10 Serial Killers Who Worshipped Satan

Dyonathan Celestrino, The Cross Maniac

The spiritual and religious history of Brazil isn’t without its dark side, an esoteric underbelly that could easily feed the desires of someone like Dyonathan Celestrino. This Brazilian serial killer became known as The Cross Maniac, as well as DOG HELL 666, the latter of which was in reference to his profile on a Google-owned social media site known as Orkut. Celestrino actually believed himself to be performing in the interest of God when he murdered three people in close succession back in 2008. Catalino Gardena, Letícia Neves de Oliveira and Gleice Kelly da Silva all fell to The Cross Maniac between July and October of that year, with their bodies being dumped in abandoned lots or cemeteries near the municipality of Rio Brilhante.

Themba Vilakazi, The Railway Killer

Sources differ as to how much an interest in Satanism permeated the murders committed by South African Themba Vilakazi back between the years of 2005 and 2012. This is despite Vilakazi receiving tattoos on his forehead that read both “satanic” and “666,” the latter of which went on to become a moniker for Vilakazi, alongside another, perhaps more infamous one: The Railway Killer. No less than three victims are attributed to The Railway Killer’s activity, with a number of other unsolved murders being tenuously linked to Vilakazi in a circumstantial context. The confirmed deaths were all of black men, while Vilakazi’s methodology was vicious and often motivated by sexual violence.

Peter Niers

Peter Niers’ crimes were committed in the 16th century, so we’ll likely never know how many of the alleged 544 victims can be legitimately tied to him. Niers confessed to this astonishing amount under torture, although there remains little doubt that this German serial killer wasn’t the nicest of men. The murder ballads and folk tales that emerged during Niers’ activity have led to his legend as this sort of occultist who engaged in black magic and cannibalism. The songs of his crimes read like the most morbid of bedtime stories, involving everything from infant sacrifice to satanic ritual. His execution was also most gruesome, having endured boiling oil and the Catherine Wheel prior to being quartered alive.

Sean Sellers

The execution of Sean Sellers in 1999 made history as the first in thirty years to be performed on someone convicted of a crime while under the age of seventeen. Sellers actually claimed to be possessed by a demon when he murdered a local Circle K clerk in 1985 as well as his mother and stepfather in 1986. His case was just one example of the Satanic Panic that was rising during the cultural zeitgeist of the 1980s, since Sellers’ defense initially attempted to blame the influence of Dungeons & Dragons for their client’s actions. It was a demon named Ezurate that reportedly guided Sean Sellers actions as a teenager, although the convicted killer would eventually convert to Christianity while incarcerated.

Robin Gecht & The Ripper Crew

Their merciless crime spree made headlines not only in the Chicagoland area, but across the United States. The Ripper Crew, led by Robin Gecht, were ultimately convicted of six murders, although their morbid legacy has been extended to include eighteen total suspicions over the course of just over a year of deadly activity during the early 1980s. Their victims were said to have been dismembered, with specific body parts utilized for satanic rituals supervised by Gecht. The Ripper Crew were eventually caught, however, with one member, Andrew Kokoraleis, receiving the death penalty in 1999. Gecht, meanwhile, remains incarcerated at the time of this writing, as does Edward Spreitzer.

Adolfo Constanzo

They were known as Los Narcosatánicos, a gang that operated more like a cult; one that was headed by Cuban-American Adolfo Constanzo and his girlfriend Sara Aldrete. Constanzo’s followers were said to have participated in black magic rituals and animal sacrifice, before eventually aligning themselves with Mexican drug cartels, as well as the corruptible elements present within that country’s police force. Constanzo, Aldrete and Los Narcosatánicos didn’t stop at killing animals, however, and would eventually turn their murderous attention to human beings, including American tourist Mark Kilroy. It’s been said that Constanzo’s cult was involved in organ harvesting during their late ‘80s period of activity, although their leader would eventually be shot by his associates during a standoff with police.

Tomás Maldonado Cera, The Satanist

The moniker of this Colombian serial killer was succinct and straight-to-the-point. Tomás Maldonado Cera was known to the authorities, public and press simply as The Satanist back during his era of activity between 2002 and 2018. Between seven and ten victims have been attributed to Cera during this time, bodies that were found in varied states of mutilation and with certain occult symbols carved into their flesh. Cera also seemed to target members of Colombia’s LGBTQIA+ community, although this doesn’t seem to have historically been the sole motivating factor in Cera’s spree of assault and murder. Thankfully that spree came to an end with The Satanist’s arrest in 2019.

Luis Garavito

The crimes of Luis Garavito are the sort of nightmarish monstrosity that’s difficult to believe could exist within our rational world. He was sometimes known as “The Beast,” a serial killer and necrophile with a reported victim list that spread into the hundreds, resulting in 142 convictions. Garavito repeated the cycle of abuse that was tragically inflicted upon him at a young age to victims throughout the countries of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. His behavior became increasingly prolific and disturbing, including a period during the nineties where Garavito claimed demonic influence shifted his modus operandi from abuse to murder. Blood sacrifices of innocent lives tried to satiate Luis Garavito’s perverse and unholy hunger for evil.

The Beasts of Satan

If “The Beasts of Satan” sounds like the name of a heavy metal band, you’re not actually far off from the truth. Mario Maccione was active within Italy’s metal scene, alongside one of his victims, Fabio Tollis. This served to set the stage for what would become a headline-grabbing crime spree of metal, murder and mayhem. Tollis and an acquaintance, Chiara Marino, were murdered by Maccione’s group of killers, The Beasts of Satan, who targeted their circle of friends for crimes inspired by the occult. Mariangela Pezzotta, a former girlfriend of member Andrea Volpe, would also fall victim to their attacks. Meanwhile, members of the group, including Maccione, have since been released from custody, speaking publicly to their time as criminals.

Richard Ramirez, The Night Stalker

It’s a voice and image that’s become almost indelibly linked with 1980s true crime, an infamous satanically-inspired serial killer that was said to be nothing less than “pure evil.” Richard Ramirez, also known as The Night Stalker, cultivated a public image of inverted pentagrams and occult-motivated rhetoric spouted off during many darkly memorable interviews. Ramirez suffered an extraordinary amount of abuse as a child, trauma that would eventually contribute to The Night Stalker’s Californian reign of terror of over fifteen victims. He would be found guilty on all of the forty-three charges levied against him, including both first and second degree murder, dying in custody while awaiting the death penalty in 2013.

What are your thoughts on the fetishization of true crime killers and their troubling legacies? Let us know in the comments.