30 Killers Who Were Murdered in Prison

30 Killers Who Were Murdered in Prison

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re examining famous killers who themselves were killed behind bars.

Nikolay Radkevich
A Russian serial killer from the early 20th century, Nikolay Radkevich began his spree after being expelled by the Cadet Corps. Wanting to purge the world of what he considered depraved and immoral women, Radkevich killed three sex workers between June and September of 1909. He was finally apprehended on September 17, immediately after killing his third and final victim in a hotel. He was sentenced to eight years in the Katorga, a Russian form of punishment in which prisoners were sent off to Siberia to perform forced labor. Radkevich spent four years in these brutal conditions before he was killed by fellow inmates.

John Jairo Moreno Torres
Known as Johnny the Leper from a childhood injury, Colombian killer John Jairo Moreno Torres caused trouble from a young age. He dropped out of school at 13 and joined the most feared gang in Bogotá, selling drugs and committing a number of violent crimes. He officially killed four people throughout his time as the gang’s leader, but it’s believed that he may have murdered up to 20. He also committed a number of assaults before he was apprehended in February 1998, still just a teenager. He was sent to Bogotá’s La Modelo prison and was violently executed by other prisoners, who shot Torres twelve times with a smuggled firearm.

Colin Hatch
Called both “highly dangerous” and a “menace to the public,” Colin Hatch was sentenced to life back in 1994 for committing an unspeakable crime. Hatch had a history of similar behavior and was sent to a maximum facility in Yorkshire called HM Prison Full Sutton. He remained in the prison for almost two decades, but his life was cut short in February of 2011. In what prison officials called “an incident,” Hatch was ambushed by another inmate named Damien Fowkes, who had a history of attacking prisoners involved with a certain type of crime. Ian Huntley, another prominent victim of Fowkes, survived his attack. Hatch was not so lucky, and he died from the injuries that Fowkes had caused.

Enriqueta Martí
Known by creepy names like The Vampire of Barcelona, Enriqueta Martí was a Spanish serial killer who is thought to have murdered twelve victims in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, the records of these crimes are quite scarce, owing to both the time period and the economic situation of her victims, leading some to question Martí’s guilt. Adding to the general confusion is the lack of a trial. Martí was arrested and held in the Reina Amàlia jail but was killed before her trial could begin. The official story is that Martí was attacked by her fellow inmates and publicly hanged on the jail’s patio.

Billy Chemirmir
Throughout the late 2010s, Texas man Billy Chemirmir would pose as a maintenance man and break into the homes of elderly women. He would then attack the women while they were alone and smother them with a pillow. While Chemirmir was officially convicted of just two deaths, police believe that he is responsible for dozens of murders around the greater Dallas area. He was convicted of the deaths of Lu Thi Harris and Mary Brooks, resulting in two life sentences in the H. H. Coffield Unit of Texas. While inside, Chemirmir made some inappropriate comments about the family of his cellmate and was subsequently beaten to death - and possibly even stabbed with a pen.

Robert Liberty
In 1966, Robert Liberty attempted to take his own life but failed and was placed in the Orange County Medical Center. There he met 31-year-old Marcella Landis and the two entered a relationship. Soon after, Liberty strangled Landis to death with a stocking. He was declared legally insane and placed in a state hospital until 1969 when he was deemed fit to re-enter society. He soon killed two more people - his roommate, Thomas Astorina, and Robert Irion, a nurse who worked at the state hospital. Liberty was arrested again following an FBI manhunt and once again pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. But before his trial could take place, Liberty was strangled and killed by a cellmate named Timothy Dudley.

Robert Simon
Known as Mudman by his peers, Robert Simon was a member of the Philadelphia-based Warlocks Motorcycle Club, an outlaw club with a reputation for violence. Even by their standards, Simon was known as a dangerous renegade and was supposedly made the club’s enforcer owing to his history of reckless violence. Aside from committing armed robbery and arson, Simon is also known to have killed two people - his teenage girlfriend, Beth Smith Dusenberg, and a New Jersey police officer named Ippolito Gonzalez, who had pulled Simon over during a routine traffic stop. The killing of Gonzalez sent Simon to New Jersey State Prison, where he was beaten to death by cellmate Ambrose Harris while awaiting execution.

Leslie Bailey
Some crimes are so horrible that the people who commit them have to be segregated in prison. That was the case with English serial killer Leslie Bailey, who was a “Rule 43” inmate at Whitemoor Prison. This meant that Bailey had to be separated from the rest of the prison population, as officials feared that he would be attacked. The rule stems from Bailey’s past, as he was linked to various unspeakable crimes, including the deaths of three individuals. Bailey was known to roam with a gang of criminals, and police believe that they were guilty of even more crimes and deaths. Regardless, justice came for Bailey, despite his position in prison. In October of 1993, Bailey was found strangled to death in his cell.

Edwin Kaprat
With most of his victims being elderly women, Florida man Edwin Kaprat earned the moniker The Granny Killer. Kaprat’s first victim was a 27-year-old man named Lee Bugay, who had been beaten over the head with a pipe. He then killed a number of elderly individuals throughout 1993, often committing arson in the process and staging their deaths as accidents. An anonymous individual phoned the police and told them to look into Kaprat, who had previously been jailed for the death of Bugay. His fingerprints were found at one of the crime scenes, and Kaprat was arrested and sentenced to death. But on April 19, 1995, Kaprat got into a fight with fellow inmates Mario Lara and Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco and was fatally stabbed.

Carl Williams
A prominent drug trafficker, Carl Williams was a powerful figure in the Australian underworld. He played a large role in the Melbourne gangland killings that occurred between 1998 and 2010, with officials believing that he is responsible for at least ten of the 36 contract killings. He was eventually put away on four counts of murder, having personally ordered their deaths. The victims were Jason and Lewis Moran of the prominent Moran family, criminal associate Mark Mallia, and Michael Marshall, who was shot and killed in front of his young son. Williams was sent to HM Prison Barwon, where fellow inmate Matthew Charles Johnson bludgeoned him to death with the handle of an exercise bike.

Roger Kibbe
Dubbed the “I-5 Strangler,” Roger Kibbe was responsible for the assault and deaths of at least eight women. His killing spree mostly occurred around Sacramento, California between 1977 and 1987, and he would hunt for his victims along the interstate highway, hence the nickname. He was eventually arrested in 1988 and received an initial prison sentence of 25 years to life. In the following years, more life sentences were added to this as further evidence of his other murders were discovered. On February 28th 2021, while at the Mule Creek State Prison in California, the ‘I-5 Strangler’ was strangled to death by his cellmate, Jason Budrow, who reportedly did it in retribution for his crimes.

Gerard John Schaefer
Gerard John Schaefer was working as a sheriff's deputy in Florida when he abducted two young female hitchhikers and tied them up in a remote forest. The teenagers were able to escape after he was called away on police duty. Although he claimed he only wanted to show them the risks of hitchhiking, he was apprehended and charged with false imprisonment and aggravated assault. While out on bail, Schaefer abducted and killed two other girls, and was re-arrested after their decomposed bodies were found in the woods. Schaefer was sentenced to serve two concurrent life terms at the Florida State Prison where, in 1995, he was killed by another inmate, Vincent Rivera. Rivera was handed an additional 53 years for the murder.

Sidonio Teixeira
In 2008, Sidonio Teixeira was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking the life of his young daughter and also attempting to murder his son. While serving his sentence at the Long Lartin top security prison in Worcestershire, England, Teixeira was attacked by another inmate while at the prison workshop. The culprit, Victor Castigador, reportedly put a stone in a sock, which he used to beat Teixeira, who later succumbed to his injuries. Castigador, who claimed to have been purging the world of evil, was found guilty in 1990 of the murders of two security guards and was serving a life sentence already. He was subsequently issued a whole-life order by the Birmingham Crown Court for killing Teixeira.

Donald Leroy Evans
Although he was only found guilty of two murders, Donald Leroy Evans admitted responsibility in the killings of over 70 people. If true, this would make him one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history. On August 1st 1991, Evans took the life of his last victim - Beatrice Louise Routh in Mississippi. He was arrested four days later and eventually sentenced to death. His crimes also resulted in convictions at the federal level and in the state of Florida. In 1999, while sitting on death row, a fellow inmate named Jimmie Mack decided to bring Evans’ execution date a little closer. The two were reportedly in the prison shower when Mack stabbed Evans to his death.

Nikolai Fefilov
Over the span of six years, Nikolai Fefilov reigned terror in the town of Sverdlovsk in the then-Soviet Union. In all, he had a victim count of seven, all of whom were female. Fefilov had served in the Soviet Army and it is believed that the motivation for his crimes came from being rejected by a woman he loved. He was arrested in 1988, after being caught by a senior Soviet official trying to dispose of his last victim’s body. Fefilov was in jail awaiting trial when he met his demise at the hands of his cellmate on August 30th 1988. Conspiracies soon arose that his murder was arranged in order to prevent a potentially sensationalized trial. Those claims have, however, never been confirmed.

Laron Williams
In October 1977, Laron Williams claimed the life of a sex worker in Nashville, Tennessee. Before his trial, he bargained a plea deal that came with a sentence of 10 years imprisonment. He was still serving his time in 1981, when he escaped from the Memphis Correctional Center. While on the run, Williams killed an additional two people - a police officer who tried to arrest him and a Catholic priest. He was recaptured soon after and sent back to prison, this time with two death sentences. On July 8th 1985, Williams was descended upon by a group of other inmates, reportedly for being on the prison phone for too long. He was left severely injured and ultimately died at a nearby hospital.

Daniel Camargo Barbosa
Born in Colombia in 1930, Daniel Camargo Barbosa had a pretty troubling childhood. Prevented from furthering his education by financial constraints, Barbosa eventually fell into a life of crime. He began with petty thefts before escalating into abducting, assaulting and murdering young girls. Barbosa first went to prison in Colombia, where it is believed that he claimed the lives of more than 80 girls. He escaped from prison and fled to Ecuador, where he continued his despicable actions, later owning up to 72 murders in the country. Barbosa was incarcerated for 16 years but his sentence was cut short just five years in when he was killed by another inmate, who happened to be one of his victims’ nephews.

Lenko Latkov
Between 1999 and 2000, Lenko Latkov committed three murders in the Haskovo Province of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. All of his victims were elderly women, although he also targeted young boys and girls, who he apparently only assaulted. Latkov was suspected of carrying out three other murders, but none of them were confirmed before his death. Prior to his trial, he first received psychological evaluations, before being transferred to a prison where he was held. Alas, Latkov never got the opportunity to answer for his crimes. On the 13th of September 2003, his cellmate Sami Bayram Aptullah, who had been locked up for attempted murder, succeeded in killing him following a heated argument.

Hélio José Muniz Filho
Hélio José Muniz Filho or Helinho, as he was more commonly called, was imprisoned for 201 years for the deaths of 65 people. Born and raised in Pernambuco, Brazil, Helinho was a vigilante killer, who sought to “clean up the city” by taking out people he deemed to be evil. No matter how good his intentions may have been, this was considered a crime in the eyes of the law and he was arrested in 1998. Helinho’s actions seemed to have won him favor among the residents of the town, as over 3,000 people reportedly signed a petition demanding his release. While serving his sentence, however, he was violently attacked by three inmates and later died of his injuries at a hospital.

Artur Kitaev
Just as the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990s, Artur Kitaev embarked on a spree of sex crimes and murders. This earned him the nickname ‘last sex maniac of the USSR’. During that period, Kitaev had gotten a job as a driver for an auto company. With his official vehicle, he preyed on young female hitchhikers around the city of Smolensk, claiming the lives of six of them. Kitaev was arrested in July of 1992 and sentenced to death two years later, although this was eventually commuted to a life term. The Russian killer remained in prison until September 2019 when an argument with his cellmate ended in a brutal attack that ultimately resulted in Kitaev’s demise.

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
Dubbed “El Mataviejas” which translates to “The Old Lady Killer” in English, José Antonio Rodríguez Vega reigned terror on elderly women in Cantabria, 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
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
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
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
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
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.

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