Southside Strangler

Timothy Wilson Spencer was the first American serial killer to be convicted using DNA evidence, which also led to the exoneration of a man wrongly accused of one of his crimes. A troubled youth from Arlington, Virginia, Spencer used his skills to break into victims' homes where he committed rape, torture, and murder. He was linked to five murders and at least nine rapes in Virginia, ultimately being convicted of four murders and sentenced to death, before being executed in 1994.