In very rare instances, people who suspect their fathers, brothers or other family members are long-sought serial killers are dead right and help authorities solve a notorious cold case. But far more often, they pester police with circumstantial evidence backing up wild theories.

Serial killers have long targeted prostitutes—from Jack the Ripper, an uncaught murderer who terrorized women in late 19th-century London, to the Long Island Serial Killer, an uncaught murderer whose last confirmed victim disappeared in September 2010 after advertising sex work on Craigslist. We explore the various reasons why serial killers prey upon sex workers.

There's been no shortage of violent crime this decade, either. As the 2010s come to a close, A&E True Crime looks back at the past 10 years—at some of the crime stories that drew the most public attention, and at the criminals the public will long remember.

Veronica Compton tried to murder a woman to make it look like the police had arrested the wrong man, Kenneth Bianchi, in the Hillside Strangler killings.

In three decades as a forensic psychologist, Dr. Kris Mohandie has met one-on-one with some of the most violent men ever to grab headlines: Joseph Paul Franklin, Herb Mullin, Willie Woods and others. He talks to us about whether violent criminals are born or made.

Before they're caught, serial killers often fly under-the-radar. But just because police and the public aren't aware of a killing spree, doesn't mean it isn't happening. We look at five unsolved serial killer cases, the murders connected to them and some of the information we do (and don't) know.

After escaping a Colorado jail in December 1977, serial killer Ted Bundy fled to Tallahassee, Florida, and went on a rampage, attacking and killing sleeping coeds at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University. One of the survivors of that attack, Kathy Kleiner, spoke with us about getting over her mistrust of men and how authorities can help victims.

In the mid-2000s, girls and women started disappearing. A few years later, their bones turned up in a grave—but some are still missing.

Ethan Brown, a reporter who spent years investigating the murders of eight sex workers in Jennings, Louisiana and wrote the book 'Murder in the Bayou,' says there's credible evidence to suggest that several offenders have blood on their hands, and that Jefferson Davis Parish's own law enforcement may be implicated in the crimes.

A&E True Crime takes a closer look at the lives of serial killers Dennis Rader, Randy Kraft and Richard Cottingham, whose seemingly normal childhoods gave way to unspeakable cruelty.