Dexter's 10 Deadliest Serial Killers, Ranked By Body Count

The following article discusses fictional violence and sexual assault

From its thrilling highs to its confusing lows, "Dexter" remained one of the most arresting shows on television throughout its eight-season run thanks almost entirely to the colorful cast of serial killers that populated its fictional version of Miami, Florida. It's strange that the world of "Dexter" has not only concentrated several dozen of the strangest criminals to ever exist into one city but has multiple killers there who almost double the body count of the most deadly serial killer the country has ever seen.

To understand how wild the characters of "Dexter" truly were, we've gone over all eight seasons of the show's original run and its sequel miniseries, "Dexter: New Blood," to rank the top 10 deadliest serial killers to appear on the show. This includes all of its most dangerous and memorable characters, from those sociopaths who took lives through the manipulation of others to the lethal Bay Harbor Butcher himself — it does not, however, include drug dealers or any other "accidental" killers. Though the sheer volume of prolific mass murderers would realistically make Miami pretty much uninhabitable, their presence made Vice City a hotbed for some of the most shocking (and often absurd) stories ever to come out of the crime genre.

Total Body Count: 13

Status: Killed by Lumen Pierce

Most Brutal Kill: Beat Emily Birch to death with a fireplace poker

Though multiple "Dexter" serial killers posted a very unlucky 13 kills before ending up on his table, only one did so almost entirely by proxy — Eugene Greer, better known as the renowned motivational speaker Jordan Chase (Jonny Lee Miller) and the overarching antagonist of Season 5.

Having grown up with deep-seated insecurities relating to his weight and confidence, Jordan overcame them by embracing his own psychopathic tendencies while also nurturing them in his closest childhood friends — a group of varyingly successful men eventually referred to as the "Barrel Girl Gang." They earned this moniker because 12 of their 14 victims — all women who were tortured and ritualistically sexually assaulted by them at Jordan's behest — were killed and left in barrels. Jordan's friend Boyd Fowler (Shawn Hatosy) would trap them in the steel drums, practically drown them in formaldehyde, and send an electric current through the container, killing them. They would then be dumped in some Floridian swamp, never to be found.

Despite ordering all 12 murders and playing an active role in them, Jordan only directly kills Emily Birch, the very first victim of the gang who developed something akin to Stockholm syndrome over the years that followed. Despite her supporting Jordan (who publicly wore a necklace containing a sample of her blood), he kills her using a fireplace poker. He is soon after killed himself by his only other surviving victim, Lumen Pierce (Julia Stiles), acting under the guidance of Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall).

Total Body Count: 13

Status: Killed by Dexter Morgan

Most Brutal Kill: Hacked Rafael Arenas with a machete

There's nothing "little" about Little Chino Gonzales (Matthew J. Willig). The top enforcer for the fictional 29th Street Kings stands out from other entries on this list for his imposing stature, standing at nearly 7 feet tall and weighing over 270 pounds. Indeed, he doesn't look much like a typical serial killer, and purists might classify him as something adjacent due to the occupational nature of his violent acts. As far as we're concerned, however, anyone with over a dozen lives on their conscience certainly fits the bill.

Chino has a two-episode arc at the beginning of Season 2, kicking off what many consider to be the best season of "Dexter.". The titular character, still reeling from the return and subsequent murder of his long-lost brother, fails to kill Chino after he brutally slaughters 18-year-old Rafael Arenas. This makes him one of maybe six people on the entire series to escape the table of Dexter Morgan — as well as the only one to do so without Dexter's consent.

Dexter thus spends the next several days trying to kill Chino before he either escapes or is apprehended by the Miami Metro Police Department. Despite a few hiccups and near-misses, Chino does finally wind up back on the table and is stabbed by Dexter with his signature machete.

Total Body Count: 13

Status: Killed by Dexter Morgan

Most Brutal Kill: Disemboweled Omar Rivera with a sword — then filled him with live snakes

One of Colin Hanks' earliest leading roles, Travis Marshall is a cut above most other "Dexter" villains — even if he's tied for last place on our list. This compelling and tragic killer (the central antagonist of "Dexter" Season 6, the season with the series' highest body count) was burdened by delusions from a young age, eventually leading him to kill his own parents by forcibly driving their car off of a road.

As Travis grew older, he became more interested in theology, which caused his delusions to take on religious underpinnings. His obsession eventually led him to believe that he and his college mentor — theoretical theologist James Geller (Edward James Olmos) — were chosen disciples of God meant to usher in the apocalypse. In order to prove their divine anointment, he attempted to demonstrate their religious protection by stabbing Professor Geller with a ceremonial blade — which, as you might expect, just killed him instead.

Unable to accept either his crimes or his delusions, Travis instead began hallucinating that Professor Geller was alive and helping him orchestrate a series of ritual killings meant to herald The End. By the end of his season, he has killed 10 more people, many of whom are prepared in the fashion of a religious tableau. One of the victims, Omar Rivera, has live snakes sewn into his body before he's finally disposed of. After attempting to murder Dexter Morgan's son Harrison to complete the ritual, Dexter takes Travis to a church and sends him to the great beyond with a knife to the chest.

Total Body Count: 16

Status: Killed by Dexter Morgan

Most Brutal Kill: Clumsily ambushed Rosalia Davalos and mutilated her teeth

It's impressive that Walter Kenney (Ronny Cox) — aka the Tooth Fairy Killer — made it onto this list despite having less screen time than most other killers on the series. He has somewhat of an advantage, however, given that he had a few decades on his peers as well.

In "Dexter" Season 6, Episode 3, "Smokey and the Bandit" (the only episode to feature the character), Walter is said to have been a prolific serial killer in the 1980s. He somehow avoided capture and managed to retire, blending in with the eccentric elderly community in Florida. After enjoying the Sunshine State for a few years, boredom starts to overcome him and he decides impulsively to go for another kill, clumsily ambushing a sex worker named Rosalia Davalos in a parking lot. He kills her near his home, struggles to finish the job due to his advanced age and health issues, and is too weak to collect his customary trophy of a tooth. To cap it all off, he drunkenly abandons Rosalia's body on the lawn of the local sheriff.

Though he gives Dexter Morgan a bit of a chase, Walter eventually finds himself facing the Butcher's knife. However, Dexter chooses to stage Walter's death as him succumbing to age, smothering him with a pillow and ensuring that Walter's family would never be burdened with the knowledge of his double life. Though he may not have provided one of the best episodes of "Dexter," his body count alone makes him worthy of being included here.

Total Body Count: 16

Status: Killed by Dexter Morgan

Most Brutal Kill: Shot a paper target at a firing range

Hitman Oleg Mickic (Karl Herlinger) is remarkable only because he earned a spot on this list while not actually killing a single person in his one appearance on "Dexter." During Season 7, Dexter Morgan becomes embroiled in conflict with the Koshka Brotherhood (a Russian organized criminal enterprise) after he murders the lover of the group's leader, Isaak Sirko (played by the late Ray Stevenson). Isaak's vengeful antics place him in the group's crosshairs as well, leading him to call a temporary and involuntary truce with Dexter, by way of kidnapping his girlfriend and holding her hostage until he takes care of the Brotherhood's hired guns.

Dexter goes after Oleg first, who owes his high body count to his skills with sniper rifles. Isaak informs Dexter of the exact procedure Oleg follows when preparing for a kill, allowing Dexter to track him down to a firing range — where he almost instantly sneaks up on and kills him in the middle of a practice shot. He even uses the sound of the gun firing as cover.

Total Body Count: 19

Status: Killed by Dexter Morgan

Most Brutal Kill: Dismembered Monique and wrapped her remains up like Christmas presents

With "Dexter" back to streaming on Netflix, many new fans have gotten the chance to experience the twists of its first season for themselves. The reveal that the enigmatic Ice Truck Killer (so named for driving around Miami in said vehicle while dismembering his victims and giving them a complete phlebotomy) is actually Debra Morgan's (Jennifer Carpenter) quiet doctor boyfriend Rudy was jaw-dropping enough — only for the show to slash expectations further by revealing that he's Dexter Morgan's biological brother, Brian Moser.

The two boys were left in a shipping container as children, wherein their mother was killed in front of them in retaliation for becoming a police informant. While Dexter was taken in by Harry Morgan (James Remar), Brian was left to the system, where he developed the same psychopathic tendencies as Dexter but without any kind of guidance. Both boys spent most of their lives feeling completely alone, though this pain was briefly alleviated when Brian tracked Dexter down to Miami. His killing spree as the Ice Truck Killer was largely meant to entice Dexter and coax out of him a Dark Passenger closer to his own. One free of morals and codes, instead based on the innate bloodlust they shared.

But when Brian attempts to force Dexter into killing Debra, he unknowingly cements Dexter's decision to kill him instead. He's murdered in his killing apparatus, staged by Dexter to look like a death by suicide to cover his tracks.

Total Body Count: 25+

Status: Killed by Dexter Morgan

Most Brutal Kill: Vivisected Zach Hamilton's brain

Even if the final season of "Dexter" wasn't exactly the send-off most fans were hoping for, it at least managed to provide Dexter Morgan with his most dangerous foe yet in Oliver Saxon (Darri Ingólfsson). Other overarching villains operated in very human ways, often with tragic backstories that made them somewhat empathetic. Oliver, on the other hand, is evil incarnate, a force of nature who's unlike anything Dexter or the fans had experienced up until that point.

He's even responsible for the bounds that keep Dexter from becoming as lethal as he is, seeing as his obvious psychopathic behavior forced his own mother to devote her life to studying human psychology — which ultimately resulted in her crossing paths with Harry Morgan and providing the very code Dexter would build his identity around. This same mother sent Oliver (birth name Daniel Vogel) to a harsh psychiatric facility after he killed his brother, though this ultimately turned out to be his gateway to starting a new life of traveling the world and killing with impunity. The first step was escaping the facility, which he did by staging a fire that killed several children, one of whom was presumed by authorities to be him.

Though his confirmed kills top out at 25, it is heavily implied that he killed many more during the years after his escape — it wouldn't be out of line to theorize his actual body count eclipses Dexter's. However, for the purposes of this list, even just his confirmed kills are enough for a Top 5 spot. He earned the nickname "The Brain Surgeon" due to his signature calling card of removing pieces of his victims' brains. In at least one case, he performed this gruesome procedure on a live victim using a buzzsaw.

Total Body Count: 32

Status: Killed by Dexter Morgan

Most Brutal Kill: Shot Chloe in the face with a rifle

Seeing as the original series lost its way toward the end, it was a welcome surprise when it was announced that "Dexter: New Blood" would provide a potentially more fitting end to the saga of Dexter Morgan. Sequel series villain Kurt Caldwell obviously needed to represent a major threat, and while actor Clancy Brown certainly lends the character gravitas, he also benefits from a padded resume that boasts nearly three dozen kills.

Outwardly the congenial patriarch of the small Upstate New York town of Iron Lake, Kurt is secretly a deeply disturbed serial killer who targets vulnerable young people. According to him, he does so because he feels a responsibility to protect runaways from the coldness of life –  naturally by killing them. Sound logic aside, it's worth considering the alternate possibility that Kurt is psychologically scarred by both his violent father and his impulsive murder of a hitchhiker, and he kills these young girls as a way of asserting dominance over portions of his mind that he's ashamed and/or scared of. (It's also probably not a coincidence that his own son is heavily implied to be a chip off the old block, having "accidentally" killed five people in a boating collision before being taken out by Dexter.) 

Either way, Kurt would entice runaways with kindness and resources, only to force them to run from him so he could shoot them in the back — which had the added benefit of keeping their bodies intact for mummification.

Total Body Count: 178

Status: Died by assisted suicide, shot by Harrison Morgan

Most Brutal Kill: Bashed Arthur Mitchell's head in with a hammer claw

Given that his kills are the best-documented set on the series, it may be shocking to see that Dexter Morgan is not the deadliest serial killer on the show that bears his name. (Hopefully, he doesn't take that personally, lest the writer of this piece wake up tomorrow covered in Saran Wrap.)

Few shows have dared to take the antihero concept to such an extreme, and it's perhaps the questionable admiration for its protagonist's brand of vigilante justice that allowed "Dexter" to do so for eight seasons. When you strip away the flimsy utilitarian logic that gets thrown around the Miami Metro Police Department, Dexter is a ruthless and remorseless murderer whose crimes rank him among the most vile characters in television history. This is a huge reason why some fans were upset that Dexter was able to avoid a meaningful level of justice by the series finale for the lives he destroyed (though his survival was, at least, apparently a mandate handed down from Showtime themselves).

Carefully following the code of his surrogate father, Harry Morgan, Dexter mostly kills criminals who have killed before and are in verifiable danger of killing again. Though he usually does this in a fairly clinical manner, there were times when he would break from his ritual to fully express the inhuman rage within him — such as when he destroyed Arthur Mitchell's skull with the claw-end of a hammer. Some may see him as some kind of savior, but it's obvious from the pleasure he derives from these acts that he's an irredeemable serial killer just like everyone else on this list.

Total Body Count: 285

Status: Killed by Dexter Morgan

Most Brutal Kill: Bled Rita Morgan out in a bathtub in front of her infant son

John Lithgow originally passed on playing the Trinity Killer in "Dexter" Season 4. Though he has never specified exactly what his concerns were when the series' producers sat him down in a clandestine Hollywood meeting to explain the tragically horrific tale of Arthur Mitchell, the character is one of the show's most memorable and disturbing overarching villains. This is due both to Lithgow's irreplaceable performance and Arthur's somehow uniquely horrible characterization.

When he was just a boy, Arthur lost his sister, mother, and father in relatively quick succession — his sister by accident, his mother by suicide, and his father by murder. Because of this, he eventually began ritualistically killing scores of people in a cyclical pattern. He starts by burying a young boy alive (allowing Arthur to mourn the death of who he was before he lost his family), then bleeds a young woman out in a bathtub (a loose recreation of his sister's death, which he feels indirectly responsible for due to accidentally scaring her in the shower), and follows this by forcing a mother to jump from a great height (recreating his mother's death by suicide).

The cycle ends with Arthur recreating what may have been his first kill — the deadly beating of his own father, who used to beat and abuse Arthur as a child. By the time Dexter Morgan finally puts an end to Arthur's cycle of violence, he has killed nearly 300 people (including Dexter's wife, Rita), more than three times the body count of America's supposed most prolific serial killer, Samuel Little.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault or is struggling or in crisis, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

• Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.