General Hospital's Best Murder Mysteries Ranked
Despite being under the protection of mafia boss Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard), Port Charles can be a dangerous place on "General Hospital," and the murder rate is extremely high. While all of the city's police commissioners have been extremely skilled at their jobs, many of the killers in town have proven to be elusive for some time. Throughout the years, victims of murder have turned up, including Susan Moore (Gail Ramsey), Alison Barrington (Erin Hershey Presley), Claudia Zacchara (Sarah Brown), D.L. Brock (David Groh), and Connie Falconeri (Kelly Sullivan), just to name a few.
Several law-abiding citizens, such as Audrey Hardy (Rachel Ames), Bobbie Spencer (Jacklyn Zeman), and many members of the Quartermaine family, have been accused of killing people. Supervillains like Cesar Faison (Anders Hove) and Victor Cassadine (Charles Shaughnessy) have threatened Port Charles and even the world in some cases. One killer was even a vampire named Caleb Morley (Michael Easton). Most of the murderers would have gotten away with it if it weren't for the efforts of intrepid investigators such as Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers), Anna Devane (Finola Hughes), Frisco and Felicia Jones (Jack and Kristina Wagner), and more. While killers like Ryan Chamberlain (Jon Lindstrom) and Franco (then James Franco) were very prolific, there was generally no mystery behind their murders.
However, some deaths took a while to solve, and we shall rank the top five best murder mysteries throughout the show's 60 years on the air.
5. The Brownstone Murders
Shortly after Bobbie Spencer was exonerated for the murder of her abusive husband, D. L. Brock, another mystery emerged in Port Charles, centered around her step-daughter, Terry Brock (Robyn Bernard). Bobbie and her then-boyfriend Jake Meyer (Sam Behrens) owned a brownstone, and the tenants included Terry and two brothers: Patrick and Kevin O'Connor (Guy Mack and Kevin Bernhardt). The three youthful residents had all known each other because they grew up in a town called Laurelton, but a scandal involving Terry put the boys at odds. She had issues like hypoglycemia and sleepwalking, and soon bodies started piling up in the Brownstone. Ultimately, everything linked back to murders that occurred in Laurelton, and the killer turned out to be Kevin! Despite Terry's annoying whininess, this shocking reveal is an important part of "General Hospital" history, as anyone — including a friend, brother, or fiancé — could be a murderer.
This storyline harkens back to horror maestro Mario Bava's 1964 film, "Blood and Black Lace," in which the killer turned out to be someone the main characters knew and least suspected. When D.L. died, his killer was revealed almost immediately. However, with the Brownstone killings, audiences were on edge right up until the tense, final showdown, where Kevin calmly but evilly pursued Terry until she knocked him off a cliff. Bernhardt would go on to be in "Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth" in 1992 and write and produce several films after this edge-of-your-seat storyline.
4. Nancy Eckert's murder
Who would have thought that in a bit of surreptitious stunt casting, "General Hospital" would tap Michael Cole to play Harlan Barrett, and he'd turn out to be the leader of a villainous cartel? Cole gained fame playing heroic undercover cop Pete Cochrane on the hit series "The Mod Squad" from 1968 to 1973. The cartel was comprised of international criminal Cesar Faison (Anders Hove), Leopold Taub (Chip Lucia), and Larry Ashton (Hugo Napier), and planned to use the neurotoxin carbon disulfide to control the world's finances. When Nancy Eckert (Linda Dona) turned up dead in 1993, her ex-husband Bill Eckert (Anthony Geary) and several others were suspects. In the end, it turned out that Bill's housekeeper, Finian O'Toole (Arte Johnson), accidentally shot her during an argument.
Having comedian Arte Johnson as the killer was a stroke of genius for "GH." Johnson himself was a household name, having worked on the show "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" as well as a litany of comedies from the mid-1950s to the early 2000s — which included a hilarious turn as Renfield in 1979's "Love at First Bite," alongside George Hamilton's insipid Dracula. It was fun to see the two television icons in the cast, and a bummer when they had to leave the show. "GH" had previously set the bar high when the Cassadine family tried to freeze the world in 1981, but by infusing another megalomaniac story with a murder mystery, it set the bar even higher.
3. The Text Message Killer
The death of Georgie Jones (Lindze Letherman) would have a long-lasting effect on "General Hospital." Racking up quite an impressive body count, the Text Message Killer — dubbed so because he used cryptic text messages to lure unsuspecting victims — also claimed the lives of Sonny Corinthos' nanny, Leticia Juarez (Jessi Morales), Emily Quartermaine (Natalia Livingston), and Cooper Barrett (Jason Gerhardt). Along the way, he attacked and tried to kill ten other residents of Port Charles, strangulation being his method of choice. The murderer was the presumed-dead Diego Alcazar (Ignacio Serricchio), who was seeking vengeance for the death of his father, Luis Alcazar (Ted King). Ironically, Diego ended up getting strangled by his own ropes after battling Emily's widower Nikolas Cassadine (then Tyler Christopher).
Serricchio would go on to have an exciting run as Detective Alex Chavez on "The Young and the Restless" in 2012. Another twisted tale with the murderer being revealed as someone close to the characters hit home on a personal level. The standout performance was when Damian Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) — relatively new to the show — discovered Georgie's body, leaving nary a dry eye in the audience. Georgie was the sweetest, nicest person in Port Charles, and her murder was visceral, making it one of the most shocking deaths in soap opera history. Her sister Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) named her daughter after Georgie, and her mother, Felicia Scorpio (Kristina Wagner), and step-father Mac Scorpio (John J. York), still lament her death to this day.
2. The Derisifol Murders
When a killer stalked the hallways of Port Charles' General Hospital, what should have been a safe place was turned into something to be feared. A murderer using a muscle relaxant called Derisifol started eliminating patients and other characters, including the sweet nurse Sabrina Santiago (Theresa Castillo). While the list of suspects was high, and the PCPD was baffled, no one imagined the district attorney, Paul Hornsby (Richard Burgi), was the killer. He was seeking vengeance against Kyle Sloane (Robb Derringer), who had raped his daughter Susan years prior. However, after murdering Kyle, things got out of control, so Paul had to eliminate anyone that learned his secret. Ultimately, Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) stopped his reign of terror.
Burgi previously had a successful run as the hero in the series "The Sentinel," and having him turn out to be the killer was a surprising twist for "General Hospital" viewers. Actor Paul Satterfield previously played Paul Hornsby from 1991 to 1993, but with his lantern-jawed resemblance to Christopher Reeve ("Superman," 1978), it would have been hard to see him as a killer. Burgi had been a nasty character in "Hostel: Part II" in 2007 and looked more the part. Reminiscent of the William Shatner film, "Visiting Hours" (1982), turning the hospital building itself into a horror show was a new level of terror that hadn't been done to quite that extreme before on "GH."
1. The Hook Murders
Topping the list of the best murder mysteries on "General Hospital" is The Hook Murders. Viewers drew parallels to the hook-wielding killer from the 1997 film, "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and rightly so because the killer here stalked the streets of Port Charles with, you guessed it, a hook. With more victims surviving than dying, it's no wonder that after the first attempt on Ava Jerome's (Maura West) life, the mysterious assailant started adding serpent venom to the tip of the hook, ensuring the deaths of Brando Corbin (Johnny Wactor), Officer Rory Cabrera (Michael Blake Kruse), and Oz Haggerty (Max Faqugno). Viewers weren't completely surprised when the killer turned out to be the insane Heather Webber (Alley Mills), but boy, was the ride fun! Making things worse, Heather and serial killer Ryan Chamberlain (John Lindstrom) turned out to be the parents of the evil-but-now-amnesiac Esme Prince (Avery Pohl).
Mills did a standout job taking over the role from Robin Mattsson, bringing Heather to new demented heights. Viewers were constantly guessing the killer's identity for months, even freeze-framing clips to see if they could figure out who The Hook was. Heather is an accomplished escape artist, slipping in and out of prisons and sanitariums with ease, and the fact that she hasn't been killed off leaves fans excited for more of her evil antics. The versatile Mills may also have a future as the next horror film serial killer along the lines of Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers.