Born to Kill? Episode Rating Graph

Wichita, Kansas is in the Midwest, right in the Bible belt of America. This normally peaceful place was rocked to the core in 1974 when the city discovered they had a killer in their midst. A family of four were brutally slain in their home, and this was to prove the start of a vicious killing spree that terrorised the community for 30 years. Dennis Rader was a church deacon, Scout leader and a local family man. He was also a monster who murdered 10 people in cold blood. Through his own extraordinary testimony we uncover in intimate and chilling detail how this pillar of the community led a double life as a heinous sexual sadist and serial killer. Rader's childhood seemed completely normal, so what was it that drove him to such depths of depravity? Was Dennis Rader born to kill?

During 1976 and early 1977, female students at the University of California in Santa Barbara were terrorised by some lookalike murders, so-called because the victims closely resembled one another. Thor Christiansen struck while they were hitchhiking and desecrated their bodies after murdering them.

When eccentric Hadden Clark was arrested for the murder of a young girl in Maryland, he claimed he was also responsible for other murders. Was Hadden Clark Born to Kill?

The psychology of Charles Manson, an American cult leader whose followers murdered seven people in their California homes over two nights in August 1969. Detectives, lawyers and psychiatrists analyse what prompted the crimes, and examine how Manson was able to persuade his acolytes to take the lives of innocent people

Featuring a crime spree in Richmond, Virginia in 1979.

Profile of the 1970s armed robber and kidnapper.

Profile of American serial killer H Clark.

British criminal Robert Napper, who was convicted of two murders, one manslaughter, two rapes and two attempted rapes. Napper is a paranoid schizophrenic who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and. also believed to be the 'Green Chain Rapist' who carried out at least 70 attacks across south-east London over a four-year period ending in 1994.

In the mid-1970s, Donald Nielson aka the Black Panther committed a string of burglaries, armed robberies and murders in north-east England.

Featuring the killing of walkers in Yosemite National Park

In 1982, when the bodies of 3 women were discovered beneath the surface of Seattle's Green River, no-one realised that it was the beginning of an extraordinary killing spree that would baffle police for 19 years. The 'Green River Killer' would become the most prolific serial killer in US history, claiming the lives of more than four dozen victims, but it would take until 2001 before DNA testing solved the mystery of his identity. To his friends and family, Gary Ridgway was a mild mannered truck painter and a loving husband, but for 19 years he had prowled Seattle's red light areas, picking up young women, strangling them during intercourse, dumping their bodies in the woods, and sometimes returning to have sex with the corpses. Featuring video of his startling confessions - the cops that pursued him, the attorneys who prosecuted and defended him, leading experts, school-friends, and the wife who spent 16 loving years with her dream man, attempt to unravel what had created this monster. Had he been warped by his unusual relationship with mother? Or was the Green River Killer a product of nature - born to kill?

The horrific case of Timothy Wilson-Spencer, who strangled five people in the 1980s. The case was historic as it was the first case solved with DNA evidence.

When body parts began washing up on the beaches of a peaceful Californian seaside town, police realised someone was hunting, abducting, murdering and dismembering female co-eds. What they didn't realise was; the killer was in their midst - drinking with them at their favourite local bar. Cops considered the 6'9' inch Edmund Kemper a gentle giant, little did they know that as a teenager he'd murdered his grandparents, he'd fooled psychiatrists into releasing him from secure hospital after just 5 years, and while he was socialising with police officers he was living out his bizarre sexual fantasies with the corpses of young co-eds. Edmund Kemper would kill and dismember 6 young college girls before turning on his mother and her best friend. Was his mind was twisted by his upbringing in a broken home and volatile relationship with a domineering mother? Or was the Co-ed Butcher born to kill?

Ted Bundy orchestrated a campaign of terror that stretched across the United States. Between 1974 and 1978 he lured a series of pretty, dark haired women to gruesome deaths. Described as handsome and charming, Ted didn’t fit the bill of a conventional murderer. Until the end, Bundy remained arrogant and defiant, choosing to conduct his own defence in the trial. Bundy was sent to the electric chair in 1989, whilst hundreds of people cheered his death outside the prison…

Grisly documentary series examining notorious serial killers. This edition explores the chilling case of killer cousins David Gore and Fred Waterfield.

Once dubbed 'the most dangerous man in Britain', Patrick Mackay was responsible for a string of bizarre murders during the 1970s. Was Patrick Mackay born to kill?

The show profiles Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog. In 1984, tthe friends took part in a drug-fuelled killing spree that terrorised their rural Californian community for around fifteen years.

Over a period of about twenty years Fred and Rose West abducted, tortured, raped and murdered an unknown number of girls, many of whom lay buried in the garden until the police dug them up. What motivated West to commit such terrible crimes? Was he born evil or did his upbringing make him this way? Did he do it for sexual kicks? Or, as some allege, did he supply the sacrificial victims to a black magic coven?

For many years, Myra Hindley was depicted by the tabloid press as "the most hated woman in Britain". The crimes committed by Hindley and her lover, Ian Brady, shocked the nation and became the benchmark by which other acts of evil came to be measured. Until she met Brady, Hindley had been, by all accounts, a perfectly normal girl, with strong religious feelings. She loved children and animals, and was much in demand as a babysitter. When they became lovers, Hindley was prepared to do anything Brady asked… Can people be persuaded to kill for love? Were they crimes of passion? Brady claimed that Hindley was a manipulative liar who was as committed to murder as he had been…

Grisly documentary series examining brutal serial killers. Tony Costa murdered four women in 1969, before penning a chilling, unpublished novel detailing his crimes.

Shocking documentary series examining brutal killers. Ruthless Richard Cottingham murdered at least six people and dismembered his victims' bodies.

The world’s most prolific killer, Shipman is estimated to have killed 275 people, but the actual figure will never be known. The 57-year-old GP was given 15 life sentences to run concurrently for the murders, and four years for forging a will, but hung himself in his cell after he was sentenced. He always denied his crimes. When the police began investigating Dr Harold Shipman in September 1998 they struggled to understand him. How could a GP who was trusted and respected by more than 3,000 patients also be a killer who struck time after time with no obvious motive? The coroner speculated that ‘the only valid possible explanation for it is that he simply enjoyed viewing the process of dying and enjoyed the feeling of control over life and death, literally over life and death …’

The show examines the crimes of sadistic couple Paula Bernardo and Karla Homolka who carried out a series of despicable acts against different young women, including Karla's own sister.

During the summer of 1980, Douglas Clark and Carol Bundy carried out a series of shocking murders in Los Angeles, leaving a trail of blood in their wake

Grisly documentary series examining serial killers. This edition examines the chilling case of Bobby Joe Long who raped 50 people and murdered nine.

Known as the Vampire of Sacramento, Richard Trenton Chase was a deranged monster who slaughtered men, women and children in a bloody rampage that shook the Californian State Capital…

The Back Pack Killer. Australia's worst solo serial killer, Ivan Milat, is now serving life for the murders of seven hitchhiking backpackers between 1989 and 1992. Many questions remain unanswered and there is uncertainty about the full extent of Ivan Milat’s crimes. Did he murder for entertainment? Some say his motivation lay in his family background and upbringing. Ivan Milat grew up as one of 14 siblings, a close-knit family who didn’t mix with others. They were surrounded by guns amidst an ethos of lawlessness and unbreakable family loyalty. Did he kill alone? One of his siblings, Boris, broke the bonds of rigid family loyalty to speak out against the convicted killer. He said it was likely there were more of his victims that haven’t yet been found…

By the age of ten, heavy metal fan Richard Ramirez was sleeping in cemeteries. He would go on to spread terror throughout Los Angeles, preying on ordinary citizens as they slept in their homes. The Satan loving, drug fuelled burglar would rape, murder, and mutilate, taking pleasure in making his victims pray to Satan before him. Men, women, children and the elderly all fell victim as the police raced to catch the killer who defied all known theories about serial murder. So, was the Richard Ramirez born to kill? Warped by drugs? Or, was the Night Stalker schooled in murder during his poor childhood in the tough Texan border town of El Paso?

A psychological profile of former nurse Beverley Allitt, who is currently serving 13 life sentences for murdering four children and injuring nine others at Grantham Hospital in Lincolnshire in 1991. Psychologists and criminology experts explore the possible motives for her crimes, examining her behaviour during childhood, when she was known to be an attention seeker. The apparently caring nurse Beverely Allitt had only just joined the staff of Children's Ward 4 of Grantham Hospital when a substantial rise in young patient deaths began occurring. At first, no one could explain why children, some as young as six months, were arriving on the ward with only minor health problems, but leaving only days later dead. A shocked and seemingly uncomprehending public would eventually be informed the culprit was actually the very person who was meant to be caring for the children. During her 59 day stint as a nurse, 23-year-old Beverly Allitt, nicknamed The Angel of Death, attacked thirteen children, killing four. From a very early age, Allitt was known to be an attention seeker. Was her desire to be the centre of attention really the reason why she attacked such innocent children or was something far more psychologically disturbing the cause for this evil?

Spine-chilling documentary series examining brutal serial killers. This edition reviews the case of Levi Bellfield who murdered three women, including Milly Dowler.

Chilling documentary series examining brutal serial killers. Despicable duo Gerald and Charlene Gallego joined forces to rape and murder several teenagers.

Spine-chilling documentary series examining serial killers. After being convicted of attempted murder and kidnapping, David Carpenter went on to kill five women.