Serial Killers / Murderers & Their Day Jobs / Occupations - Part 1

If you love true-crime podcasts, subscribe to the Murder Mile true-crime podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsyn

"My hobbies include art, cookery, dog-walking... and decapitating my bosses"

Ever wondered what most of the world's most infamous serial killers and mass-murderers did as a day-job, when they weren't busy killing people? What did they do to earn money? Did they have a profession which some people would see as "useful" for a serial killer (a butcher, a bin-man, or maybe someone who's highly experienced at lying, such as a politician), or perhaps they simply did a dull boring day-job to blend in? Whether as a part-time job, a hobby or a full-time career? Murder Mile blog investigates.

As this is a pretty big list, and requires a lot of research, I've listed the serial killers and murderers in alphabetical order and have split it in three lists. Part two will be available here in two weeks.

As always, this is not a comprehensive or exhaustive list, and it will be updated as-and-when new information arises, so if any specific detail is missing, don't get "stressy", share your knowledge with the rest of us, via my twitter handle @mmiletours. Enjoy the blog. Mx

---

Serial Killer & Mass-Murderers - Day-Jobs, Careers & Occupations

• Aileen Wuornos - a career prostitute; abandoned by her mother aged 4, she was trading sex for cigarettes, drugs and food aged 11, she dropped out of school aged 14, and was thrown out of the family home aged 15, so became a prostitute to support herself. 
  
• Albert DeSalvo "The Boston Strangler" - having been convicted of assault & battery aged 12 and stealing a car aged 14, DeSalvo worked briefly as a delivery boy and following a stint in prison, he enlisted in the Army. After his "honourable discharge" whilst awaiting court-marshal" (go figure), he re-enlisted as a Military Police Sergeant in the 2nd Squadron, 14th Armoured Cavalry, and although some sources list Albert DeSalvo as having been a Petty Officer 3rd Class in the US Navy, this was actually a disguise he used to escape Bridgwater State Hospital. 
• Albert Fish "The Werewolf of Wysteria" - began as a male prostitute aged 20 years old, but during his twenties he began working as a house painter and odd-job man, basically any job which would give him better access to young children, who he'd already started raping. 
• Amelia Dyer - unofficially known as a "baby-farmer", Dyer was an illegal foster mother who would care for the child of unmarried-mothers (a scandal in the 1890's), but realising that most mothers couldn't afford to reclaim their babies and raising the child was too expensive, she resorted to drowning the children in the River Thames. Charged with the murder of one child, it is believed Amelia Dyer murdered as many as 400+ children, making her (possibly) the most prolific female serial-killer ever. 
• "Sister" Amy Archer-Gilligan - former caretaker, nurse to John Seymour (a widower) and ran a boarding house and nursing home - 'Sister Archer's Home for the Elderly and Infirm'.
• Anthony Hardy "The Camden Ripper" - qualified with a Engineering degree from Imperial College (London) and was manager of a mechanical engineering company.in Tasmania.
• Arthur Shawcross "The Genesee River Killer" - struggled to hold down a job during his life; he was briefly a butcher's assistant and a handy man at the Watertown Public Works Dept, before being drafted into the Army aged 21 where - although he boasted about his graphic combat exploits - he never saw active service as he was a supply parts specialist. Later he was stationed at Fort Sill (Oklahoma) as an armorer, before he descended into burglary.
• Beverley Allitt "The Angel of Death" - was a baby-sitter during school, upon leaving school she took a course in Nursing at Grantham & Kesteven Hospital (Lincolnshire) where she was later employed as a State Enrolled Nurse on the children's ward.
• William Burke & William Hare "The Body-Snatchers" - Burke began as an officer’s servant in Donegal Militia, before deserting and moving to Scotland to work as a laborer on the Union Canal, where he met William Hare. Struggling to make enough money, both became hawkers (selling second-hand clothes) and Hare briefly tried his hand at being a cobbler, before they turned to grave-robbery and selling corpses for dissection.
• Carol M. Bundy "The Sunset Strip Killers" - a vocational nurse at Valley Medical Centre in Van Nuys, before she met Doug Clark.
• Colin Ireland "The Gay Slayer" - having spent his teenage years in various borstals and reformatories, Ireland never held down a full-time permanent job and often drifted between unskilled labour, such as working at a shelter for the homeless in Southend-on-Sea and being a bouncer in a gay Soho nightclub, before turning to crime as a burglar.
• Cynthia Coffman - full-time mother and house-wife, but briefly worked as a waitress to earn money when she ran away from her abusive husband
• David Berkowitz "Son of Sam" - struggling with his internal demons, Berkowitz enlisted in the US Army in 1971 (aged 18), serving in the USA and South Korea for three years, but after his honorable discharged he held down a series of unskilled jobs as a security guard at IBI Security, a nighttime taxi-driver and a letter sorted for the US Postal Service.
• David Copeland "The London Nail-Bomber" - trained as an engineer's assistant on the Jubilee Line extension of the London Underground in Bermondsey (South London)

• David Ray Parker "The Toybox Killer" -worked locally as an auto-mechanic, spent two years in the US Army as a general mechanic, before he was honourably discharged
• Dean Arnold Corll "Houston Mass-Murders" - he worked in his family's confectionery shop in Houston Heights called 'Pecan Prince', was later promoted to vice-president of  'Corll Candy Company' (a small family firm), before he was drafted into the US Army as a radio repairman for one years before his honourable discharge.
• Dennis Nilsen "The Kindly Killer" - started as a canning operative in a factory, he trained as cook in the 1st Battalion the Royal Fusiliers (10 years+), a probationary policeman at Wilsden Police Station (6 months), factory security guard (a few months), a catering assistant at Angie's cafe in Covent Garden (2 months) and a Executive Officer at the Denmark Street and Kilburn job-centre (1975-83). Read a full profile about Dennis Nilsen. 
• Dennis Rader "The BTK Killer" - although clearly intelligent, he was unable to hold down a single career/job; he enlisted in the US Army (1966-70), was a trainee butcher at Leekers IGA supermarket, studied for associate degree in electronics, studied for a bachleor's degree in administration of justice, and post degree he worked as an assembler for the Coleman Company (outdoor supplies), an alarm installer fro ADT Security Systems and a census field-op' supervisor in Wichita, as well as a compliance officer and a dogcatcher.
• Derrick Bird "The Cumbria Killer" - a self-employed taxi driver in Whitehaven
• Donald Henry Gaskins - incarcerated during his teens, Gaskins only employment (outside of burglary) was when he briefly worked at a tobacco plantation and in a traveling carnival
• Donald Neilson "The Black Panther" - initially enlisted as a national serviceman in the British Army (King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry), he was briefly a jobbing builder in Bradford before his business collapsed and he turned to burglary and armed robbery
• Dorothea Puente - a brothel owner, boarding house manager and a nurse’s aide
• Doug Clark "Sunset Strip Killers" - aged 19 he enlisted in the US Air Force before he was discharged, he drifted between jobs as an auto-mechanic, then as a steam plant operator for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power at the Valley Generating Station and as a boiler operator at the Jergens soap factory in Burbank.
• Ed Gein "The Plainfield Butcher" - Gein had no career as his mother was over-protective but he earned extra cash (beyond farming subsidies) as a carpenter, a tanner, an insurance salesman, a handyman, as part of the road building crew, as a crop-thresher for local farmers and as a baby-sitter. Read a full psychological profile of Ed Gien.
• Edmund Kemper "The Co-Ed Killer" - Kemper always wanted to be a Police Officer, but was rejected owing to his height (6 feet 9 inches) and prior criminal record, so he held down a series of menial jobs before securing employment with the State of California Highway Department (known today as Caltrans).
• Fred West - worked briefly as an ice-cream man, but would later set himself up as a local builder in Gloucester, where he specialised in plastering and odd-jobs
• Gary Ridgway “Green River Killer” - aged 19, Ridgway enlisted in the US Navy and was sent to Vietnam where he saw active service, but by the time of his arrest he was working as a truck-painter at a Kenworth factory in Renton, Washington.

• George Joseph Smith "The Brides in the Bath" killer - having been incarcerated at the tender age of just 9 years old for theft, (with the exception of briefly being a baker's assistant) Smith never held down a "proper" legitimate job

• Graham Young "Teacup Poisoner" - after his release from Broadmoor psychiatric prison for poisoning his stepmother, Young got a job as a quartermaster at John Hadland Laboratories in Bovingdon (Hertfordshire). Unaware of his criminal past as a poisoner, Young went on to poison 70 colleagues with Antimony, 2 of whom died. Read more about Graham Young.

• Dr H H Crippen -  prior to his execution for the murder of his wife, Crippen specialised as a homeopath and an ear & eye specialist. Was Crippen innocent? Find out here
• Dr H H Holmes - aged 16, Holmes took a teaching job in Gilmanton and later at Alton (both in New Hampshire), and after graduating University of Michigan's Department of Medicine & Surgery, he worked as anatomy lab under Professor Herdman (chief anatomy instructor), having previously apprenticed under Dr. Nahum Wight, an advocate of human dissection, but after this he struggled to hold down permanent employment.

• Dr Harold Shipman "Doctor Death" - during his 24 years as a doctor, Shipman undertook the following roles; Junior Doctor at Pontefract General Hospital (Yorkshire), General Practitioner at Todmorden Group Practice, Clinical Medical Officer in South West Durham, General Practitioner at Donneybrook House Group Practice in Hyde (Cheshire), and finally as a GP at The Surgery in Hyde (Cheshire). His medical career took a hiatus of 1 year and 264 days after he was fined for counterfeiting prescriptions to feed his drug-habit and undertake rehabilitation. Read a full psychological profile of Dr Harold Shipman. 
  

• Henry Lee Lucas - was a drifter with no formal education, skills or employment
• Henri Desire Landru "The Lady Killer" - although a serial adulterer and embezeller, he previously worked as a second hand furniture dealer, and was conscripted into French army during World War One.
  

---

---

True-Crime Fans: The Murder Mile true-crime podcast is live and features 300+ untold, unsolved and (often) long-forgotten murder cases, all within one square mile. To listen to an episode or to subscribe to the podcast (it's all free), click here or PODCAST in the tab above.Or listen to episode one by clicking PLAY on the media player below.

---

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian, podcaster 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 curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totaling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.