# Most successful (famous, wealthy, respected) person who turned out to be a serial killer **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315 "2014-07-04T01:43:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/1 "2014-07-04T01:43:13Z")
In my reading of serial killers, some were people you’d never think twice about, some had a history of deviant behavior but some were really successful before they were exposed as killers. Herb Baumeister was a successful small business owner who owned multiple stores, probably had a high net worth. John Wayne Gacy was a successful small business owner and community leader. When Ted Bundy was in politics when he was younger, among the political circles he ran in the idea that he (Bundy) may oneday run for and become governor of Washington was not considered unrealistic. I don’t know if trying to overcompensate for their urges drove them, or if they just wanted the veneer of invulnerability that wealth and respect provides them when committing crimes, but it seems (as a guess) that some well known serial killers are far more successful than the average. Then again that could just be BS. So what people (or person) had the most respect, fame, wealth, success, etc. who turned out to be a serial killer? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/2 "2014-07-04T01:58:02Z")
[url=“[H. H. Holmes - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes)”]H.H Holmes was a successful entrepreneur who killed about 30 people in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/3 "2014-07-04T03:00:40Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/4 "2014-07-04T03:20:16Z")
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles\_de\_Rais](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais) ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/5 "2014-07-04T03:26:53Z")
You mean besides Adolf Hitler? My guess would be Jack the Ripper, if they ever find out who he was. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/6 "2014-07-04T03:36:30Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > [url=“[H. H. Holmes - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes)”]H.H Holmes was a successful entrepreneur who killed about 30 people in Chicago. Damn, that was interesting. The documentary has been out for a while now, has anyone seen it? ---
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/7 "2014-07-04T04:14:04Z")
Mao Zedong Responsible for the deaths of up to 50 million people. > **[Mao Zedong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong)** > > Mao Zedong\[a\] (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese politician, political theorist, poet, and communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which he led as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from the establishment of the PRC in 1949 until his death in 1976. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist, his theories, military strategies, and political policies are collectively known as Maoism. > Mao was the son of a ... The sad thing is that is he still revered by many people in China, and his likeness is still on almost all forms of Chinese money. ---
**Author:** ![Fishtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed655f/32.png) [@Fishtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishtar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/8 "2014-07-04T04:46:55Z")
Excluding political guys…but including the murdering of peasants… …that Elizibeth Bathorny was a bad one. But I am sure there were much worse mals Lords who never got in trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/9 "2014-07-04T06:47:03Z")
[Russell Williams](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Williams) was the commander of the largest airbase in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/10 "2014-07-04T10:09:31Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > [url=“[H. H. Holmes - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes)”]H.H Holmes was a successful entrepreneur who killed about 30 people in Chicago. “Successful” is a pretty strong word for someone who was constantly being sued for not paying his bills. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/11 "2014-07-04T10:38:55Z")
This is just another attempt to smear Dick Cheney, isn’t it? Well, it won’t work! ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/12 "2014-07-04T11:08:58Z")
> [@MrKnowItAll](#): > > You mean besides Adolf Hitler? > > My guess would be Jack the Ripper, if they ever find out who he was. I doubt it. I think he’ll turn out to be some shmo no one has heard of. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/13 "2014-07-04T11:13:36Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles\_de\_Rais](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais) Gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/14 "2014-07-04T11:19:03Z")
There was a cross-dressing millionaire (the cross-dressing is significant, because he disguised himself as a woman to elude detection at one point, but he seems to have been a genuine transvestite, in that he enjoyed cross-dressing, and did so frequently just for pleasure) who killed at least two people, although I guess it takes three to qualify as a serial killer. He definitely killed for the feeling of power over the victims, though. One was his wife, and he could have easily divorced her and barely noticed the dent in his money even if she’d gotten a large settlement. The other one was someone against whom he raised a transparently false claim of self-defense. I can’t remember his name, but it made for one of the most bizarre “ripped from the headlines” episodes of _Law & Order_. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/15 "2014-07-04T14:01:34Z")
Under the heading of “respected” and “relatively well-off” (though not wealthy), there was a successful computer programmer in California who committed 16 murders (and maybe as many as 51) - [Randy Kraft.](http://murderpedia.org/male.K/k/kraft-randy.htm) H.H. Holmes gets serious consideration in the success category. He had his very own commercial building in which to despatch victims, which is a rarity among serial killers.\* \*if we can’t call Holmes successful because of legal troubles, than Kevin Trudeau (the con man They don’t want you to buy from) can’t be called successful either. Not that Trudeau is responsible for any deaths, at least not directly. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/16 "2014-07-04T14:35:04Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > There was a cross-dressing millionaire (the cross-dressing is significant, because he disguised himself as a woman to elude detection at one point, but he seems to have been a genuine transvestite, in that he enjoyed cross-dressing, and did so frequently just for pleasure) who killed at least two people, although I guess it takes three to qualify as a serial killer. He definitely killed for the feeling of power over the victims, though. One was his wife, and he could have easily divorced her and barely noticed the dent in his money even if she’d gotten a large settlement. The other one was someone against whom he raised a transparently false claim of self-defense. > > I can’t remember his name, but it made for one of the most bizarre “ripped from the headlines” episodes of _Law & Order_. You’re talking about [Robert Durst](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Durst). He was never particularly respected–for most of his life he’s been living off family money. His occasional crossdressing was odd–he wasn’t a nice normal transvestite or transsexual. When dismembered bits of a neighbor Durst had fought with washed ashore in Galveston, he was charged. He eventually claimed that the old guy died suddenly while visiting but he was afraid to call 911, because of previous run ins with the police. So he dismembered him & threw him in the bay. I don’t think enough was recovered to determine the cause of death, so he got off. When you can afford the very best lawyers… The _Law & Order_ episode had the killer finally convicted of the murder of his wife. Durst has long been suspected in the disappearance of \*his \*wife, but he’s still a free man. A free, rich man. Who probably killed only two or three people–does that count as “serial killer”? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/17 "2014-07-04T15:27:47Z")
No votes for [Harold Shipman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shipman)? A doctor (respected occupation) who murdered hundreds of his patients. (The wiki article says 250.) ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/18 "2014-07-04T15:36:00Z")
Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong were not serial killers. > **[Serial killer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killer)** > > Note: Varies by jurisdiction > Note: Varies by jurisdiction > A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three murders, others extend it to four or lessen it to two. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/19 "2014-07-04T15:45:51Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > [Russell Williams](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Williams) was the commander of the largest airbase in Canada. Came here to post this. You don’t get much more respected than that. Edit: though he only killed two before he was caught - though it is clear he would have killed again and again, had he not been. Nice bit of police work in tracking him down. ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/20 "2014-07-04T15:46:51Z")
Jones – that preacher who took his people to the Congo and killed all of them… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315.md?page=2)