Shirin Gul, “The Kebab Killer”: Prolific Afghan Serial Killer Bandit - 2004

Shirin Gul, “The Kebab Killer,” was convicted in Afghanistan of killing 28 men in collaboration with her husband and his in-laws. The family was part of a large regional gang that specialized in stealing and selling cars, particularly taxis. Accomplices were used to transport taxis over the Pakistani border to the town of Miram Shah, where the cars were sold there for more than $10,000 each. The three accused men admitted that they had invited the men into their home with offers of tea and kebabs, which contained sedatives. Then they would kill and rob them. According to some reports, Shirin would also lure taxi drivers to her house for sexual intercourse.

Her lover Rahmatullah, her 18-year-old son, Samiullah, and four others believed to be involved in the killings. Rahmatullah had murdered her first husband. Police think her first husband, Mohammed Azam, was probably an accomplice in the early murders but was himself killed when Shirin Gul and Rahmatullah became lovers.

During an investigation that began in June 2004 with the discovery of the naked body of a wealthy businessman Haji Mohammed Anwar, near Kabul, He had been invited to the couple's home, ostensibly to discuss a property deal. Soon after the start of the investigation of the Anwar murder, police recovered 18 corpses from under the yard of Shirin Gul’s former home in the eastern city of Jalalabad, and another six at an address in Kabul.

The body of Shirin Gul's 60-year-old first husband was found under the floor of her Jalalabad home. After murdering Azam in Jalalabad, the killer couple moved from to Kabul and lived as man and wife. The murderess liked to spend her loot on gold jewelry and shoes.

Shirin was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  It is thought that she “still runs a mafia-style operation from her cell.” (St. Estephe text) 

[One of the sources: Tom Coghlan, “’Kebab killer’ defies Kabul court,” BBC News, Mar. 29, 2005]

***

***

***

***

For similar cases, see: Female Serial Killer Bandits

***

For similar cases, see Murder-Coaching Moms

***

Links to more Serial Killer Couples

***

[5950-1/15/21]

***

Diane & Rachel Staudte, Missouri Mom & Daughter Serial Killer Team - 2013

According to criminal charges filed in June 21, 2013, Diane Staudte (51), of Springfield, Missouri confessed to poisoning three family members with anti-freeze. Yet Mrs. Staudte had good reasons for her homicidal house-cleaning campaign.

The serial poisoner told detectives that she chose to terminate the life of her husband Mark because she “hated him.” Her son Shawn deserved to die  because he was “worse than a pest.” Daughter Sarah, who survived the attempt on her life, barely, was deemed not fit to live because she “would not get a job and had student loans that had to be paid.”

At first, this killer mom attempted to cover up daughter Rachel’s role as an accessory. Yet ultimately Rachel (22), was revealed to have planned and executed the crimes in tandem with her malicious mother.

Antifreeze was the poison of choice.

***

►ANTIFREEZE

Antifreeze seems to becoming a bit of a trend among homicide addicts of the fair gender.

Julia Lynn Turner, of Marietta, Georgia, used antifreeze to murder two partners. In 1995, she killed husband Maurice Glenn Turner, age 31. On January 22, 2001, she killed her boyfriend, Randy Thompson, age 32, father of a child conceived while married to her first victim.

Stacey Castor of Clay, New York, was convicted in 2009 of killing a husband and a brother, and attempting to murder a daughter using antifreeze, and idea she got from watching a TV news report on the Turner case. Her husband was sitting beside her watching as she gained her antifreeze inspiration.

She killed second husband David Castor, using antifreeze, in 2005. The murderess tried, unsuccessfully, to pin the guilt for the two successful murders on her third targeted victim, daughter Ashley Wallace, who had been very close to her deceased father. But Amy survived the antifreeze and the fake suicide note created by her mother became damning evidence against the poisoner.

***

VICTIMS:

Died:

Mark Staudte, 61, Diane’s husband, died April 2012

Shawn Staudte, 26, Diane’s son, died September 2012

Survived:

Sarah Staudte, 24, Diane’s daughter, survived June 2013 poisoning

***

Diane Staudte is far from being the first female serial killer who enlist one of their adult children as accomplices in their repeat homicides. The following cases are examples of  murder-coaching moms: Guadalupe Martinez de Bejarano (1892, Mexico), Ivanova Tamarin (1909, Russia), Rose Veres (USA, 192), Mary Eleanor Smith (1938, USA), Leonarda Cianciulli (1941, Italy), Silvia Meraz  (2012, Mexico).

Among these murderous moms are two cannibals, one sadistic sex offender and two cannibals and a human-sacrifice cult leader on the list.

***

***

***

***

For similar cases, see Murder-Coaching Moms

***
[14373-1/9/20]
***

Minnie Dean, New Zealand “Baby Farmer” Executed For Killing Babies - 1895

EXCERPT from Wikipedia: Williamina "Minnie" Dean (2 September 1844 – 12 August 1895) was a New Zealander who was found guilty of infanticide and hanged. She was the only woman to receive the death penalty in New Zealand.

In 1895, Dean was observed boarding a train carrying a young baby and a hatbox, but observed leaving the same train without the baby and only the hatbox. As railway porters later testified, the object was suspiciously heavy. A woman, Jane Hornsby, came forward claiming to have given her granddaughter, Eva, to Dean, and clothes identified as belonging to this child were found at Dean's residence, but Dean could not produce the child herself. A search along the railway line found no sign of the child. Dean was arrested and charged with murder. Her garden was dug up, and three bodies (two of babies, and one of a boy estimated to be three years old) were uncovered. An inquest found that one child (Eva) had died of suffocation and one, later identified as one year-old Dorothy Edith Carter, had died from an overdose of laudanum (used on children to sedate them). The cause of death for the third child was not determined. Dean was charged with their murder.

In her trial, Dean's lawyer Alfred Hanlon argued that all deaths were accidental, and that they had been covered up to prevent adverse publicity of the sort that Dean had previously been subjected to. On 21 June 1895, however, Dean was found guilty of Dorothy Carter's murder, and sentenced to death. Between June and August 1895, Dean wrote her own account of her life. Altogether, she claimed to have cared for twenty eight children. Of these, five were in good health when her establishment was raided, six had died whilst under her care, and one had been reclaimed by her parents. Apart from her two adopted daughters, that left fourteen or so children unaccounted for, according to her own record.

On 12 August, she was hanged by the official executioner Tom Long in Invercargill, at the intersection of Spey and Leven streets, in what is now the Noel Leeming carpark. She is the only woman to have been executed in New Zealand, and as capital punishment in New Zealand has been abolished, it is likely that she will retain that distinction. She is buried in Winton, alongside her husband, who died in a house fire in 1908. Her crimes led to the belated passage of child welfare legislation in New Zealand – the Infant Life Protection Act 1893 and the Infant Protection Act 1896. 

***

***

***

***

***

***

 

***

 

***

***

For more cases of “Baby Farmers,” professional child care providers who murdered children see The Forgotten Serial Killers.

***

More cases: Female Serial Killers Executed

***

[2388-1/11/21]

***

Martha Cooper, New Zealand Serial Baby-Killer - 1922

NOTE: Daniel Cooper was an abortion provider.  Together with his wife, he offered an adoption placement service for unwed mothers. This service was a fraud. The couple collected money the from mother and then starved the baby to death. The Coopers were charged with murdering three babies following the discovery of as body of a newborn at Lyall Bay. Daniel Cooper was found guilty of the murders and hanged at the Terrace Gaol on June 16, 1923. Martha Cooper pleaded that she had only taken part in the atrocities because her husband had forced her to, although it was reportedly she who had been the person who had deliberately starved the babies to death. She was acquitted of the charges and left the country soon after.

***

FULL TEXT: Wellington. Wednesday. – The Court of Appeal this morning delivered written reasons for the dismissal of the application by Daniel Richard Cooper for ,leave to appeal against his conviction for murder.

The Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, in the course of his judgment, said that the main reason given by counsel for Cooper in support of this application was that evidence had been admitted with respect to the finding of other bodies than the one in respect of which Cooper was charged with murder, and that such evidence was not admissible until a prima facie case of murder had been made out. I am of opinion,” continued His Honor, that, even if that be the law, sufficient evidence has been adduced to warrant the Court in admitting the evidence. There was some evidence — first, that a child found buried on the prisoner’s property was the body of the child of Margaret McLeod, and it was this child Cooper was charged with murdering. There was evidence to the effect that the body was that of a child about the age her child was at the time of its disappearance; second, that the child had been born alive, and had lived a few days; third, that the child was of dark complexion; fourth, that the sex was the same; fifth, that the child had been given by McLeod to Mrs. Cooper, who was living with prisoner, and that immediately after McLeod was told by Cooper that the child had been given to persons for its adoption. There was evidence that she had demanded possession of the child, and could not get any definite answer as to whom it had been given by Cooper, nor where it was; and the child could not be found. Further, there was evidence that the child had not been adopted. All these facts were put forward in Court before evidence as to other children was advanced.

I am of opinion,” concluded His Honor, that this case is indistinguishable from the case of Makin against the Attorney-General of New South Wales, and Regina v. Dean, and the Court is bound by the decisions in these cases. In view of these decisions, it is clear that evidence regarding other bodies found in the ground at Newlands belonging to prisoner was relevant evidence, and tended to show he had been guilty of killing babies, the custody of which had been granted to him by their mothers. The jury could rightly infer that from evidence adduced.”

Mr. Justice Hosking, in his judgment, concurred with the Chief Justice, that a prima facie case was made out before the evidence objected to was admitted. Mr. Justice Salmond said the case was indistinguishable from Makin v. the Attorney-General of New South Wales, and the admission of evidence objected to was in accordance with the rule laid down by the Court of Anneal in Regina v. Whitta and Regina v. Smythe: Amplication for leave to appeal was therefore refused..

[“The Murder Trial. - Cooper’s Conviction. Application To Appeal. Reasons. For Refusal.” Syndicated (Telegraph. Press Association), The New Zealand Herald (Auckland, New Zealand), May 31, 1923, p. 9]

***

Images taken from a long article, “’Foul Deeds Will Rise’ - Coopers Tried For Murder - The Massacre of the Innocents - Out-Heroding Herod,” New Zealand Truth (Wellington, New Zealand), May 19, 1923, p.. 5]

***

***

For more cases of “Baby Farmers,” professional child care providers who murdered children see The Forgotten Serial Killers.

***

Links to more Serial Killer Couples

***

[1483-1/10/21]

***

Augusta Grammage, Baby Farmer Convicted for “Feloniously Slaying” A Young Child - 1875

FULL TEXT: At the Old Bailey, a baby farmer, named Augusta Grammage, was lately sentenced to ten years' penal servitude for “feloniously slaying” a young child that had been entrusted to her care. The judge characterised the case as one of the most brutal that had had come before him.

[From “Clippings From The Home Papers,”  The Nelson Evening Mail (New Zealand),  Jan. 21, 1875, p. 4]

***

Baby farmers were rarely convicted. This brief news report does not disclose any other possible killings, thus Grammage is not included in the Female Serial Killer list. Yet the case is included in the list of Baby Farmers who were serial killers.

***

For more cases of “Baby Farmers,” professional child care providers who murdered children see The Forgotten Serial Killers.

***

Emily Charlotte M'Kenzie, Murderous English “Baby Farmer” – 1884

FULL TEXT: A baby farmer, Emily Charlotte M'Kenzie, in the suburbs of London, has been detected in her atrocious crimes and held for trial for the wilful murder of two infants. She had deliberately starved them to death, and three other babies found in her den were rescued in the nick of time from a similar death. It is the worst case of its kind on record since 1870, when one Margaret Waters was hanged on conviction of the murder of five babies. Her trial lasted three days, and in the course of the evidence it was stated that this hardened wretch, who was a widow but 35 years old, had lived in succession at Peckham, Battersea, and Brixton. In each of these localities the bodies of young children had been found during her residence there deposited in out-of-the-way places, and there is no doubt, from the condition of the remains, that she caused their death by neglect and starvation. Babies were often handed over to her tender mercies at railway stations or in the streets, by their unnatural parents or their agents, and in many of these cases a sum of money was given to the woman without any certainty that she would ever again hear from the parent. Under such circumstances it is impossible to tell how many murders this woman may have committed.

[Untitled, Bruce Herald (Tokomaikiro, New Zealand), May 2, 1884, p. 3]

***

For more cases of “Baby Farmers,” professional child care providers who murdered children see The Forgotten Serial Killers.

***

[780-1/11/21]

***

Mary Ann Guy, New Zealand “Baby Farmer,” Convicted of Manslaughter - 1906

FULL TEXT: The woman who, for a consideration, undertakes the foster-mothering of stray infants, was much in evidence at the Criminal Court on Tuesday afternoon last when a weazened old hag, named Mary Ann Guy, stood her trial for the manslaughter of an infant female child. Death was brought about by neglect, the child was found to have suffered from a complication of diseases; but what stood out prominently was that the child, an illegitimate, had bean slowly and deliberately starved to death.

Mary Ann Guy has for some time past been a professional baby-farmer, out at Island Bay. When she was arrested on the charge of which she was convicted, five children, whose ages ran from two months to five years, were found on the. premises. Her home was unregistered, heir license having been taken from her, because she is of a greedy, grasping nature and had committed a breach of the Law by taking in more children than permitted.

It was for the sum of £20 that the wicked, old baby-farmer contracted to adopt the child Nellie B. Smith, the illegitimate daughter of a single woman named Bellair Smith. The child was born at Masterton on Dec. 4, 1904, and in April, 1905, an advertisement was inserted in the Wellington “Post” asking for some kind motherly person. to adopt the infant. Apparently ever on the look-out for such advertisements — as a statement by the accused showed that she had received a £40 premium from some other single woman who wished to be rid of her incumbrance and advertised so in the “Post” — the woman Smith was communicated with by the baby-trafficker, and to cut a long story short, Mary Ann Guy took the child in on the £or consideration, payable by instalments. It was not at any time very strong child. The mother visited her offspring at various times and manifested a deep affection for it. An application by the Guy woman to adopt the child as her own was refused by the Magistrate, and the baby-farmer continued to bleed the mother. She made demands for money over and above the £20 originally agreed upon, but, after yielding once to her demands, the young woman refused to submit to further blackmailing. In January of 1906 the child seemed well and it appeared to be healthy in later months. In September it began to fade away and it was dead on Sept. 16. It died, according to the hag’s story, at 2 a.m., or thereabouts, and it had, still according to the old woman, been fed on bread and milk about five o’clock and at midnight. She had in addition given the child of 20 months some lung balsam, which, it was proved, contained opium, because it had a cold. No doctor was requisitioned when the poor atom died, but on Monday Dr. Kemp was sent for, and he promptly asked the woman why she had not called in a doctor earlier and the reply was that she did not like to trouble a doctor on a Sunday. The matter was very naturally then reported to the Coroner. Constable Carmody visited the Island Bay Baby Farm, which is situated on Clyde r street, and took the body away. The woman was anxious to know whether an inquest would be held and being assured that such a course would be pursued she declared that she had nothing to fear, as she had done her duty by the child. How she had done that duty was told by Drs. Fyffe and Henry, who held a post-mortem examination. The body was terribly emaciated, the doctors said, and only weighed 14lb. 14oz, whereas it should have weighed just twice as much. Its lungs were diseased, and the opium had partly paralysed the nerves of the stomach. The primary cause of death was neglect and want of food. At the inquest, the woman, who had. not then been accused of causing the child’s death, made a statement in which she gave the history of her Island Bay baby farm, and her view of the reasons for the loss of her license as the keeper of a registered home. The child Nellie Smith, she declared, was not an intelligent one; it could speak but little and could not walk. It was a sickly child when she first took it in. She declared that she well attended to its every want. It was at that time elicited from her that Nellie Smith was not the only child that had died in her house. A baby, for which she received a premium of £40, had died, and it was in connection with the false registration of that child’s death that she committed another offence.

Mr Blair, who defended the harridan, had not much hope of gaining a acquittal, the doctors’ evidence being all together too damning. Only one thing could be said in the dreadful old woman’s favor, and that was that her house was kept very clean. Unable to get away from the fact that the child had been practically starved, the lawyer endeavored to reconcile the story that the old woman had, told as to having twice fed the child before its death, with the evidence of the doctors that no traces of food had been found in its stomach.

After His Honor had summed up, the jury, after nearly an hour’s retirement, convicted the old woman, who was remanded for sentence till Friday.

While the jury were considering her case, the prisoner pleaded guilty to a charge of having given false particulars concerning the death of a child named Gladys Vera Reeves, or Nicholls, this child being the one with whom the prisoner had received an adoption fee of £40. On this charge she was. also remanded for sentence till Friday.

When, yesterday morning, the prisoner stood up for sentence, Mr Blair had practically nothing to say for her except to plead for leniency on the ground of her old age.

The Chief Justice told the miserable old woman that she had been properly found guilty by the jury of killing a child by neglect and not giving it food and attention to preserve its life. One would have thought, His Honor said, that such a helpless infant would have appealed to the heart of any woman and cause her to have attended to it in sickness and distress. Had this been the first case of its kind with which she had been connected he might feel inclined to take a more merciful view of the case. He was, however, afraid that this was not the first infant she had had in her charge that had been neglected. Two children had died under her care. In one case a doctor. had been called in just before death, and he had giver a certificate, rather rashly, he thought, not having known the child’s state. The prisoner had then made a false declaration concerning the child’s death. By declaring it to be her son’s child, no doubt in order to avoid investigation by the. police, she had possibly thought to evade a prosecution. She had lost her license by taking in more children than the law allowed, and had. the evidence showed that she had neglected other children he would deal with her very severely. He would take into consideration her great age of 62 years. Her offence was a grave one. and seeing that it was of neglecting’ a poor, helpless child so as to cause its death he could not pass a less sentence than three years’ imprisonment.

On the charge of making a false statement a sentence of six month’s was imposed, to run concurrently with the previous sentence. 

[“Grievous Graveyard Guy - Foul Baby-Farmer Fixed. - Found Guilty of Manslaughter. - Infant Illegitimate’s Awful Fate.” New Zealand Truth (Wellington, New Zealand), Dec. 8, 1906, p. 4]

***

 

***

***

***

For more cases of “Baby Farmers,” professional child care providers who murdered children see The Forgotten Serial Killers.

***

[1277-3/19-22]

***

Madge Clayton, Australian Child Care Provider Starved 6 Babies to Death - 1908

FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 3): Melbourne, Wednesday. – An inquest was held to-day into the circumstances of the deaths of five boarded-out babies. On January 17 12 babies were removed from a house of Nurse Clayton’s, at Preston, to the depot for neglected children at Royal Park, and five of them died there. Their ages ranged from six weeks to six months. The cause of death in each case was colic, accelerated by intense heat. One infant, aged five months, weighed only 5 lb; another, seven weeks old, 5¼ lb; and a third, six weeks old, 6 lb.

Madeline Murray, inspector under the Infant Life Protection Act, deposed that on January 13 she visited Nurse Clayton’s home, which was a six-roomed dwelling. In one good-sized room she found six babies. There were others in another room, and one was outside. Most of the children were suffering from dysentery, and were so dirty that she was affected for a couple of days. The children were in boxes and in makeshift beds. The bed-clothing was ragged and dirty. The place was not too small if properly aired.

Dr. James J. Sheahan said that when the children wore admitted at the Royal Park depot on January 17 they were in an extremely emaciated condition, and looked as it they had been starved.

Constable McCormlck gave evidence as to Mrs. Clayton’s residence at Whittlesea as a registered nurse. Before she removed to Preston in December last, he considered her an excellent nurse. She had as many as nine children there, and had the assistance of two girls. Everything was clean.

Agnes L. Taylor, a married woman, stated that she visited Mrs. Clayton at different times. She was there when Miss Murray called, and did not notice any bad smell. The children were thoroughly looked after. The inquest was adjourned till Saturday.

[“Alleged Baby Farming – Shocking Evidence.” The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), Jan. 30, 1908,. P. 7]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 3): Melbourne, Monday. 8 – Further remarkable evidence was given on Saturday at the adjourned inquest regarding the deaths of the five infants who were among the 12 boarded out to Mrs. Madge Clayton, a registered nurse, residing at Preston.

John L. Davies, the acting secretary of the Neglected Children’s Department, said that on January 7 he instructed the lady inspector (Miss Murray) to visit Nurse Clayton’s house.

The Coroner: Is this portion of her report to you? “Jack Smith, 14 months old. Nurse J informed me he was three months, very small, and thin, and badly needs medical care and nursing. This child’s legs were tied together with a piece of rag at the ankles to keep him from kicking and disturbing the other babies in the same cot or box. There were four babies in this structure of 4 ft long, which was bad smelling and dirty.”

Witness: Yes. Lena Davies, a general servant, said aha went to work for Nurse Clayton on October, last, and remained until January 11.

The Coroner: How were the children fed? —One of the bottles out of which the children were fed was a pickle bottle.

Did the children ever cry? —Yes.

What was done to them? They were put on the floor and given a good smacking until they stopped.

Marian Lane, a domestic servant, said she was at Nurse Clayton’s when she removed from Whittlesea to Preston on Christmas Eve. During the seven weeks witness was there Nurse Clayton kept the children nice and clean.

The Coroner: How were the children removed? – In the train, some were put in hat racks, and others on seats and on the floor.

Did you see any of the children with their legs tied? – Yes; and one had its arms tied to prevent it taking a teat out of its mouth.

After being warned by the Coroner, Mrs. Clayton said she did not wish to say anything or give evidence.

The Coroner said, “This is an inquest, the like of which has never occurred before, and I hope will never occur again. It is a good  thing that the children were discovered when they were, and it is a pity that they were not discovered before. The constable at Whittlesea, whose duty it was to visit the nurse, should have known that 12 children were far too many for one nurse, even with the assistance of two girls to look after them. I do not think he is free from censure for not reporting the number of children the nurse had. There is not sufficient evidence to warrant the nurse being committed for manslaughter, but she certainly should not be allowed the care of any more children; and it is possible to punish her for her cruelty to them it should be done. I return a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony, with a rider that the children were not properly treated by the nurse.”

~ ANOTHER CHILD DIES ~

Melbourne, Tuesday.—Yet another of the 12 infants who were entrusted to the care of Nurse Clayton of Preston, has died from colitis. As the child had been under the care of the doctor since January 17 the coroner has decided not to hold an inquest.

[“Alleged Baby Farming Case. – Further Shocking Evidence – Strong Remarks By The Coroner.” The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), Feb. 4, 1908, p. 5]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 3): Melbourne, Friday. – Nurse Clayton, of Preston, who had control of six infants, all of whom died, was charged at the police court to-day for failing to provide adequate nursing in the case of two of the infants, and was fined £1 on each of the two charges with costs.

[“Control Of Infants. A Nurse Charged. – Failing to Provide Adequate Nursing.” The Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW, Australia), Feb. 29, 1908, p. 8]

***

For more cases of “Baby Farmers,” professional child care providers who murdered children see The Forgotten Serial Killers.

***

[1017-1/2/20]

***

Lillian Thornman, Teenage Serial Killer of Children - 1906

Note: “Thornman” is the correct spelling an is used in the York, Pa. newspaper, yet some out-of town papers misspell the name as “Thorman.” Detailed accounts of this case from the York Daily will be added later. At the bottom of the post is a chronology based on these articles.

***

FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 4): York, Pa., Feb. 22 – Lillian B. Thorman [sic], a thirteen-year-old girl, today fatally burned the three-year-old child of Robert Dorsey of this city.

The girl, who was employed to do light work around the house literally fried the child and while the child was writhing and screaming in its agony an aunt entered the room and rescued it, but the child had been roasted from head to foot and cannot live.

The servant girl in jail tonight confessed that she had fatally burned three other children in a similar manner, giving their parents the impression that they had fallen on the stove accidentally while climbing to reach something.

[“Fire Used To Kill. - Girls Says She Killed Three Children by Placing Them on the Stove.” Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Oh.), Feb. 23, 1906, p. 1]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 4): York, Pa., April 17.—With a mania for burning children when they are bad, because, as she says, “I am a devil and will burn them,” Lillian Thornman, a 13-year-old colored girl, knocked upon a red hot stove a two-year-old daughter of Robert Dorsey, also colored, and for several seconds calmly watched her struggle to get off the stove and away from the boiler of hot water, which was poured over her body as she alighted on the stove. Another girl then ran in from the yard and saved the child from further injury. This was the Thornman girl’s third victim. A year ago she set Esther Louise Harris, aged three years, on a red hot stove and hold her fast until she made the statement that she was a devil.

Two months ago she threw hot grease over Leon Johnston, a small boy. Owing to the fact that she had been convicted of petty thievery she was to be sent to a Philadelphia Institution this afternoon, but was arrested after the burning of the Dorsey child.

She is now confined in jail on a charge of aggravated assault and battery with intent to kill.

[“Says She Is Satan’s Agent –’I Am a Devil,’ She Declares, as She Throws Tiny Pickaninny Upon Stove to Roast,” Los Angeles Herald (Ca.), Apr. 18, 1906, p. 3; “oved” in original corrected to “oven”]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 4): York, Penn. – Lillian Thorman, a 13-year-old girl, pleaded guilty to killing Helena Dorsey, a three-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dorsey. On Washington’s birthday the Thorman girl, having become angered at something the little Dorsey child had done, placed her on a red-hot stove. The child died later. The Thorman girl added: “I did it because I have the devil in me.”

[“Child Roasted by Young Girl.” The Richmond Planet (Va.), Jun. 23, 1906, p. 3]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 4): York, Pa., Feb. 25. – “Well, I ‘spose they’ll hang me; but I couldn’t help it; the devil that was in me made me do it.” So said 13-year-old Lillian Thornman, colored, when she was informed that Helena, the less than 3-year-old daughter of Robert Dorsey, also colored, had died of the burns she inflicted upon her on Thursday.

This is the case in which the demon-possessed young cousin of Mrs. Dorsey tossed the baby upon a red-hot stove and basted her with scalding water, after similarly torturing two other children on different occasions. She came came her from Philadephia, and was almost to be sent back to her step-mother there. Explaining her resentment on this score she said:

“All Thursday morning  the three Dorsey children were teasing me about my being sent back to Philadelphia, and at that I got mad. My temper got the better of me and I threw Helena on the stove.”

[“Baby Burner A Murderess. – Negro Girl Still Insists Satan Suggested Fire to Her.” Reading Times (Pa.), Feb. 26, 1906, p. 5]

***

1904 – Dorsey child (other than Helena), burned in “same manner.”

1905 – Hester Louis Harris (“Esther Lewis”), 3, burned, forced to sit on hot stove for “several minutes,” survived (?).

Dec. 1905 – Leon Johnston (“Johnson”) – neighbor boy, threw pan of hot lard on him.

Feb. 22, 1906 – Helena Dorsey, 3, burned on stove & scalded with boiling water.

Feb. 23, 1906 – LT arrested.

Feb. 24, 1906 – Helena Dorsey, 3, died (Saturday morning).

Feb. 26 – Helena Dorsey buried at Mt. Lebanon cemetery.

Mar. 1, 1906 – LT arraigned.

Apr. 20, 1906 – true bill.

Apr. 23, 1906 – LT pleads guilty to manslaughter.

Apr. 30, 1906 – LT sentenced to House of Refuge.

***

***

***

More cases: Serial Killer Girls

***

For similar cases see: Baby-Sitter Serial Killers

***

More cases, see: Female Serial Killers of Africa & the African Diaspora

***

More cases: Youthful Borgias: Girls Who Commit Murder

***
[5114-6/20/19]
***

Margaret Waldegrave, International Female Serial Killer (USA & Cuba ) - 1852

BOOK TITLE: A Deeply Interesting Work. Just Published. Life, Career And Awful Death By The Garrotte, of Margaret C. Waldegrave: Otherwise Margaret C. Florence – Alias Mrs. Bellville, Mrs, Bolande, Mrs. Le Hocq, The poisoner and murderess, at Havanna, Cuba, June 9th 1852. For the Murder of Charles D. Ellias, Lorenzo Cordoval, and Pierre Dupont, April 14th, 1852, who were three Desperate Members of a Powerful and Sanguinary Band of Robbers, Counterfeiters, and Assassins, known as “The Alumni.”

DESCRIPTION: Margaret C. Waldegrave, the most remarkable woman of this age and generation – as all who read her life will testify – Lima, in the valley of the Genesee, of highly respectable parents, – her father being esteemed one of the wealthiest men in Western New York. Her mother dying at her birth, she was brought up with care, and at the age of twelve years was sent to a seminary to finish her education. At the age of fourteen she returned home, where she me with a cool reception from her step-mother – her father having married again during her absence. Soon a domestic revolution drove her from home, and she made her way to Buffalo, where she found employment in a fashionable millinery establishment. Her marvelous beauty attracted many young men who let slip no opportunity that offered to flatter her vanity by praising her beauty. The result was, Margaret was beguiled of herself by the luring smiles and siren songs of those who professed to be her friends and admirers. Her first step in the center of crime was the murder of a little child; and then to bide that she murdered the witness of the deed, by administering strychnine in liquor to him. She then flew to Canada, where she joined fortunes with a notorious gambler and swindler, who took her to Philadelphia, where she left him and flew to New Orleans with that notorious villain, LeHocq, perpetrating many dark and memorable deeds. From New Orleans she flew to Havana, where she finally murdered the members of “The Alumni.” Space will not admit of our saying much more. But full particulars are given in the book written by herself, and edited by Rev. A. Delos Velos of Havana, which shows at once the interest manifested in her fate.

***

Rev. A. Delos Velos, Life, Career And Awful Death By The Garrotte, of Margaret C. Waldegrave .. New Orleans: Published by Arthur R. Orton, 1853 (illustrated).

***

***

***

More cases: Female Serial Killers Executed

***

1133-1/10/21]

***