10 Horrifying Things Killers Did to Bodies After Death

Most murders are horrifying enough on their own. But in some of the darkest criminal cases, what happened after the victim died was even worse. Some killers didn’t stop at taking a life—they mutilated, preserved, posed, or desecrated the bodies in ways that defy belief.

This list looks at 10 real-life cases where murder was just the beginning and the horrendous acts that followed.

10. Dissolving Victims in Acid

John Haigh, infamously known as the “Acid Bath Murderer,” was a British serial killer who operated in the 1940s with a chillingly calculated method. He lured wealthy victims to isolated locations, murdered them—often by shooting—and then attempted to erase all traces by dissolving their bodies in concentrated sulfuric acid. Haigh believed that without a body, there could be no murder charge, and he went as far as forging documents to steal his victims’ assets.

For a time, his macabre method seemed to work. However, investigators eventually uncovered physical evidence in his workshop, including body fat, gallstones, and dentures that had survived the acid, which were enough to convict him.

9. Freezing and Boiling Skeletal Remains

Jeffrey Dahmer, one of America’s most notorious serial killers, committed a series of grotesque murders between 1978 and 1991. Beyond killing his victims, Dahmer was obsessed with preserving parts of their bodies, particularly bones and skulls. After murdering his victims, he would often freeze their remains before boiling the bodies to remove the flesh. He then soaked the bones in acid to further clean and preserve them.

In some cases, Dahmer painted the skulls and kept them as macabre trophies, carefully arranging them in his apartment alongside other remains. His goal, he later admitted, was to create a personal shrine—a collection of body parts that he could control, admire, and possess.

8. Injecting Acid Directly into the Skull

In one of the most messed-up aspects of his crimes, Jeffrey Dahmer attempted to create what he called “living zombies”—victims who would be alive but completely under his control. To achieve this, he drilled holes into the skulls of unconscious men and injected hydrochloric acid or boiling water directly into their brains. Dahmer believed this method would destroy certain areas of the brain while keeping his victims physically functional and submissive. Instead, the experiments caused excruciating pain, massive brain damage, and, inevitably, death.

7. Necrophilia and Cannibalism

Patrick Kearney, infamously nicknamed the “Trash Bag Killer,” was an American serial killer active during the 1970s. He targeted young men, often killing them with a gunshot to the head before engaging in acts of necrophilia. Kearney would then dismember or, in some cases, partially cook the bodies, placing the remains into industrial trash bags, which he scattered along highways in California and nearby states.

Across the globe, Tsutomu Miyazaki, a Japanese serial killer active in the late 1980s, exhibited even more horrifying behavior. Miyazaki mutilated and killed young girls, then committed necrophilic acts on their corpses. His crimes escalated into cannibalism—he consumed parts of his victims’ hands and drank their blood. In a chilling effort to further torment the victims’ families, Miyazaki burned their bones, ground the ashes into powder, and mailed the remains to their homes along with letters detailing what he had done.

6. Living with the Dead for Years

Virginia McCullough carried out a chilling crime by killing her elderly parents and hiding their bodies inside the family home. Rather than disposing of the remains, she constructed tomb-like enclosures inside the house, where she kept the corpses hidden for nearly four years.

During that time, McCullough went to great lengths to maintain the illusion that her parents were still alive. She forged documents, sent fake messages, and impersonated them in phone calls—all in a calculated effort to continue collecting their pension payments and other financial benefits. The deception only came to light after a welfare check led authorities to the grisly discovery.

5. Sexual Abuse of Corpses

David Fuller, a British hospital electrician, committed one of the most horrifying and prolonged acts of necrophilia ever uncovered in the UK. Over more than a decade, Fuller used his access to hospital morgues to sexually abuse the bodies of over 100 deceased women, some of whom were as young as nine and others as old as 100. His crimes went unnoticed for years, enabled by shockingly lax security measures and a lack of oversight within the mortuary system.

It was only after he was arrested in connection with two unsolved murders from the 1980s that investigators uncovered a massive archive of photographs and videos documenting his abuse of corpses. The revelations sparked national outrage and led to a formal inquiry into hospital practices and mortuary security, exposing critical failings in institutional safeguards.

4. Burial in Crawl Spaces and Bathtubs

John Wayne Gacy, one of the most infamous serial killers in American history, lured young men and boys to his home under the guise of offering work or friendship before sexually assaulting and murdering them. Rather than disposing of the bodies elsewhere, Gacy buried 26 of his victims beneath his suburban Chicago home, stacking them in the narrow crawl space beneath the floorboards. In some cases, he temporarily stored bodies under his bed until he could make room below. To mask the smell and accelerate decomposition, he used quicklime on the remains. Gacy’s crimes went undetected for years, as he maintained the appearance of a friendly neighborhood contractor and even performed at children’s parties as a clown.

In a similarly macabre display of post-mortem staging, British killer Andrew Dawson—nicknamed the “Angel of Mercy”—targeted elderly individuals in what he claimed were mercy killings. After murdering his victims, Dawson left their bodies submerged in bleach-filled bathtubs, presumably to slow decay or eliminate forensic evidence. In a bizarre and haunting detail, he also placed a single rose at the scene, suggesting either a ritualistic element or a twisted form of tribute.

3. Keeping and Flaunting Body Parts

Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes went far beyond murder, delving into a level of obsession and depravity that shocked even seasoned investigators. After killing his victims, Dahmer kept various body parts—most often heads, hands, and genitals—as personal trophies. He meticulously cleaned and preserved them, often arranging them in his apartment in shrine-like displays. In some cases, he posed the body parts for photographs, which he kept as souvenirs of his killings. He was also known to talk to the severed heads, treating them as if they were still alive—an unsettling reflection of his deep psychological need for control and companionship.

Similarly disturbing was the behavior of Edmund Kemper, another notorious American serial killer, who murdered his victims with methodical cruelty. In one case, he dismembered a victim in his mother’s bathtub, then retained her severed head for several days. During that time, Kemper engaged in necrophilic acts with the head before eventually burying it in the garden.

2. Posing Corpses for Effect

Gary Ridgway, known as the “Green River Killer,” was one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history, responsible for the deaths of at least 49 women—though he later claimed the number was closer to 70. His crimes, committed primarily during the 1980s and 1990s, often involved sex workers and vulnerable young women whom he lured into his vehicle before strangling them. After the murders, Ridgway would dump their bodies in remote, wooded areas near the Green River in Washington State. In some instances, he posed the nude corpses in specific positions, and he would return to the sites days—or even weeks—later to engage in necrophilic acts with the decomposing remains. To further confuse investigators and delay identification, Ridgway scattered personal items belonging to the victims, such as jewelry or clothing, across different locations.

1. Boiling, Pulverizing, and Powdering Bones

Jeffrey Dahmer’s obsession with human remains extended beyond collecting body parts—he experimented with various methods of preservation and destruction as he searched for the perfect way to keep his victims with him. In one case, after preserving a skull for some time, Dahmer grew frustrated with its condition and ultimately pulverized it. He later refined his process by boiling skulls to remove tissue, then bleaching them in an attempt to preserve their appearance. In some instances, he ground bones into a fine powder, treating the remains almost like raw materials for a private, macabre ritual. Dahmer kept these items—skulls, bones, and even jars of organs—in his apartment long after the killings, surrounding himself with constant reminders of his victims.