Serial Killers & Murderers - By Height

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"How tall are the world's most infamous serial killers and murderers?" is a question often asked by wierdos like myself obsessed with pointless facts to clog up our brains. As along side famous dictators and despots, there is a belief that being off an abnormal height, causes those who are predisposed to being a serial killer or murderer to feel isolated, different and an outcast from society... but does it? Surely the heights of serial killers, murderers, despots and dictators are as varied as anyone else in the world? That said, even if it is, it's still interesting to see what height infamous serial killers actually were. 

What follows is a list (updated as and when) of infamous serial killers and murderers, arranged tallest to shortest, in feet/inches and metres/cms, as taken from their medical records, Police arrest reports, witness statements or measurements taken from their execution. 

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Infamous serial killers and murderers by height. ​For more information on each person, click the red link to the right for a full biography, or check out my other blogs listed below. .

• Edmund Kempner – 6 foot 9 inches (2.06 m) - aka "The Co-Ed Butcher"
• Stephen Port - 6 foot 3 inches (1.92m) - aka "The Grindr Killer"
• Joel Rifkin – 6 foot 2 inches (1.88m) - aka "Joel the Ripper"
• David Ray Parker - 6 foot 2 inches (1.87m) - aka "The Toybox Killer"
• Robert Black – 6 foot 2 inches (1.87m) - read his biog​
• Paul Barnardo -  6 foot and 1.5 inches (1.87m) - "The Schoolgirl Killer"
• Dennis Nilsen – 6 foot 1 inches (1.85m) - "The Kindly Killer"
• Levi Bellfield – 6 foot 1 inches (1.85m) - "The Bus Stop Killer"
• John Allen Muhammad - 6 foot 1 inches (1.85m) - "Washington Sniper"
• Dr Thomas Neill Cream – 6 foot 1 inches (1.85m) - "The Lambeth Poisoner"
• Randall Woodfield - 6 foot 1 inches (184m) - "The I-5 Killer"
• Richard Ramirez – 6ft 0.75 inches (1.84m) - "The Night Stalker"
• Jeffrey Dahmer – 6 foot 0.5 inches (1.84m) - "Milwaukee Cannibal"
• Ian Brady – 6 foot 0 inches (1.83m) - "Moors Murderer"
• Larry Eyler - 6 foot 0 inches (1.63m) - "The Highway Killer"
• Glen Edward Rogers- 6 foot 0 inches (1.83m)- "The Cross Country Killer"
• Arthur Shawcross - 6 foot 0 inches (1.83m) - "The Genesee River Killer"
• Stephen Griffiths - 6 foot 0 inches (1.83m) - "The Crossbow Cannibal"
• Kenneth Bianchi - 5 foot 11.5 inches (1.82m) - "Hillside Strangler"
• Colin Ireland – 5 foot 11 inches (1.80m) - "The Gay Slayer"
• Dennis Rader– 5 foot 11 inches (1.80m) - "The BTK Killer"
• Dean Corll - 5 foot 11 inches (1.80m) - "The Candy Man"
• John Staffen - 5 foot 11 inches (1.80m) - read his biog
• Ted Bundy – 5 foot 10 inches (1.78 m) - read his biog 
• Gary Ridgway - 5 foot 10 inches (1.78m) - "The Green River Killer"
• John Wayne Gacy – 5 foot 10 inches (1.78m) - "The Killer Clown"
• Peter Tobin – 5 foot 10 inches (1.77m) - possibly "Bible John"
• Henry Lee Lucas - 5 foot 9 1/2 inches (1.76m) - "The Highway Stalker"
• Ted Kaczynski – 5 foot 9 inches (1.75m) - "Unabomber"
• Anthony Hardy – 5 foot 9 inches (1.75m) - "Camden Ripper"
• Harold Shipman –5 foot 9 inches (1.75m) - "Doctor Death"
• John George Haigh – 5 foot 9 inches (1.75m) - "Acid Bath Murderer"
• Herbert Mullin - 5 foot 9 inches (1.75m) - read his biog
• Richard Loeb - 5 foot 9 inches  (1.75m) - "Leopold & Loeb"
• David Berkowitz – 5 foot 8 inches (1.72m) - "Son of Sam"
• Peter Sutcliffe – 5 foot 8 inches (1.72m) - "Yorkshire Ripper"
• Fred West – 5 foot 7.5 inches (1.71m) - "Fred & Rose West"
• Ed Gein – 5 foot 7 inches (1.70m) - "The Mad Butcher"
• George Joseph Smith - 5 foot 7 inches (1.70m) - "Brides in the Bath"
• Dr H H Holmes - 5 foot 7 inches (1.70m) - "World's Fair Killer"
• Trevor Hardy - 5 foot 7 inches (1.7m) - "The Beast of Manchester"
• Judy Buenoano - 5 foot 7 inches (1.7m) - "The Black Widow"
• Martha Beck - 5 foot 6 inches - "The Lonely Hearts Killer"
• Nathan Leopold Jnr - 5 foot 6 inches (1.68m) - "Leopold & Loeb"
• Rosemary West – 5 foot 6 inches (1.67m) - "Fred & Rose West"
• Myra Hindley – 5 foot 5 inches (1.65m) - "Moors Murderer"
• Albert Fish – 5 foot 5 inches (1.65m) - "Werewolf of Wysteria"
• Peter Kurten – 5 foot 5 inches (1.65m) - "Vampire of Dusseldorf"
• Henri Desire Landru – 5 foot 4.5 inches (1.64m) - "The Ladykiller"
• David Copeland - 5 foot 4 inches (1.63m) - "London Nail Bomber"
• Aileen Wuornos – 5 foot 4 inches (1.63m) - read her biog
• Karla Homolka - 5 foot 4 inches (1.63m) - "Ken & Barbie Murders"
• Beverley Allitt – 5 foot 4 inches (1.63m) - "Angel of Death"
• Peter Manuel – 5 foot 4 inches (1.62m) - "Beast of Birkenshaw"
• John Reginald Christie – 5 foot 4 inches (1.62m) - 10 Rillington Place
• Donald Henry Gaskins - 5 foot 4 inches (1.61m) - "Pee Wee"
• Dr H H Crippen – 5 foot 3 inches (1.60m) - read his biog
• Velma Barfield – 5 foot 3 inches (1.60m) - read her biog
  
• Dorothea Puente - 5 foot 2 inches (1.57m) - "Death House Landlady"
• John Birnie - 5 foot 2 inches (1.56m) - read his biog
  
• Charles Manson – 5 foot 2 inches (1.57m) - "Helterskelter" 
  
• Kristen Gilbert- 5 foot 0 inches (1.50m)- "The Angel of Death"
  

Yup, as expected, some are tall, some are short, but most are of average height for their sex. 

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So, how do some of the world's most dangerous and demented serial killers compare to the world's most powerful people... in terms of height? As before, what follows is some of the world's most infamous world leaders, despots and dictators, arranged tallest to shortest. 

• Idi Amin – 6 foot 4 inches (1.93m)
• Donald Trump – 6 foot 3 inches (1.91m)
• Barack Obama – 6 foot 2 inches (1.85m)
• Saddam Hussein –6 foot 2 inches (1.88m)
• Muammar Gaddafi – 6 foot 0 inches (1.83m)
• George W Bush – 5 foot 11 inches (1.82m)
• Pol Pot – 5 foot 9 inches (1.75m)
• Kim-Jong Un – 5 foot 9 inches (1.75m)
• Adolf Hitler – 5ft 8 inches (1.73m)
• Vladimir Putin – 5 foot 7 inches (1.7m)
• Benito Mussolini – 5 foot 6 inches (1.69m)
• Napoleon Bonepart – 5 foot 6 inches (1.68m)
• Josef Stalin – 5 foot 5 inches (1.65m)
• Silvio Berlusconi – 5 foot 5 inches (1.65m)
• Kim-Jong Il – 5 foot 4 inches (1.6m)

If you're interested in the heights of world leaders of past and present, look at this fascinating website on World Leader Heights by The Guardian. Other famous criminals by height include: 

• Al Capone – 1.79 metres / 5ft 10.5 inches
• John Wilkes Booth – 1. 73 metres / 5ft 8 inches
• Phil Spector – 1. 65 metres / 5 feet 5 inches
• Meyer Lanskey (gangster) – 1.52 metres / 4ft 11.5 inches
• Griselda Bianco (drug lord) - 1.52 metres / 4ft 11.5 inches
• Pablo Escobar (drug lord) – 1.66 metres / 5 foot 5 inches

If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at; Britain's Most Famous Murderers - Dead or Alive? Serial Killer IQ's, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, Are More Serial KIllers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Birthdays / Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals. 

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Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.