High-profile serial killers of history

London: Police are searching for a possible serial killer in the deaths of five women—all believed to be prostitutes—in eastern England. Five naked bodies were found in and around the town of Ipswich during the first two weeks of December. Police warned prostitutes to stay off the streets, fearing the killer or killers could strike again.

As the UK police get time to interrogate one of the suspect killers, ibnlive.com looks back at some of the noted serial killers of history that left behind murky trail of cold-blooded murders. Some of the killers when nabbed confessed how many people did they kill and what was the strategy that they used in the killings. Some remain still untraced and live in people’s memory as legends.

Gary Leon Ridgway, aka Green River Killer (1982-1984)

In order to avoid the death penalty, Gary Leon Ridgway, also known as the ‘Green River Killer’, entered a plea agreement and admitted to killing 48 women since 1982. He has been convicted of more murders than any other serial killer in US history.

The former truck painter also agreed to help locate remains of his victims, most of whom were runaways and prostitutes. Ridgway's moniker caught on after the bodies of the first victims turned up near the banks of the Green River south of Seattle, Washington, in the early 1980s.

Wuornos aka The Damsel of Death (1989-1990)

Aileen Wuornos, called ‘The Highway Hooker’ and ‘The Damsel of Death’ and the subject of books, movies and even an opera, admitted she killed six middle-aged men in 1989 and 1990, luring some of them by posing as a stranded motorist on north-central Florida highways. She was executed October 9, 2002.

Baseline Killer (2005-2006)

The ‘Baseline Killer’ is blamed for a series of killings, robberies and sexual attacks that terrorized Phoenix, Arizona, beginning in 2005. The nickname ‘Baseline Killer’ comes from Baseline Road, a major corridor where some of the crimes occurred.

In December 2006, police said Mark Goudeau, a 42-year-old ex-convict, would be charged in nine slayings.

Goudeau, arrested in September 2006, has not been formally charged in the killings, and his attorney said his client insists he's innocent, according to The Associated Press.

No one knows who The Ripper was

Jack the Ripper is a pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer (or killers) active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London in the latter half of 1888.

In 1888, The Ripper, killed 13 women, most of them sex workers, wreaking terror with his knife for 10 whole weeks in the autumn of 1888.

The lack of a confirmed identity for the killer has allowed police and Ripperologists to accuse a wide variety of individuals of being the Ripper. Many of the theories however, were hardly considered worth persuing and some were downright laughable.

(With inputs from Cnn.com)

Aileen Wuornos, called The Highway Hooker and The Damsel of Death and the subject of books, movies and even an opera, admitted she killed six middle-aged men in 1989 and 1990.

The Baseline Killer is blamed for a series of killings, robberies and sexual attacks that terrorized Phoenix, Arizona, beginning in 2005.

Killer may have drugged prostitutesNew Jack the Ripper haunts UK