Can't Make This Stuff Up: The True Crime Quiz

By: Alia Hoyt
Estimated Completion Time
1 min
Can't Make This Stuff Up: The True Crime Quiz
Image: mustafahacalaki/Getty Images

About This Quiz

True crime is often stranger than fiction. How much do you know about some of the strangest and most notorious criminals out there like Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper and the Night Stalker?
What was Gianni Versace's connection with his killer?
He was a scorned lover.
He had worked for him, but was recently terminated.
He didn't know him.
Andrew Cunanan shot Versace in front of his home in 1997, which made it seem like the two had some sort of connection. However, the criminal apparently targeted the famous fashion designer because he had everything he ever wanted. Cunanan killed at least four other men during a spree immediately prior to Versace.

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Who found the remains of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony?
The police
a meter reader
The defense tried to poke holes in the crime scene by claiming that the meter reader found the body sooner, then moved it so that he could be assured the reward. He denied this on the stand.
a sanitation worker

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True or false: Adam Walsh's killer was never identified.
True, he remains at large today.
False, the case was closed after the killer died.
Adam Walsh was abducted from a shopping mall in 1981 and his severed head was later found. Ottis Toole confessed to the killing, but recanted. That, plus major evidence and other missteps led to him never being convicted. He died in prison for other crimes, and after a review of evidence it was determined in 2008 that he was the killer. Walsh's father John became a victims' rights advocate and created/hosted the TV show "America's Most Wanted."
False, he's currently on trial.

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What was the most damning evidence in Ted Bundy's murder trial?
teeth marks
Bundy was convicted in 1979 of the murders of two Florida State University students and then in 1980 of the murder of a 12-year-old girl. Prosecutors brought in forensic specialists who matched Bundy's teeth with bite marks on one of the college women.
"crime tools" found in his car
bloodstains on his clothes

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Which Alfred Hitchcock movie was inspired by the real-life murderous pair of Leopold and Loeb?
"Rear Window"
"Dial M for Murder"
"Rope"
"Rope" was inspired by the 1920's case of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, close friends in their early 20s who murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks just to see if they could get away with it. They didn't.

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What modern tool was used to finally catch the Golden State Killer?
Ring doorbell
DNA database
Since many of his crimes were committed well before DNA technology became available, Joseph DeAngelo evaded arrest for years. In 2018, however, police uploaded DNA obtained from one of his crime scenes to a familial DNA sharing site and a match was made with a close cousin of the killer.
drone technology

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What was Charles Manson's motive for the brutal murders of actress Sharon Tate, her unborn child and others?
He was framing people for an impending race war.
Manson predicted that "Helter Skelter" was coming, which he described as a war between "whiteys" and "blackies." His idea was to frame African Americans for the murders of high-profile white people.
Tate had sexually rejected him.
They were part of the corporate machine and he was setting an example.

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Who was first on the scene after the murder of Meredith Kercher, which her roommate Amanda Knox was accused of?
the Italian Army
the postal police
That's right, there are postal police (who normally investigate mail-related crimes), and they were the first authority figures to show up to the crime scene when Knox called the cops. This misstep, among others, eventually led to the American's conviction being overturned permanently.
the Vatican guards

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Who finally apprehended the Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez?
an angry crowd
Ramirez killed at least 13 people in California from 1984 to 1985. Once he was finally identified and publicly named he was spotted by a crowd of people in a neighborhood, who took turns beating him until the cops came.
an armed would-be victim
He turned himself in.

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According to modern DNA evidence, who likely was Jack the Ripper?
Prince Albert Victor, Queen Victoria's grandson
Winston Churchill's father
Aaron Kosminski, a Polish barber
A shawl from one of the crime scenes remains, and DNA technology traced it back to Aaron Kosminski, a Polish émigré who was on the list of original suspects. He was believed to be a paranoid schizophrenic, and eventually institutionalized. Some dispute the validity of the study or note that earlier research using DNA from letters written by the Ripper ID'd painter Walter Sickert instead.

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You Got:
/10
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