Psychology Today | 08.08.2026 01:43
I’ve written about two men from the same family who separately became serial killers, Danny and Larry Ranes. Larry, the youngest brother by a year and a half, killed five men over two months in 1964. Once caught, he confessed to them all. Eight years later, Danny raped and killed four women, three of them with a teenage accomplice. He insisted he was innocent but got convicted. Although Danny thought Larry exaggerated their father’s brutality, both recalled his unpredictable behavior, random abuse, arbitrary punishments, and paternal indifference. He abandoned the family when they were 9 and 10, leaving his wife to raise four kids (the other two were girls). In court, the oldest sister acknowledged that their early home life had been chaotic and lacking in moral guidance.
