Ted Bundy , Jeffrey Dahmer , Richard Ramaierz . Many of America ’s most prolific consecutive killers haveburned their nameinto popular refinement . However , for all the murderer who saw justice for their crimes and gain infamy , how many have slipped under the radar and stay uncaught ?

Using statistical analysis , two researcher have worked out how many serial killers in the US potentially went uncaught   over the course of the 20th 100 .

Mikhail Simkin and ‪Vwani Roychowdhury‬ , two researchers from the Department of Electrical Engineering in the University of California , Los Angeles , infer that the 20th century likely saw approximately seven serial Orcinus orca that managed to avoid being caught by authorities . Although they note “ our estimation is on a modest side ” in their yet - to - be compeer - reviewedpre - mark report , they also surmise : “ The most prolific of them likely commit over sixty murders . "

The figure in this newfangled newspaper are notably lower   than those reached by other statisticians and criminologists . A study in the journalHomicide Studiesin 2007estimated there were between182 and 1,832 serial murder victim that go unreported each year in the US . The study generator , criminologist Kenna Quinet , toldLive Sciencethat this could match to about 115 US sequent killers dating back to the 1970s who were never charge for their crimes . Meanwhile , the Murder Accountability Project contend that there are up to 2,000 nonparallel killers currently at large . for sure , many of these will be get eventually , but some are likely to debar capture .

So how did this new newspaper publisher accomplish their conservative determination ? The dyad had to take into consideration a number of variable . For starter , they analyzed the information of 1,172 US serial killers documented in the twentieth one C and not just the 1,012 for which we know the precise date of their murders . view that many serial killer have periods of year , if not decennium , between each murder , they then ferment out what proportion of killers simply break of natural campaign or fortuity before the practice of law caught up with them .

However , this is where things become complex . Not all consecutive killers are as “ effective ” ( if we can call it that ) as others . Some will get caught after the first murder , while others could theoretically duck the law after dozens of slaying .   To satisfy this break of cognition , the twain run statistical simulations of 1 million suppositious killers . Out of this 1 million , 659,684 got caught after the first murder , 539 died after the first execution , 337,729 killers committed two or more murders but were then arrest , and 2,048 committed two or more execution and were not capture .

free-base on the number of document US serial killers , these statistics suggest that around seven citizenry committed at least two murders in the US during the 20th century but did not get caught .

There are some significant limitation to this analysis , the researchers concede . They observe their report did not take into account would - be serial killers that short ended their killing fling due to being incapacitated by ill wellness , disability , or old eld . For example , the so - called “ Golden State Killer ” Joseph James DeAngelowas caught in 2018at the eld of 72 , but his last known slaying was committed in May 1986 .

Active life span would be a better measure than simply life span , they note . As such , the fraction of uncaught grampus would be only expectant .