General Hospital’s most notorious serial killers

General Hospital has had many villains and supervillains over the years, including serial killers. Many true-crime fans have a fascination with serial killers because they love to explore the dark side of human nature from the security and comfort of their own homes. General Hospital has gone into depth about the minds of these murderers, who are far more nefarious and evil than other types of bad guys like mobsters or common criminals. Here are our picks for the most notorious serial killers in Port Charles.

Diego Alcazar — The Text Message Killer

Diego Alcazar (Ignacio Serricchio) was the son of international arms dealer Lorenzo Alcazar (Ted King). After it was revealed that he had been drugging college girls and taking their pictures, Lorenzo turned his own son in. Diego was later presumed dead after Sam shot him when he tried attacking her. Diego eventually turned up alive and was killing people, using text messages to lure them to their deaths. The media dubbed him "The Text Message Killer," and the beloved Georgie Jones (Lindze Letherman) was one of his victims.

When he tried strangling her sister, Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms), she stabbed him and got away, and Nikolas Cassadine (then Tyler Christopher) jumped in to fight the killer. Ultimately, Diego plunged from a great height and was strangled by ropes that had been dangling. His reign of terror was finally over.

Kevin O'Connor — The Laurelton Murderer

In 1985, a group of new, younger characters appeared on General Hospital. They were Terry Brock (Robin Bernard), and brothers Kevin and Patrick O’Connor (Kevin Bernhardt and Guy Mack), who hailed from a small town called Laurelton. The group lived in a brownstone owned by Bobbie Jones (Jacklyn Zeman), and soon, people started dying there.

It turned out that Kevin was a serial killer who had murdered several people in their hometown, and he tried framing Terry for it because of her fragile mental state. Ultimately, with the help of Jake Meyer (Sam Behrens), Kevin was struck over the head and plunged to his death off of a Catalina Island cliff.

Paul Hornsby — The Derisifol Murderer

From 1991 to 1994, Paul Satterfield played Paul Hornsby on General Hospital. He was a nice guy, although his connection with the cartel—a sinister group led by supervillain Cesar Faison (Anders Hove)—forced him to do illegal things he didn’t want to do. Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) eventually defeated the cartel, and Paul married Jenny Eckert (Cheryl Richardson) in 1994. The couple moved away.

In 2015, Richard Burgi stepped into the role, and Paul became district attorney for Port Charles. Soon, people in the hospital started turning up dead because of a muscle relaxant called Derisifol. It turned out that Paul had sought revenge on Kyle Sloan (Robb Derringer), who had raped his daughter. However, people started to figure out who had killed Sloan, so Paul took it upon himself to eliminate anyone he perceived as a threat. In the end, Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) put and end to his reign of terror and sent him up the river.

Franco Baldwin

Originally played by famed actor James Franco, then later by Roger Howarth, Franco Baldwin was initially known only as Franco. He was a performance artist killer who reveled in turning murder into an art form. Believing he was the twin brother of Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), Franco tormented Jason and Jason's then-girlfriend, Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco).

Franco started off by recreating crime scenes then later emulated the various kills Jason had made as Sonny Corinthos’ (Maurice Benard) enforcer. He continued to terrorize those that Jason loved, until Jason finally killed Franco—or so he thought. It turned out Franco was still alive, but soon after he reemerged, it was learned that a brain tumor caused his murderous ways. With the help of lawyer Diane Miller (Carolyn Hennesy), all charges against him were dropped.

He eventually started to become a good member of the Port Charles community, and even married Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst). Unfortunately, Peter August (Wes Ramsey) shot and killed Franco.

Heather Webber — The Hook

Heather Webber was originally played by Robin Mattson from 1980 to 2016, and then by Alley Mills starting in 2022. She was a little unhinged at first, but when she tried to poison Diana Taylor (Brooke Bundy) with LSD and accidentally ingested it herself, insanity started to set in.

A prolific schemer, Heather caused all kinds of trouble for people over the years. Off-screen, she had Scotty Baldwin’s (Kin Shriner) child, who would later grow up to be the troubled Franco. She also somehow hooked up with Ryan Chamberlain at one point, and they had a girl named Esme Prince (Avery Pohl), who was incredibly evil yet not an intentional killer.

Eventually, a mysterious figure wearing a hoodie was killing citizens in Port Charles with a large, poison-laced hook. It was finally revealed that Heather was the Hook Killer, and she was apprehended. In a surprising twist, it turned out that she had hip replacement surgery years ago and suffered from metallosis as a result. This condition caused her to completely lose touch with reality and start killing people who were connected to Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali), because Heather thought Trina and her friends had wronged Esme.

Lawyer Ric Lansing is now helping Heather sue the company that manufactured the faulty hip, and many characters live in fear that she’ll be released from prison as a result.

Ryan Chamberlain

The granddaddy of all the General Hospital serial killers, Ryan Chamberlain tops the list with 17 murders. Played by Jon Lindstrom, he started off as a seemingly friendly pediatrician. Then, his obsession with Felicia Scorpio (Kristina Wagner) started to get out of control, and he terrorized her for years. His symptoms began because of abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother. Because she was blonde, Ryan would seek out women with similar hair color and obsess over them.

He was presumed dead in 1995. He eventually resurfaced after the evil organization known as the DVX found him and turned him into an agent, but the DVX couldn’t control him. They then gave him to his twin brother, Dr. Kevin Collins, who thought he could fix Ryan’s murderous ways through psychiatric care. However, Ryan managed to get one up on Kevin and swapped places with him, leaving his brother in a straightjacket in a mental institution in 2018.

Once out, Ryan pretended he was Kevin and even got Ava Jerome (Maura West) to fall in love with him and believe his lies. When she opened up about being angry at her daughter Kiki Jerome (then Hayley Erin) for sleeping with Ava's boyfriend, Griffin Munro (Matt Cohen), and about wanting to see Kiki punished, Ryan obliged by killing her.

Ava’s life was turned upside down as a result, and it took her a long time to recover after realizing she almost married her daughter’s murderer. Ultimately, after Ryan and Heather escaped from the mental institution and began a killing rampage, Mac Scorpio (John J. York) shot Ryan dead in 2023, seemingly for good.