Throughout 8 seasons of Dexter and 1 season of Dexter: New Blood, Dexter Morgan has investigated and faced off against some truly despicable and deadly serial killers who have quite a collection of deaths attributed to their aliases. The most notorious serial killers in Dexter are a warning of the horrors and cruelty of those who lust for a kill, so who’s the best at what they do?
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There are so many different serial killers in Dexter, and it’s time to look back at those who managed to get away with it for the longest, and be the most successful at it to continue their reign of terror for years, if not decades.
7
Hannah McKay
The Passionate Poisoner
- Portrayed by: Yvonne Strahovski
- Modus Operandi: Poisons her victims through unsuspecting means.
Hannah McKay had a dark past when she ran off with a killer, Wayne Randall. While Hannah may have been young and impressionable, she wasn’t innocent, and it turns out that she got her taste of murder at a young age. Yet, Hannah never pursued the life of a serial killer.
What makes Hannah different from the rest is how she never killed for pleasure or because of her dark passenger, but simply because it was a way for her to survive. Hannah’s kills were to keep her alive and out of prison, and she was perhaps the only serial killer to get away with it and live a new life without the need to kill.
6
Travis Marshall
The Doomsday Killer
- Portrayed by: Colin Hanks
- Modus Operandi: Biblical-themed murders from the Book of Revelation.
Travis Marshall became a religious fanatic who was convinced that he was a messenger of God, sent to carry out his will through inspired and brutal killings from the Book of Revelation to prepare humanity for doomsday. Travis succeeded in his kills, but the reason he can’t be greater is that he never wanted to continue his spree past the final tableau.
Travis was methodical in his killings and managed to creatively showcase the brutality of his doomsday killings to indicate the end of days for humanity. What makes Travis Marshall so successful and notorious is that he really did get away with it. Despite the police being stationed everywhere, Travis was not caught, but of course, Dexter Morgan stopped him.
5
Brian Moser
The Ice Truck Killer
- Portrayed by: Christian Camargo
- Modus Operandi: Bled out his victims and then cut them into pieces.
Both born of blood and the same mother, Brian Moser proved how deep trauma runs in the Moser family. Brian Moser is Dexter’s genuine brother, who was also a serial killer. Brian Moser was born in blood just like his younger brother, and his desire to drain the blood of women and then cut them up into perfectly sliced pieces made him a dangerous sadist, but one who simply wanted to return to the life of his brother, Dexter.
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Brian Moser was able to get away with his crime for a while thanks to his identity as Rudy Cooper, a charismatic and smart man who helped to create prosthetics for injured people. Brian’s kills were careful and flawless in execution, but his desire to bring his own brother into his serial killer path was just one of the many leads that gave him away, thus resulting in a short but successful stint as a serial killer.
4
Oliver Saxon
The Brain Surgeon
- Portrayed by: Darri Ingolfsson
- Modus Operandi: Removes the back of the skull of his victims and takes out the anterior insular cortex of their frontal brain.
Oliver Saxon was able to get away with his crimes for years, considering he was officially dead. Saxon was dangerously intelligent – one of the smartest men out there, whose intellect was only bolstered by the fact that his mother was a genius therapist, Evelyn Vogel. Saxon might have been set to a mental institute after killing his brother, but faking his death by burning the place down meant that he had free rein to do what he wanted without legal records.
Saxon enjoyed killing and relished in it, with his heinous calling card being that of removing a part of the brain’s frontal lobe. While careful in every regard, Saxon was easily caught when he entered his mother’s life, filled with rage and stupidity and without the understanding of just how good Dexter Morgan could be.
3
Kurt Caldwell
The Runaway Killer
- Portrayed by: Clancy Brown
- Modus Operandi: Imprisons lonely females and then shoots them in the chest to taxidermize them as trophies.
Known as a local legend to the community of Iron Lake, Kurt Caldwell would often help the very small town that he called home. To everyone, Kurt was a hero — a man whom everyone would aspire to be and look to for help, thanks to his seemingly generous heart for young women traveling on the road. However, that was all just a front, as it turns out that Kurt was a notorious serial killer.
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Kurt was responsible for the deaths of over 30 women, targeting smaller and weaker young girls who were passing through Iron Lake. These missing persons reports would go unsolved for decades, and little did everyone know that their bodies were in a secret cabin owned by Kurt. Kurt was an evil man who relied on the trust of others and his rifle to do the job as a serial killer, but he was certainly successful at it until Dexter returned with his dark passenger.
2
Arthur Mitchell
The Trinity Killer
Portrayed by: John Lithgow
Modus Operandi: Buries young boys in cement, slices women’s femoral arteries in a bathtub, forces women to jump to their deaths, and bludgeons adult males with blunt weapons.
Known as the Trinity Killer, Arthur Mitchell was so good at his kills that the FBI refused to believe that he was even a serial killer, since he would only commit his killings in different states and cities every few years so that there could be no trace or modus operandi that was easily distinguished that couldn’t be seen as a random beating or a suicide.
Arthur Mitchell even had the perfect cover as a man of the Church who would help to build homes for the impoverished, and one who had a loving nuclear family. However, behind closed doors, Arthur Mitchell was an abusive monster, and it only took one little mistake for his decades-long crime spree to end, but not until he took the life of the wife of the man who caught him, proving his evil brilliance as a killer.
1
Dexter Morgan
The Bay Harbor Butcher
- Portrayed by: Michael C. Hall
- Modus Operandi: Sedates criminals who he believes deserve to die, then wraps them in plastic wrap, stabs them in the heart, cuts them into pieces, and dumps them in the ocean.
Could it be anyone else? When Dexter Morgan lets his dark passenger take the wheel, the criminal that he’s hunting cannot be saved by a mere prayer. Dexter knows that when tonight’s the night, someone is going to die. Dexter’s incredible talent as a serial killer comes from his childhood. The man was quite literally raised to be a killer with Harry’s Code ensuring he does everything right to not get caught.
Dexter has killed hundreds of people, but the reason he’s never (rarely) been caught is because of how methodical he is with his planning and practice. Dexter only targets those that fit the Code, meaning he will only take the life of a killer, rapist, and everything in between. As a blood spatter analyst, Dexter knows how to solve crimes, cover them up, and tamper with evidence to get the justice he wants.
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