Born to Kill?

S03E05 Dennis Nilsen

The shocking discovery of human remains clogging the drains at a London address led to the arrest of 37-year-old civil servant Dennis Nilsen. Police were taken aback when he calmly confessed to murdering at least 15 young men. Nilsen would ultimately be remembered as Britain’s most notorious serial killer. As investigators spoke with the unflappable Scot, they unraveled a chilling narrative of a man consumed by a fascination with death since his youth. This isolated job centre worker would strangle his victims, keeping their bodies as companions, sitting them in chairs to converse and watch television, before dismembering and disposing of them. Did Nilsen’s obsession with death stem from his childhood, or was his murderous instinct ingrained from the start?