21 Fictional Characters Blamed For Real Life Crimes

10. Dexter Morgan

After strangling his ten year old little brother to death in November 2009 17 year old Andrew Conley told authorities that he related to the serial-killer/anti-hero portrayed by Michael C. Hall. Conley was dubbed "The Dexter Killer" by the media but later denounced the connection as media-driven by saying in a television interview "Dexter was just a TV show I watched. The only thing I felt like Dexter was that I felt alone". Conley doesn't even have the distinction of being the only murderer referred to as "The Dexter Killer". Mark Twitchell, who lured his victim Johnny Altinger to his death by using an internet dating ad, also earned the moniker from his obsession with the show. The connection was made all the more concrete by the fact Twitchel had even registered a Facebook account under the name 'Dexter Morgan'.

9. Patrick Bateman

In some cases the perpetrator of an horrific crime doesn't even have to have absorbed the film, book, TV series or game in question for a link to be established. The tragic murder of 14 year old Jaime Gough by his best friend Michael Hernandez was tenuously linked to American Psycho, as on the night preceding the murder Hernandez was discovered to have read several reviews of the film. That Hernandez's obsession had also led to him reading about historical serial-killers and looking at grim images on the internet, didn't prevent the finger being once again squarely pointed at a loosely connected work of fiction.