10 Killers Who Were Murdered in Prison
Thor Nis Christiansen
Born in Denmark, Thor Nis Christiansen was brought to the U.S. by his parents at the age of five. Although a bright student in high school, Christiansen later lost interest in his studies and dropped out to work at a gas station. Around this time, he began harboring despicable thoughts, which he then made a reality after stealing a pistol from a friend. He was responsible for the deaths of four women, but his murderous spree came to an end when his intended fifth victim survived the ordeal and led the police to him months later. While serving a life sentence at Folsom State Prison, Christiansen was wounded in the exercise yard by an unidentified prisoner and later succumbed to his injuries.
José Antonio Rodríguez Vega
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Dubbed “El Mataviejas” (matta-b’YAY-hass) which translates to “The Old Lady Killer” in English, José Antonio Rodríguez Vega reigned terror on elderly women in Cantabria (can-TABRY-in), an autonomous community in Spain. In the span of just eight months, Rodríguez Vega warmed his way into the hearts and homes of several women in the area and took the lives of at least sixteen of them. Upon his arrest, Rodríguez Vega confessed to the crimes, but later recanted his confession during his trial. Regardless, he was found guilty and sentenced to 440 years in prison. After only serving a fraction of his sentence, Rodríguez Vega met his end at the hands of two inmates at his prison in Salamanca, who brutally attacked him in the common area.
Léopold Dion
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The crimes of Léopold Dion are pretty tragic. Not only because they involve the deaths of four people and the assault of many others, but because a large number of them could have been prevented. Dion had been convicted twice of crimes involving assault, but in both cases, he was released early by a parole board. He later succeeded in cutting short the lives of four young boys before he was arrested again - this time for good. Dion was convicted of just one murder and received the death penalty, although this was later commuted to a life sentence. He was attacked and killed in prison by a fellow inmate, who was acquitted of the crime on the basis of insanity.
Lee Roy Martin
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Born and raised in Gaffney, South Carolina, Lee Roy Martin lived a seemingly normal life. He worked in a textile mill and had a wife and three children. Behind that facade, though, was a maniac who reigned terror on women in the area and was responsible for the deaths of four people. After placing two calls himself to a newspaper editor, Martin was spotted close to a crime scene by two local residents and was later arrested by police. He was sentenced to four consecutive life terms but only served about four years before he was put out of his misery by another inmate at the Central Correctional Institution in South Carolina.
Charles Schmid
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The “Pied Piper of Tucson,” Charles Schmid was a serial killer who claimed the lives of three young ladies in the 1960s. Schmid was known for hanging out with a group of teenagers in the Tucson area, and when he wanted to know what taking a life would feel like, he sought his victims within that group. In the end, it was one of those same friends who was instrumental in helping the police build a winning case against him. After successfully escaping from the Arizona State Prison in 1972, Schmid was recaptured and sent back, where he met his end just three years later in a horrific attack by two other inmates.
James “Whitey” Bulger
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Once the most wanted fugitive in America, James “Whitey” Bulger was an infamous mob boss who controlled the Winter Hill Gang in Somerville, Massachusetts. He also worked as an FBI informant for many years, which unsurprisingly, didn’t make him many friends amongst his criminal associates. Bulger lived as a fugitive for seventeen years, but was finally arrested in 2011 and handed two consecutive life sentences for his notorious crimes, including murder. He bounced around multiple prisons before being sent to the United States Penitentiary in Hazelton, West Virginia on October 29th, 2018. In less than twenty-four hours, Bulger was ambushed by several inmates and left for dead in an unrecognizable state.
Donald Harvey
While working as a hospital orderly in Ohio and Kentucky, Donald Harvey was responsible for the deaths of a self-proclaimed eighty-seven people. Harvey employed several methods in what he deemed as a mercy killing of his patients, including the use of poisons, suffocation and withholding essential medications. He pleaded guilty to thirty-seven murders to avoid the death penalty, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. But when you describe yourself as an “angel of death,” chances are you’re bound to get a taste of your own medicine at some point. This came in the form of James Elliott, a fellow inmate at the Toledo Correctional Institution in Ohio, who descended upon Harvey, being familiar with his crimes.
Richard Loeb
Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold were two extremely intelligent students born to wealthy parents and fantasized about committing the perfect murder. They found their victim in the young Bobby Franks, who paid the ultimate price on May 21st, 1924. The two got rid of the body but mistakenly dropped a pair of eyeglasses at the scene, which were traced back to Leopold. They managed to evade the death penalty and were sentenced to life imprisonment instead. But while Leopold maintained a stellar record through his sentence and was eventually granted parole in 1958, Loeb’s story took a gruesome turn. He met his end at the hands of another prisoner at the Stateville Penitentiary in Illinois, who viciously attacked him in the shower.
Albert DeSalvo
1960s Boston, Massachusetts was terrorized by two criminals - one, dubbed the “Boston Strangler,” who killed thirteen women, and the “Green Man,” who broke into women’s homes and assaulted them. As police launched an investigation into the Green Man’s activities, they were pointed towards Albert DeSalvo, whom they arrested and charged with the crimes. While in custody, DeSalvo confessed to also being the Boston Strangler, but due to a lack of physical evidence, he was only tried for the Green Man allegations. DeSalvo was serving a life sentence when he died after being wounded by another inmate in the prison infirmary. Decades later, DNA evidence obtained from one of the victims would prove that DeSalvo was, in fact, the Boston Strangler.
Jeffrey Dahmer
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One of the most infamous serial killers to ever walk the earth, Jeffrey Dahmer was responsible for the deaths of seventeen young men. His spree came to an end in July 1991, when an intended victim escaped from Dahmer’s apartment and led the police back to him. He pleaded guilty to all the charges leveled against him and received fifteen consecutive life sentences in Wisconsin, and an additional one in Ohio. In prison, Dahmer was reportedly unremorseful for his crimes, which reportedly infuriated his fellow inmate, Christopher Scarver, resulting in an attack in the prison gym that left Dahmer dead. Scarver also killed Jesse Anderson, another convicted murderer, who just happened to be in the gym at the same time.
