In this Sept. 6, 1949 picture, Howard Unruh, center, is shown with police after his capture in Camden, N.J. (AP Photo)

Compiled by Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

Crime is nothing new to the Philadelphia-area.

But some are more gruesome than others.

We've compiled a list of 11 of the most horrific murders in the Philadelphia-area, from 1940s mass shooter (above) to a killer who inspired a character in the film, "Silence of the Lambs."

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Camden County Prosecuting Attorney Mitchell Cohen, in Camden, New Jersey on Sept. 7, 1949, points to a drawing of the neighborhood where 28-year-old Howard Unruh killed 13 persons, as an investigation into the mass slayings got under way. Associated Press Photo.

Howard Unruh

Known as America’s first mass shooter, Howard Unruh embarked on his “Walk of Death” on Sept. 6, 1949. By the time it was over, 13 people would be dead, three others would be wounded.

Unruh lived in Cramer Hill in Camden, New Jersey. One day, after stewing over many slights and real or imagined insults, he grabbed a gun and set off on a plan to kill everyone who had wronged him. That included a cobbler, barber and drugstore owner. He also killed motorists who happened to pass by him during the shootings. Among his victims were three boys, a 3 year old, 6 year old and 9 year old.

Eventually police converged on the scene and Unruh fled to his apartment and engaged the officers in a shootout. During this time, a reporter from The Camden Evening Courier called his phone and conducted an interview with the shooter.

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Howard Barton Unruh barricaded himself in the upstairs apartment (arrow) after the mass shooting. Druggist and his wife were killed in the drug store at right, while others died in the barber shop at center left and the shoe repair shop (white storefront at left). One man was shot as he waited in his car for the traffic light to change at center. (AP Photo)

Unruh surrendered after police officers threw tear gas into his apartment.

Unruh confessed to his crimes, describing each part of the shooting in detail. He would never stand trial for the shooting. Instead, he was sent to the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, where he died on Oct. 19, 2009 at the age of 88.

While Unruh is referred to as the first mass shooter in America, the title isn’t technically his. The Smithsonian Magazine reports that there were two mass shootings prior to Unruh’s, including one in Chester, Pa.

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Herman Petrillo during the hearing April 10, 1939. Shown are his brother and at right with hands in pockets and wearing glasses is John Cacpardo who was brought from sing sing to testify. (AP Photo)

Arsenic Incorporated

An estimated 50 to 100 people were killed by Herman and Paul Petrillo in the 1930s.

Herman Petrillo was a spaghetti salesman. Paul Petrillo was a tailor. They both were interested in scamming the system -- specifically insurance. Working with their cousin Morris Bolber, they made a matchmaker agency that paired widowed women with new husbands.

Each of the new husbands would have a life insurance policy, initiated by the agency. They would then die “accidentally,” and the matchmaker agency (and the Petrillos) would file an insurance claim. The husbands died from a mixture of arsenic poisonings and drownings.

The press would come to call the Petrillos and Bolber “Arsenic Incorporated.”

The truth came to light about the spree of deaths in October 1938, when police started taking notice of the high level of arsenic victims in the city.

An upholstery cleaner who had been approached by the Petrillos for help with one of the hits alerted the U.S. Secret Service of crime. An agent posed as a hit man, eventually being contracted by Herman Petrillo to dispose of one of the new husbands.

This led to the round up of the ring. 24 people were indicted, including some of the widows who had also benefited from the life insurance scheme. Most of those indicted were sentenced to life imprisonment, but as the ring leaders the Petrillos were sentenced to death.

Herman and Paul Petrillo were sent to the electric chair in 1941.

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Antoine Probst

Antoine Probst wanted money -- and would do anything to get it.

A German immigrant, he took up work as a farm hand for the Deering family in South Philadelphia in the 1860s. He worked there for awhile in exchange for $15 a month and room and board, but quit after he was asked to work in the rain.

Eventually, though, he came back in February 1866. He was given his job again, but with a cut in pay (only $10 a month).

That wasn’t enough for Probst.

He had seen the Deerings counting cash and was convinced they had money. He was determined to steal it -- even if that meant killing members of the Deering family.

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On April 7, 1866, the Deering patriarch Christopher left to go pick up a cousin from Philadelphia. While he was gone, Probst killed the Deering’s other hired hand, Cornelius Cary, with an axe. He then began luring members of the family one-by-one into the farm’s barn, where he would whack them with an axe on the head and chop their throat. The first member of the family to fall victim was 8-year-old John Deering. John Deering’s mother, Julie, followed, aftering being lured to the barn to help out with a colt. Her 6-year-old son, Thomas, followed, then 4-year-old Annie and fourteen-month-old Emma.

When Christopher Deering returned, Probst asked him to go with him to the barn, where he was similarly dispatched. The cousin, Elizabeth Dolan, was also killed in the same manner.

After all the killing, Probst set about looking for the money he believed the Deerings to have. He found less than $20 and fled.

A neighbor went to check on the family after a few days, only to find their bodies. Police immediately set about looking for Probst, who was the only survivor of the household -- with the exception of the Deering’s 10-year-old son who had been visiting his grandparents.

Probst was eventually caught and charged with eight counts of first degree murder. The jury found him guilty of all counts and Probst was sentenced to death. Before he was hanged on June 8, 1866, he confessed to all of the murders.

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Gary Heidnik is led to court at Philadelphia City Hall April 1, 1987 in Philadelphia, PA. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

Gary Heidnik

Known for his “House of Horrors,” Gary Heidnik’s crimes allegedly inspired the character of serial killer Buffalo Bill in “Silence of the Lambs.”

In November 1986, Heidnik kidnapped six women, holding them captive in a hole in his basement. He raped them, tortured them and fed them dog food mixed with human remains. Heidnik killed two of the women: one through electrocution and the other by leaving her hanging by her arms until she fainted from exhaustion. Heidnik took the body of one of the women, cut her apart and cooked her ribs. He also boiled her head.

The atrocities ended in March 1987 when one of the women managed to escape and alert the police. A year later, Heidnik was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and rape and sentenced to death. Although he claimed to be innocent, he did not appeal his case and was executed in July 1999. He is, at this point in time, the last person to be executed in Pa.

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Marie Noe arrives at her home in Philadelphia, Monday, June 28, 1999. (AP Photo/William Thomas Cain)

Marie Noe

Marie Noe appeared to be the most unlucky mother in the world.

Over the course of 18 years, she and her husband, Arthur Noe, lost all ten of their children.

The deaths began in April 1949 and ended in January 1968. Each of the children was a babe, no more than 14 months old. One was a stillborn, another died at the hospital.

The remaining eight would die while they were home alone with Marie Noe.

Noe garnered so much sympathy for the death of her children that she was even featured in Life Magazine.

But in the late 1990s that all changed. Former Philadelphia M

agazine reporter Stephen Fried tracked down Noe, looked into her case and convinced police to re-open it.

In March 1998, Noe admitted that she had killed eight of her ten children, smothering them with a pillow.

Noe was sentenced to 20 years of probation, including house arrest and mandatory psychiatric treatment. In 2010, Noe was still living in Philadelphia. Her husband died in 2009.

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Harrison "Marty" Graham, right, talks to photographers in Philadelphia after being issued six death sentences and one life sentence for the murders of seven women, May 4, 1988. (AP Photo/Bill Cramer)

Harrison "Marty" Graham

Harrison Graham was known for his close relationship with his Cookie Monster puppet. He would talk to it everyday, taking long walks with it.

And, when he went on the lam after police found the bodies of seven women in his apartment, he took the puppet with him.

Graham was evicted from his apartment in August 1987. When he left he nailed the door shut and said he’d be back to collect his things. After neighbors complained of terrible smells, police investigated and found seven decomposing bodies. They had all been strangled by Graham, who later claimed it was all done accidentally, during sex and while under the influence of drugs.

The women were found between mattresses, on top of piles of trash, in sheets, standing in closets and on the roof.

Graham was found guilty of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to life without parole and death, however the judge decided he would not be executed by the state until after the life sentence had been served.

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A photo of H. H. Holmes, America's first serial killer. It is believed to be his mugshot.( Public Domain )

H.H. Holmes

Guests checked in, but they never checked out.

H. H. Holmes was America’s first serial killer, rising to infamy in the 1890s. He’s best known for his Chicago “Murder Castle,” an elaborate building filled with a quicklime pit, tanks of gas, secret passageways and doors that opened to blank walls.

It was a perfect place to murder someone, which Holmes reportedly did -- dozens of time.

But it wasn’t for the castle that Holmes would be arrested and hanged. Instead it was for a crime in Philadelphia.

Holmes left Chicago after the World’s Fair was held, eventually coming to Philadelphia where he came up with an elaborate scheme to get some cash. He would have a friend, Benjamin Pitezel, fake his own death. Holmes would then collect the $10,000 in life insurance.

Pitezel was down to join the plan. But he never saw Holmes’ twist coming.

Instead of faking Pitezel’s death, Holmes simply killed his accomplice himself.

Holmes then embarked on a journey with Pitezel’s wife and children, keeping them in the dark as to what had happened to Pitezel. Eventually Holmes would kill each of them too.

He was caught in Nov. 1894 and admitted to killing 27 people (although he later altered the number to just two). Tabloid newspapers put the number of deaths at Holmes hands in the hundreds.

However, Holmes was only convicted in the murder of Benjamin Pitezel. He was sentenced to death for that crime.

In 1896, he was hanged at Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia. The prison has since been demolished. An Acme now sits in its location.

Holmes’ life would eventually become the basis of the book “The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson.

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Joseph Kallinger arrives for his trial on murder charges at a Philadelphia court, Jan. 27, 1984. (AP Photo/George Widman)

Joseph Kallinger

Repairing shoes wasn’t enough for Philadelphia cobbler Joseph Kallinger.

Along with his 13-year-old son, Michael, he took to robbery and murder.

The duo would invade strangers homes, gaining entry by posing as salesmen. Once inside they’d beat and rob the homeowners, often sexually abusing any women.

The father and son team began a stream of these invasions on Nov. 22, 1974, with their crime spree ending on Jan. 8, 1975 with the killing of Maria Fasching, a nurse. They had taken Fasching to the basement of a house and slit her throat.

The Kallingers were found after a blood-stained shirt found at one of the rime scenes was traced back to the elder Kallinger.

Joseph Kallinger had a history of violent behavior and had spent months in prison for abusing his children. One of his sons, Joseph Jr., was among the accusers. He was found dead before the home invasions began in 1974. Kallinger would be convicted of his murder, as well as a the murder of a 9-year-old kid in Philadelphia.

Joseph Kallinger died on March 26, 1996 at a Pennsylvania prison at the age of 59. His son, Michael, was also confined. The New York Times reported that it is believed he has since changed his name.

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The shadow of Philadelphia Police Lieutenant Ray Evers is cast near a displayed mugshot of Antonio Rodriguez, during a news conference, Monday, Jan. 17, 2011, in Philadelphia.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Kensington Strangler

Women walked in fear in Kensington during 2010.

From November to December, three women were sexually assaulted and strangled to death: Casey Mahoney (27), Elaine Goldberg (21) and Nicole Piacentini (35). Another woman managed to escape her attacker.

The criminal became known as the Kensington Strangler.

Police eventually caught up with the strangler by using DNA evidence.

Antonio Rodriguez confessed to the crimes, claiming he was looking for "rough fantasy sex" and hadn't meant to choke the women to death. He was convicted in 2012 of three counts of first-degree murder, rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to three life terms.

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Ira Einhorn, center, is escorted by French police in Champagne-Mouton, central France, July 19, 2001. (AP Photo/Bob Edme, File)

Ira Einhorn

Known as the “Unicorn Killer” because his name means “one horn” in German, Ira Einhorn was a hippie who claimed to have founded Earth Day.

Einhorn killed his girlfriend in 1977, stuffing her body in a trunk and placing it in a closet for safekeeping. There, her corpse rotted for 18 months -- only to be discovered by police after a private investigator was handed the case.

While awaiting trial in 1981, Einhorn fled the country. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1993, although he wasn’t there in-person for the trial. Instead he was living in France and going by the name Eugene Mallon. Eventually he was hunted down and extradited back to the United States, where he was sentenced to life without parole in 2002.

In 1978, a private investigator hired by Maddux’s family investigated Einhorn regarding her disappearance. They gathered enough evidence for police to get a warrant to search the apartment, where they found Maddux’s mummified corpse.

He was to be tried in 1981, but instead fled the country, eventually moving to France and going by the name Eugene Mallon. In 1993 he was tried in-absentia, found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Einhorn was extradited back to the United States in 2001. He was sentenced again to life without parole in prison in 2002.

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Frankford Slasher

The identity of the Frankford Slasher isn’t known.

What is known is that from 1985 to 1990 eight women were sexually assaulted, stabbed and slashed. All of the women had visited bars by Frankford Ave. The killer is believed to have befriended the women as they drank, enticing them to leave with him.

Police never caught the killer, although they told CBS3 that they were close to a suspect when he moved to another state. At that point the killings stopped. Two years later, police said they heard that the prime suspected had died.

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Photo by Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

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