Murderous Minds: Inside Serial Killers

Before his arrest In February 2005, Dennis Rader was seen in his local community as a "normal, polite, and well-mannered" man. But that facade crumbled away when it was revealed that Rader was the infamous and previously unidentified serial killer dubbed 'BTK', a brutal, violent criminal who had terrorised Witchita, Kansas, for several decades.

In today's documentary, we aim to shed light on the origins of Anders Behring Breivik, as well as the paths which led him to take the lives of 77 civilians, as we examine the nightmarish case of Norway's neo-nazi terrorist. Welcome to Murderous Minds.

In the late 1800s, a heinous serial killer terrorized Chicago and used the massive three-story Murder Castle that he had built with it's an intricate maze of torture rooms, death traps and crematory to dissect and dispose of his victims. In this instalment of Murderous Minds, we will look at the life of the infamous H.H Holmes and try to unravel the truth behind the legend.

When we think of serial killers, it's difficult to see them as human beings. Yet when these killers give interviews, they often appear perfectly normal, making it hard to connect them to their heinous crimes. However sometimes, their true nature surfaces.

The reasons why serial killers feel compelled to murder multiple people have been extensively studied over the years, but no definitive answers have emerged. However, a significant factor seems to be childhood trauma and dysfunctional relationships with family members, particularly parents.

One of the most infamous serial killers to ever walk the earth was Jeffrey Dahmer who was responsible for the deaths of seventeen young men. While in prison, Jeffrey Dahmer showed no remorse for his horrific crimes and his behavior angered fellow inmates, which ultimately led to his violent death. In this list we look at serial killers who got taught a similar lesson to Dahmer whilst in prison.

Between the early 1980s and late 1990s, an unidentified killer stalked an area of the Pacific Highway South in Washington, preying on the most vulnerable of women and dumping their bodies around the Green River. Finally, in 2001, advancements in DNA profiling led authorities to Gary Ridgway, a 52-year-old factory worker from Utah.

In the 1980s, the village of Narborough in Leicestershire, England, was rocked by the horrific slayings of two teenage girls - one in 1983, the other in 1986. It wasn't until 1987 that answers came. Pioneering DNA technology led investigators to 27-year-old Colin Pitchfork, a married man with two young sons and a small criminal record.

According to statistics, the US leads the way when it comes to the number of serial killers in a single country. Of course, such criminals are active all across the world, but the good news is that their numbers have been declining since the 1980s. There are certainly far fewer serial slayers today than there were over four decades ago, but that's not to say that they don't exist entirely.