Days Of Our Lives' Best Murder Mysteries Ranked

Soap opera fans who've been watching "Days of Our Lives" for decades know that the fictional town of Salem has had its fair share of drama, including a plethora of serial killers and murder mysteries. Through the years, many characters have been killed and presumed dead, and some have set up shocking murder mystery storylines that played out over months. For instance, Abigail Deveraux DiMera was murdered in the summer of 2022, and fans were stunned that the sudser had chosen to kill off such an important legacy character. However, the mystery surrounding her death was a wild and entertaining ride that had fans second-guessing everything they thought they knew. Eventually, Clyde Weston was revealed to be the murderer, but only after several Salemites became suspects.

Deimos Kiriakis is another character who set up a big mystery storyline for the show. He was killed during a party that had gathered most of Salem, including several of Deimos' enemies. Finally, after trying to figure out who was responsible for killing Deimos, Nicole Walker was revealed to be his killer.

Although Salem has seen a lot of deaths over the years, it's the serial killers who've truly made their mark on the show. So let's look back at some of the best and wildest murder mystery storylines, including the biggest one of all.

The 1980s proved to be the decade of death on "Days of Our Lives." In 1988, Harper Deveraux, a wealthy politician, found himself getting involved in plenty of drama in Salem and in his personal life. Harper was already a villainous character, but he snapped after suffering several disappointments from the women in his life. This led to his life as a serial killer whose alias was the Riverfront Knifer. Harper began to attack the women of Salem, including characters like Eve Donovan, Kayla Brady, Gabrielle Pascal, Kimberly Brady, and Paula Carson, all of whom survived his murderous attempts. However, he sadly went on to end the lives of three unnamed sex workers, a woman named Esther, and Janice Barnes.

When Harper was finally discovered to be the Riverfront Knifer, Steve Johnson was the one to bust him. Harper was sent to prison but vowed to get revenge on Steve. He later escaped with the help of his adopted son, Jack Deveraux. However, he was captured again after taking Kayla hostage. In 1990, Harper made yet another prison break and planned to kill Steve at his wedding to Kayla, but Jack foiled his plans. The two began to struggle, and Harper fell to his death from a bell tower.

"Days of Our Lives" fans witnessed a lot of murder mysteries in the 1980s, including one villain called the Salem Slasher. The killer took the lives of characters such as Daisy Hawkins, Letitia Bradford, Trista Evans, Kelly Chase, and Renee DuMonde. He also attacked Gwen Davies, who escaped the killer's wrath. After many killings, it was finally found out that Andre DiMera was behind all of the chaos, and that the murders had been part of a bigger plan to frame Roman Brady.

Andre worked with Stefano DiMera on the scheme to put Roman behind bars. As Andre did all of the dirty work and claimed the lives of the victims, Roman became a suspect in the murders. During this time, Andre also had his doppelganger cousin, Tony DiMera, imprisoned in order to steal his identity. Eventually, Roman was able to prove that he was an innocent man and Tony was freed. However, Andre didn't pay for his crimes. Instead, he was able to leave Salem before the police could catch him. He headed to one of the DiMera family's deserted islands and began working on his next scheme.

Andre went on to create chaos for the people in Salem for decades before he was eventually murdered by Abigail Deveraux.

In 2014, the character of Ben Weston was introduced to "Days of Our Lives" fans. It was later revealed that Ben came from a troubled background and overcame many struggles as a child after being abused by his father Clyde Weston. Upon arriving in town, Ben met Abigail Deveraux and the two hit it off. The pair began dating and even got engaged. Ben was thrilled to find out that Abby was pregnant, but at the time, things were turning dark in Salem. Women like Serena Mason and Paige Larson were murdered by being strangled with a necktie. The Necktie Killer tormented Salem until fans finally found out that Ben was the maniac behind the murders.

After the big reveal, Ben killed Will Horton and kidnapped Abby. He took her to a secluded cabin where she went into labor. Ben found a midwife to deliver the baby, and after the birth of the little boy, Ben shot and killed the woman. When Chad DiMera came to rescue Abby, Ben attempted to kill both himself and Abigail. He was later caught and put into a mental hospital. Years later, Ben was released and placed on medication. He turned his life around and fell in love with Ciara Brady. The couple got married and became one of the most beloved pairings on the soap opera, despite Ben's serial killer past.

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"Days of Our Lives" fans who tuned into the soap opera in the early 1980s will surely remember the Salem Strangler's reign of terror. The killer targeted women and claimed victims such as Denise Peterson, Lorie Masters, Mary Anderson, and Samantha Evans. The murderer killed six women and attacked two others before finally being brought to justice.

The mystery started when the character Jake Kositchek fell in love with Jessica Blake. At the time, Jessica was experiencing multiple personalities and working as a sex worker. Jake fell in love with one of her personalities named Angel, but when Jessica came back into her right mind, she left Jake just before they were set to get married. Jake snapped and began his murder spree, mostly targeting Marlena Evans. The Strangler tried to get to Marlena and thought that he had carried out his mission when he killed her identical twin sister, Samantha. However, he was unsuccessful, and after Jake was revealed to be the man behind the mask, he was killed by Roman Brady before he could harm Marlena.

The most shocking murder mystery storyline that "Days of Our Lives" ever tackled was that of the Salem Stalker. In 2003, viewers were stunned when a brand new serial killer began to torment the people of Salem. As the storyline played out, some of the show's most beloved characters were slain. Salemites such as Alice Horton, Maggie Horton, Caroline Brady, Abe Carver, Roman Brady, Victor Kiriakis, Jack Deveraux, and Doug Williams were all killed by a murderer dubbed the Salem Stalker. For months, fans watched as the Stalker claimed their victims, wearing a spooky mask and black gloves.

It was finally revealed that none other than Dr. Marlena Evans was the person behind the killings. Eventually, the storyline began to play out further, revealing that Marlena was being drugged to believe she was a serial killer. After her presumed death, she woke up on a remote island known as Melaswen. There she found all of her would-be victims living together.

Marlena found out that she hadn't actually killed any of her loved ones, and that she was being used to carry out yet another DiMera family scheme. Eventually, she and the rest of the victims were revealed to be alive and returned to their loved ones back in Salem. The plot twist made for one of the most interesting and memorable storylines in the sudser's history.

It's clear that "Days of Our Lives" has had a lot of murder mysteries over the years, and fans can't wait to see when the next big one will occur.