Famous Serial Killers Who Were Aries

According to Astromix, the Aries sign of the Zodiac carries with it some highly enviable characteristics. Aries are born leaders, with a heightened sense of creativity that is only rivaled by their courageousness. This zodiac sign has had leaders ranging from Thomas Jefferson to Bill Belichick, and innovators and artists that include Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, and Maya Angelou. 

But every sign will have those born with the worst attributes. An Aries can be impulsive, insensitive, and arrogant. They can also have explosive tempers and might use their authority to exert impossible sets of double standards. Manipulation is rampant among Aries with toxic qualities, as they will be quite cunning in attempting to bend others to their will. 

As with any zodiac sign, there's going to be some bad with the good. With that in mind, it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to understand that some pretty brutal people have been born under the sign of Aries. Let's take a look at some of astrology's Rams that have gone down in history as serial killers.

Jane Toppan was a textbook case of a toxic Aries. After her mother died when Toppan was a year old, she was raised by her father, an alcoholic tailor who later went mad. According to The New England Historical Society, he sewed his own eyes shut during a fit of madness. Toppan and her middle sister were deposited at an orphanage until she was taken in as an indentured servant to a wealthy Boston family.

Toppan, like many Aries, was intelligent and driven. Not letting her station in life stop her, she studied nursing as an adult and became quite successful in her field. In both private practice and in public hospitals, her work ethic earned her the trust of many physicians. Little did they know that Toppan had a desire to kill more people than anyone who had ever lived. 

The killer nurse was later convicted of poisoning 12 victims and sent to live out the remainder of her years in an asylum. Her total death count was probably much higher, as she admitted to her attorney that she had disposed of up to 100 people. Most of her victims were in her care as a nurse.

Alexander Bychkov preyed upon some of the weakest in our world, targeting homeless men that were ravaged by alcoholism (via Murderpedia). This Aries felt that this class of person was beneath him, exhibiting the coldness and lack of compassion that can manifest in the worst of this zodiac sign. He would lie to potential victims, promising them alcohol if they would accompany him to remote areas. Bychkov would then bludgeon them to death.

With a victim count that might be as high as 11, Bychkov was apprehended in early 2012. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Keith Hunter Jesperson had the explosive temper attributed to some Aries. This serial killer was able to nab his sex worker victims during his runs as an over-the-road truck driver. One victim was strangled to death by Jesperson because he became enraged that she wouldn't let him sleep (via Biography).

Jesperson was also arrogant. He penned anonymous letters to authorities bragging about his murders and included smiley face drawings within them. The "Smiley Face Killer," as he became to be known, was eventually caught and convicted of murdering eight women. Jesperson's downfall was the discovery of his last victim, his girlfriend Julie Winningham. The almost immediate discovery of her body led investigators to the killer, who then admitted his role in the murders of multiple women.

Alexander Pichushkin rose to infamy as the "Chessboard Killer" in Russia during the early 2000s. According to Biography, Pichushkin's goal was to kill as many people as there were squares on a chessboard — 64. Thankfully, investigators were able to apprehend this killer before he was able to complete his mission. Sadly, he was still convicted of 51 murders in 2007.

His arrogance is tantamount to an Aries, as is his dismissive attitude toward the harm he had done. When questioned about his motive, he was reported to say, "For me, a life without murder is like a life without food for you." He also insisted that, while only being tried for 51 murders, he deserved credit for nearly a dozen others that could not be proven.

Herb Baumeister didn't have the look of a killer. This mild-mannered businessman from Indianapolis looked more like he'd try to sell you a life insurance policy instead of being responsible for the deaths of 11 men (via Crime Museum). The founder of a successful chain of local thrift stores, Baumeister was able to use his cunning as business acumen to lure gay men away from the bars so that he could then strangle them to death. This Aries was highly intelligent and was able to work undetected for years before he was finally apprehended.

Baumeister was never brought to justice. After a warrant was issued for his arrest, he fled to Canada where he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.