Robert Berdella was born on January 31, 1949, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He was the oldest of two sons in a family that attended Mass regularly. His father, a devout Roman Catholic of Italian descent, worked as a die setter for the Ford Motor Company, while his mother was of German and British descent.

As a child, Berdella was intelligent but often kept to himself. He had a speech impediment and wore thick glasses from age five due to severe nearsightedness. He also had high blood pressure, which required medication. Unlike his athletic younger brother, Daniel, Berdella had little interest in sports. His father, who valued physical education, saw this as a failure and often compared the two brothers unfavorably. This led to physical and emotional abuse, including beatings with a leather strap.

Despite performing well academically, Berdella was difficult to teach due to his aloofness and the bullying he experienced. He seldom socialized with his peers and found solace in solitary activities like painting, collecting stamps and coins, and writing to foreign pen pals.

When Berdella reached puberty, he realized he was homosexual but kept it a secret for many years. During his teenage years, he briefly had a girlfriend but generally became more withdrawn, especially after his father's sudden death from a heart attack on Christmas Day in 1965. Following his father's death, Berdella's mother remarried, which he saw as a betrayal, further isolating him.

In 1965, Berdella watched the film "The Collector," which left a lasting impression on him. The plot, involving a man who kidnaps a woman and holds her captive, influenced his later actions. He became increasingly cynical about religion despite initially seeking solace in Catholicism after his father's death.

After high school, Berdella moved to Kansas City in 1967 to attend the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) with dreams of becoming a college professor. Initially, he was a dedicated student, but he later became involved in drug use and animal cruelty. In 1969, after killing and cooking a duck for an art project, he withdrew from KCAI and remained in Kansas City, where his behavior grew more disturbing.

Robert Berdella, a notorious serial killer, began his killing spree with his first known victim, 19-year-old Jerry Howell, on July 5, 1984. He drugged Howell with alcohol and sedatives, then tortured and raped him for 28 hours before Howell died from a combination of asphyxiation and drug overdose. Berdella dismembered Howell's body and disposed of it in trash bags.

Over the next few years, Berdella continued his gruesome acts. In April 1985, he held Robert Sheldon captive for three days, torturing him with drain cleaner, needles, and piano wire. When a workman arrived at Berdella's home, he suffocated Sheldon with a plastic bag and later dismembered his body.

Berdella's next victim was Mark Wallace, whom he found seeking shelter from a storm in June 1985. Berdella offered him drugs, then rendered him unconscious and subjected him to electrical shocks and injections. Wallace died after a day of torture. In September 1985, Berdella lured James Ferris to his home, where he was tortured for 27 hours with electrical shocks and needles before dying.

Todd Stoops, a drug addict, was held captive for two weeks in June 1986. Berdella tortured Stoops with electrical shocks and injected drain cleaner into his larynx. Stoops eventually died from septic shock caused by a ruptured anal wall. In June 1987, Berdella captured Larry Wayne Pearson, torturing him for six weeks before killing him after Pearson bit his penis. Berdella dismembered Pearson's body and buried his head in his backyard.

Berdella's final victim, Christopher Bryson, was abducted in March 1988. Bryson was tortured but managed to escape by jumping from a window. His escape led to Berdella's arrest. During the search of his home, police found evidence of his crimes, including detailed logs, photographs, and human remains.

Berdella was convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He died of a heart attack in prison on October 8, 1992, at the age of 43. Berdella never showed remorse for his actions, and his death brought an end to his reign of terror.