Some of the most infamous criminal cases in modern history became permanently linked to ordinary residential addresses.

Some of those houses were demolished after investigators finished their work. Others were renovated, sold and returned to private residential use. Some were renumbered. A few became associated with memorials.

And several still look surprisingly ordinary today.

The history attached to these properties is also a reminder that what happened at an address may not be obvious from a current real estate listing, home inspection or appraisal.

Here are 17 documented properties connected to notorious serial killers—and what happened to those addresses afterward.

1. Jeffrey Dahmer — 924 N. 25th Street, Apartment 213, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Jeffrey Dahmer lived in Apartment 213 of the Oxford Apartments at 924 N. 25th Street in Milwaukee.

The apartment building became internationally known after Dahmer’s arrest in July 1991 and the subsequent police investigation.

The Oxford Apartments did not remain standing for long. The 49-unit building was demolished in November 1992, about 16 months after Dahmer’s arrest. The former apartment site remained vacant for decades.

Today, someone visiting the location would find no apartment building and no Apartment 213. The structure disappeared, but the history associated with the property did not.

Current status: Oxford Apartments demolished; original building no longer exists.

2. Jeffrey Dahmer — 4480 West Bath Road, Bath Township, Ohio

Long before the Oxford Apartments became synonymous with Jeffrey Dahmer, another property played an important role in his history: his family’s home at 4480 West Bath Road in Bath Township, Ohio, northwest of Akron.

This was more than simply Dahmer’s childhood residence.

FBI investigative records from July 1991 state that Dahmer lived at 4480 West Bath Road when he committed his first known killing in 1978. According to the FBI report, Dahmer admitted bringing a young man to the residence and killing him there. The victim was later identified as Steven Hicks.

After Dahmer’s arrest in Milwaukee in 1991, authorities returned their attention to the Ohio property as investigators reconstructed the beginning of his crimes.

Unlike the Oxford Apartments, the Bath Township house was not demolished.

The original residence survived, changed ownership and eventually returned to the real estate market. The house also gained another connection to the Dahmer story decades later when it was used as a filming location for the 2017 movie My Friend Dahmer.

The two Dahmer properties illustrate dramatically different outcomes for infamous addresses: the Milwaukee apartment building disappeared, while his former Ohio home survived.

Current status: Original house remains standing and is private property.

3. John Wayne Gacy — 8213 W. Summerdale Avenue, Illinois

John Wayne Gacy lived at 8213 W. Summerdale Avenue in unincorporated Norwood Park Township near Chicago.

The modest ranch-style residence became central to the investigation following his December 1978 arrest.

The original house was demolished in 1979 after the extensive investigation left it severely damaged.

Years later, a completely different house was constructed on the property.

And something else changed: the address.

The new residence became 8215 W. Summerdale Avenue instead of 8213. Contemporary reporting from 1988 documented construction of the replacement house and the planned change from 8213 to 8215.

The property is an important example of why historical address research sometimes requires more than entering the street number shown on a property today.

The house changed.

The address changed.

The land did not.

Current status: Original house demolished; replacement residence constructed and address changed to 8215 W. Summerdale Avenue.

4. Ted Bundy — 565 First Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah

One of the residences most closely associated with Ted Bundy’s time in Utah is 565 First Avenue in Salt Lake City.

Bundy moved into the rooming house in 1974 while attending law school at the University of Utah. He occupied a room on the second floor.

Unlike several properties on this list, the building survived.

Bundy was associated with numerous residences and locations across several states, so no single property represents his entire criminal history. But the First Avenue residence remains one of the better-known surviving addresses connected to him.

Current status: Building remains standing.

5. Dennis Rader — 6220 N. Independence Street, Park City, Kansas

Dennis Rader, known publicly as BTK, lived for years at 6220 N. Independence Street in Park City, Kansas.

It is important to distinguish Rader’s family residence from the individual locations associated with his crimes. The Independence Street property became widely known because it was his longtime home and became a focus of public attention following his 2005 arrest.

Park City eventually acquired the property.

The house was demolished in 2007.

Current status: House demolished.

6. Dorothea Puente — 1426 F Street, Sacramento, California

The Victorian residence at 1426 F Street in Sacramento has one of the most unusual afterlives of any property on this list.

Dorothea Puente operated a boarding house there during the 1980s. In 1988, investigators searched the property and discovered the remains of seven people buried on the grounds. Puente was later convicted of three murders.

Unlike many infamous properties, 1426 F Street was not demolished.

The Victorian house survived and eventually returned to private ownership. Later owners have publicly acknowledged its unusual past, and the residence continues to attract attention from people familiar with the case.

Current status: House remains standing and privately owned.

7. Herb Baumeister — Fox Hollow Farm, Westfield, Indiana

Fox Hollow Farm is one of the most unusual surviving properties associated with an American serial-killer investigation.

Herb Baumeister and his family purchased the sprawling estate in 1988. In 1996, investigators searching the property discovered thousands of human bone fragments in the wooded area behind the residence.

Unlike many notorious crime properties, the main residence was not demolished.

The property later changed ownership, and Fox Hollow Farm developed an additional reputation because subsequent residents and visitors have reported alleged paranormal experiences. Those accounts should be distinguished from the documented criminal history of the property; paranormal claims are reports and personal experiences rather than established facts.

Current status: Main residence remains standing and is private property.

8. Joel Rifkin — 1492 Garden Street, East Meadow, New York

Joel Rifkin lived at 1492 Garden Street in East Meadow, New York, when he was arrested in June 1993.

Investigators subsequently searched the house, garage and surrounding property.

Unlike the Dahmer apartment building and the original Gacy residence, the suburban house survived.

The property continued to function as a private residence decades after the investigation.

To someone unfamiliar with its history, there may be little about the appearance of the house to suggest its connection to one of New York’s most notorious criminal cases.

Current status: House remains standing.

9. David Berkowitz — 35 Pine Street, Yonkers, New York

David Berkowitz, known as the “Son of Sam,” lived in the apartment building at 35 Pine Street in Yonkers when police arrested him in August 1977.

The building survived.

Its address did not.

The street number was subsequently changed from 35 Pine Street to 42 Pine Street, reportedly in an effort to distance the building from its notorious former resident.

A 2017 Journal News retrospective confirmed the change and found that, four decades later, people in the neighborhood still knew the building’s connection to Berkowitz.

It’s another striking example of why searching only a property’s current address can potentially miss significant historical information.

Current status: Building remains standing; address changed from 35 to 42 Pine Street.

10. David and Catherine Birnie — 3 Moorhouse Street, Willagee, Western Australia

The home at 3 Moorhouse Street in Willagee, a suburb of Perth, became associated with the crimes of David and Catherine Birnie in 1986.

Their case became one of Australia’s most notorious serial-murder investigations.

Contrary to claims that have circulated about the property, the house was not demolished.

The residence survived, was substantially renovated and eventually returned to the real estate market. It sold in 2021.

That makes 3 Moorhouse Street particularly relevant to property-history research: a house can look dramatically different decades later and pass through different owners without changing what historically occurred at the address.

Current status: House remains standing; renovated and subsequently sold.

11. Fred and Rose West — 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, England

Few residential addresses in Britain became as infamous as 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester.

Fred and Rose West lived at the property, which became the focus of a major police investigation in 1994.

This house did not survive.

Gloucester City Council acquired the property, and demolition began in October 1996. The demolition was deliberately thorough, with materials destroyed in part to prevent pieces of the notorious property from becoming souvenirs.

A pedestrian walkway now occupies the location where the house once stood.

Current status: House demolished; former homesite incorporated into a pedestrian walkway.

12. Dennis Nilsen — 23 Cranley Gardens, Muswell Hill, London

Dennis Nilsen lived in an attic flat at 23 Cranley Gardens in North London.

It was at this address in February 1983 that plumbing problems eventually contributed to the discovery of evidence that led authorities to Nilsen.

Investigators subsequently connected the residence to several of his later victims.

Unlike many notorious properties, the larger residential building wasn’t demolished.

Current status: Building remains standing.

13. Dennis Nilsen — 195 Melrose Avenue, London

Before moving to Cranley Gardens, Nilsen lived in a ground-floor flat at 195 Melrose Avenue.

That property became associated with an earlier period of his crimes.

Nilsen moved away in 1981 and eventually settled at Cranley Gardens, where authorities uncovered his activities in 1983.

The two Nilsen properties demonstrate another challenge in researching notorious property histories: a single individual can be associated with multiple residences, with different events connected to each address.

Current status: Property remains standing.

14. Anthony Sowell — 12205 Imperial Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

Anthony Sowell lived at 12205 Imperial Avenue in Cleveland.

The property became the focus of a major investigation in 2009 after authorities discovered the remains of 11 women at and around the residence.

The house did not remain standing.

It was demolished in December 2011.

The location later became associated with the Garden of Eleven Angels, created to memorialize the victims.

Current status: House demolished; location later associated with a memorial.

15. Gary Ridgway — 21859 32nd Place South, King County, Washington

Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, purchased a house at 21859 32nd Place South in King County, Washington, in November 1981.

This address is particularly significant because it wasn’t merely a residence.

According to the King County prosecutor’s official summary of evidence, Ridgway later admitted killing multiple women at the house. The prosecutor’s document specifically identifies 21859 32nd Place South as the residence he purchased in 1981.

Ridgway eventually sold the property before his 2001 arrest.

Unlike the original houses associated with Gacy and Rader, the residence wasn’t demolished simply because of its history.

Current status: House survived and returned to private residential ownership.

16. Edmund Kemper — 609A Ord Road, Aptos, California

Edmund Kemper lived with his mother in Aptos, California, during the final period of his crimes.

The historically cited residence is 609A Ord Road. Modern references to the property can produce a different street designation, illustrating another difficulty that can arise when matching decades-old addresses with present-day property information.

The residence became directly connected with the final period of Kemper’s crimes in 1973.

Rather than silently replacing an old address with a modern one, good property-history research should preserve the historical address and explain any documented changes.

Current status: Historical property remains associated with a modern address variation.

17. Dean Corll — 2020 Lamar Drive, Pasadena, Texas

The house at 2020 Lamar Drive in Pasadena, Texas, was Dean Corll’s final residence.

Corll moved there in 1973.

On August 8, 1973, Elmer Wayne Henley called Pasadena police from the property after fatally shooting Corll. Historical accounts identify 2020 Lamar Drive as the location where the case finally came to authorities’ attention.

Unlike many infamous crime properties, the house survived and eventually returned to ordinary residential ownership.

Current status: House remains standing and privately owned.

What about Ed Gein’s farmhouse?

Ed Gein deserves a separate mention because his Wisconsin farmhouse is among the most famous properties in American crime history and his case profoundly influenced popular culture.

However, the isolated farm does not provide the same level of reliable modern numbered-address documentation as properties such as Dahmer’s, Gacy’s or Puente’s.

The farmhouse outside Plainfield, Wisconsin, was destroyed by fire in March 1958 while Gein was in custody.

Gein’s crimes subsequently helped inspire elements of fictional characters appearing in Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs.

Current status: Farmhouse destroyed by fire in 1958.

Why some infamous houses disappear while others remain

There is no universal rule requiring a house to be demolished because something notorious happened there.

These 17 properties demonstrate remarkably different outcomes.

The Oxford Apartments disappeared.

Dahmer’s Ohio childhood home survived.

Gacy’s house was demolished and replaced.

Berkowitz’s apartment building survived but received a different street number.

Puente’s Victorian house remains standing.

The West house was intentionally removed.

And several other properties simply changed hands and returned to ordinary residential use.

That contrast is what makes the history of these addresses particularly interesting.

A new address doesn’t necessarily mean a new history

The Gacy and Berkowitz properties demonstrate something especially important about researching a property’s past.

Gacy lived at 8213 W. Summerdale Avenue. That house was demolished, another house was eventually constructed on the property, and the replacement became 8215 W. Summerdale Avenue. Contemporary reporting documented the planned address change when the new residence was being built.

Berkowitz lived at 35 Pine Street. The building survived, but its number was subsequently changed to 42 Pine Street.

Someone researching only the current street number could therefore overlook historical information recorded under the previous address.

Properties can be renumbered, rebuilt, subdivided, combined with adjoining parcels, extensively remodeled or completely demolished and replaced.

The house may change.

The street number may change.

The history associated with the property can remain.

House History + Inspection + Appraisal = Better-Informed Decisions

A home inspection evaluates the physical condition of a property and its major systems. An appraisal helps determine its value.

Neither is designed to provide a comprehensive investigation of everything that has happened at an address.

That’s where house-history research serves a different purpose.

DiedInHouse.com has grown beyond simply researching whether a death may be associated with a residence. Its property reports can include available historical information connected to a property, along with property details, neighborhood information and other information that can provide a broader picture of an address.

House history, inspection and appraisal are all important. But consider researching the history first.

Knowing more about a property’s past before spending hundreds of dollars on an inspection and appraisal can help you decide whether you want to continue pursuing the property in the first place.

The house may look different. The address may be different. The original building may not even exist.

But the history of the property can remain.