Buzz
Necrophilia, described as engaging in sexual acts or desires involving deceased individuals, is widely recognized as one of humanity's most severe taboos. This behavior is often associated with serial killers, who exhibit it as part of a broader pattern of deviant actions.
While some individuals listed here may not have committed murder, they are undoubtedly involved in desecrating corpses and other heinous acts. Proceed with caution, as the details are unsettling.
10. Kaoru Kobayashi
On November 17, 2004, Kaoru Kobayashi, a middle-aged newspaper deliveryman, kidnapped seven-year-old Kaede Ariyama and brought her to his residence in Sango, Nara Prefecture. There, he sexually abused the child and later drowned her in his bathtub.
Afterward, Kobayashi disfigured the girl’s body, captured photos of her remains using her own cell phone, and discarded her body in a remote ditch. To further torment Ariyama’s family, he sent the postmortem images to the girl’s mother and younger sister via email.
Investigators traced an unidentified number through cell phone records to Kobayashi’s home, where they discovered a phone containing a disturbing image from Ariyama’s murder. Kobayashi was swiftly arrested, charged with murder and other crimes, found guilty, and ultimately executed for his heinous actions.
9. The Moche Civilization
From the first to the eighth century AD, the Moche civilization dominated the northern coast of present-day Peru, stretching from the Lambayeque River to the Nepena River. Often referred to as the 'Greeks of the Andes,' the Moche are renowned for their huacas, massive pyramids where artists painted murals honoring deities, religious ceremonies, and deceased Moche rulers.
During the 1980s, archaeologists discovered Moche tombs, pottery fragments, and murals portraying unsettling imagery. These artworks often depicted humans engaging in sexual acts with animals and corpses. Tenderness with the dead is a recurring theme, prompting some experts to theorize that the Moche engaged in sexual rituals involving the deceased, possibly during or after sacrificial ceremonies.
8. Karen Greenlee
Approximately 90% of necrophiles are men, but Karen Greenlee stands out as an exception. A former trainee embalmer at Sacramento Memorial Lawn, Greenlee admitted in 1979, at age 23, to engaging in sexual acts with 20 to 40 male corpses.
Since necrophilia was not a crime in California, Greenlee faced charges only for unlawfully operating a hearse and disrupting a burial after she stole the body of 33-year-old John Mercure. She served 11 months in jail, followed by two years of probation, and was fined $255.
After gaining infamy, Greenlee became an unofficial advocate for necrophiliacs. She openly admits to finding the smell of death appealing and even enjoys attending funerals of those she refers to as her 'corpse-lovers.'
7. Anthony Merino
In the fall of 2007, Anthony Merino, a 24-year-old New York City resident, gained notoriety for disturbing reasons. The former lab technician at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey, was apprehended after a security guard witnessed him engaging in inappropriate acts with the body of a recently deceased 92-year-old female patient. The guard reported seeing Merino sexually violating the woman’s corpse.
Within a year of his arrest, Merino was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Bergen County court. During the trial, he agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors, which included psychiatric evaluation and psychological treatment in exchange for the possibility of a reduced sentence.
6. Genzo Kurita
From 1948 to 1952, Genzo Kurita carried out a horrifying series of crimes, often targeting mothers and their daughters. Upon his capture in January 1952, he was charged with killing a 24-year-old woman and her 63-year-old aunt, as well as sexually assaulting the younger victim’s body after her death.
Investigators in Japan uncovered that Kurita was a ruthless predator responsible for multiple murders. His most infamous act was the Osen Korogashi incident in October 1951, where he raped and killed a 29-year-old mother of three before throwing her body and her three children off the Osen Korogashi cliffs. Remarkably, one child survived the fall.
Kurita’s other atrocities included breaking into a home where a mother was sleeping. He murdered her, violated her corpse, and fled, leaving her child unharmed but still asleep beside her. For these and other crimes, Kurita was hanged in 1959.
5. The Hickory Street Four
In January 2014, the Hickory Street Four—Alisa Massaro, Joshua Miner, Adam Landerman, and Bethany McKee—enticed their acquaintances Eric Glover and Terrence Rankins to Massaro’s apartment (some reports indicate it was her father’s home) in Joliet, Illinois. Once there, the group robbed the two men.
In a recorded confession, Miner alleged that the idea of murder only arose after one of the men attempted to sexually assault McKee. However, Massaro and McKee disputed this claim, testifying that Miner and Landerman instructed them to leave the room before they strangled Glover and Rankins to death.
The subsequent events are nothing short of horrifying. Massaro and Miner reportedly attempted to engage in sexual acts either atop or next to the deceased bodies. By 2015, McKee, Miner, and Landerman had each been handed life sentences without parole for their heinous actions. Massaro, having agreed to testify against her three co-defendants, was sentenced to a decade behind bars.
4. Victor Ardisson
Victor Ardisson, also known as the 'Vampire of Muy,' worked as an undertaker and gravedigger in the quaint town of Muy, located in the French region of Provence. Over the years, Ardisson committed numerous acts of necrophilia. Upon his eventual capture, he admitted to engaging in sexual acts with more than 100 corpses that had been placed in his care.
Ardisson further confessed that he often exhumed bodies and transported them to his modest dwelling. Upon searching his home, authorities uncovered the remains of a three-year-old girl. Investigators also learned that Ardisson slept beside the child’s body and regularly engaged in sexual acts with it. In another part of his home, he kept the skull of a 13-year-old girl, which he affectionately referred to as 'my bride' and frequently kissed.
During the inquiry, Ardisson revealed to law enforcement that he often conversed with the corpses in his home, treating them as though they were alive. When they failed to respond, he would feel genuinely rejected and sink into a state of despair.
3. Francois Bertrand
Sergeant Francois Bertrand was notorious for his grave-robbing and necrophilic activities. On March 15, 1849, at exactly 11:30 PM, Bertrand was admitted to the Val-de-Grace hospital in Paris, suffering from gunshot wounds to his right side. Earlier, gravediggers at Montparnasse Cemetery had set up an intricate trap to capture the infamous 'Vampire of Montparnasse,' a shadowy figure behind a series of grave desecrations and mutilations.
When word spread that a French Army sergeant was being treated for injuries matching those from the Montparnasse trap, Bertrand’s surgeon, Dr. Marchal de Calvi, obtained a full confession from him. Bertrand admitted to exhuming numerous male and female corpses and eviscerating them.
In the end, Bertrand was found guilty of 15 counts of grave desecration but received only a one-year prison sentence. After serving his term as a model inmate, Bertrand took his own life.
2. Lam Kor-wan
In 1982, Lam Kor-wan, a 27-year-old taxi driver, emerged as a horrifying sexual predator who killed four women—Chan Fung-lan (21), Chan Wan-kit (31), Leung Sau-wan (29), and Leung Wai-sum (17)—before dismembering their bodies. His gruesome acts earned him the nickname 'The Hong Kong Butcher.' He was also called 'The Rainy Night Butcher' due to his tendency to commit murders on rainy days.
Following Lam’s arrest, Hong Kong authorities discovered that he engaged in sexual acts with his victims’ corpses and later removed their sexual organs, preserving them in Tupperware containers. This macabre behavior led to him being dubbed the 'Jars Murderer.'
He is currently serving a life sentence in prison.
1. Marcelo de Andrade
Marcelo de Andrade, known as the 'Vampire of Niteroi,' gained his sinister moniker due to his habit of consuming his victims' blood. Before his life as a serial killer, de Andrade had worked as a teenage prostitute. Following a suicide attempt, he was sent to a reform school.
During his time at the reform school and afterward, de Andrade endured frequent beatings, often inflicted by his own relatives. At 23, he sought spiritual solace by attending the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a Pentecostal Christian denomination, four times a week.
Despite this, over a nine-month span in 1991, de Andrade raped, killed, and desecrated the bodies of 14 young boys. Many of his victims were either prostitutes or involved in Rio’s drug trade. Some of de Andrade’s victims were also decapitated.
De Andrade was arrested in December 1991 and, nearly two years later, was officially declared mentally unfit to stand trial.
