May 17 is the 137th day of the year (138th in leap years). There are 228 days remaining.
- 1807 — Rebecca Smith is born.
- 1864 — John Dickman is born.
- 1952 — William Zamastil is born.
- 1954 — Beoria Simmons is born.
- 1959 — Sergey Shipilov is born.
- 1960 — Władysław Baczyński died.
- 1960 — Joseph Taborsky died.
- 1968 — Levi Bellfield is born.
- 1971 — Elizabeth Anne Porteous is murdered by Wayne Boden.
- 1975 — Anastasiya Rahula is murdered by Gennady Mikhasevich.
- 1957 — Michael Cox is born.
- 1977 — Montie Rissell's victim, Aletha Byrd, is found.
- 1980 — Martyn Duffey is murdered by Dennis Nilsen.
- 1980 — Marcelo Fabián Gómez is born.
- 1980 — David Lefèvre is born.
- 1987 — Eddie Mosley is apprehended.
- 1990 — Michel Fourniret's victim, Joanna Parrish, is found.
- 1990 — Henry Eugene Hodges is apprehended.
- 1990 — Louis Philippe died.
- 1995 — Girvies Davis died.
- 1996 — Robert Boyd Rhoades's victim, Michael Allen Lyons, is found.
- 2001 — Samuel Dixon is apprehended.
- 2002 — Artur Frolkov and Atso Simovich are murdered by Sergei Dovzhenko.
- 2002 — Sergei Dovzhenko is apprehended.
- 2003 — Diane O'Dell is apprehended.
- 2005 — Patricia "Trish" McDermott is murdered by Juan Covington.
- 2013 — Felix Vail is apprehended.