10 Brutal Killers Who Dismembered Their Victims While They Were Still Alive

Killers aren't known for their sensitivity, but there's something truly horrific about murders who inflict severe pain on their victims while they're still alive. Some truly gruesome crimes committed by twisted killers include ripping apart their victims while they're still alive - the kind of thing animals do. These killers aim to inflict maximum suffering, horror unimaginable to the flesh and mind. Can you imagine helplessly watching your own dismemberment or vivisection? Brace yourself, for these are some truly gruesome crimes committed by sadistic killers.

These killers come in all shapes and sizes. Some are grannies, some are parents who ravaged their own teen daughter in a sick “rape-murder fantasy." Many of these victims are young and helpless. All of their stories are sad, horrific, and twisted. These stories of live dismemberment are sure to send a chill down your spine.

The Cleveland Torso Murderer, also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, killed and dismembered at least 12 people in Cleveland, OH, during the 1930s. The unfortunate victims, usually drifters, were beheaded while alive and often torn apart or cut down the middle - hence the killer's name. Many victims were castrated and some were mutilated with chemicals. In most cases, the victim's identity was impossible to determine, since their heads were elsewhere and the killer's identity was never determined either. Dr. Francis E. Sweeney was named a prime suspect, but he died before being convicted (or confessing.)

Tamara Samsonova, also known as the Granny Ripper, dismembered and beheaded 11 victims in St. Petersburg, Russia beginning in the late 20th Century. The elderly woman began killing when she was 48 and didn't stop until she was caught in 2015 at the age of 68. As she killed, she wrote the details of each murder down in a diary. In her final murder, Samsonova force-fed 79-year-old Valentina Ulanova a cocktail of sleeping pills before dismembering her body with a hacksaw. Ulanova was alive the whole time. Samsonova also removed parts from the people she killed, namely lungs, and chopped off their limbs. She is believed to have eaten these parts, as well.

In the ongoing conflict in Syria, rebel extremists representing the government have resorted to some pretty ghastly measures. Troops have been reported to behead live children throughout their travels, and in one 2013 case, they dismembered one little girl in the village of Estreba using a frame saw. The girl was still alive, and what's worse, the incident was recorded on video. In this battle alone, the final death toll exceeded 400, with 200 people taken hostage - some of them later killed, their deaths also filmed.

In 2013, the Human Rights Watch began investigating a number of dismembered bodies discovered in Buenaventura, Colombia. Between 2013 and 2016, investigators found 32 bodies in unmarked graves. Some of these people were dismembered alive, and most of them were women and children. Police don't know who is behind the killings, but suspect its gang or paramilitary related. 

A German woman known only as Gabriele P. went on trial in 2016 for the brutal dismemberment and death of her boyfriend. The 31-year-old who police dubbed “sex-crazed," tortured and mutilated her boyfriend while he was alive using a circular saw. “We assume the man was in a state where he could not defend himself," said prosecutor Thomas Steinkraus-Koch. She tore open the chest containing his still-beating heart and proceeded to decapitate him. She then wrapped the body parts in plastic and buried them in her garden.

Los Zetas is a brutal Mexican crime syndicate known to be technically savvy and cunning in its techniques. In February 2013, the Zetas kidnapped a former drug trafficker, accusing him of owing them large sums of money. The man, unidentified out of fear of retaliation against his family, survived the ordeal but recounted horrifying stories. He described the men forcing him to kneel to the ground and watch as they butchered a helpless six-year-old with an axe in front of her family, laughing as they did it and tossing her body parts into a fire before ordering the same be done to her parents. This was all carried out to warn the man not to cross them.

Himanshu Prajapati, 23, and his friend were arrested after a long chase following the murder of law student 19-year-old Gauri Srivastava. Her body was dismembered while she was alive, then scattered throughout parts of Lucknow, India. The two men strangled Srivastava after seeing "objectionable pictures and messages" on her mobile phone. The woman's limbs, head, torso, and abdomen were severed and dumped separately. Prajapati used a wood saw to carry out the act. According to the autopsy report, the woman was still alive while she was sawed to pieces, pieces that were eventually sniffed out by dogs.

Oklahoma City natives Luis Ruiz, 37, and Jim Massey, 33, killed 19-year-old Carina Saunders in a particularly gruesome fashion in 2011 relating to a human trafficking ring. The men attempted to saw off Saunders's foot in front of some other women to frighten them into cooperating with a drug and prostitution ring. A witness told police that Ruiz tried to cut off Saunders's right foot, who was alive at the time, but stopped when the saw broke. The men tied her to a table with rope and eventually performed a vivisection on her. Following the arrest, Massey bragged to a fellow inmate about his involvement in the killing and gave details about the torture, killing and dismemberment, details that had not been made public at that time.

Leah Cuevas, 42, murdered her tenant over a rent dispute in 2014, then dumped the body in multiple sites to attempt to cover her tracks. Cuevas, a landlord, initially confronted the victim, Chinelle Browne, 28, over failure to pay rent and utilities. Police were called, but Cuevas harassed her again the next day. Browne was eventually found in separate bags around Bay Shore, New York, one of which contained her badly decomposed head. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner determined that Browne, a mother of four, was decapitated while she was still alive.

Former Paraguayan Dictator Alfredo Stroessner was known for his brutality. During his 35-year rule, he was politically oppressive and used torture and murder to hurt his opponents. One of whom was Miguel Soler, the secretary of the Paraguayan Communist Party. Stroessner ordered him to be killed. He instructed Pastor Coronel, the chief of his secret police, to dismember Soler with a chainsaw while he listened on the phone. Some said Stroessner would record the killings and play the tape for the victim's family as a means of intimidation.