10 of the Scariest Oklahoma Serial Killers

10 of the Scariest Oklahoma Serial Killers

Like many other states, Oklahoma has had its fair share of gruesome crimes with some of the most notorious serial killers having made the state their playground. The state has had several serial killers who committed gruesome crimes there and left an irreparable impact on the residents of Oklahoma.  Therefore, this article will explore the ten scariest serial killers in Oklahoma to give the reader into the criminals that may have caused havoc in this state.

1 Charles Ray Hatcher

A mugshot of Charles Ray Hatcher. Wikimedia

The man was a prolific serial killer who was active in the 1970s and the 1980s. He murdered many victims in different states including Oklahoma. He did not stick to a particular gender when it came to his victims in that his victims were both men and women. However, he targeted vulnerable individuals like hitchhikers and sex workers who were easy to capture. While in Oklahoma, Charles Ray Hatcher killed two young boys.

He was later arrested and charged with murder and in 1982, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.  While behind bars, Ray admitted to more than a dozen murders and claimed that he was possessed by an entity named Billy. He later committed suicide in prison in 1984.

2 The Oklahoma Strangler

The unsolved serial killer case is one case that haunted the residents of Oklahoma in the 1980s up to the 1990s. The killer’s crimes were characterized by strangulation and signs of sexual assault on the victim’s bodies. The killer’s victim count is said to be at least seven but suspected to be higher than that. The perpetrator of the crimes has never been found to date

3 Lonnie Franklin Jr.

A mugshot of Lonnie Franklin. Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles, California, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Franklin Jr., sometimes referred to as the “Grim Sleeper,” was a renowned serial murderer and sex offender who operated mostly in Los Angeles, California. Franklin was connected to an Oklahoma homicide despite committing most of his crimes in California.

Franklin terrorised South Los Angeles from 1985 until 2007, especially going after African-American women. Due to a significant absence in his murdering spree between several murders, he was given the moniker “Grim Sleeper.” He was finally arrested in 2010 when he was linked to the murders by DNA evidence.

4 Michael DeWayne Johnson

He was popularly known as the Oklahoma Scorecard Killer. Dewayne was active in Oklahoma in the 1980s and he is responsible for a series of murders with women being the target victims. His killings were very brutal and they featured sexual assault and strangulations and went uncaptured for many years which made the residents of the state even more scared. The serial killer was finally apprehended in 1985 and convicted for seven murders. Michael was sentenced to death and then executed by way of lethal injection in 2000.

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5 Gary Alan Walker

The serial killer was active in Oklahoma City in the 1980s and was popularly known as the Bedroom Basher. This is because he would break into the homes of women and sexually assault them before proceeding to bludgeon them to death with a blunt object. He was active in 1984 and 1985 and was arrested at the end of 1985 and then convicted of several counts of murder in 1986. He was sentenced to death but his sentence was reviewed when he was two years into death row after Oklahoma City abolished the death sentence temporarily.

 6 John Paul Knowles

A picture of serial killer Knowles. Wikimedia

Knowles was also known as the Jesup Ripper. The American serial killer was active in the 1970s but he started his criminal history quite early as he had a troubled childhood. He went on a killing spree in 1974 across several states including Oklahoma, Florida and Georgia. During his criminal spree, Knowles is thought to have killed at least three people in Oklahoma. His victims were viciously attacked, killed, and often had their bodies dumped in distant areas. It was difficult for law authorities to find him since he lacked a dependable operating system and lived a nomadic lifestyle.

Finally, in November 1974, when Knowles was apprehended in Georgia.  Although he admitted to numerous murders, he was shot and killed in a shoot-out by law enforcement before he could be convicted for his crimes.

7 Cody Edmund Dixon

Dixon was a serial killer who operated in Oklahoma in the late 2000s. He is responsible for the deaths of two women. His first known victim was Kirsten Hartfield who was an eight-year-old girl who disappeared in 1997 while at home in Midwest City, Oklahoma. he got away with the murder and was not linked to it until 2015 when the girl’s body was found and DNA evidence matched his. Dixon was arrested in 2009 after he had just killed his second victim Summer Rist and set his apartment on fire. He was then charged with two counts of murder and sentenced to death.

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8 William Ray Adams

The serial killer instilled fear in the residents of Oklahoma in the 1970s and early 1980s. he was popularly known as the Saturday Night Slasher. The serial killer went on a murder spree targeting women and girls in Oklahoma City. He targeted sex workers and homeless people and performed gruesome acts on them like sexual assault, mutilation and strangulation. He was arrested in 1980 and convicted of several murders. He was then sentenced to several life sentences in prison.

9 Thomas Michael Grasso

A picture of the notorious serial killer Thomas Grasso. Wikimedia

The serial killer committed murders in Oklahoma and New York in the 1990s. during his murder spree, he killed two old women in Oklahoman in 1990 and 1991. His method of operation involved robbing his victims and strangulation using things like telephone cords and stockings. He was finally apprehended in 1991 and charged with the murders and surprisingly, during his trial, he did not show any remorse for his actions and instead complained about the conditions in prison. He was found guilty and sentenced to death and later executed in Oklahoma in March 1995.

10 Sean Sellers

In 1985, at the age of 16, American serial killer Sean Sellers made headlines for carrying out a triple homicide in Oklahoma. The teenager killed his parents Vonda and Paul. He later claimed that his engagement in occult practises, such as Satanism, was what motivated him to do what he did.  He was found guilty of the killings at an adult trial and given the death penalty. His attempts to appeal were unsuccessful.

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