It is still uncertain whether Belle Gunness committed the murders for money and property, or whether she was affected by the circumstances of her life. It wasn’t for nothing that Belle was known as the Black Widow after the species of spider that eats it own mate. She would give out matrimonial ads for partners, marry these men, adopt their children (if any) and ask them to shift to her house in La Porte. Once they were there, she would drug them and slaughter them in the same fashion as she would her pigs. She would them bury them in the land around her farm. This continued for several years before, in 1908, her farm was reduced to ashes by a fire. It is believed that Bell Gunness died in this fire. It was in the aftermath of the fire, that many of the severely butchered bodies were discovered which led to her being included in this list of famous serial killers in history.

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.

Famous Black Widows:

• 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. 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.

Angels of Death typically start killing in their early 20s, and can kill as many as 8 people in one or two years. They are more likely to brag about their murders, which often leads to their arrest.

Famous Angels of Death

• Genene Jones of Texas was a nurse who murdered 11 children with heart medication. She was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1984.
• Madame Popova of Russia killed over 300 victims, and ran a contract murder service which freed women from abusive husbands. Popova was executed in 1909.

Female Serial Kilers

Although males make up the majority of serial killers, there are female serial killers as well and they differ from men in many ways. Research shows that the majority of males (50%) kill for sexual pleasure while females kill for profit (75%), control (13%), or revenge (12%). Men tend to be more actively violent in their killing, raping, torturing, beating or stangling their victims while females are usually passive and tend to favour poison. The victimologies differ as well; men tend to chose strangers while women target relatives, friends, and romantic partners. One of the most suprising differences is the length of time over which each gender continues killing. Men usually kill for a short period, a few months to about 4 years. Women, on the other hand, kill for an average of 6-8 years, sometimes even decades.

There are six typologies that female serial killers fall into:

1. Black Widow: Most of their victims are relatives, romantic relationships, or close friends. Black widows kill for monetary gain, most often life insurance. These women often kill 6-8 people over a period of ten to fifteen years and their preferred method is poison.

   Example: Lydia Trueblood killed five husbands, her brother in-law, and her baby daughter.

2. Angel of Death: These women are workers in hospitals or senior homes where death is not uncommon. They are exhilirated by their power over life and death and often bring their patients to the brink of death before miraculously curing them, though most victims are eventually killed. These women often suffer from Munchausen’s by proxy syndrome or a God complex. This type of killer usually claims 8-12 victims over a 1-2 year period. They kill slowly with drugs or poison that mirror the effects of disease and sickness.

   Example: Genene Jones killed between 11 and 46 terminlly ill infants by injecting them with digoxin and pretending to try to save them. Jones continued to kill even while under investigation.

3. Sexual Predator: The rarest of female serial killers; only one known North American case. These women are usually in their 30’s and and geographically mobile. They are driven by sexual fantasies of killing and kill on average 6 people in a 3 year period.

   Example: Aileen Carol Wuornos worked as a prostitute and killed 7 male clients. She would claim that they tried to rape her and would shoot or stab them during sex.

4. Revenge Killer: Also rare, and generally only found among repeat offenders. These women kill family members or friends that they beleive offended them. Revenge killers usually kill 3-4 victims over a two year period and tend to show remorse after the act.

   Example: Martha Wise killed family members and a pastor and also burnt down a church because she viewed them as barriers that kept her from marrying the man she loved. She later claimed that the devil made her do it.

5. Team Killers: These women often do not kill on their own but are coerced into doing so by a partner. Teams are most often male-female, however the partner may also be a sister or close female friend. 35% of female serial killers fall into this category. Killings are often sexual in nature and there are usually 9-15 victims in a two-year period.

   Example: Charlene and Gerald Gallego raped, tortured and buried alive over 20 girls. Charlene helped Gerald because he claimed that taking virgins would cure his impotency.

6. Profit Killers: Essentially hit women, these women tend to be the most intelligent of the female serial killers are very dispassionate.

   Example: Madame Popova was a Russian hit woman that hired herself out to women who had cruel and abusive husbands. She killed more than 300 men.