10 of the Most Infamous Female Serial Killers in History
No matter how hard we try, crime can be difficult to prevent. Some criminals are so cunning and calculating that only after their crimes are discovered do police and detectives start to piece together the evidence.
Unfortunately, some of the most heinous criminals in history have been female serial killers. From Victorian England to modern-day America these women shocked society with their brutal and sadistic crimes.
One of the most notorious female serial killer of all time is probably Belle Gunness, better known as the “Lady Bluebeard”. She was a Norwegian immigrant living in Indiana who murdered at least 25 people, including her own children in the early 1900s.
In this article, we will take a look at ten more female serial killers and how they changed the world.
10 of the Most Notorious Female Serial Killers
The world of serial killers has always been shrouded in mystery and fear, and female serial killers can be particularly haunting. Below you will find a list of our ten most notorious female murderers.
Aileen Wuornos
Aileen Wuornos was one of the most notorious female serial killers of all time. She killed seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990, claiming that each had either raped or attempted to rape her while she was working as a prostitute.
Though it is widely accepted that her victims were indeed guilty of sexual assault, Aileen’s own mental illness and difficult life circumstances led to sympathy from many people during her trial. Eventually, Aileen received six death sentences for the killings and was executed in 2002 by lethal injection.
Judias Buenoano
Judias Buenoano, also known as Judi Ann Browning or “The Black Widow,” murdered three people—her husband James Goodyear, their son Michael Goodyear, and Bobby Joe Morris—over a period of 12 years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
She was convicted of murdering her husband with arsenic, drowning her son and car-bombing Bobby Joe Morris for insurance money. In 1998, she was put to death by electric chair at Florida State Prison, becoming the first woman executed in the state since 1848.
Juana Barraza
Juana Barraza is a Mexican serial killer who has been accused of murdering up to 40 elderly women between 1997 and 2006. Nicknamed “La Mataviejitas” (“The Old Lady Killer”), Juana’s victims were typically poor elderly women living alone in Mexico City; many of them had been strangled or bludgeoned to death.
After an eight year manhunt, Juana was finally arrested in 2006 and sentenced to 759 years in prison.
Jane Toppan
Jane Toppan, a nurse and serial killer who also went by the aliases “Jolly Jane” and “The Angel of Death,” killed 31 people between 1895 and 1901. She used various poisons—including morphine, strychnine, arsenic, antimony chloride—to kill her victims, which included her adoptive family members, friends and patients.
Fortunately for everyone involved, she was caught before murdering anyone else and was eventually declared criminally insane after confessing to all of her crimes.
Gesche Gottfried
Gesche Gottfried is one of the earliest known female serial killers. Between 1813 and 1827 she was believed to have poisoned up to 15 people with arsenic (including her own children) in order to collect life insurance money.
It wasn’t until 1831 that she was finally caught and sentenced to death by beheading—a sentence which was later reduced to life imprisonment due to her mental state at the time of her arrest.
Amelia Dyer
Amelia Dyer is widely considered one of the most prolific serial killers of all time. Between 1879 and 1896, she murdered between 400-600 infants (some sources suggest as many as 900) after taking them away from their parents and placing them with foster families for adoption.
She made a profit by charging the adoptive parents for her services; however, when it became apparent that the babies had been killed or mysteriously vanished, Amelia was caught and convicted in 1896 for murdering just one child. She was hanged shortly afterwards.
Kristen Gilbert
Kristen Gilbert was a nurse at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Massachusetts who is believed to have murdered as many as 35 of her patients between 1989 and 1996. Though she initially plead not guilty to all charges, Kristen eventually confessed after being presented with overwhelming evidence against her.
She is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in prison for her crimes.
Nannie Doss
Nannie Doss, also known as the “Giggling Granny,” is an American serial killer believed to have killed 11 people between 1920 and 1954. Though some of these murders stemmed from financial gain, it appears that Nannie had what can only be described as an odd obsession with death.
This can been seen as she reportedly kept scrapbooks full of newspaper clippings about other serial killers and would often laugh as she recounted her own murders to detectives. She was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder in 1955 and died in prison in 1965.
Dorothea Puente
Dorothea Puente, otherwise known as “The Death House Landlady,” ran a boarding house in Sacramento during the 1980s where she drugged, stole from and murdered nine of her tenants before burying them in her backyard.
Following a lengthy investigation, Dorothea was arrested for her crimes in 1988 and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for three counts of murder; she spent most of her later years in prison until dying of natural causes at age 82.
Miyuki Ishikawa
Miyuki Ishikawa is a Japanese serial killer believed to have murdered over 40 people between 1948 and 1954. Though she was initially sentenced to life in prison for her crimes, Ishikawa’s sentence was eventually reduced due to her mental state at the time of her arrest.
She has since been released from prison and currently lives a quiet life out of the public spotlight.
Horrible Women Serial Killers in the History Books
Each of the female serial killers listed above stands as a stark reminder of just how cruel—and calculating—the human mind can be when it’s left unchecked. Though there are certainly many more disturbing stories out there, these ten women should serve as an example of why justice must always prevail in our society.
In honor of victims everywhere, we should never forget that even though justice may have been served in each case, nothing will ever bring back the lives that were taken. It is our duty to remember their stories and make sure that no one ever has to go through the same horrific experience again.