EXCERPT (Article 1 of 3): Parrish, a self-ordained storefront preacher from East Baltimore, was convicted in 1989 of arranging for the murder of four friends and relatives in order to cash in on their insurance policies. She also was convicted in the botched attempt to kill her 29-year-old niece. She married at least eight men, four within 18 months.
A nephew who married Parrish said he had been placed under
her spell by a North Carolina "root woman," who he believed had
doctored a meal of barbecued goat meat. In another twist, authorities searching
in a paupers' cemetery for one of her victims exhumed the wrong body -- twice.
Parrish, 58, is serving multiple life sentences as prisoner No. 906-073 at the
Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup.
[Jay Apperson, “Murderer promises a colorful tale, but publisher backs out on her life story,” Baltimore Sun (Md.), Apr. 15, 1994]
[Jay Apperson, “Murderer promises a colorful tale, but publisher backs out on her life story,” Baltimore Sun (Md.), Apr. 15, 1994]
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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 2): On May 10, 1989, Geraldine
Parrish, 52, will be sentenced for one of the most bizarre murders in Baltimore
history. Accused of killing 48-year-old New Jersey resident Albert Robinson,
Geraldine Parrish recruited 19-year-old Lionel Robinson (no relation to victim)
to pull the trigger and her 21 year old niece Renee Burns to lure the victim to
his death.
Throughout her childhood, Renee Burns had quietly listened
behind doors when she was supposed to be asleep, hearing family members whisper
rumors about the sinister ways of her Aunt Geraldine Parrish.
The opinions of the family, as well as those of the
congregation of the storefront church which Geraldine Brown Parrish served as
Minister/Prophetess, were divided among those that thought of her as the sweet
and caring shepherd of her church flock, and others who were deathly afraid of
her voodoo-methodology and thought that a darker side lay beneath her exterior
personality.
When Renee became older she was taken into the confidence of
Aunt Geraldine. These discussions made Renee realize for the first time that
many of the family’s accusations of murder for insurance levied against Aunt
Geraldine might indeed contain some grain of truth.
Although Renee at this time had no concrete proof of her
Aunt’s involvement in the act of murder, she was becoming increasingly
convinced that Parrish was capable of murdering for money.
Renee also believed that Parrish had actually committed
murder and lived well off the insurance benefits she received as the sole
beneficiary of her victims.
It was a combination of these informed hunches as well as
what she saw in the large sums of cash, fine clothes, flashy automobiles and
the luxurious lifestyle which Aunt Geraldine surrounded herself that shaped
Renee’s decision to assist her Aunt as a murderess’ apprentice.
Those were the reasons Renee gave for deciding to adopt her
mother’s sister as her role model, thinking that maybe she too could have some
of the finder things in life.
“From the time she first approached me with an opportunity to
make some big cash I knew that I was interested in having some of the material;
things that she had. She had the stuff therefore she was the best person in the
world to show me how to get those things for myself,” said Renee.
Renee said, “As for the multiple marriages without ever
divorcing, and the baby-selling, and the incest, torture and satanic rites
involved in what Aunt Geraldine represented to some people, I did not get that
picture. Not all at once anyway. Those things were slowly revealed to me about
my Aunt and for that matter, my entire family.”
“The first time I was approached I must have been about 18
years old (Renee is now 21). Aunt Geraldine called my house where I was living
with my mother and step-father and asked that I meet her to discuss something
that she called important.
“The only thing that she would say over the telephone is
that she wanted me to ride up to New Jersey with her so that she could go to
the bank.
“When she came to the house she said that she wanted to go
at night and I thought it was awfully strange that she would be going to the
bank at night. After all, what bank is open at night?”
Renee said that her Aunt “told me to get one of those guys
that I know and persuade them to travel with us, the money would be good for
both him and me.
“She kept making cracks about how we spent our time on small
potatoes, like minor drug deals when she could show us how to make some really
big cash if we hung with her.”
Lionel Robinson was the man Renee chose to accompany them on
their bizarre journey to New Jersey.
Renee said that “The reason why my aunt wanted us to go to
New Jersey was to kill Albert Robinson (no relation to Lionel) for her. She
painted a picture of Robinson as a tired old useless wino who would make an
ideal murder victim for us because he would be easy prey and he would not be
missed by too many folks.”
Niece Renee says, “Like she did with all her victims
Geraldine first became the beneficiary of their life insurance policies adding
them to a list of persons from which she could later ‘tap’ for needed funds
when she killed them and later collected their insurance.”
“Another tactic used by Parrish was to marry her victim and
later collect their insurance money. It was easier to collect if you had a
connection like marriage.
“People ask me how and why I got into something like this,
they have to understand that I grew up with these people. My step-father has
stopped speaking to me because of the incident but he’s not the same guy who
married Geraldine Parrish for money in New Jersey 15 years ago.
“That’s why my mother and him never married, he was still
legally married to Geraldine the entire 15 years that he lived with my mother
as man and wife.”
“Aunt Geraldine never came to the house much when my mother
was alive. Mom died in 1987 and Geraldine promptly went to the jail where my
father was and told him that I had poisoned my mother, causing her death. From
then on he stopped having anything to do with me,” Renee added.
“The combination of the trial and my testimony at the trial
and the fact that Geraldine told my step-father that I murdered my mother by
giving her some poison orange juice have made me run scared since this trial
started.
The police have given me a place to stay that nobody knows
about. I have a 16 month old son that I have to think about now.
“There will be no more murder trials coming up, and I will
be called on to testify in them. I hope that all goes well.”
When the AFRO contacted Jack Lessor of State’s Attorney’s
office, he would only identify Renee Burns as the indicted co-conspirator in
the first Parrish murder case.
He declined to answer questions regarding Burn’s placement
in a State witness protection program or the possibility of her being called
upon to testify or be indicted in the upcoming murder trials of Geraldine
Parrish.
[“21-year-old niece exposes: Voodoo widow murderess,”
Baltimore Afro-American (Md.), Apr. 22, 1989, p. 1]
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FULL
TEXT (Article 3 of 3): Baltimore – A preacher and a hired gunman have pleaded
guilty to killing three people and attempting to kill three others to collect
on their insurance policies Geraldine Parrish, 54, and Edwin Gordon, 23,
pleaded guilty Thursday in Baltimore Circuit Court.
"These
were some of the most unbelievable murderers," said Baltimore prosecutor
Jack I. Lesser. "I just can't believe how vicious and cold-blooded these
people were."
Parrish,
who at one time feigned insanity and claimed to be illiterate, will serve two
consecutive life sentences and six concurrent life sentences imposed by Judge
Elsbeth Levy Bothe.
Gordon,
already serving life without parole for a separate contract murder, received
six concurrent life sentences.
Parrish
first was convicted last month for killing a New Jersey man to get his
insurance benefits. With her guilty plea Thursday, she has been convicted of
orchestrating four
murders from November 1985 to May 1988 to get $39,000 worth of insurance
benefits. Her friends and her sister's common-law husband were among the
victims.
[“Preacher,
hired gunman plead guilty to 3 slayings,” syndicated (AP), The Frederick Post
(Md.), May 20, 1989, p. A-4]
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Other source: “The police seized 45 insurance policies from
locked closets and safes at her house.”
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For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.
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More cases, see: Female Serial Killers of Africa & the African Diaspora
[6502-1/6/21]
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Met Geraldine Parrish at mciw in mid nineties very strange bossy woman still attempting to weld power while locked up
ReplyDeleteDo you know if she is still alive. I can't find her on the inmate locator, and there is nothing on the internet about her being dead. Thanks.
DeleteShe died at mciw
DeleteWow I remember her and her neice Bouncer aka Renee. Ms parish was something if u didn't play penuckle with her she would get really upset and always taking food to her housing unit she slept in the building where new inmates come to d wing which was lockup she was in that building with lifers and short timers. Wow ms. Agnes was there and Pinky wonder how they doing. Ms Parish passed in 2001 I think.the compound was sad showing mixed emotions. We all did because at the end of the day she was human. She made really bad choices but who.hasnt
ReplyDeleteBouncer recently died, this story goes so much deeper. It’s sad
ReplyDelete