10 Most Gruesome Body Disposal Methods Used by Serial Killers

Killing is one part of the horror—how killers dispose of the evidence is often even more shocking. Below are ten of the most disturbing and creative ways killers have hidden or shredded their victims.

10. Dissolving in Acid

John George Haigh, infamously known as the “Acid Bath Murderer,” was a British serial killer active in the 1940s who believed he could literally dissolve his crimes. Haigh murdered at least six victims by luring them to a workshop where he shot or bludgeoned them, then placed their bodies into large containers filled with concentrated sulphuric acid. He waited for the remains to liquefy before pouring the sludge down a drain, convinced that without a body, he couldn’t be convicted.

His confidence in this legal loophole proved misguided, as forensic evidence and missing persons reports tied him to the murders. Haigh’s grisly confession, including claims of drinking his victims’ blood, cemented his legacy as one of Britain’s most chilling and calculating killers. He was convicted and executed by hanging in 1949.

9. Grinding into Meat & Selling as Pork

Robert Pickton, known as the “Pig Farmer Killer,” is one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers. Operating out of his family’s pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Pickton lured vulnerable women—many from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside—under the guise of drugs or parties.

Between 1983 and 2002, he murdered and dismembered his victims, then disposed of their remains by feeding them to pigs or processing them through meat grinders. Some reports suggest he mixed human flesh with pork and may have distributed it to the public. Pickton confessed to killing 49 women and claimed he wanted to make it an even 50.

Despite the disturbing nature of his crimes, investigative failures allowed him to operate for nearly two decades. He was eventually convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 25 years—the maximum sentence available in Canada at the time.

8. Feeding to Animals

From pigs to dogs, many serial killers have shockingly turned to animals as a method of disposing of human remains. This gruesome tactic not only helped them eliminate evidence but also added a disturbing layer of psychological depravity to their crimes. British killer Dennis Nilsen, for instance, dismembered his victims and attempted to dispose of flesh by boiling it—allegedly planning to feed it to neighborhood animals.

Ted Bundy, one of America’s most infamous murderers, confessed to dumping bodies in remote areas, knowing that wildlife would consume the remains and reduce the chances of discovery.

But perhaps one of the most extreme and bizarre examples is Leonarda Cianciulli, the Italian serial killer known as the “Soap-Maker of Correggio.” In the 1930s and 1940s, Cianciulli murdered three women and turned their bodies into soap and tea cakes, which she fed not only to guests but also to her own family and pets.

She believed her ritualistic killings and use of human remains would protect her son during World War II. Her case remains one of the most morbid intersections of superstition, murder, and cannibalistic disposal in history.

7. Feeding to Alligators

Joe “The Alligator Man” Ball was a saloon owner in 1930s Texas whose gruesome legend continues to shock to this day. After Prohibition ended, Ball opened a tavern in Elmendorf and sought a unique way to draw in customers—he constructed a concrete pit behind the bar and filled it with live alligators, turning them into a grotesque sideshow attraction. Patrons were reportedly entertained by watching the alligators devour raw meat, sometimes even live animals.

But rumors soon spread that Ball’s appetite for violence extended far beyond mere spectacle. Several women connected to him—including former girlfriends, barmaids, and even his wife—vanished under mysterious circumstances. When investigators eventually closed in, Ball shot himself before he could be arrested. In the aftermath, police discovered grisly evidence, including an axe stained with blood and hair, and decomposing meat around the gator pit.

Though no definitive remains of human bodies were recovered from the pit, multiple witnesses claimed Ball used his alligators to dispose of murdered victims, earning him the chilling moniker “The Alligator Man.”

6. Burning or Boiling

Burning and boiling bodies to destroy evidence has long been a method employed by some of the most cold-blooded killers, as it serves both to mutilate the remains and to hinder identification. Dennis Nilsen, one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, used boiling water to remove flesh from his victims’ bones, often cooking body parts on his stove in an attempt to reduce them to a more disposable form. He then flushed softened remains down the toilet or stored them around his flat.

Similarly, Japanese murderer Futoshi Matsunaga used even more sadistic means—after torturing and killing his victims, he forced others to participate in disposing of the bodies by boiling them in large metal drums, reducing them to sludge and bone fragments. This horrifying method was not only a way to eliminate physical evidence but also a tool of psychological dominance and control over his accomplices.

5. Feeding Victims to Other Captives

Gary Heidnik was a twisted and sadistic serial killer whose crimes in the late 1980s horrified even seasoned investigators. Operating out of his home in Philadelphia, Heidnik abducted six women and held them captive in a makeshift dungeon in his basement. There, he subjected them to prolonged torture, beatings, starvation, and psychological abuse. Heidnik’s most disturbing act came after he murdered one of the women—he dismembered her body, cooked parts of the flesh, and mixed it with dog food to feed to the remaining captives. His cruelty was so extreme that FBI profiler John Douglas cited Heidnik as being even more depraved than fictional characters like Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs.

Heidnik believed he was building a “family” of obedient women, but his sadistic control unraveled when one of his victims convinced him to let her go temporarily, only to escape and alert police. Her courage brought an end to Heidnik’s reign of terror, and he was later executed by lethal injection in 1999.

4. Mass Graves & Ravines

Luis Garavito, infamously nicknamed “La Bestia” (The Beast), was one of the most prolific serial killers in history, targeting vulnerable boys in Colombia throughout the 1990s. Disguising himself as various authority figures, Garavito lured young victims—often street children or orphans—into secluded areas where he tortured, raped, and murdered them. He then disposed of their bodies in mass graves, abandoned fields, and ravines across the country. In one of the most chilling discoveries, authorities uncovered a mass grave in a ravine near Pereira containing the remains of 25 children, initially believed to be the work of a satanic cult.

Meanwhile, across the globe, another monstrous figure, John Wayne Gacy, operated with similar horror in the United States during the 1970s. Gacy lured young men and boys to his home, murdered them, and buried at least 26 bodies in the crawlspace beneath his suburban Chicago house. When he ran out of space, he began dumping the remaining victims into the Des Plaines River.

3. Hiding Remains in Walls & Flooring

John Christie was a British serial killer whose crimes during the 1940s and early 1950s shocked post-war London. Living at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, Christie murdered at least six women, including his own wife, using gas to render his victims unconscious before strangling them. Initially, he buried two of his early victims in the garden behind the house, but as he continued to kill, he began concealing bodies within the walls and under the floorboards of his home.

He even placed the bodies of three women—Rita Nelson, Kathleen Maloney, and Hectorina MacLennan—inside a small, bricked-off alcove in the kitchen. As the decomposition advanced, an overwhelming stench permeated the house, eventually alerting new tenants after Christie had fled the property. Upon investigation, police discovered the hidden bodies as well as the remains of his wife, Ethel, buried beneath the floorboards in the parlor.

Christie’s methodical concealment and calm demeanor had previously allowed him to evade suspicion, even leading to the wrongful execution of Timothy Evans, a neighbor falsely accused of one of the murders. Christie’s eventual arrest and confession exposed both his crimes and the systemic failures of British justice at the time.

2. Discarding via Sewers or Waterways

Some serial killers have attempted to conceal their crimes by discarding remains in bodies of water or sewer systems, hoping the elements and wildlife would erase any trace of evidence. This method often served as a desperate or pragmatic choice when traditional hiding places became too risky. The Cleveland Torso Murderer, an unidentified killer active during the 1930s, dismembered his victims and disposed of the body parts in Kingsbury Run, a desolate area near the city’s industrial zone. The murderer’s ability to evade capture, despite numerous victims washing up along the riverbanks, turned the case into one of America’s most baffling unsolved mysteries.

Decades later, John Wayne Gacy employed a similar tactic when the crawlspace under his home became full—he resorted to dumping at least five victims into the Des Plaines River. Gacy believed that water would carry the bodies far from the crime scene and destroy forensic evidence, but one victim’s discovery downstream ultimately helped lead authorities back to him.

1. Dismembering & Bagging

Patrick Kearney, notoriously dubbed the “Trash Bag Killer,” was a calculating and methodical murderer who operated across California and neighboring states during the 1970s. He targeted young men and boys, often luring them into his vehicle before shooting them and engaging in acts of necrophilia. Kearney then dismembered his victims with surgical precision, placed the remains in industrial trash bags, and dumped them along highways, remote desert roads, and landfills—locations chosen specifically to delay discovery and identification.

His use of garbage bags earned him his grim nickname and reflected his cold, clinical approach to disposal. Unlike impulsive killers, Kearney meticulously cleaned his crime scenes and minimized evidence, which contributed to his long evasion of law enforcement. Other murderers have taken similarly extreme steps to eliminate bodies, utilizing machinery such as car crushers, wood chippers, or industrial meat grinders to destroy physical remains.