California

131,635 murders reported in California from 1976 to 2025; police reports named an offender in about 62%. Explore the statistics →

Cases that span several states show only their locations in California. Open on the big map

Cases

Joseph James DeAngelo
1974–1986 · California
SerialPleaded guilty13 victims
Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer, committed at least 13 murders, more than 50 rapes and well over 100 burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986, moving from Visalia to the Sacramento area, the…
Ted Kaczynski
1978–1995 · Lincoln, Montana
SerialPleaded guilty14 victims
Between 1978 and 1995 Ted Kaczynski, a former mathematics professor living in a remote cabin near Lincoln, Montana, mailed or planted 16 bombs that killed three people and injured more than 20 at universities, an…
Jeremy Strohmeyer
1997 · Primm, Nevada
SinglePleaded guilty1 victim
On May 25, 1997, 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson of Los Angeles was killed in a restroom at the Primadonna Resort & Casino in Primm, Nevada, on the California border, by Jeremy Strohmeyer, an 18-year-old from Long Beach.
John Norman Collins
1967–1969 · Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, Michigan
SerialConvicted7 victims
Between 1967 and 1969, a series of young women and girls were killed around Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, Michigan, in what became known as the "Michigan Murders".
Joseph Duncan
1996–2005 · Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
SerialConvicted7 victims
Joseph Edward Duncan III, a convicted sex offender who had served prison time for raping a boy in 1980, killed Brenda Groene, her fiancé Mark McKenzie and her 13-year-old son Slade at their home near Coeur d'Alene,…
Keith Jesperson
1990–1995 · Pacific Northwest, California, Wyoming, Nebraska and Florida
SerialPleaded guilty8 victims
Keith Hunter Jesperson, a long-haul truck driver, killed eight women in six states between 1990 and 1995.
Lonnie Franklin Jr.
1985–2007 · South Los Angeles, California
SerialConvicted10 victims
Lonnie Franklin Jr.
Manson Family murders
1969 · Los Angeles County, California
SpreeConvicted9 victims
In the summer of 1969, members of a commune led by Charles Manson and based at Spahn Ranch outside Los Angeles killed nine people: musician Gary Hinman in July; actress Sharon Tate and four others at her Benedict Canyon…
Murder of Elizabeth Short
1947 · Los Angeles, California
SingleUnsolved1 victim
Elizabeth Short, a 22-year-old woman from Massachusetts who had moved to Los Angeles in 1946, was found murdered in a vacant lot in the Leimert Park neighborhood on January 15, 1947, six days after she was last seen at…
Richard Ramirez
1984–1985 · Los Angeles and San Francisco, California
SerialConvicted14 victims
Richard Ramirez broke into homes at night across Los Angeles County in 1984 and 1985, killing at least 13 people and assaulting many more; the press called him "the Night Stalker".
Terry Peder Rasmussen
1978–2002 · Allenstown, New Hampshire
SerialIdentified, never tried5 victims
In 1985 and 2000, two barrels holding the remains of a woman and three young girls were found in woods near Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire.
Zodiac Killer
1968–1969 · San Francisco Bay Area, California
SerialUnsolved5 victims
Between December 1968 and October 1969, an unidentified gunman attacked seven people in the San Francisco Bay Area, killing five: two teenagers on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, a young couple at Blue Rock Springs Park in…