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The horrific story of Monte Rissell, the rapist and serial killer with a genius IQ who had killed FIVE people by his teens

Monte Rissell is one of the evil characters appearing in new Netflix series Mindhunter - here we look at the troubled child who committed his first rape at 14, and had killed five women by his nineteenth birthday

MONTE Rissell's first murder came after the prostitute he was raping tried to make it "enjoyable" - and he was so angry that he chased her to her death down a ravine and bashed her skull in with a rock.

Then, to make doubly sure she was dead, he held her head under water until she had drowned.

 Monte Rissell was sentenced to five life sentences for murders he committed between 1976 and 1977
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Monte Rissell was sentenced to five life sentences for murders he committed between 1976 and 1977Credit: YouTube

Monte was just 18 when he killed his first victim in 1976, an act that was triggered by the sight of his ex-girlfriend with her new boyfriend.

He drove home to his apartment block - which would become the epicentre of five separate acts of heinous violence over the next few months - and sat in his car getting high and drunk, and growing increasingly angry.

He stole a car at gun point unaware that Aura Gabor was a sex worker.

When she tried to defuse the situation by asking him what position he wanted to have sex in, he saw red - and investigators claim that this is why she ended up dead.

 Monte in his high school yearbook - by age 14 he was already raping, robbing and stealing cars
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Monte in his high school yearbook - by age 14 he was already raping, robbing and stealing carsCredit: MONTE RISSELL

Monte told them: "She asked which way I wanted it. It's like this b***h is trying to control things.

"She took off running down the ravine. That's when I grabbed her in an arm lock. She was bigger than me.

"I started choking her...she stumbled... we rolled down the hill and into the water.

"I banged her head against the side of a rock and held her head under water."

 Monte was small for his age, but still managed to overpower grown women to rape them when he was just a teen
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Monte was small for his age, but still managed to overpower grown women to rape them when he was just a teenCredit: YOUTUBE

Monte also claimed that Aura faked several orgasms during the assault, further cementing his belief that "women are w****s".

He would go on to rape and kill another four in Alexandria, Virginia, a series of sick events triggered by a hatred for women rooted in a bad relationship with his mum.

FBI Mindhunter John Douglas claims in his book that he checked Rissell's IQ and found it to be 120, and added that he didn't see "a lot of remorse" when speaking to him in one of his behind bars interviews.

He also told investigators that he would have become a lawyer if he had been allowed to stay with his dad rather than his mum, who he despised.

Monte told police that the second victim - who he stabbed to death after raping - talked too much, and made him see red.

He said: "She wanted to know why I wanted to do this; why I picked her; didn't I have a girlfriend; what was my problem; what was I going to do."

Monte didn't kill his third victim, she was allowed to live as she told him she was caring for her cancer-stricken granddad.

Trailer drops for new Netflix serial killer show MINDHUNTER from David Fincher

Numbers four and five didn't survive, with the former being drowned and the latter stabbed more than 100 times.

He was later charged with killing and raping another victim, bringing his tally up to five.

Monte was eventually caught after a huge police operation and slapped with five life sentences in 1978.

reported that same year that Monte was penning a tell-all book about his crimes, and described the night he killed his unknown victim as if it was an into to a romance novel.

They say he penned: "It was in the late evening of Aug. 14. It was cool and breezy out, about 9 o'clock at night", which is the opposite of what the court heard about the 2.a.m. slaying.

 A more recent image of Monte taken from 2011 documentary series Robert Ressler - The Man Who Lives with Serial Killers
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A more recent image of Monte taken from 2011 documentary series Robert Ressler - The Man Who Lives with Serial KillersCredit: YOUTUBE
 Robert speaks to Monte about stabbing a woman in the back in the 2011 show
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Robert speaks to Monte about stabbing a woman in the back in the 2011 showCredit: YOUTUBE

Ten years before he attempted to publish his memoirs - they never made it past the draft stage due to new US laws stopping criminals profiting from their crimes - Monte was a troubled child.

His parents split when he was 7 and he never saw his dad again, despite pleading to live with him full-time.

Monte was small for his age, and was just 9 when he first exhibited anti-social behaviour, writing obscene graffiti on his school's walls, and shooting his cousin with an air rifle.

The latter earnt him a beating from his strict ex-military stepfather, who hit him so hard with the gun that it broke against his tiny body.

 A police mugshot of Monte taken shortly after his arrest in 1977
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A police mugshot of Monte taken shortly after his arrest in 1977Credit: YOUTUBE

Aged 12 his mum and stepdad split and Monte's crimes started to escalate, with him committing his first burglary.

The following year he was arrested for driving without a license, and when he was 14 he was arrested for stealing a car, and the rape and robbery of his neighbour, who he attacked at knife point while wearing a mask.

He was sent to a reform school where they diagnosed a multiple personality disorder and "adjustment reaction of adolescence".

Monte continued to be in and out of institutions until he was imprisoned, with his doctors unaware that he was sneaking out to rape and kill.

 Monte Rissell as he appears in episode 4 of Netflix series Mindhunter
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Monte Rissell as he appears in episode 4 of Netflix series MindhunterCredit: Netflix

However, just like Edmund Kemper, John Douglas pointed out "he was able to convince a psychiatrist he was making excellent progress while he was actually killing human beings."

Read more about Edmund Kemper, the 6'9" serial killer who raped his own mum's decapitated head.

And serial killers don't just happen in the US - Joanna Dennehy has been bragging about killing an extra victim.

 

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