Dennis Nilsen

Dennis Nilsen
Confirmed victims: 15
Possible Victims: 16
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Dennis Nilsen was born on November 23rd, 1945. Like some of his fellow serial killers he also had an alcoholic father. His parents divorced when he was only four years old. He spent some years with his grandparents after his mother married again, but he eventually returned to live with his mother and stepfather, both of which were strict catholics.

After leaving school Nilsen would join the British army as a cook. He stayed in that profession for about eleven years. After leaving the army he would become a civil servant.

Nilsen's victims were usually homeless men or students that he would pick up at local bars and other similar establishments, including gay bars, and take home. During the nights with them he would kill them and claim to not have remembered doing so. He killed them by either strangulation or drowning. For example he strangled them sometimes with his neck tie.

Because of his cooking skills, Nilsen tried to get rid of the evidence by dismembering the bodies. Sometimes the bodies were not dismembered immediately and instead were kept in various parts of his home. And sometimes he would simply burn the bodies in a bonfire.

After moving to an attic flat in 1981, without having access to a backyard or garden type area, he found it quite difficult to hide the evidence of his murders. This eventually leads to the discovery of his crimes as he is forced to hide body parts all over his flat and attempt to flush remains down the toilet. That's quite a lot of flush down a toilet. He at least tried cutting it up to make it easier to flush, but alas, to no avail. His hiding places included his wardrobe were he would keep bags of organs, cupboards (for the heads) , and chests. This obviously caused kept the smell which also alerted the neighbours that something was going on.

When he tried to flush the entrails down the toilet it caused a blockage to all the flats and so the plumbers were called in to fix the drains. There they found a fleshy substance which they at first thought was chicken. Upon further investigation it turned out to be human flesh. He was then arrested and confused to killing 15 or 16 victims. He didn't know himself the exact number that he had taken to the grave.

Nilsen is currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.