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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