A list of events in 1978 related to serial killers.
January[]
- 7 — Israel Keyes is born.
- 27 — Dmitry Kuleshov is born.
- 27 — Richard Chase is apprehended.
February[]
- 1 — Very Idham Henyansyah is born.
- 9 — Andrei Meshcheryakov is born.
- 23 — Jairo Díaz Aragón is born.
March[]
- 16 — Stephen Akinmurele is born.
- 21 — Jeffrey Rignall is attacked by John Wayne Gacy.
April[]
- 2 — Andrei Surikov is born.
- 4 — William Henry Hance is apprehended.
- 5 — John Errol Ferguson is apprehended.
- 5 — Alfredo Galán is born.
- 7 — Petrică Ciucă is born.
- 16 — Scott Hughes is murdered by Randy Kraft.
- 22 — Cynthia Irene Waxman is murdered by Charles Jackson.
- 22 — Barbara Ann Cox is murdered by Nathaniel Burkett.
- ? — Billy Lee Chadd is apprehended.
May[]
- 2 — Rio Alex Bulo is born.
- 6 — John Wayne Gacy meet with First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
- 6 — Monica Jack is murdered by Gary Handlen.
- 9 — Warren Forrest's suspected victim, Gloria Nadine Knutson, is found.
- 10 — Shirley Robinson is murdered by Fred West.
- 10 — Cory Morris is born.
- 13 — Velma Barfield is apprehended.
- 13 — Charles Hattula is allegedly murdered by John Wayne Gacy (suspected victim).
- 16 — Vera Millward is murdered by Peter Sutcliffe.
- 23 — John Wayne Gacy's suspected victim, Charles Hattula, is found.
- 29 — Marcos Antunes Trigueiro is born.
- 31 — Yvonne Jolene McFaddin is murdered by John Benjamin Kennedy Jr..
- 31 — Robert Hohenberger died.
June[]
- 1 — Luther Langford is murdered by Edward Surratt.
- 28 — Eugene McWatters is born.
- 30 — John Wayne Gacy's victim, Timothy O'Rourke is found.
- ? — Timothy O'Rourke is murdered by John Wayne Gacy.
July[]
- 2 — Edward Surratt is apprehended.
- 5 — Robert Alton Harris is apprehended.
- 20 — Gregory Bowman is apprehended.
- 20 — Kwauhuru Govan is born.
August[]
- 11 — Randy Greenawalt is apprehended.
- 13 — Carmen Lorraine Colon is murdered by Joseph Naso.
- 16 — Don Miller is apprehended.
September[]
- 17 — Stephan Letter is born.
October[]
- 12 — David Likens is apprehended.
- 23 — Dmitry Karimov is born.
November[]
- 26 — John Phuko Kgabi is apprehended.
- 28 — David Haulman is born.
December[]
- 8 — Gary Lewingdon is apprehended.
- 11 — Thaddeus Lewingdon is apprehended.
- 11 — Winford Stokes is apprehended.
- 21 — John Wayne Gacy is apprehended.
- 24 — Yoni Palmier is born.
- 26 — John Wayne Gacy's victim, Timothy McCoy is found.
- ? — Carlton Gary is apprehended.
Unknown[]
- ? — Kamal Al-Ahwal is born.
- ? — Valery Anoshin is apprehended.
- ? — Arsen Bayrambekov is born.
- ? — Sergey Boldyrev is born.
- ? — Cecile Bombeek is apprehended.
- ? — Davey Mato Butorac is born.
- ? — Wiesław Cieszowski is apprehended.
- ? — Mane Driza is born.
- ? — Pedro Espinoza is born.
- ? — Muziwokuthula Madondo is born.
- ? — Harold Memro is apprehended.
- ? — Marco Metzler is born.
- ? — Mujianto is born.
- ? — Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu is born (c.).
- ? — Elena Nekrasova is apprehended.
- ? — Kampatimar Shankariya is apprehended.
- ? — José Solís Mata is born.
- ? — Nikolai Trunov died.
- ? — William Zamastil is apprehended.