10 Normal Looking Photographs of Depraved Criminals

10 Normal Looking Photographs of Depraved Criminals

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today were looking at ten seemingly mundane photos that showcase horrible people.

John Wayne Gacy & The First Lady

Here we see a respectable man, bespoke in a red suit and shaking hands with First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Surely this is a man of some renown. Nope, its John Wayne Gacy, killer of at least 33 people. Gacy was active in local politics and had gained access to the event as a precinct captain. He was even vetted by the Secret Service and given a special pin indicating he had passed a background check. This pin can be seen in the photo, and it serves as a horrifying bit of irony. This photo was taken in May of 1978, when Gacy had already murdered dozens of people. He was caught and confessed that following December, stating that he was responsible for approximately thirty murders.

Myra Hindley & Her Dog

Take one look on Instagram or any other social site and youll find a gajillion photos of people with their dogs. People posing with their lovable pets is nothing new. In fact, lets go back in time to 1963, when this photo was taken. It depicts a woman kneeling in an English moor, an adorable puppy cradled underneath her arm. Cute, right? Well, not really. This is child killer Myra Hindley, who, with her partner Ian Brady, murdered five young people in the early 1960s. In fact, this photo shows Hindley kneeling over the grave of their second victim, John Kilbride. The photo was taken by Brady at Saddleworth Moor, which is where he and Hindley took and buried their victims.

Jeffrey Franklins Smile

A young man looks over his shoulder, his eyes wide and his mouth grinning. He looks like your everyday college kid, and this photo could have easily been taken during a night on the town. But really, it was a night in a police car. You see, this is 17-year-old Jeffrey Franklin, and earlier that night he used weapons like a hatchet, a sledgehammer, and a knife to murder his parents and attack his three younger siblings. A neighbor spotted Franklin covered in blood and called 911, leading to his arrest. In this photo, Franklin is sitting in the back of the police car, and with that knowledge, those eyes suddenly become a lot more wild, and that grin a lot more diabolical.

Jennifer & Sarah Hart Pose with the Family

You can never trust what you see on social media. If you were to look on Jennifer Harts Facebook page, youd see a loving family consisting of Jennifer, her wife Sarah, and their six adopted children. The Harts presented themselves as a loving, progressive, and multiracial family, often posting curated photos like this one to their socials. But despite this positive public image, the Hart children were severely neglected, often suffering starvation and both physical and mental abuse. At one point, young Hannah Hart jumped out of her bedroom window and asked her neighbor for help, but she was quickly returned home without incident. The Hart story tragically culminated on March 26, 2018, when Jennifer drove the family off a cliff.

Rodney Alcalas Head Shot

Who is this fine-looking man, who may be asking. The movie star looks shine through the outdated fashion, and this could easily pass as a head shot for a professional actor. Unfortunately, you cant judge people solely on their looks. While this man looks put together and respectable, he's actually a heinous sex offender who may have murdered up to 130 people. He is Rodney Alcala, whom you probably know better as The Dating Game Killer owing to his infamous appearance on the game show of the same name. No one knows Alcalas true body count, but he was ultimately convicted of seven murders and was sentenced to death. However, he died of a heart attack in 2021 after decades of legal delays.

Bart Whitakers Graduation Dinner

College graduation. A huge milestone, and one certainly worth celebrating. In December 2003, Thomas Bartlett Bart Whitaker went out with his family to celebrate his graduation from Sam Houston State. One photo shows him proudly sitting with his mother and brother, and another shows him holding a celebratory dessert. However, this was all a ruse, as Whitaker had not graduated from university. Later that evening, a gunman hired by Whitaker ambushed the family inside the house, killing his mother and brother, injuring his father, and shooting Whitaker in the arm to make it look like he was a victim. Even though he did not personally fire the weapon, Whitaker was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, although this was later commuted to life in prison.

Tyler Hadley At the Party

Two young men pose at a party, one of them holding a red cup. There are billions of photos like this on social media, and no one would find this one suspicious. But what if we told you there were two dead bodies upstairs? On July 16, 2011, Tyler Hadley - the young man holding the cup - bludgeoned both of his parents to death with a hammer, then invited about sixty friends over for a party. Guests reported a funny smell inside the house, and on one occasion Hadley took his friend Michael Mandell upstairs to see their corpses. Mandell then took this photo with Hadley, keeping up a friendly ruse. He called a crime hotline later that night, and Hadley was arrested.

Ted Bundy In Court

If you had no concept of who Ted Bundy was, this photo would seem perfectly normal, maybe even intensely professional. With his nice suit, documents, and briefcase, he could be one of the millions of lawyers working across the country, intently watching a case as it unfolds. But as we know, there is way more to this story. Bundy is one of the most notorious serial killers in history, a true psychopath in every sense of the word. In this photo, he is watching the jury selection during his trial in Orlando for killing a 12-year-old girl named Kimberly Leach. Leach was Bundys final confirmed victim before he was finally caught and sentenced to death.

BTK Is a Proud Father

In this case, the graduation was real. A proud middle-aged man and his daughter pose in front of a tree, the daughter having just graduated from Kansas State University. They look like a happy family. But the father was hiding a very dark secret. This is Kerri Rawson, and her father is Dennis Rader, also known as BTK. By this point, Rader had already murdered at least ten people, his crimes stretching from 1974 to 1991. And he may have gotten away with it, as the case had gone cold by the time this photo was taken. However, he contacted the media in the mid 2000s to gloat, and police were able to trace a floppy disk directly to him, leading to his arrest.

Josef Mengele Sits Down to Eat

This photo of four people eating at a restaurant was on display in Embu, Brazil. Why? Its just an old photo of four happy people enjoying each others company and having a nice meal. Whats so interesting about that? Well, the older man on the left is Josef Mengele, the notorious Nazi doctor who conducted inhumane medical experiments at Auschwitz during World War II. Mengeles experiments were grotesque, like sewing people together to make conjoined twins and injecting chemicals into eyeballs to see if they would change color. And why was this photo in Brazil? Because thats where he spent his final years, having successfully escaped justice for decades before drowning in 1979.

Were you fooled by these photos? Let us know in the comments below!