Black Widows
Characteristic of Black Widows
Black Widows kill family members or partners, most often for financial gain. They typically start killing after age 25, and claim 6 to 8 victims in a 10-year period.
-Most victims are relatives, especially husbands, lovers or children, although other personal relationships, friends and relatives may be victims as well
-Usually profit from life insurance and live off the money they collect from each victim
-Usually kill approximately 6-8 victims over 10-15 years
-Preferred weapon: poison
Examples of Famaous Black Widow Killers
Blanche Taylor Moore; of North Carolina killed her pastor, father, mother-in-law, husbands and lovers.
-She died by lethal injection in 1989.
Margie Velma Barfield; also of North Carolina, killed 7 husbands, several fiancés, and her mother.
-Her final victim was a boyfriend, who was found with traces of arsenic in his system.
-53 years old and a grandmother
-Killed seven husbands and her mother
-Burned her victims to death in their beds, disguising their deaths as accidents created by smoking in bed
-Barfield also died by lethal injection, in 1978
Waneta Hoyt: of New York suffocated 5 of her 6 children.
-She was sentenced to life in prison.
Belle Gunness ; of Illinois was also known as Lady Bluebeard.
- She was the first known Black Widow in the 20th Century.
-She killed 49 people, but was never prosecuted.
Diana Lumbrera:
-suffocated her 6 children and blamed hospital when they could not revive them
Lydia Trueblood:
-Poisoned five husbands, one in-law
and one child with arsenic
-Disguised the murders as typhoid.
