Women Serial and Mass Murderers

It is at 31.4 years of age that the average woman multiple murderer kills the first of her 17 victims, whom she usually knows or is related to. The preferred method is poison, usually arsenic. She is more likely to prey on the vulnerable—the very young or the very old—than is her male counterpart. Her killing spree lasts five years; when caught, she shows little remorse.
This study of 85 women focuses on those who have killed at least three people, not including themselves in murder-suicide cases. Though the work is international, emphasis is on the United States during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Excluded are accomplices who, though legally guilty of multiple murders, were in fact passive participants.
The life of each killer is examined, as well as descriptions of the murders, the methods, and the trial.

Cultural historian Kerry Segrave is the author of dozens of books on such diverse topics as drive-in theaters, ticket-scalping, lie detectors, jukeboxes, smoking and shoplifting. He lives in British Columbia.

Kerry Segrave
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 333
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2013 [1992]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7617-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0606-4
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

Amy Archer-Gilligan      10

Johanna Healy Bacher      14

Velma Barfield      15

Elizabeth Bathory      20

Mrs. Leon Bearce      24

Martha Beck      26

Marie Becker      32

Kate Bender      35

Patricia Bolin      39

Harjit Kaur Bhuller Brar      42

Marie de Brinvilliers      44

Inez Campbell      51

Patty Cannon      52

Opal Juanita Collins      56

Patricia Columbo      59

Glenda Cooper      64

Mary Ann Cotton      66

Anna Cunningham      74

Lillie May Curtis      78

Rachal David      81

Nellie Dcyzheski      87

Catherine Deshayes      89

Nannie Doss      92

Amelia Dyer      98

Lillian Edwards      102

Christine Falling      105

Susanna Fazekas      112

Elizabeth Fiederer      118

Priscilla Ford      120

Lafonda Fay Foster and Tina Marie Hickey Powell      126

Edna Fuller      134

Janie Lou Gibbs      136

Sister Godfrida      138

Delfina Gonzales and Maria Gonzales      140

Gesina Gottfried      142

Gwendolyn Graham      147

Belle Gunness      155

Anna Hahn      162

Violet Hultberg      167

Mary Jane Jackson      169

Marie Jeanneret      172

HCl6ne Jegado      177

Annie Jones      182

Roxanne Jones      183

Charlotte Juenemann      186

Kathleen King      188

Tillie Klimek      192

Christa Lehmann      197

Anjette Lyles      199

Alma May McAninch      203

Carol MacDonald      206

Sarah Malcolm      208

Martha Marek      210

Rhonda Belle Martin      213

Daisy Louisa de Melker      218

Elsie Nollen      224

Maureen O’Donohue      226

Bonnie Parker      228

Marie Pasos      232

Popova      233

Dorothea Montalvo Puente      234

Florence Ransom      243

Vera Renczi      246

Martha Rendall      248

Sarah Jane Robinson      250

Amelia Sach and Annie Walters      254

Antoinette Scieri      257

Lydia Sherman      260

Mamie Shey Shoaf      264

Della Sorenson      265

Mariam Soulakiotis      270

Hieronyima Spara      273

Marybeth Tinning      275

La Toffania      282

Jane Toppan      284

Ruth Urdanivia      290

Sophie Ursinus      295

Waltraud Wagner      296

Marie Walkup      298

Margaret Waters      300

Jeanne Weber      303

Catherine Wilson      308

Martha Hasel Wise      313

Anna Zwanziger      318

Index      323

“unique reference”—Booklist; “recommended”—ARBA.