Animal Violence to Human Violence

Below is a list of individuals who show a well-established pattern where abuse and murder of animals, later leads to the abuse and murder of humans. References and other items of interest are provided at the end of this document.

1 David Berkowitz, "Son of Sam" killer
2 Theodore Robert Bundy
3 Michael Cartier
4 Richard Trenton Chase "The Vampire Killer of Sacramento"
5 Carroll Edward Cole
6 Jeffery Dahmer
7 David Richard Davis
8 Richard Allen Davis
9 Tom Dillion
10 Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson
11 Robert Alton Harris
12 Keith Hunter Jesperson
13 Edward Kemperer
14 Kip Kinkle
15 The Kobe Killer
16 Peter Kurten
17 Richard William Leonard
18 Henry Lee Lucas
19 Jason Massey
20 Michael Perry
21 Randy Roth
22 Albert De Salvo, the "Boston Strangler"
23 Arthur Shawcross
24 Patrick Sherrill
25 Eric Smith
26 Richard Speck
27 Russell Weston Jr.
28 Luke Woodham

1 David Berkowitz, "Son of Sam" killer

poisoned his mother's parakeet out of jealousy.
later shot 13 young men and women. 6 people died and at least 2 suffered permanent disabilities.
Sources:

2 Theodore Robert Bundy

was forced to witness his grandfather torturing animals. Bundy later heaped graves with animal bones.
later committed at least 50 murders and was executed in 1989.
Sources:

3 Michael Cartier

dislocated the legs of rabbits and hurled a kitten through a closed window when 4yr old.
later shot Kristin Lardner 3 times in the head, before shooting himself.
Sources:

4 Richard Trenton Chase "The Vampire Killer of Sacramento"

bit the heads off birds, drained animals for their blood, killed animals for their organs.
later he killed 6 people in random attacks. One police officer present at the scene of the first murder, confessed to having nightmares about the crime for months afterwards.
Sources:

5 Carroll Edward Cole

confessed that his first act of violence was to strangle a puppy under the porch of his house.
later was alleged to have committed 35 murders earning the reputation of being one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history and was eventually executed in 1985.
Sources:

6 Jeffery Dahmer

staked cats to trees and decapitated dogs.
later dissected boys, and kept their body parts in the refrigerator. Murdered 17 men.
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7 David Richard Davis

shot and killed 2 healthy ponies, threw a wine bottle at a pair of kittens and hunted with illegal methods.
later murdered his wife, Shannon Mohr Davis, for insurance money.
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8 Richard Allen Davis

set numerous cats on fire.
later killed all of Polly Klaus' animals before abducting and murdering the 12yr old Polly Klaus from her bedroom.
Sources:

9 Tom Dillion

murdered people's pets.
later shot and killed Jamie Paxton, aged 21; Claude Hawkins, aged 49; Donald Welling, aged 35; Kevin Loring, aged 30; and Gary Bradely, aged 44.
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10 Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson

tortured and killed dogs when they were 11yr and 13yr respectively
later on March 24, 1998, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Golden and Johnson shot and killed 4 students and 1 teacher during a fire drill at their school.
Sources:

11 Robert Alton Harris

initial run-in with police was for killing neighborhood cats.
later murdered two 16-year-old boys, doused a neighbor with lighter fluid and tossed matches at him.
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12 Keith Hunter Jesperson

known as the "Happy Face Killer", bashed gopher heads and beat, strangled and shot stray cats and dogs.
later strangled 8 women. He said: "You're actually squeezing the life out of these animals…Choking a human being or a cat - it's the same feeling … I'm the very end result of what happens when somebody kills an animal at an early age."

13 Edward Kemperer

cut up 2 cats.
later killed his grandparents, mother and 7 other women.

14 Kip Kinkle

said he blew up a cow once. Set a live cat on fire and dragged the innocent creature through the main street of town. Classmates rated him as "Most Likely to Start World War 3."
later shot 25 classmates and killed several in Springfield, Oregon. He killed his father and mother.
Sources:

15 The Kobe Killer

as yet unnamed 15-year-old boy in Japan, beheaded a cat and strangled several pigeons.
later decapitated 11-year-old Jun Hase and battered to death a 10-year-old girl with a hammer, and assaulted 3 other children in separate attacks.

16 Peter Kurten

known as the Dusseldorf Monster, tortured dogs, and practiced bestiality while killing animals.
later murdered or attempted to murder over 50 men, women and children.

17 Richard William Leonard

forced by grandmother to kill and mutilate cats and kittens when he was a child.
later killed Stephen Dempsey with a bow and arrow. He also killed Ezzedine Bahmad by slashing his throat.

18 Henry Lee Lucas

killed numerous animals and had sex with their corpses.
later killed his mother, common law wife, and an unknown number of people.

19 Jason Massey

killing began with cats and dogs. He claims to have killed 37 cats, 29 dogs and 6 cows.
later at age of 20yr he decapitated and disemboweled a 13yr girl and fatally shot a 14yr old boy.

20 Michael Perry

decapitated a neighbor's dog.
later killed his parents, infant nephew and 2 neighbors.

21 Randy Roth

taped a cat to a car's engine and used an industrial sander on a frog.
later killed 2 of his wives and attempted to kill a third.

22 Albert De Salvo, the "Boston Strangler"

placed a dog and cat in a crate with a partition between them. After starving the animals for days, he removed the partition to watch them kill each other.
later raped and killed 13 women by strangulation. He often posed bodies in a shocking manner after their murders.

23 Arthur Shawcross

repeatedly threw a kitten into a lake until the kitten drowned from exhaustion.
later killed a young girl. After serving 15-1/2 years in prison, he killed 11 more women.

24 Patrick Sherrill

stole neighborhood pets, tethered them with baling wire and encouraged his dog to mutilate them.
later he killed 14 co-workers and himself in 1986.

25 Eric Smith

strangled a neighbor's cat when 9yr.
later at age of 13yr, he bludgeoned 4yr old Derrick Robie to death. Smith lured the little boy into the woods, choked him, sodomized him with a stick, then beat him to death with a rock.

26 Richard Speck

threw a bird into a ventilator fan
later killed 8 women.

27 Russell Weston Jr.

tortured and killed 12 cats: burned and cut off their tails, paws, ears; poured toxic chemicals in their eyes to blind them; forced them to ingest poison, hung them from trees (the noose loose enough to create a slow and painful death).
later killed 2 officers at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.
Sources:

28 Luke Woodham

confessed to bludgeoning his dog Sparkle with baseball bats and pouring liquid fuel down her throat and to set fire to her neck. "I made my first kill today," he wrote in his court-subpoenaed journal. "It was a loved one…I'll never forget the howl she made. It sounded almost human."
later at the age of 16yr, he mortally stabbed his mother, killed 2 classmates and shot 7 others, In June 1998, Woodham was found guilty of 3 murders and 7 counts of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to 3 life sentences and an additional 20 years for each assault.

Here are some references on the link between animal violence leading to violence against humans:

Other items:

Change is in the air (an essay by Sarah West)