It's not terribly surprising that when infamous serial killers die, they're often not buried
in a typical cemetery. So where do their remains end up? That's what we're here to find out,
so keep watching to discover what happened to the bodies of these serial killers.
Charles Manson died on November 19, 2017, and there was a laundry list of people who
wanted legal rights to both his remains and his estate. It wasn't until March 2018 that
a California judge decided that Jason Freeman, Manson's grandson, would receive the body.
As Freeman told CNN,
"This is unreal — this is something I actually played out in my mind ever since I was a kid."
"I've approached it as doing the right thing for a family member."
Freeman also noted that he was going to have his grandfather's body cremated after a small
ceremony. Manson was given a ceremony overseen by a pastor of the Church of the Nazarene
with about 20 people in attendance, including one-time Manson Family member Sandra Good.
Freeman had originally said that his intentions were to scatter his grandfather's ashes, but
some weird things have happened since then.
In 2019, Rolling Stone reported that some of Manson's ashes had been included in a set
of masks made by the artist Ryan Almighty, who once painted a portrait of Manson using
human blood. And in 2021, Vice reported that some of Manson' ashes had been kept by a friend
of Freeman's named Tony Miller, who then distributed them to Ryan Almighty, who used them as part
of a client's "Helter Skelter" face tattoo.
Even if serial killers are found guilty and sentenced to the death penalty, that doesn't
necessarily mean that they're going to be executed. Consider the case of Richard Ramirez,
also known as the Night Stalker, or the Valley Intruder. His killing spree happened in the
mid-1980s, and in 1989, he was given the death penalty.
But he died before his execution could be carried out. That was in 2013, and the cause
was complications from B-cell lymphoma. At the time, Ramirez was still married to a woman
named Doreen Lioy, whom he met after his conviction. She believed in his innocence for a long time,
and even went on record as saying,
"I think he's a really great person. He's my best friend, he's my buddy. I just believe
him completely."
Considering that sentiment, you might think that Lioy would have claimed Ramirez's body
and given him a proper burial. But that's not exactly what happened. According to his
niece Shelly, his body actually went unclaimed for weeks. It wasn't clear where Lioy was,
but at the time of his death, he'd reportedly had no visitors for several years, which was
quite a change from Lioy's previous four-times-per-week visitation schedule. San Quentin officials
said that if his body went unclaimed for long enough, he would be cremated, and that's reportedly
exactly what happened.
Between 1974 and 1978, Ted Bundy killed more than 30 people, often using his good looks
and charm to lure good samaritans to their deaths. He was ultimately executed on January
24, 1989. He'd actually gotten the death penalty for three separate trials, though he ended
up spending nine years in prison before he was sent to the electric chair at the Florida
State penitentiary. When he was taken out of the prison, the crowds lining the streets
outside cheered as the car bearing his body drove past.
"He made eye contact with people in the front row, you know, he spoke to them. He was cognizant
of what was going on about him."
Bundy's brain was examined for physical explanations that might give researchers a clue as to why
he'd been driven to kill so many people in such terrible ways. But alas, it had none
of the abnormalities or signs of trauma that scientists expected to see. Afterwards, Bundy's
very eerie final request was fulfilled. He was cremated, and his ashes were returned
to Washington state, where they were scattered in the Cascade Mountains. That might not sound
too creepy, but that's where he had disposed of at least four of his victims.
John Wayne Gacy ultimately confessed to killing 33 people over the course of about six years
in the mid-1970s. He was executed by lethal injection in 1994. What happened afterwards
is partially up for debate. Gacy was cremated, and the debatable part is whether or not his
ashes were actually given to his sister, as is often claimed. That's not even the weirdest
part of this story.
In 2004, psychiatrist Helen Morrison revealed in an interview with CNN that she had Gacy's
brain stored safely in her basement for the previous decade and also that she'd preserved
slices of his organs as well. Morrison had spent much of her career studying serial killers,
and she'd been in touch with Gacy the decade prior to his execution. She claimed that he'd
wanted her to have his brain, so she'd been there for his autopsy, and then she just simply
took the brain with her when she left. According to her, this was perfectly normal, and she
kept it in the hopes that new techniques would be developed to study it further.
In the 1960s, a single serial killer was linked to 11 victims across Massachusetts. He was
nicknamed the Boston Strangler, but that's a bit of a misnomer. The victims were so spread
out that five different District Attorney's offices were involved in the investigation.
The case remained unsolved for quite a while.
Fast forward a bit to the arrest of Albert DeSalvo. After his conviction for rape, he
confessed that he was also the Boston Strangler. While he did know a lot about the case, it
wasn't long before he recanted his confession. Then in 1973, he ended up dead in his jail
cell, under circumstances that have never been completely explained. The case became
rather cold after that for a few more decades.
Then in 2013, police were able to match DNA evidence from the Strangler's last victim
to DeSalvo's nephew Tim. The match was close enough that law enforcement were able to get
a court order to exhume DeSalvo's body from where it had been buried in a Peabody, Massachusetts
cemetery. Within days, another DNA match had given law enforcement a, quote, "unprecedented
level of certainty" that Albert DeSalvo had in fact been the Boston Strangler.
Jeffrey Dahmer's parents have spoken out about what it was like to have a convicted serial
killer for a son. His father Lionel even wrote a book about it. Dahmer himself was killed
in 1994, by a fellow inmate who later said that he'd pretty much done everyone a favor,
as Dahmer reportedly liked to sneak up on fellow inmates and remind them, "I bite."
In the immediate aftermath of Dahmer's death, he was taken for an autopsy, and his brain
was removed and preserved. The idea was that it was going to be studied by experts in abnormal
behavior, but Dahmer's parents were at odds over whether or not they wanted that to happen.
"He was torn between the two parents. He was a lost child."
Around the same time, Dahmer's body — which had been kept on ice until the trial of the
man who killed him — was cremated, and his ashes were divided between his parents. Dahmer's
mother, Joyce Flint, continued to petition to have her son's brain studied to see if
there were physical or biological reasons for his crimes. But that wasn't destined to
happen, as a judge ultimately ruled in the favor of Dahmer's father, who said that he
was hoping to maintain his son's final wishes. Dahmer's brain was then ordered to be cremated
as well.
Between 1963 and 1965, five children disappeared from the Manchester, England area. In 1965,
a man named David Smith went to the police and told them that he'd just witnessed his
sister-in-law, Myra Hindley, and her boyfriend, Ian Brady, killing a 17-year-old boy with
an ax. In a highly publicized trial, the so-called Moors Murderers were both found guilty and
sentenced to life in prison.
Hindley died in 2002 of respiratory failure with suspected strokes and heart attacks.
After becoming a devout Catholic, she left final wishes that she was under no circumstances
to become an organ donor, and that she was to be cremated and her ashes scattered secretly.
All of that reportedly did happen. After a brief, private Catholic service, she was cremated
and her ashes were taken by a single police officer. He was sworn to secrecy and entrusted
with disposing of them in private.
As for Brady, he died in 2017 of heart failure and lung disease. Even though he'd requested
a formal funeral and the playing of a classical music piece, a judge ruled that none of that
would happen. There had also been rumors that Brady was going to be cremated and his ashes
spread in the same place that he'd buried his victims. Ultimately, he was cremated and
his ashes were dumped somewhere at sea.
Ed Gein's story has been told and retold so many times. Nowadays, he's typically overshadowed
by all the fictional killers based on him. But when he died in 1984, he'd been living
peacefully and quietly for years at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin.
Gein's official cause of death was complications from cancer, and he was buried alongside his
mother and brother in their family plot at the Plainfield Cemetery in Plainfield, Wisconsin.
It could be argued that this was in questionable taste, considering that this was the same
cemetery where he exhumed an unknown number of graves in order to find body parts for
his infamous home furnishings.
Gein's grave is unmarked, as his headstone was stolen in 2000. It turned up the following
year in Seattle as the centerpiece of a punk music and art show called the "Angry White
Male Tour." Tour organizer Shane Bugbee, who's also the founder of the official Ed Gein Fan
Club, insisted that it was fake, but it was quickly determined to be real. Bugbee later
claimed he was, quote, "providing a service" to the stone, and it was never returned. Gein's
grave is still unmarked.
When Aileen Wuornos was executed by lethal injection in 2002, she reportedly wanted it
to happen, according to her childhood best friend, Dawn Botkins. Wuornos and Botkins
grew up together in Michigan, and they remained close throughout Wuornos' trial and imprisonment.
Botkins claimed to always have some sympathy for Wuornos, as she knew about the horrific
abuse she suffered as they were growing up. Nevertheless, it's still surprising that Botkins
took charge of Wuornos' remains, especially considering that she told Vice in 2016,
"Of course she should be executed. She killed seven men. I wouldn't have it any other way."
Originally, Wuornos had told Botkins that she wanted her ashes spread on Flagler's Beach
in Florida. But Botkins refused, believing that absolutely no one wanted her in Florida,
much less on the beach. Instead, Botkins convinced Wuornos to agree to let her take her ashes
home with her. She did that, and a walnut tree marks the spot.
While most doctors pledge to do no harm, Harold Shipman did exactly the opposite. When he
went on trial in 1999, he was one of the world's most prolific serial killers. He was ultimately
charged with 15 murders and connected to around 250 suspicious deaths.
In January 2004, Shipman hanged himself in his jail cell. It took more than a year for
his body to be released to his family. His wife was advised to cremate him so that his
burial place wouldn't be targeted by vandals. So she did, but with some difficulty. At least
one funeral home refused to provide services, and when he was finally cremated, it happened
in the middle of the night.
It was later reported that Shipman's ashes were scattered in secret, but that's not quite
the end of the story. It turns out that his wife received 100,000 pounds upfront from
his insurance policy, and she continues to receive 10,000 pounds per year afterwards,
which was part of the policy only if he died before he reached 60 years old. He was 58
when he took his own life.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite
stuff are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss
a single one.