Have You Read About New England’s 3 Most Notorious Criminals Ever?

Crimal shows, podcasts, and books are taking over the world right now.

I swear, everywhere I look – Netflix, Spotify, my wife's internet history – all I see are shows, episodes, and books about murderers. Typically I don't like that kind of content. However, the more my wife puts it in my face, the more I become obsessed with the topic.

After seeing so many shows about notorious criminals, I wanted to find the most notorious criminals in my home area: New England.

They will give you shivers.

Maine

The most notorious criminal in Maine is James Hicks. According to a 247WallSt article, Hicks was an active criminal in 1977, 1982, and 1996. He was jailed twice for murder and suspicion of murder. Currently, he is serving a life sentence.

Hicks' murders were so notorious that there is a book about his victims, Tragedy in the North Woods: The Murders of James Hicks. The Amazon book description reads:

Jennie Cyr disappeared in 1977. Jerilyn Towers vanished in 1982. Lynn Willette never came home on a night in 1994. Each woman had a relationship with James Hicks, who in 2000 confessed to murdering them, dismembering their bodies and burying the remains alongside rural roads in Aroostook County. This is their story.

New Hampshire

The Granite State's most notorious criminal would be Terry Peder Rasmussen. According to 247WallSt, he was an active criminal between 1985-2002, committing crimes all over the state.

He was a "Bible-quoting serial killer who murdered and dismembered an unknown number of women," according to 247WallSt.

An ABC News article claims that Rasmussen had a long list of aliases and was known as "The Chameleon Killer” for assuming so many different identities as he infiltrated families and destroyed lives in New Hampshire and California.

"A dedicated detective refused to stop digging after she solved the brutal murder of a chemist in California," according to ABC News. "Then, by reopening an earlier case, she helped a genetic genealogist to discover the identity of a girl the killer claimed was his daughter, and then, the killer’s true identity."

Massachusetts

Massachusetts' most notorious criminal should be known by all New Englanders. He is perhaps one of the most notorious criminals of all time: Charles Ponzi.

Yup, you guessed it, the man who created the expression "Ponzi scheme."

According to an Investopedia article, "In eight months in 1920, Ponzi raked in an estimated $15 million ($220 million today) by persuading thousands of Bostonians that he could make them rich."

The wild part, it was by accident that he "discovered a way to use international reply coupons and discrepancies in foreign exchange rates to make money," according to ABCNews.