There is only one "CLASSIFICATION" of female serial killers:

 

     QUIET KILLERS--Rest assured they are every bit as lethal as male serial killers, but we are seldom aware of one in our midst because of their low profile.  Female killers are more successful than their conterparts because they are careful, precise and methodical when committing a crime.  At one time they weren't even publicized.  Not so today, they account for more than 15 percent of serial murders.

     Methods of killing: 80 % poisons, 20 % shootings, 16 % suffocations and bludgeonings, 11 % stabbings and 5 % drownings.

     Female serial killers tend to act alone or sometimes with a partner.  This makes them a little different than most male serial killers.  We'll break them down into five different catagories:

 

     BLACK WIDOWS-- They systematically kill multiple spouses, children, family members, friends or strangers for person reasons or financial gain.  They tend to have a longer cycle of systematic killing than their counterparts.

     ANGELS OF DEATH--They usually begin killing at a young age and take advantage of certain places, such as; a nursing home,hospital or any other place where death is a regular occurance.  This give them many ways to disguise their deadly deeds.  Their reasons are generally evangelical and believe what they are doing actually helps the person.  How many they kill depends on two things, how long they stay there and when they start to brag about their christian work.

     SEXUAL PREDATORS--So far, only one has emerged, Aileen Wuornos, but who really knows if it hasn't been going on unnoticed.  In her case, she was really mentally deranged.

It has been assumed that sex abuse at a young age plays a big part in their life's course.

     REVENGE--They commitment is deep and filled with anger, bordering on pathological.  They seem to have no "cooling-off" period.  They have the ability to control their hatred which helps them to conceal their crimes.  When caught, they show  remorse and wish forgivness.

     PROFIT-- These killers are repeat offenders and are most intelligent, resourceful and very careful.  They are for hire and kill for greed.  They are difficult to catch and usually claim 10 to 25 victims before they feel they have enough money to retire.

 

Amongst these solo female serial killers, there is also a breed that hooks-up with another female or family.  They are called:

     TEAM KILLERS--They begin at a early age and tend not to last beyond two or three years.  They have a high victim count, usually 20 and use a variety of killing methods, such as; poison, guns and knifes.  

 

Here are a few examples of BLACK WIDOW killers:

 

     Belle Gunness (1896-1908) aka, "Lady Bluebeard".  She was the first 20th Century Black Widow serial killer.  She was born Brynhld Storset in Norway on November 11, 1859.  Immigrated to the U.S. in 1881 and settled in Chicago.  On her farm outside Chicago, it's claimed that she killed 49 people, including multiple husbands, ranch workers and children that she had adopted.  Her method of killing was poison and "freak" accidents.  Prior to living on the farm she lived in several houses that burned rather suspiciously.   Ironically, she was supposed to be burned to death, in April of 1908, in the fire of her farm.  Quite doubtful,  according to sightings of her in other places.  No one know for sure if lived on to kill again.

     Margie Barfield (1969-1978) aka "Granny Killer".   She was a 53 year-old grandmother who had killed, 7 husbands, several fiances and her own mother.  She burned some while they slept (smoking in bed), prescription drug overdoses and arsenic (gastroenteritis).  She was executed by lethal injection.

 

OTHER BLACK WIDOW KILLERS:

     Amy Gilligan (1901-1914) killed 14.  Lydia Trueblood (1915-1919) killed 7.  Ronda Bell Martin (1932-1956) killed 8.  Janie Lou Gibbs (1965-1967) killed 5.  Waneta Hoyt (1965-1971) killed 5.   Blanche Taylor Moore (1966-1989) killed 7.  Diana Lumbrera (1977-1990) killed 6. 

 

Here are a few examples of ANGEL OF DEATH serial killers:

 

     Genene Jones (1978-1982) aka, "Child Killer".  This 27 year old vocational nurse travel throuhout the state of Texas killing terminally ill children.  What drove her pleasure for killing was the need to be called a "heroine".  She would inject children with heart medication (digoxin) and attempt to miraculously bring them back to life by resuscitating them.  It didn't always work.  She was convicted for 11 murders, but was suspected of murdering as many as 46 children.

     Terri Rachals (1985-1986) aka, "Murderess of the Century".  a 23 year old intensive care nurse was convicted of killing 6 elderly victims.  Though, she was suspected of murdering more than 20 elderly people to save them from suffering from "fugue states".  She claimed they all begged to die.  The judge was lenient and only sentenced her to 17 years in prison.

 

Here is the only example of a SEXUAL PREDATOR.  

 

    Aileen Wuornos (1989-1990) aka, "I-95 Man Killer".  A 33 year old lesbian prostitute murdered an assumed total of 9 men in a one year killing spree in Florida.  She murdered her victims by shooting them in the chestand the back of the head; before, during or after they had intercourse with her.  She claimed self-defense at her trail and blamed her actions on her father who physcially and sexually abused her.  Her mother abandoned at a young age.   

 

Here is a few examples of REVENGE serial killers. 

 

     Martha Wise (1924-1925) aka, "The Borgia of America".   was a 39 year old Ohio widow who fell hopelessly in love with a younger man.  Her family was greatly opposed their marriage.  She set out to kill her entire family by poisoning them.  Successfully killing three before the others got suspicous and reported their deaths to the police.  She even burned down the church that refused to marry them.  At her trail, she was recorded saying, "the devil made me do it".  She got a life sentence.

     Martha Ann Johnson (1977-1982) aka, "The SIDS Killer".  This 250 pound Gerogia woman killed 4 of her children because her husband argued with her.  She murdered them by rolling on top of them while they slept to suffocate them.  She claimed each time they died of "SIDS" (sudden death of an infant under one year of age). 

 

OTHER REVENGE KILLER:

     Ellen Etheridge (1912-1913) killed 4.

 

Here is a few examples of PROFIT serial killers.

 

     Madame Popova (1879-1909) aka, "The Russian Assassin".  She operated a "murder-for-hire" service.  Her specially was killing the husbands of physically abused wifes.  She murdered over 300 men by various methods.  Ironically, the police were tipped off by a liberated woman who got remorse.  This bold and brazen serial killer was executed by a firing squad.

     Dorothea Puente (1986-1990) aka, "The Social Security Killer".  This charming and attractive California spanish woman was a manager of an apartment complex in Sacramento.  She  convinced the Department of Social Services to refer clients to her state -subsidized boarding facilities.  She then systematically killed 25 victims and collected their checks.  What did her in was the stench from her backyard where she buried many of her victims.  How she was only sentenced to life imprisonment amazed many people.  

 

OTHER PROFIT KILLERS:

     Lila Young (1927-1947) Killed over 100 babies.  Anna Marie Hahn (1932-1937) Killed 5. 

 

Here are examples of a few TEAM KILLERS. 

 

     Raya & Sakina (1920-1921) aka, "Sister Killers".  They were sisters who operated achain of "houses of depravity" in Alexandia, Egypt.  They employed married and single women to pleasure the British soldiers.  They killed 17 of these women by drugs and suffocation, then buried them their bodies.

     Martha Beck & Ray Fernandez (1947-1949) aka, The Lonely Hearts Killers".  Their scheme was to place companionship or matrimony ads in lonely heart magazines to attact females to bilk them out of their assets.  They murdered 20 women before they were caught.

     Carolyn, Sherman & Daniel McCrary with Ginger & Ray Taylor (1971-1972) aka, "The McCrary Family".  This group of armed robbers proceeded to kidnap, rape and murder 34  victims. They would repeatedly rape their victims in a car, then shoot them and throw the bodies out the window.        

     Charlene & Gerald Gallego (1978-1980) aka, "The Sex Slave Murderers".  This married duo abducted, brutally raped, tortured, murdered and buried alive 10 young females between the ages of 13-16.

     Carol Bundy & Doug Clark (1980-1981) aka, "The Sunset Slayers".  This couple terrorized California by abducting,  sexually torturing, killing and decapitating 50 male and female victims.  Doug, a necrophilic ( a morbid attraction to dead bodies) like to shoot his victims in the head during oral sex.  Carol preserved the heads and put them in the refrigerator for Doug's trophies.

 

OTHER TEAM KILLERS:

     Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrows (1930-1934) Killed 16.  Caril Ann Fugate & Charles Starkweather (1958) In one month killed 11 people.  Charles Manson cult of 5 women (1967-1969) "Helter Sketer" Killed 20.  Judith & Alvin Neelley (1980-1982) Killed 15.  Debra Brown & Alton Coleman (1884) Killed 8.  Cynthia Coffman & James Marlow (1986) Killed 4.  Gwendolyn Graham & Cathrine May Wood (1987) killed 5. 

 

INSANE KILLERS"

    Jane Tappan (1880-1901) a nurse killed over 100 hospital patients by injections of morphine in a two-decade murdering career.

     Bobbie Sue Terrell (1984-1985) a nurse who suffered from Munchausen syndrome bt proxy (wanting to draw attention to themself) killed 12.  She would mutilate herself and blame the killing on a serial killer. 

 

UNEXPLAINED:   Female serial killers who admitted to having no motives for their heinous acts.

     Stella Williamson (1923-1933)  Killed 5 of her own illegitimate newborn infants.

     Audrey Hilley (1975-1979) Killed by preparing arsenic coffee for neighborhood children and her family.  3 victims died.

     Christine Falling (1980-1982) While baby sitting murdered 5 children by suffocation.  Susan & James Carson (1981-1983)  San Francisco hippies killed 3 of the drug friends by stabbing, smashing their skulls and shooting.

 

UNSOLVED: Female serial killer cases which were never solved.  

     "The Butcher of Kingsbury Run" (1935-1938) Twelve (12) murdered men were found along a stretch of railway wasteland between Cleveland and Pittsburg castrated and decapitated.  It appeared to be the work of a butcher.  The police suspected the work of a woman.

     "The Michigan VA Hospital Murders" (1975) Five (5) patients were murdered by an injection of a muscle relaxant.  It was suspected a nurse was this culprit.

     "The Riverside, California County Hospital Murders" (1981)  Twenty-four murders of patients were killed by an overdose of lidocaine.  A male nurse was convicted of 12 murders in 1984, but he denied it, and many thought this was a case of wrongful conviction. 

     "The Prince George, Maryland Hospital Murders" (1984-1985)  Seventeen murders by injection of potassium.  No one has been prosecuted for these murders.

 

There have been more than 50 recorded female serial killers in Europe and the United States.  Some of their names were:

 

     Lizzie Borden, Liked to use an axe. 

     Cheryl Turner (Lana's daughter), killed mommy's boyfriend. 

     Sue Basso, killed handicapped men for insurance money. 

     Velma Barfield, she loved to poison people. 

     Mary Ann Cotton, killed 21 0f her relatives.  

     Barbara Graham, the beauty and the gas chamber. 

     Darlie Routier, a heartless child killer.  

     Ruth Ellis, last woman hanged in Britain

     Marie Hillary, killed her lovers when she tired of them.

     Genene Jones, the death shift nurse.

     Nannie Doss, she loved her men to death.

     Leslie Nelson, a transsexual who loved guns.

     Susan Smith, child murderer or victim? 

 

Female serial killer's motives are as diverse as that of their male counterparts as the following list explains:

     *monetary gain *ridding themself of a burden *revenge *dislike *pressure from a gang *seeking power *following orders *delusions *pleasure *self-defense *acting out from a history of abuse *sexual compulsion *team chemistry *psychopathy *misplaced mercy *depravity *rivalry.

 

     However, during the 1970's, when women were "liberated" there was surge in violent crimes by women.  They may not go on a rampage killing. but the lower visibility of their crimes does not discount the lethality of their motives or their viciousness.

 

LISTED BELOW ARE LINKS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT FEMALE SERIAL KILLERS: