The Ultimate Serial Killer Quiz

Estimated Completion Time
1 min
The Ultimate Serial Killer Quiz
Image: © Bettmann/Corbis

About This Quiz

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Ready to test your knowledge on the darkest corners of the human mind? Take on ""The Ultimate Serial Killer Trivia Quiz"" and see if you can uncover the most infamous and chilling cases in history.

From Jack the Ripper to Ted Bundy, this serial killer trivia questions will challenge your knowledge of the world's most famous serial killers like John Wayne Gacy. Do you have what it takes to navigate the twisted paths of their crimes and motives in just 1 minute?

Dive into the world of true crime and see if you can outsmart the most cunning and ruthless killers in history. Can you unravel the mysteries behind their heinous acts and emerge as the ultimate serial killer trivia quiz champion? Play now and find out!

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What makes a person not only murder, but murder multiple people over periods of days, weeks and years?
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During what decade was the term "serial killer" coined?
1950s
1960s
1970s
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Robert Ressler, former director of the FBI Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, coined the term in the mid-1970s.

Ted Bundy in 1978
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How are serial killers different from mass murderers?
serial killers are more skilled
serial killers let time pass between murders
serial killers murder all their victims in a short amount of time
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

As opposed to mass murderers, who kill four or more people in a short period of time in the same place, serial killers murder three or more victims with "cooling-off" periods in between.

Pictured is a makeshift memorial for a victim of the Gilgo Beach murders in Long Island, New York. The Long Island killer is still at large.
Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images
About how many serial killers have there been in the United States in the past century?
300
400
500
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The FBI estimates there have been approximately 400 serial killers responsible for anywhere from 2,526 to 3,680 victims during the last century.

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Javed Iqbal (C) arrives in court under police custody in Lahore, Pakistan, 2000. Iqbal was convicted of murdering 100 children and sentenced to death by a Pakistani high court. He was found dead in his cell in 2001 under suspicious circumstances.
ARIF ALI/AFP via Getty Images
Which of the following is not one of the ways experts classify serial killers?
motive
social patterns
method
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Although serial killers are classified based on either motive or organizational and social patterns, they don't always fall clearly into either category.

Randy Kraft, who may have killed as many as 65 people, listens to testimony in a preliminary hearing.
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Serial killers who believe they will profit in some way from the murders are called:
gain killers
reward murderers
profiteers
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Gain killers are a type of process-focused serial killer who murder for a perceived profit.

Joseph James DeAngelo, the suspected Golden State Killer, is arraigned April 27, 2018 in a Sacramento courtroom and charged with murdering Katie and Brian Maggiore in Rancho Cordova in 1978.
Randy Pench/Sacramento Bee/Getty Images
Most serial killers are:
young, white men
young, black men
middle-aged, white women
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

More than 80 percent of serial killers are white men in their 20s or 30s. They tend to be intelligent and usually target white women.

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Not every law enforcement officer is a good guy.
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Which three behaviors are known as the MacDonald triad?
bullying, arson and nail-biting
bed-wetting, nail-biting and bullying
bed-wetting, arson and cruelty to animals
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Often, serial killers exhibit three behaviors in childhood known as the MacDonald triad: bed-wetting, arson and cruelty to animals.

Tiago Gomes da Rocha (C), suspected of killing 39 people, is escorted by police officers at the Department of Security, a day after his arrest in Goiania in the state of Goias, Brazil, on Oct. 16, 2014.
EVARISTO SA/AFP/Getty Images
Which of the following is not one of the reasons thought to contribute to why a person might become a serial killer?
brain injury
childhood abuse
peer pressure
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Although you can never know with certainty why a person kills, childhood abuse, brain injury and insanity have all been attributed to serial murderers.

David and Christian Cadieux run Toronto Crime Scene Cleanup, a company that specializing in biological and chemical clean-up in Toronto.
Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images
Patterns that link separate homicides are called:
tracks
blueprints
signatures
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

According to FBI profiler John Douglas, a signature "is a ritual, something the subject does intentionally for emotional satisfaction -- something that isn't necessary to perpetuate the crime."

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true crime quiz
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What is a serial killer's "MO"?
method of operation
murder operation
modus operandi
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The modus operandi reflects what the serial killer had to do to commit the crime and includes everything from luring and restraining the victim to the exact method of murder.

You Got:
/10
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