police officer. He also was able to escape twice from police custody.
Many psychology professionals described him as absolutely cruel and evil. In fact, even one of his lawyers said that he was “the very definition of heartless evil”. But during his trial, he represented himself in court. He really was so intelligent and charismatic that he was as efficient as most professional lawyers. But he was found guilty and given the death penalty.
11. Lawrence Bittaker, IQ 138
 |
| (Lawrence Bittaker) |
Number of victims: 5
Lawrence Bittaker (born September 27, 1940) teamed up with his friend Roy to rape and murder several young girls in 1979. He was found guilty of raping and murdering 5 teenage girls, and sentenced to death back in 1981. But he hasn’t been executed yet, he’s just been kept on death row the whole time. John Douglas, who was an FBI agent assigned to the case, said that Lawrence Bittaker was the most disturbing person he ever profiled. Yet he was found to be among the most intelligent serial killers. His IQ was tested at 138. He was only caught when his friend Roy was arrested for minor drug charges. But the police got Roy to tell them everything, and even testify against him.
Bittaker was sentenced to death for five murders on March 24, 1981, and is currently incarcerated on death row at San Quentin State Prison.
Bittaker and Norris became known as the Tool Box Killers due to the fact the majority of instruments used to torture and murder their victims were items normally stored inside a household toolbox.
10. Harold Shipman, IQ 140
 |
| (Harold Frederick Shipman) |
Number of victims: 218 - 250+
Harold Frederick Shipman (14 January 1946 – 13 January 2004) was a British GP and one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history. On 31 January 2000, a jury found Shipman guilty of 15 murders, but an inquiry after his conviction confirmed he was responsible for at least 218. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and the judge recommended that he never be released.
Harold Shipman IQ was tested at 140. He is the only British physician to have been found guilty of murdering his patients, although various other doctors have been acquitted of similar crimes in the country.
Separately, an inquiry commission chaired by High Court Judge, Dame Janet Smith, examined the records of 500 patients who died while in Shipman's care, and the 2,000-page report concluded that it was likely that he had murdered at least 218 of his patients, although this number was offered by Dame Janet as an estimation, rather than a precise calculation, as certain cases presented insufficient evidence to allow for certainty.
On January 13, 2004, , the day before his 58th birthday, Shipman was discovered at 6am hanging in his prison cell at Wakefield, having used bed sheets tied to the window bars of his cell.
There remains some mystery about the whereabouts of his remains, with some claiming that his body is still in a Sheffield Morgue, while others believe that his family have custody of his body, believing that he may have been murdered in his cell, and wishing to delay his interment pending further tests.
9. Brian Dugan, IQ 140+
 |
| (Brian James Dugan) |
Number of victims: 3
There is nothing remarkable about Brian James Dugan’s crimes (born September 23, 1956). He raped several women and girls and murdered three of them. He’s pretty standard in the realm of killers, but his birth story is enough to send chills down a woman’s back. As the story goes, his mother was at the hospital and Dugan was ready to be born, but the physician wasn’t in the room yet. So, a nurse and an attendant pushed the baby Dugan’s head back inside his mom and strapped her legs together until the physician was in the room and ready to play catch.
Dugan suffered from headaches during his childhood, a condition the family blames on his traumatic birth. He was a bed wetter and there was an incident where he poured gasoline on a cat and lit it on fire. It was a regular serial killer childhood until he turned 15. Then, something interesting may have happened (although the story is officially unconfirmed). Dugan met an older man at a grocery store in 1972. The man offered Dugan a job and Dugan got in the car with him. The man took Dugan to a secluded area and made the boy wear bikini briefs and perform oral sex. Afterwards, the man gave Dugan $20 and dropped the boy off at the grocery store. In 1978, Dugan saw the man’s face on the news. It was John Wayne Gacy.
Dugan is serving two life sentences for his crimes. His IQ is reportedly over 140, putting him in the genius category.
8. Jeffrey Dahmer, IQ 145
 |
| (Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer) |
Number of victims: 17
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, was an American serial killer and sex offender, who committed the rape, murder, and dismemberment of seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
What makes a person become a serial killer? Many of us are led to believe that there was probably severe child abuse in the killer’s past, but that doesn’t fit with the description of Jeffrey Dahmer. In fact, he had a relatively normal childhood, but between the ages of 10 to 15, he started becoming withdrawn and began gaining an interest in dead animals (he dissected dead squirrels in his parent’s basement) and alcohol.
When he was 18-years-old, Dahmer committed his first murder and buried his male victim in the back yard. Nine years later, he would begin killing again. All his victims were men whom he would kill and sometimes molest the dead bodies. By 1991, Dahmer had an idea that he could turn young men into his personal sex slave zombies. Some of his victims were tortured by him drilling holes into their heads and pouring boiling water onto their brains or injecting them with hydrochloric acid.
When Dahmer was finally caught, police discovered severed heads in his apartment and photographs of dead bodies and limbs. A human heart was found in the freezer for a later meal, it’s believed.
How could a boy with a normal early childhood grow up to murder 17 men? What caused him to become withdrawn and begin experimenting with dead animals? Since Dahmer was killed in prison in 1994, we will probably never know the complete picture of who and what Dahmer was, but we do know that his former room master in the Army, Michael Masters, claimed in 1991 that Dahmer was extremely intelligent and probably had an IQ of about 145 or above. (Dahmer was IQ tested when he started a term at Ohio State University, though he soon dropped out due to extreme alcoholism.) Radford University, however, places Dahmer’s IQ at 75, which is borderline deficiency.
7. Andrew Cunanan, IQ 147
 |
| (Andrew Phillip Cunanan) |
Number of victims: 5
What would you do if you thought someone had given you AIDS? Serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan (August 31, 1969 – July 23, 1997) knew exactly what he would do and is quoted as telling his friends that, “If I had AIDS or if someone did that to me I would go on a five-state killing spree and take everyone with me I could.” And that is pretty much what he did.
Cunanan lived in San Francisco’s Castro district and socialized with older, gay men. He spoke seven different languages by the time he turned 21, but he was also drawn to violent pornography, sometimes taking a part in the films. He was also involved with drugs and he would sometimes prostitute himself.
In 1997, he fell into a deep depression. It was believed that at this time he felt he had contracted AIDS. He may have blamed one of his former lovers, Jeff Trail, who became his first victim. Cunanan then went on to kill three more men before surfacing in the Miami, Florida gay scene.
In Miami, Cunanan murdered his final victim, fashion designer Gianni Versace. Police traced Cunanan back to a houseboat and Cunanan shot and killed himself before the authorities could arrest him.
Andrew Cunanan seemed like a bright young man until his darker side showed through. His IQ was 147 and an autopsy after his suicide concluded that he did not have AIDS.
6. Carroll Cole, IQ 152
 |
| (Caroll Edward Cole) |
Number of victims: 15 - 35+
Caroll Edward Cole was born in Sioux City, Iowa on May 9th, 1938 to an abusive, adulteress mother. Due to his hatred of his mother, Cole strangled 1 boy and 14 women (and may have killed up to 35) whom he felt acted or reminded him of his mother.
When he was 14, Cole received an IQ tested and scored a 152, which is “genius” level. However, his average grade was a “D+” and only finished the tenth grade, but this may be due to mental illness, physical & mental abuse, and drug use. Regardless, he was manipulative and played the system to get what he wanted.
For his crimes, he was executed in 1985 by lethal injection.
5. Charlene Gallego Williams, IQ 160
 |
| (Charlene Adelle Gallego Williams) |
Number of victims: 10
Charlene Adelle Gallego (born Charlene Adelle Williams, October 10, 1956) also known as "The Love Slave Killer" and "The Gallego Sex Slaves Killer", is a convicted American serial killer who terrorized Sacramento, California between 1978 and 1980. With her lover, Charlene Gallego murdered 10 people. They kidnapped their victims and kept them as sex slaves until they got bored and simply killed them. After being caught, she blamed her lover. She agreed to testify against him in return for a 17 year prison sentence. This just shows how good she was at manipulating others.
Charlene Gallego was gifted and talented, with a 160 IQ and a prodigious talent for the violin. It was not until she started high school that predilections for alcohol, drugs and sex revealed themselves in her character.
She was released from prison in 1997 and is now 59 years old.
4. Rodney Alcala, IQ 160
 |
| (Rodney James Alcala) |
Number of victims: 8 -130
Rodney James Alcala (born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor; August 23, 1943) is a convicted rapist and serial killer. Rodney Alcala was convicted for five murders, but before the world knew about him as a serial killer, he appeared on The Dating Game in 1978. What’s more, he won the date. Other contestants found Alcala creepy, but that could be because in 1968, prior to The Dating Game, he was convicted for raping an eight-year-old girl. How could the show have missed this?
A few months after Alcala appeared on The Dating Game, he began his life as a serial killer. Alcala murdered five people, or did he? While he was tried and convicted for murdering only five, the Huntington Beach Police Department released 120 photographs of women that had been found in Alcala’s belongings. The police asked for the women in these photographs to please come forward. About twenty women have come forward so far, but many fear that Alcala may have raped and murdered more women than was originally believed.
There is nothing remarkable noted about Alcala’s childhood. He served in the U.S. Army as a clerk from 1960 to 1964, but he had a breakdown and received a medical discharge after being diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. Acala is quick to boast that he is a genius, and it is believed he may actually have an IQ of around 160.
He was sentenced to death, but is still alive in prison today.
3. Ted Kaczynski, IQ 167
 |
| (Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski) |
Number of victims: 3
Anyone born before the 1990s probably has some memory of “The Unabomber”. Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski (born May 22, 1942), between the years 1975 and 1995, made and shipped dozens of homemade bombs to people. In total, his bombs killed three and injured 23 people.
What was the motive behind these bombs? Alton Chase, in an article he wrote for The Atlantic, believes that the Unabomber was created at Harvard. Kaczynski was part of a brutal psychological experiment on students during his time attending Harvard University. The experiments, led by psychologist Henry A. Murray, tested how people react while under tremendous amounts of stress. It was during this time that Kaczynski began to break his belief system down into good and bad. Technology became bad. Escaping into the wilderness and living the lifestyle of a hermit was good. From 1975 to 1995, Kaczynski lashed out at universities and airliners, mailing bombs to professors, an airline president, and a computer store owner.
Kaczynski had a brilliant mind. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1967 with a Ph.D. in mathematics and he was a mathematics instructor at Berkeley. His IQ was tested at 167 when he was in fifth grade.
On May 24, 2012, Kaczynski submitted his current information to the Harvard University alumni association. He listed his eight life sentences as "awards" and his current occupation as "prisoner."
2. Albert DeSalvo, IQ 172
 |
| (Albert Henry DeSalvo) |
Number of victims: 13 (disputed)
Imagine being captured for one crime, confessing to a more serious crime, and have no one believe you? That was the case for Albert Henry DeSalvo (September 3, 1931 – November 25, 1973).
DeSalvo, born in 1931, grew up in Massachusetts. He was the son of an alcoholic father and wife beater. With the odds for a normal life already set against him, he spent his youth committing petty crimes and violence. In and out of prison, he eventual moved on to being a peeping tom, breaking and entering, and then onto rape. DeSalvo was finally caught after breaking into a woman’s apartment and molesting the victim. Her description of DeSalvo led to his arrest.
After his arrest, DeSalvo admitted to committing robbery on hundreds of apartments and carrying out multiple rapes. What really shocked everyone is that he also admitted to being the Boston Strangler. He went on to talk about the 13 grisly sexual assaults and murders he committed, but not everyone was convinced DeSalvo was the strangler.
According to many of the old reports, DeSalvo wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and yet there are recent internet reports of the Boston Strangler having a genius IQ of 172. This is because there was another person suspected of being the Boston Strangler, George Nassar. The gossip and evidence that lies between these two men is numerous and confusing. Many believe that DeSalvo was convinced by Nassar, the real genius, to admit to the Boston murders. Some feel that Nassar may have gone as far as to have DeSalvo murdered after DeSalvo recanted his tale about being the killer. Regardless of the actual truth, DeSalvo is long dead and Nassar remains in prison for murdering two people.
1. Nathan Leopold, Jr., IQ 210 and Richard Loeb, IQ 160-168
 |
| (Nathan Leopold (right) and Richard Loeb (left)) |
Number of victims: They aren't serial killers but killed a little boy.
Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. (November 19, 1904 – August 29, 1971) and Richard Albert Loeb (June 11, 1905 – January 28, 1936), usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb, were two wealthy students at the University of Chicago who in May 1924 kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Robert Franks in Chicago. They committed the murder—widely characterized at the time as "the crime of the century"—as a demonstration of their perceived intellectual superiority, which, they thought, rendered them capable of carrying out a "perfect crime", and absolved them of responsibility for their actions.
While they committed a murder just for the thrill, Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold were not technically serial killers. They were, however, both highly intelligent and prone to criminal acts, such as robberies and arson.
Loeb and Leopold were lovers, a major no-no back in the 1920s. The two young men, while driving from Chicago to the University of Michigan in 1923, began to plan out what they thought would be the perfect crime. Loeb wanted the crime to be something that would make all of Chicago talk. He wanted the thrill and the attention.
It wasn’t until May 21, 1924 that they decided to take action. They drove around the South Side of Chicago, looking for a victim when they spotted Loeb’s 14-year-old cousin. They convinced the boy to get in the car with them and Loeb proceeded to kill him. They dumped the boy’s body outside of Chicago, but made one glaring mistake. A pair of glasses fell out of Leopold’s jacket at the dumpsite.
Ten days after the murder, the two young men confessed to the crime. They failed at committing a perfect crime and getting away with it in spite of the fact that they were both highly educated. Loeb graduated from University High School at the young age of 14, but never did well in college because he was so young compared to his older classmates. Leopold graduated from the University of Chicago at age 18 and reportedly had an IQ of 210, though test results from that era are not directly comparable to scores on modern IQ tests. Richard Loeb’s IQ was tested at 160-168.
Both men were sentenced to life imprisonment plus 99 years. Loeb was killed by a fellow prisoner in 1936; Leopold was released on parole in 1958.