No criminal with such a name or M.O. was roaming the streets of New York at this time, at least according to modern day reports of serial killers in the late 19th century . Around this time, America’s most infamous serial killer was H. H. Holmes, a con man who lured at least nine people to his Chicago “Murder Castle” in the early 1890s and killed them (some say he murdered 200 people). It is believed Holmes killed three young children among his many victims, although he did not disfigure their corpses or leave them in toy stores to be found. Nor is Holmes accused of kidnapping a Spanish dignitary’s child.