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True crime has always been a hot topic, but thanks to Netflix documentaries, podcasts, and YouTube series dedicated to criminals, the genre has exploded. More and more people are interested in peering into the psyche of these deranged individuals and why they did these infamous acts.
24/7 Wall St. got curious about which criminals or crimes left a permanent mark on each state's history. Researchers combed through FBI data and media sources to determine their picks. They also considered "tragic or devastating" impacts, including but not limited to loss of life.
According to the website, Gerard John Schaefer committed the most heinous crimes in Florida's history. This is what he did:
"Gerard John Schaefer was a sheriff’s deputy, gaining his job with a forged letter of recommendation, when he abducted two teenage girls, tied them to trees, and threatened to rape and murder them. He was called back to the station, though, where he told officers that he had tied the girls up to teach them a lesson. They were rescued and Schaefer was sentenced to a year in jail in December 1972. Earlier that year, though, another two teenage girls hadn’t so lucky. Though their bodies weren’t discovered until April 1973, 16-year-old Georgia Jessup and 17-year-old Susan Price had been bound and butchered by Schaefer the previous September. He was eventually arrested and convicted of the murders, but he was also linked to at least nine other murders and disappearances and perhaps as many as 28. Given a life sentence for the Jessup and Price killings, Schaefer was stabbed to death in prison by another inmate at age 49."