Prison-Break Female Serial Killers

1875 – Julia Fortmeyer –  St. Louis, Missouri

On October 6, 1877, about midnight Mme. Fortmeyer, sentenced to ten years imprisonment, made her escape from prison in Jefferson City, by forcing her body through over the transom of her cell.

1877 – Lydia Sherman – New Brunswick, New Jersey

Lydia Sherman escaped from Weathersfield State Prison, Connecticut, on Tuesday May 29, 1877. She was apprehended the following Tuesday, June 5.

1894 – Ann Miniver Davis – Melbourne, Australia (supspected of murdering 2 husbands)

It is a singular fact that the female convict [Ann Miniver Davis] in the Melbourne Goal, who has to look after condemned women, is a "lifer" tor poisoning her husband. She was sentenced to death, but her sex saved her. After serving twelve years of her sentence, she escaped from the Melbourne Gaol.

1905 – “Dubovo Vivisection Ogresses” – Dubovo, Ukraine

Two women kidnapped and murdered seven children for the purpose of dissecting them for scientific research. “A village council was called, and was decided to lynch the disciples of human vivisection at noon today. The women were stripped and fastened by strong chains to an iron bar in tha wall of their cell. At daybreak this morning it was found that they escaped in the clothes of their jailers, both of whom, though powerful peasants, had had their heads battered in and their throats cut and were dead.”

1910 – Mattie Troy – Argentine, Kansas

Mattie Troy, alias Mary Thomas, wanted for the murder in the first degree in connection with the death of a child here shells alleged to have murdered in order to collect insurance carried on his life, escaped from the Parsons State Hospital on January 2, 1911, about 7 o’clock, an although she was hunted high and low all day yesterday, scarcely any trace of her could be found.

1917 – Leopoldine Kasparek – Vienna, Austria

A struggle which seems an attempt to escape.

1921 – Lyda Trueblood Southard – Twin Falls, Idaho

May 4, 1931 – She escaped from prison

Mar. 1932 – marries Harry Whitlock

Jul. 2, 1932 – captured in Denver, Colorado

Jul. 31, 1932 – arrested in Topeka, Kansas

Aug. 1932 –  She returned to the penitentiary

1925 – Clara Carl – Indianapolis, Indiana

Mrs. Clara Carl, 50, who escaped from the Indiana Womans’ prison On October 3, 1925,  while serving a life sentence for the murders of her husband and father-in-law was back in her cell on October 12. She was caught in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday night (October 11) and reentered the prison last night.

1930 – Marie Orban – Korkanémetfalu, Zala county, Hungary

1941 – Anna Louise Sullivan – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

After less than five hours of constricted liberty, Mrs. Anna Louise Sullivan, Milwaukee poison murderess, was back in confinement Friday at the state prison for women at Taycheedah, from which she had attempted to escape Thursday. Mrs. Sullivan, who had been assigned to outside tasks because of her health, was reported missing at a checkup at 11 a. m. it was believed at that time that she had walked out the unguarded gates of the honor institution. Several hours later, however, she was discovered hiding in a copse on the 244 acre prison grounds. Because of her escape attempt, Mrs. Sullivan’s privilege of working outside has been revoked. Mrs. Sullivan was sentenced to a life term for murder here in May, 1929. She had confessed that she killed her 17 year old stepson and her second husband with poison and had poisoned her third husband and stepdaughter, although not fatally. She was convicted of the killing of her stepson.

1954 – Winnie Ola Freeman (Winona Green) – USA

Two jailbreaks at least: on Apr. 12, 1925 and Jun. 15, 1926.

1960 – Sharon Kinne – Independence, Missouri & Mexico

On Dec. 7, 1969, Sharon Kinne escaped from Federal Women’s Penitentiary, Mexico City and was thereafter never found.

1966 – Margo Freshwater (with Glenn Nash; couple) – Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida

She escaped from prison in 1970 and lived as a fugitive for 32 years.

1968 – Mary Flora Bell (age 11) – Scotswood, England

In December 1968, Mary, who had murdered two children and had attempted to murder two othjers, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to life imprisonment. After spending eight years in young offenders institutes, Mary Bell was transferred to Moore Court open prison from where she escaped, with two boys, in 1977. They were at large for only two days.

1979 – Audrey Marie Frazier Hilley – Anniston (Blue Mountain), Alabama

Audrey Marie Hilley (Alias: “Lindsay Robbi Hannon,” “Teri Martin”), born June 4, 1933, was suspected of two murders: husband Frank Hilley and mother Lucille Frazier and the attempted murder of  daughter Carol Marie Hilley, which took place between 1975 and 1979 in Anniston, Alabama.

The stories of Audrey Hilley’s  two escapes from the court and from prison are among the most bizarre and dramatic in the entire history of female serial killers.

1983 – Dorothy Jean Matajke – Nevada (town), Iowa & Little Rock, Arkansas

Nurse; 3 or more victims. Ms. Matajke was convicted of forgery Sept. 5, 1973, at Nevada, Iowa, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. She escaped in 1974, was caught Oct. 7, 1980, and was paroled in December 1983.

2001 – Brookey Lee West – Las Vegas, Nevada

2011 – “La Perris” – Meddelin, Colombia

On August 1, 2011, the commander of the Metropolitan Police of Valle de Aburrá, General Yesid Vásquez confirmed the recapture of the accused under the age of multiple crimes that link to Colombian criminal organization Tablazo. “La Perris” had escaped from prison under Medellin on Friday, July 29, 2011.

2012 – Joanna Dennehy – Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England

Serial killer Joanna Dennehy plotted to cut off guard's finger to escape jail.  She hoped to use the finger to beat the prison’s biometric security, a source claimed. But the plot – detailed in a written plan by Dennehy – was thwarted when two fellow inmates got in touch with the authorities. Dennehy plotted the prison break while in segregation at Britain’s most secure women-only jail – HMP Bronzefield, in Ashford, Surrey. The source said: “With the help of another lifer, she was planning an escape. What came to light was how she was going to do it, which was extremely vicious.

2014 – Marixa Lemus – Pasaco, Jutiapa, Guatemala

2017 – Maria Nazaré Félix de Lima – Ielmo Marinho, Grande Natal, Brazil

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SEE MORE: Female Serial Killer Collections

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Dorothy Matajke, Arkansas Serial Killer Nurse - 1983

Murder victims:

1970s – Several patients in Iowa, possibly murders, Nevada, Iowa

Feb. 20, 1985 – Paul Kinsey, 72, survived, Little Rock, Arkansas

Apr. 5, 1985 – Opal Kinsey, 71, died, Little Rock, Arkansas

Sep. 18, 1986 – Marion Doyle, died, Little Rock, Arkansas

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A resident of Nevada, Iowa, Dorothy Matajke began working as a nurse’s aide and professional companion for the elderly and ailing in the 1970s. It came as no surprise to anyone when several of her patients died, and there were no suggestions of foul play except where money was concerned. In 1973, Matajke was convicted of fraud and sentenced to five years in prison. She escaped in February 1974 and remained at large until 1980, when she was recaptured and returned to finish out her sentence. Despite the prison break, she won parole in 1983, serving less than the original five years.

Upon release, Matajke moved to Little Rock and picked up with her old profession as a live-in nurse. On March 24, 1985, she moved in with Paul Kinsey, 72, and his wife Opal, age 71. When Opal died on April 5, the cause was listed as a recently-discovered cancer.

Paul Kinsey’s health began deteriorating rapidly after his wife’s death, but relatives attributed his lapse to grief and loneliness.

On September 9, 1986, Matajke acquired a new client, elderly Marion Doyle. Another cancer patient, Doyle survived nine days of nursing by Matajke, but her death was not ascribed to cancer. Rather, a police report suggested that the woman had committed suicide. A routine inventory, made by the executor of Doyle’s estate, discovered several checks made out to Dorothy Matajke, totaling almost $4,000. There was something curious about Doyle’s signature, and on a hunch, her body was exhumed for reexamination. Tissue samples showed sufficient drugs to cause a fatal overdose.

Meanwhile, Paul Kinsey’s health continued to decline. The old man stubbornly refused to eat or take his medication, telling relatives that every meal or dose prepared by his “companion” left him deathly ill. Kinsey ordered Matajke out of his house on October 28, and three days later he was hospitalized in critical condition. Dorothy Matajke bullied her way past relatives and doctors to visit her ex-patient in the emergency room, and she was still by his side when detectives arrived to arrest her.

Initially, the “nurse” was charged with forgery and theft for looting Marion Doyle’s bank account. Subsequent charges included felony possession of a firearm, and additional counts of forgery relating to checks written on Paul Kinsey’s account. A search of Matajke’s home yielded mislabeled bottles of drugs and tranquilizers, along with three bottles of arsenic-based ant poison, and more serious charges were added.

On November 24, 1986 she was accused of first-degree murder in the death of Marion Doyle and first-degree battery in the non-fatal poisoning of Paul Kinsey. Opal Kinsey’s body was exhumed December 5, with the results of laboratory tests kept secret pending disposition of the standing charges. After Paul Kinsey died, on February 10, 1987, assault charges were replaced with another count of first-degree murder.

In June 1987, Matajke was convicted of Paul Kinsey’s murder and sentenced to life. Two months later, in a negotiated plea bargain, she received another term of 60 years for killing Marion Doyle. Charges are pending [as of 1991] in the case of Opal Kinsey, and new investigations are expected in the deaths of several patients “cared for” by Matajke in Iowa.

[from: Michael Newton, Hunting Humans, 1991, Breakout Productions]

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For more cases, see Sicko Nurses

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Audrey Marie Hilley, Alabama Escape Artist & Serial Killer - 1979

Audrey Marie Hilley (Alias: “Lindsay Robbi Hannon,” “Teri Martin”), born June 4, 1933, was suspected of two murders: husband Frank Hilley and mother Lucille Frazier and the attempted murder of  daughter Carol Marie Hilley, which took place between 1975 and 1979 in Anniston, Alabama. There has also suspicion that she had been slow poisoning the children of her neighbors and police investigators who had inspected sites of arson fires suspected to be set by Hilley.

The stories of Audrey Hilley’s two escapes from the court and from prison are among the most bizarre and dramatic in the entire history of female serial killers.

The account of the case published by CrimeLibrary.com, authored by Marlee Macleod, is an excellent overview. Below is a skeletal chronology of this remarkable case.

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►Brief Chronology:

May 25, 1975 – Frank Hilley, husband, dies.

1977 – Lucille Frazier, Marie’s mother, dies.

1979 – Daughter Carol Marie Hilley, 20, survived

Nov. 1979 – Carrie Hilley, mother-in-law, dies. Suspected murder.

Neighbor children; poisoned, survived

Police & fire investigators – illness, suspicion of poisoning

2 arson fires

Nov. 12 or 13, 1979 – on the lam until Jan. 13 or 14, 1983

Feb. 22?, 1987 – on the lam for four days, causing her death.

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FULL TEXT: Birmingham, Ala. – Audrey Marie Hilley – charged with using arsenic to poison her daughter, who lived, and suspected of doing the same to several other relatives, who didn’t – has been missing without a trace almost one year.

The 19-state search for the woman is complicated by investigators’ growing suspicion that the Audrey Marie Hilley who disappeared from a Birmingham motel last November may be quite a different person today.

The only thing Mrs. Hilley left behind at the motel was a note. Investigators won’t release its contents, but say the scribbled message makes them believe Mrs. Hilley is living a life where she “changes her personality to fit her surroundings.”

“She can be kind, laughing, considerate and then brutal and hateful,” said the FBI agent who is coordinating the coast-to-coast search for Mrs. Hilley.

“We believe she is living in a world with make-believe friends and enemies. ... When she reads this, if it’s the real Marie Hilley. she will probably change her personality when she realizes what she is accused of doing.”

The 47-year-old Anniston woman – charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution for murder and attempted poisoning – is being hunted coast-to-coast by the FBI and 28 other federal divisions.

The FBI warrant against Mrs. Hilley stems from a Calhoun County indictment of Oct. 25. 1979, charging her with trying to poison her 20- year-old daughter, Carol Marie Hilley, with arsenic.

On Nov. 16. Mrs. Hiliey disappeared from the suburban motel where she was living while awaiting trial, free on $14,000 bond.

On Jan. 11, a Calhoun County grand jury indicted her on murder charges for the 1975 arsenic poisoning of her husband. Frank. She has also been indicted for check fraud.

The FBI agent, who asked not to be identified, has followed several hundred leads since the search began in January, all in vain.

“It’s not likely I’ll arrest Marie Hilley. An agent in another state will most likely arrest her,” he said. “But if the real Marie Hilley reads this she will likely change her personality or relocate or get careless and hopefully we’ll find her.”

The agent said that interviews with Mrs. Hilley’s friends and relatives, whom Cheese and watches are Switzerland’s best-known exports. However, the manufacture of machinery is its major industry. Switzerland’s industrial output is so extensive that it holds an annual fair — well-attended by industrialists all over the world – at Basel. she hasn’t contacted since disappearing, have led him to believe she may be exhibiting separate personalities.

He said she has used many aliases, among them Mandy Hilley, Julie Hilley, M.F. Hilley and Margaret Key, the real name of her aunt.

It was about a year ago that Carol Hilley almost died in an Alabama hospital. Her illness went undiagnosed for months until doctors discovered higher than usual amounts of arsenic in her blood.

The diagnosis led forensic experts to exhume the bodies of Frank Hilley, who died in 1975, and Mrs. Hilley’s mother, Lucille Frazier. who died in 1977.

Death certificates indicated both died of cancer, but pathologists found enough arsenic in Hilley’s remains to investigate. Arsenic was also found in Mrs. Frazier’s body but in amounts below the toxic range. Officials then ordered autopsies on other relatives.

Carrie Hilley, the fugitive’s mother-in-law, was ill for sev- «ral weeks before dying last November. Her autopsy report has not been released, but investigators have given evidence about her death and that of Mrs. Frazier to a Calhoun County grand jury. No indictments have been returned from that investigation.

The tests were made only on relatives who had died since Carol Hilley’s birth. Psychiatrists think the birth may have touched off Mrs. Hilley’s behavior.

Wed at age 18, she was having marital troubles when Carol, her second child, was born. Psychiatrists and investigators alike believe she resented her daughter’s birth, and that her resentment began surfacing long before they had evidence of arsenic poisonings.

As examples, the FBI agent noted two arson fires at the Hilley house, one when Frank Hilley was still alive, the second when Carol and her grandmother were in the house alone.

Urine tests to detect any arsenic were also ordered for people known to have visited the Hilley residence, including police who investigated the fires.

“One time some investigators went to that house and afterwards they became sick,” the agent said. “It’s possible they had been given some type of poison.

“There was a family that lived next to her for years,” he added. “The children were sick all the time, but doctors could never find out why. ... ‘This family eventually moves and the kids get well in no time at all.”

Investigators say they’ve determined the victims were given small doses of arsenic over an extended period.

“It eventually breaks down your nervous system, you loose control of your senses and you become unable to control your body movements,” the agent said, describing Carol Hilley’s ordeal.

On the day Mrs. Hilley disappeared, Mrs. Key reported her car missing. It was found at a Marietta, Ga., bus depot, but the FBI hasn’t yet determined whether the fugitive boarded a bus there.

The FBI agent said Mrs. Hilley is likely working in “a respectable job. She will be in secretarial work — she is a perfectionist and wouldn’t take a job that low-rates her.”

“She’ll be living a good life,” he added. “She will be in a beauty shop at least twice a week. She always dressed nice and her appearance was pleasant... always.”

Hilley is 5-foot-l and weighs 110 pounds. Her eyes are green, her hair brown. Her only identifying mark is a scar on a knuckle.

The FBI’s search has been conducted in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Utah and Washington.

[Kim M. Price, “Has anyone ssen this woman; Authorities searching in 19 states for missing suspected arsenic killer,” The Kingman Daily Mirror (Az.), Oct. 26, 1980, p. 8]

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►Extended Chronology:

May 1951 – Marie Frazier marries Frank Hilley.

1960 – daughter Carol “Carrie” Hilley born.

May 19, 1975 – Frank Hilley presents with nausea and pain in his stomach area. After entering the hospital he passes away on May 25, 1975. The cause of death at the time is listed as hepatitis. Audrey Marie Hilley then collects over $30,000 in life insurance. She spends the insurance money rapidly.

May 25, 1975 – Frank Hilley, husband, dies.

1977 – Lucille Frazier, Marie’s mother, dies.

Jul. 1978 – Marie Hilley takes out an insurance policy on her daughter Carol Hilley in the amount of $25,000. Carol’s daughter is just a teen at the time.

1979 – Daughter Carol Marie Hilley, 20, suffers from numbness, nausea, and severe stomach pains. Her health declines over the next several months. Her mother continues to give her injections. She tells Carol not to tell anyone. Finally at the UAB Hospital in Birmingham, a doctor named Dr. Brian Thompson states that Carol Hilley tested positive for arsenic poisoning. After treatment she eventually begins to recuperate.

1979 – During this time Marie Hilley is arrested for writing bad checks, and she is incarcerated for about 8 weeks. While she is incarcerated the police start to gather evidence against Marie Hilley.

Oct. 3, 1979 – Her husband Frank Hilley’s body is exhumed and tested for arsenic poisoning. The results come back positive.

Oct. 3, 1979 – Forensic tests on Carol’s hair conducted October 3, 1979, by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences revealed arsenic levels ranging from over 100 times the normal level close to the scalp to zero times the normal level at the end of the hair shaft. This indicated that Carol had been given increasingly larger doses of arsenic over a period of four to eight months.

Oct. 9, 1979 – Audrey Hilley was still incarcerated on her bad check charges when she was arrested on October 9, 1979, for the attempted murder of her daughter.

Oct. 25, 1979 – Indicted for poisoning of daughter Carol.

Nov. 9?, 1979 – Marie Hilley is released on bond.

Nov. 11, 1979 – Wilford Lane, her attorney, took her to Birmingham to stay at a motel. In the coming days she claimed she was afraid of reprisals from Frank’s sisters and asked to be moved to another motel, from which she made numerous phone calls to Mike and other relatives asking for money.

Nov. 12 or 13, 1979 – after changing her hair color and losing weight, she returned to New Hampshire and met John Homan, posing as Teri Martin, his “deceased” wife’s sister.

Nov. 18, 1979 – When Wilford Lane and his wife came to the motel to visit Marie, they discovered she was missing.

Nov. 19, 1979 – There was a break-in at the home of Audrey Hilley’s aunt. A car, some women’s clothing and an overnight bag were missing from the home. Investigators found a note in the house reading, “Do not call police. We will burn you out if you do. We found what we wanted and will not bother you again.”

Jan. 11, 1980 – she was indicted in absentia for her husband's murder. Subsequently, investigators found that both her mother and her mother-in-law had significant, but not fatal, traces of arsenic in their systems when they died.

Feb. 1980 – According to both Marie and John Homan, they met in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in February of 1980.

Mar. 1980 – By March Marie Jilley and John Homan had moved in together. Using a fictitious resume, Marie got a job as a secretary at an accounting firm in West Palm Beach.

Oct. 1980 – In October she and John left Florida for New Hampshire, where John’s brother Peter lived.

1982 – Hilley fakes the death of nonixtent twin sister (Teri Hannon) of the alias character (Robbi Hannon) she created.

Jan. 13 or 14, 1983 – Vermont police capture Audrey Marie Hilley. By now she has completely changed her appearance. She is a slim blonde woman. She is arrested for unlawful flight, extradited, and quickly convicted for the murder of her husband and attempted murder of her daughter Carol. She is sentenced to life plus 20 years. While incarcerated she admits to another inmate that she poisoned her husband and daughter.

Jan. 19, 1983. – Authorities brought Marie back to Anniston on January 19, 1983. By now another charge had been added -- the murder of Frank Hilley -- and Marie’s bond was set at $320,000. This time no one stepped forward to pay it.

Jun. 8, 1983 – Marie Hilley is convicted and Sentenced to life in prison for her husband’s murder and 20 years for attempting to kill her daughter in June 1983. She spends her time in prison quietly and is considered a model prisoner.

Jun. 9, 1983 – Marie entered Tutwiler State Women’s Prison in Wetumpka, Alabama. She was assigned a job as a data processor and was classified as a medium security prisoner.

1985 – Despite reports that she talked constantly of escape and had reportedly made plans for a break out, she was reclassified in 1985 as a minimum security prisoner, which made her eligible for passes and leaves from the prison.

1986 – In late 1986 her first eight-hour pass was approved. That pass and three others came and went with no trouble; Marie returned to Tutwiler promptly each time.

Feb. 19, 1987 – she left Tutwiler Prison for the last time after qualifying for a three-day furlough.

1987 –  John Homan had relocated to Anniston, and he and Marie spent the weekend in a hotel room there. On Sunday morning she told John that she wanted to visit her parents’ graves and would meet him at 10:00 a.m. at a local restaurant. She wasn’t there. Returning to the hotel room, John found a note. “I hope you will be able to forgive me,” it read. “I’m getting ready to leave. It will be best for everybody. We’ll be together again. Please give me an hour to get out of town.” Marie wrote that a man named Walter was taking her out of town and that she would fly to Canada and contact John later. John called the sheriff. Given Marie’s history, authorities assumed she had a well-crafted plan of escape and had left the state quickly. No one expected what happened next.

Feb. 22?, 1987 –  While on a one day pass for good behavior, Hilley escapes. She spends 4 days in the freezing rain in a wooded area.

Feb. 26, 1987 – The police respond to a suspicious person call. Marie Hilley is found freezing, numb, and suffering from hypothermia. Hilley dies at the local hospital from hypothermia.

Feb. 28, 1987 – Marie Hilley’s children buried her beside Frank Hilley, the husband she’d murdered.

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[Based on sources: “Timeline in the Audrey Marie Hilley Case,” Aug. 22, 2013;  Marlee Macleod, “Marie Hilley:Inscrutable,” CrimeLibrary.com]

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MORE: Female Serial Killers & Arson

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Female Serial Killer Nicknames

NOTE: Many female serial killers have multiple nicknames, and a number of nicknames have been used for more than one female serial killer. (Latest update Aug. 15, 2016)

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Agatha Christie Serial Killer – Mahin Qadiri (Iran)

American Borgia – Lydia Sherman (USA)

American Delilah – Belle Gunness (USA)

Angel of Bremen – Gesche Margarethe Gottfried (Germany)

Angel of Death – Jane Toppan (USA), Beverly Allitt (England)

Angelmakers of Nagyrev –  Suzanna Fazaekas (Hungary)

Angel-Maker of St. Pauli – Elizabeth Weise (Germany)

Arsenic Witch – Julianne Nagy (Hungary)

Aunt Suzie – Suzie Olah (Hungary)

Aunt Thally – Caroline Grills (Australia)

Baby Burner – Dagmar Overbye (Denmark)

Baby burner – Julia Fortmeyer (USA)

Baby Butcher – Amelia Dyer (England)

Banat Witch – Anujka de Poshonja (AKA: Anna Pistova, AKA Anyuka Dee) (Serbia; Jugoslavia)

Barbie Killer – “The Ken and Barbie Killers” Karla Homolka (USA)

Beautiful Beast – Irma Grese (Germany)

Beautiful Blonde Killer – Anna Marie Hahn (USA)

Belgian Borgia – Marie Becker (Belgium)

Belle of Indiana – Belle Gunness (USA)

Beast of Belsen – Irma Grese (Germany)

Black Angel – Timea Faludi (Hungary)

Black Eyed Borgia – Mary Frances Creighton (USA)

Black Widow – Judias Anna Lou Buenoano (Mexico)

Black Widows of Liverpool – Catherine Flanagan & Margaret Higgins (England)

Black Widow of Sacramento – Dorothy Puente (USA)

Blond Borgia – Anna Marie Hahn (USA)

Blood Countess – Elizabeth Bathory (Hungary)

Bloody Benders – Kate Bender and family (USA)

Bluebeard Poisoners – Tillie Klimek (USA)

Blueberry Marie (Blaubeer-Mariechen) – Maria Velten (Germany)

Borgia of America – Martha Hasel Wise (USA)

Borgia of the Century – Martha Grinder (USA)

Borgia of Somerville – Sarah Jane Robinson (USA)

Borgia of the Stade – Wilhelmine Woltmann (Germany)

Borgias of the Slums – Catherine Flanagan & Margaret Higgins (England)

Brick Top – Mary Jane Jackson (USA)

Cat Woman – Winnie Olah Freeman (USA)

Catherine the Terrible –Ekaterina Pishianova, (or, Catherine Planovsky) (Russia)

Catnip Slayer – Moulay Hassen (Morocco)

Chittenango Borgia – Frances Shrouder (USA)

Cyanide Mallika – K. D. Kempamma (India)

Damsel of Death – Aileen Wuornos (USA)

Deadly Magnolia – Partricia Allanson (USA)

Death Rose – Rose Carina; also Kiss of Death Widow, Kiss of Death Killer (USA)

Death Row Granny – Velma Barfield (USA)

Devil – Martha Wise (USA)

Devil with an Angel’s Face – Jaroslava Fabiánová (Czech Republic)

Devil Woman – Belle Gunness (USA), Elfriede Blauenstiner (Austria)

Doña Conchita – María Concepción Ladino Gutiérrez (Colombia)

Dragon Lady – Sante Kimes

Duchess of Death – Louise Peete (USA)

English Lucretia Borgia – Mary Ann Cotton (England)

Fearsome Bejarano, The (“La Temible Bejarano”) – Guadalupe Martinez de Bejarano (Mexico)

Female Bluebeard – Antoinette Scierri (France), Carina Favato (USA), Frau Manko (Germany), Belle Gunness (USA)

Female Executioner, The ( “La Mujer Verdugo”) – Guadalupe Martinez de Bejarano (Mexico)

Feminine Bluebeard – Clara Carl (USA)

Finchley Baby Farmers – Amelia Sach & Annie Walters (England)

Firecracker – Sheila LaBarre (USA)

Fly Paper Lyda – Lyda Southard (USA)

Giggling Granny – Nancy “Nanny” Doss (USA)

Goddess of Death – Miyuki Uete (Japan)

Good Me – Maria Catherina Swanenburg  (Dutch: Goeie Mie, or Goede Mie) (Netherlands)

Grandma Serial Killer – Dorothy Puente (USA)

Granny Ripper – Tamara Samsonova (Russia)

Hand-Grenade Moll – Yoke Ying (Singapore)

“Heart Controller Murderer” – Miyoko Sumida (Japan)

Hell’s Belle – Belle Gunness (USA)

High Priestess of Blood – Magdalena Solis (Mexico)

Hollywood Slasher – Carol Bundy & Doug Clark USA)

Hyena of Auschwitz – Irma Grese (“Die Hyäne von Auschwitz”) (Germany)

Ice Mother (Eismutter) – Susanne F. (Germany)

Internet Black Widow – Melissa Friedrich (Weeks) (Canada)

Jack the Ripper of the Urals – Ekaterina Pishianova (Russia)

Kabab Killer – Shirin Gul (Afghanistan)

Killer Granny – Betty J. Neumar (USA)

Killer Siren – Jaroslava Fabiánová (Czech Republic)

Killer Witch, The (La Bruja Asesina”) – María Concepción Ladino Gutiérrez (Colombia)

Kiss of Death Killer – Rose Carina (USA)

Kiss of Death Widow – Rose Carina; also Death Rose, Kiss of Death Killer (USA)

Konkatsu Killer – Kanae Kijima (Japan) (Konkatsu = marriage hunting)

La Bruja Asesina (The Killer Witch) – María Concepción Ladino Gutiérrez (Colombia)

La Emperatriz de Los Ántrax – Claudia Ochoa Felix (Mexico)

La Hermana María (“Sister Mary”) – María Concepción Ladino Gutiérrez (Colombia)

La Madrina – Griselda Blanco “The Godmother” (USA); also Sara Marina Aldrete (Mexico)

La Matataxistas (Taxi Driver Killer) – Cristina Soledad Sánchez Esquivel (Mexico)

La Mataviejitas (the old-lady killer) – Juana Barraza, also “The Silent Lady” (stage name as wrestler) (Mexico)

La Peque Sicaria (“Little Sin”) – Juana (Mexico)

La Pistolera – Sharon Kinne (US/Mexico)

La Plomera (The Plumber) – Cristina Soledad Sánchez Esquivel (Mexico)

La Tosca – Maria Jimenez (Mexico)

La Voisin – Catherine Deshayes (France)

Lady Bluebeard – Belle Gunness  (USA); Marie Krueger (Germany)

Lady Death – Daisy de Melker (South Africa)

Lady Rotten – Mary Ann Cotton (England)

Lady Sundance – “The Night Rider and Lady Sundance,” Judith & Alvin Neelley (USA)

Las Poquianchis – Delfina & María de Jesús González (Mexico)

Lethal Lovers, The – Gwendolyn Graham & Martha Wood (USA)

Lethal Lyda – Lyda Southard (USA)

Lonely Hearts Killer – Belle Gunness (USA); Martha Beck (with Raymond Fernandez) (USA)

Long Island Borgia – Mary Creighton (USA)

Madame Werewolf – Carmen Matamoros de Tejeda (Mexico)

Madonna of Euthenasia – Christine Malèvre (France)

Magic Medicine Woman – Nagy (“Hagy”)

Mama Coca – Griselda Blanco – (USA)

Man-Woman Devil of Pista – Viktoria Foedi Rieger (Hungary)

“Maria Bonita” (“Pretty Mary”) – Maria Gomes de Oliveira (Brazil)

Married Woman’s Best Friend – Thekla Popov (Hungary)

Merry Widow of Windy Nook – Mary Elizabeth Wilson (England)

Modern Lucretia Borgia – Jane Toppan (USA)

Monster of Portoglio – Vitaline Morandini (Italy)

Monstermutter – (“Monster Mother”), Sabine Hilschenz (Germany)

Mother Abbott – Evelyn Abbott (USA)

Mother Makin – Sarah Jane Makin (Australia)

Munhall Insurance Ring – Allas, Calfa? Young (USA)

Mysterious Huntress – Vera Renczi (Yugoslavia)

Needle Woman “femme aux aiguilles” – Sophie Gautié (Bouyou) (France)

Nurse Killer – Sonia Caleffi (Italy)

Obese Ogress – Martha Beck (USA)

Ogress – Madame Kusnevova (Russia)

Ogress – Jeanne Weber (France)

Ogress of Fez – Moulay Hassen (Hassan) (Morocco) Oum-el-Hassen, Umm-el-Hassan, alias Léonie Vallon.

Ogress of Montauban – Delpech (France)

Ogress of Reading – Amelia Dyer (England)

Ogress of Saint Saveur - Camille Tounie (France)

Old Gray Witch of Medina Street – Rose Veres (Veras) (USA)

Old Lady Killer (La Mataviejitas) – Juana Barraza (Mexico)

Old Shoebox Annie – Mary Eleanor Smith, also: “Shoebox Annie Mayer” (USA)

Paris Cat-Eater – Dinorah Galou (France)

Piranha Family – Miyoko Sumida (Japan)

Piranha Granny –  Miyoko Sumida (Japan)

Pittsburgh Poisoner – Martha Grinder (USA)

Poisonous Flirt – Marie Leanbracq (France)

Poison Mixer – Martha Petromany (Hungary)

Poison Widow of Hardscrabble – Martha Wise (USA)

Poison Witch – Maria Jager (Hungary)

Poison Witch from the Lower Rhine (Gifthexe vom Niederrhein) – Maria Velten (Germany)

Poisoner of Leiden – Maria Catherina Swanenburg (“de Leidse Gifmengster”) (Netherlands)

Poisoner of Monserrat – Yiya Murano (Argentina)

Polish Borgia – Tillie Klimek (with Nellie Koulik”) (USA)

Potton Poisoner – Sarah Chesham (England)

Predator – Esneda Cataño Ruiz (Colombia)

Programmer, The – Credonia Mwerinde (Uganda)

Pub Harpie – Jaroslava Fabiánová (Czech Republic)

Queen of the Cangaços (“Reina del Cangaço”) – Maria Gomes de Oliveira, “Maria Bonita” (Brazil)

Queen of Scopamine – Yadira Narváez Marin, La Reina de la escopolamina (Colombia)

Queen of Stranglers – Marie Rets, also “Terror of the Fortifications” (France)

Queen Poisoner – Lydia Sherman (USA)

Sally Arsenic – Sarah Chesham (England)

San Francisco Witch Killers – Suzan & Michael Carson (USA)

Satan in a Skirt – Irina Gaidamachuk (Russia)

Sex Slave Killer – Charlene Gallego (USA)

She-Wolf – Josepha Perez (Spain)

Sheila the Peeler – Sheila LaBarre (USA) “peeler” is slang for stripper or burlesque dancer

Shoebox Annie Mayer – Mary Eleanor Smith, also “Old Shoebox Annie”  (USA)

Silent Lady, The – Juana Barraza (stage name as wrestler), also “La Mataviejitas,” the old-lady killer. (Mexico)

Silesian Lucretia Borgia – Ernestine Feige (Germany)

Siren Widow – Belle Gunness (Indiana)

Sister Amy – Amy Archer-Gilligan (USA)

Sister Godfrida – Cecile Bombeek (Belgium)

Smoking Peter – Viktoria Foedi Rieger (Hungary)

Soap Maker – Leonarda Cianciulli, also “Witch of Correggio” (Italy)

Soup Killer – Louise Sullivan (USA)

Stomping Mare – Hermine Braunsteiner (Polish, “Kobyła;” German, “Stute von Majdanek”) (Germany)

Sunset Slayer – Carol Bundy & Doug Clark, also “Hollywood Slasher” (USA)

Terror of the Fortifications – Marie Rets, also “Queen of Stranglers” (France)

Tiger Woman – Louise Peete (USA)

Tigress of Cordoba – Augustina Mora (Mexico)

Tigress of Hazel Green, The – Elizabeth Routt (Tennessee)

Triple Murderess – Lizzie Halliday (USA)

Tyneside Strangler – Mary Bell (aged 11) (England)

Vampiress of Barcelona – Enriqueta Martí (Spain)

Vinegar Crone – Giovanna Bonanno (Italy) “Veccia al acceto”

White Devil – Julia Fazekas (Hungary)

Wisconsin Borgia – Charlotte Lamb (USA)

Witch of Correggio – Leonarda Cianciulli, also “The Soap Maker” (Italy)

Witch of Vladimirovac – Anujka de Poshonja (AKA: Anna Pistova, AKA Anyuka Dee) (Serbia; Jugoslavia)

White Devil of Nagyrev – Fazekas (Hungary)

White Widow – Samantha Lewthwaite (England)

Widow-Maker of Nagyrev – Fazekas (Hungary)

Witch of Delray – Rose Veres (USA)

Witch of Vladimirovac – Anujka de Poshonja (AKA: Anna Pistova, AKA Anyuka Dee) (Serbia; Jugoslavia)

Woman Landru of Morocco – Moulay Hassan (Morocco) (Henri Désiré Landru: 12 Apr 1869 – 25 Feb 1922)

Woman Rasputin – Miriam Soulakiotis (Greece)

Wuppertal Angel of Death –Michaela Roeder (Röder) “Todesengel von Wuppertal” (Germany)

Yorkshire Witch, The – Mary Bateman (England)

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►The Nicknames Myth (a recent “gender theory” concoction)

The failure of historians of crime to provide thoroughly researched scholarship digging deep into the topic of female criminality has set the stage for a great deal of understanding. Scholars of crime who rely upon the work of those who have written the account of the past fall into the trap of accepting that the published historical references in their professional field give a reasonably accurate and complete account of female criminality in the past – which they decidedly are not – and thus their overview of the topic becomes distorted.

Here is an example of what is currently believed to be a clear “gendering” of public perception of female serial killers throughout history – in accord with the frequently inaccurate ideological claims of marxist feminist theorists. The belief expressed below in a 1998 article is, as our research demonstrates, patently false.

“An indication of the perception of female serial killers can be found in the nicknames given to these women. Whereas males have been given monikers such as the “Monster of Dusseldorf,” the “Hillside Strangler, “The Killer Clown,” females are given softer, even more complimentary, nicknames. Consider “Grandma,” the “Giggling Grandma,” and the “Beautiful Blonde Killer,” who collectively killed an estimated victims. “Old Shoebox Annie,” and “Mrs. Bluebeard” [note: “Bluebeard” is hardly a “soft” term once one knows the gruesome story from which the name is taken] were killers from the early 1900s, and “Belle of Indiana” [this case, Belle Gunness, likewise inspired names such as “Devil Woman” and “Hell’s Bell,” which are not mentioned by the article] killed between 16 and 20 victims during this period as well.”

[Robert Hale & Andrew Bolin, “The Female Serial Killer,” pp. 33-58, in: ed. by Ronald M. Holmes, Stephen T. Contemporary Perspectives on Serial Murder, 1998, Sage, p. 56; italics added]

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SEE MORE: Female Serial Killer Collections

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