Peace River Female Cannibal: Serial Killer Who Murdered 12 Persons – Canada 1888

FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 2): Few particulars of the recent cases of cannibalism in the Peace river district are attainable. They occurred in the far northwestern portion of the territories, 200 or 300 miles beyond Edmonton. The Peace river country is inhabited by Cree Indians and half-breeds. Most of them are pagans and still cling closely to the traditions of the Cree nation. They believe that at times evil spirits enter the bodies of members of the tribe, turning them into wehtigos, who kill and devour their families. It is usual when any member of the tribe shows signs of becoming a wehtigo for the members of his or her family to kill the person so addicted.

Last fall a half-breed named Conteraille, assisted by his son, killed his wife because it was believed she was turning wehtigo. The Dominion government sent a detachment of police in to the Peace river district and arrested them, and they are now serving a term for manslaughter in the Stony Mountain penitentiary. Their punishment caused much disaffection among members of the tribe, who contended that if they had not put the woman to death she would have killed her children and eaten them.

The woman who is the cause of the present case of cannibalism turned wehtigo [a person possesses by an evil spirit that devours mankind] some years ago and killed and ate one of her children before she was suspected. Having once tasted human blood she is supposed by the Indians to be endowed with superhuman powers, and they are in such terror of her that no attempts have been made to kill her.

At intervals of four or five months her craving for human blood returns, and while in these fits it is reported she assails the first person she meets. Most of her children have fallen victims, having been slain with an ax. The half-breeds and Indians are in terror, and it is probable a police force will be sent to Peace river to arrest the man eater.

[“North American Man-Eaters. – Some Strange Facts About the Cannibals in the Northwest Territory.” The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, La.), Mar. 26, 1888, p. 8]

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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 2): Edmonton, N. W. T. March 27.— The blood-curdling stories of cannibalism which have reached here during the past few days revive to memory scenes nothing short in brutality of those reported as having occurred in the Fiji islands years ago. The murderous man-eating woman of Peace river, living 500 miles north of Edmonton and 1,700 miles from Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, has devoured twelve human beings, her system of killing being by gradual poisoning. How long she has carried on her brutal work to satisfy an inhuman appetite, and how she has accomplished so many deaths, avoiding discovery so long, is a great surprise to the wild Indians of the Peace river region and the few while people scattered here and there throughout this great waste of land to the north of Edmonton. So well has she carried on her terrible work that traces of her awful deeds are scarce, and the woman being hopelessly insane, it is probable that darkness will forever enshroud the dreadful tragedy.

It is learned that the woman has been seized by a hand of Indians and will probably be removed to a Canadian government or Hudson Bay company’s station, if in the meantime she is not killed by her friends, who are threatening her life. Talking to an old Hudson Bay official, your correspondent was assured that dozens of cases of cannibalism had taken place in the North Which had never been brought to light. Of course many Indians have been compelled to eat their own friends from sheer starvation. This officer told of a man named Papniow, who started on a 700-mile trip a few winters ago accompanied by two friends. The dogs took sick, also one of the men, and for several weeks the starving men subsisted on the flesh of their dead comrade. The Indian woman, who is undoubtedly the greatest cannibal ever known in the continent of America, was driven crazy in the first place by medicine men, as they are called. As particulars of the tragedy are only brief, owing to circumstances explained above, a brief history of these men, as learned by your correspondent, will probably be read with interest. They are. designated by several names, as shamans, sorcerers and conjurers.

The Eskimo, among whom this woman was acquainted, call them angekoks, which is wise men. The Indians, like other people, are subjected to the ills of body and mind, and are, therefore, dependent upon medical protection to help them in their hours of pain. Blindness, arising from the smoke of the lodges, uncleanness, the habitual use of paint; and hereditary diseases are very prevalent among the tribe. Sitting in a lodge a short time ago with twelve persons, a missionary named Rev. John McLean, B. A., counted no less than five blind individuals. There are numerous cases of scrofula, consumption, rheumatism, immoral diseases, bronchitis, etc. The medicine men are the priests and doctors of the camp, uniting religion and medicine in their practice. Generally there are grades of distinction, the lower resorting to the use of herbs and other medicines only, the higher relying upon supernatural Influences to aid them with the dispensing of their materia medica. It is of the latter class to whom the cannibal woman went with her ills. Shrewd and intelligent, they are revered by the occupants of the lodges, and become instructors of the youth and the guardians of the sacred legends. Occasionally medicine women are found, generally aged persons, who become famous through the numerous cures wrought by their skill.

“Medicine” has a two-fold meaning, the one referring to the charms and incantations, the supernatural part of the work, and the other to the use of physic, the natural part. In some tribes there exist secret societies and organizations of medicine men, who keep sacredly their medical lore and mysterious rites, thus creating superstitious fears among the people, a would enhancing the value of the services. According to the statement of F. Aosikinaik, a warrior of the Ottawas, there were secret societies among the Ottawas, one of which was called “Wahbahnoowin,” signifying the east. It has been asserted that those who were fully instructed in all the mysteries of this Society could hold a burning coal in their hands or thrust their fingers into boiling water without receiving any injury. They had a very strong preference for the pleasures of the sweat lodge, and were able to endure a greater amount of heat than other persons. Another society named “Medaowin” had several sections, each of which consisted of eight members.

They had secret signs and pass-words which enabled them easily to get rid of their enemies, and to exercise a commanding influence in the tribes, and nothing was positively known of their private meetings, but their public meetings were held in a large wigwam or in the open air, where the people assembled in large numbers to witness the ceremonies. Within the inclosure the members sat, each holding a stuffed bird or animal in his band, which seemed to revive from the sounds uttered as some of the members danced in the open space, or ran about holding a bird or animal in front of them. Placing small bones in the mouths of the animals, they were thrown in the mouths of the persons standing near, and caused in them superstitious fears, believing that the members used some powerful medicine for accomplishing their purpose. It was believed that when an enemy was disposed of, one of the members disguised as a wolf or bear went on the eighth night, dug up the body, cut off one of the little toes, the little fingers, and cut out the heart and tongue.

These were taken to the next meeting, where the tongue, being divided into eight shares, was eaten, and the other parts of the body used in the preparation of their medicines. Wherever the secret fraternities of medicine men existed there were initiatory rites which the candidates for the profession had to undergo to lit them for their duties. In some tribes this consisted merely in passing successfully through a period of fasting until the guardian spirit had been found. Some held that from birth a supernatural influence rested upon a person designated for the office, and in due course he entered upon the career marked out for him by the gods.

The Eskimo, among whom the cannibal lived for some time, taught that death and resurrection were necessary in every candidate for the sacred office. A keen intellect and dignified bearing, or a tinge of manners betokening the prophetic vision, were held by others to constitute the necessary qualifications of a candidate. Among the Chinook Indians, near the Rockies, the aspirant for medical honors prepares a feast, which is free to all, and bestows gifts upon the medicine men. A lodge is prepared for him, wherein he fasts three days and nights, while the initiated dance and sing around it during the whole period. The fast ended, he is taken up apparently lifeless, and the ceremony of washing the dead is performed, which implies plunging the candidate into the nearest cold water and rubbing him briskly until he recovers from the effects of his fast. He now rushes into the woods and returns dressed as a medicine man, and then, relying upon the dignity of his profession and the influence attending it for his support, with his medicine rattle in his hand, he collects all his property and divides it among his friends. The singing and dancing are kept up during the distribution, after which the ceremony of initiation ends with a general feast. Among the Crees, who live in Manitoba principally, there are four grades leading to the highest position.

The first grade is “Wapunoo,” conjuror of the morning, the members of which have the power of extinguishing fire; the second is “Nutao,” the man who uses the bone or shell in killing, and the “birdskins,” who has an extensive knowledge of healing remedies and possessing mesmeric powers; the third is “Kesikowejinew, the man of the day,” who is the revealer of secrets, and the fourth is called “Tipiskoweyinew,” who has the power to multify the evil influence of the Mitav, and even to heal those who have been affected by him.

The initiatory rites among the Cree Indians consist in physical torture to test the power of endurance, this being a necessity in the professionals the novitiate will be prepared for stolidly witnessing sufferings in others, and a fast of ten days’ duration. The candidate’s first degree is obtained by undergoing this period of fasting, in accordance with the custom of the medical brotherhood. The candidate goes to a lonely spot and takes up his residence in the branches of a tree, where he fasts and meditates, holding converse with the spirits who visit him now and again and become his guardians and friends through life. The great Evil Spirit visits him and takes him under his care, and the lesser spirits that abound in the animals and in all the wonderful things of nature become his servants. The dress of these medicine men is generally .the most hideous and grotesque that can be conceived. The skin of a bear, or other wild animal, is wrapped around the body, encircling the limbs, the claws reaching to the tips of the fingers arid the head being so closely fastened that a part only of the hideously-painted face is seen. It is expected that the medicine men who are said to have injured the woman’s reason will be arrested and prosecuted by the British authorities.

[“Indian Cannibalism. History of the Woman Who Ate Twelve Indian Comrades. The Crime Takes Place Seventeen Hundred Miles From Winnipeg”. Medicine Men Set the Woman Crazy by Their Peculiar Actions. A Statement Made by a Warrior Named Assikinack, of the Ottawas.” St. Paul Daily Globe (Mn.), Mar. 29, 1888, p. 1]

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Abittibee Lake Cannibal Mother: Ontaria, Canada - 1889

FULL TEXT: Ottawa, Ont., October 10 – A gentleman just returned from an exploring expedition in the wilds of northwestern Ontario said that he had discovered during his travels a tribe of Indians who have practiced cannibalism up to within a few years ago when the country was first visited by French missionaries.

In the vicinity of Abittibee lake he was shown an Indian child whose grandmother had killed and eaten seven of her young children, the child’s father being the only one to escape. He made his mother’s [sic] terrible deed known to the chief of the tribe, who sent his men to arrest her. On entering the wigwam they found the head of the last child boiling in a pot over the fire. She was ordered to be shot, lots having been drawn to see who the executioneer [sic] should be. The unlucky straw fell to an old Indian, who successfully removed the unnatural mother from doing further harm.

On the Quinze lake several years ago he found that full blooded warrior had killed and eaten four of his sons, but was awkward shot and killed by his fifth son.

[“Cannibals In the Northwest. – An Indian Woman Who Ate Seven Children and a Man Who Ate His Four Sons.” The Atlanta Constitution (Ga.), Oct. 11, 1889, p. 1]

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NOTE: It would be reasonable to say that this case, since it involves a woman who was apparently brought up in a culture that practiced cannibalism, should no be properly classed as a “serial killer” case. Nevertheless, such borderline category cases as this one ought to be looked at when studying the who spectrum of serial killer case varieties, thus it is included here.

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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German Woman Eats Boyfriend’s Heart - 1913

FULL TEXT: Berlin, July 26. – The existence of  cannibalism in Germany came to light in the recent trial of a widow named Kockeritz, who was sentenced to death for murdering her lover, mutilating the body, baking the heart of her victim and eating of it.

The woman confessed to the crime, saying that her actions were in keeping with an old superstition, in which the eating of the heart of the victim is supposed to prevent his spirit from returning and haunting the murderer.

[“Murderess Eats Victim’s Heart – German Widow Confesses to a Terrible time.” The Toronto Sunday World (Canada), Jul. 27, 1913, p. 12]

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Philippa Mdluli, Swaziland Cannibal Cook – 1983

Philippa Mdluli, a 48-year-old restaurant owner in Swaziland was hanged on July 2nd, 1983 for the crime of murder. She had convinced one of her employees to provide a subject for a ritual of human sacrifice. The man offered up his 5-year-old daughter, Thuli Mabaso. Philippa Mdluli accepted the gift, slaughtered the child, chopped up her body and prepared the pieces for the delectation of her customers that were eager to eat the flesh of the girl.

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Also, see a case in Nigeria from 2014: Police arrested 11 people and closed a restaurant after two human heads wrapped in cellophane were discovered at a hotel restaurant that had been serving human flesh. A tip-off led police to the macabre discovery in Anambra, Nigeria, with 11 people being arrested and AK-47 guns and other weapons being seized. Human flesh was apparently being sold as an expensive treat at the restaurant, with authorities saying that roasted human head was even on the menu. [Christopher Hooton, “Cannibal restaurant with roasted human heads on the menu' shut down by police,” The Independent (London), Feb. 12, 2014]

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Cannibal Murderesses

1610 – Elizabeth Bathory – Hungary – sadistically murdered a large number of girls, perhaps hundreds, torturing them and biting off parts of their bodies. The legend that she bathed in the blood to preserve her youth is false. The reality of the “Blood Countess’s” perversions was much worse than the legend. (Serial Killer).

1663 – Queen Nzinga – Ndongo (Angola)

1850 – Canadian Indian Cannibal Serial Killer – Her victims included two men, two women, three boys, and four girls, and she subsisted for some time upon their flesh. (Serial Killer).

1856 – Elizabeth Cahy – Hobarton, Australia – attacked a woman, chewing off a portion of her brow. 

1888 – “Peace River Female Cannibal” – Peace River region, Alberta, Canada .

1889 – “Abittibee Lake Cannibal Mother” – Abittibee Lake, Ontaria, Canada.

1892 – Miss Akkerman – Bessarabia (Moldova) – house guest who murdered two of her hosts’ children, and was caught eating the corpse of one of them.

1893 – Ann Bennett – Croydon, England – liked to attack women, biting pieces off of them.

1892 – “Chihuaha Cannibal Female Serial Killer” – Chihuaha, Mexico – kidnapped children and ate them. The locals’ punishment of her was a weird one. (Serial Killer).

1903 – “Cairo Cannibal Female Serial Killer” – Cairo, Egypt – kidnapped, murdered, cooked and ate numerous children. (Serial Killer)

1910 – Esteis Liberis – Barahona, Haiti – voodoo practitioner who ritually sacrificed and ate children. (Serial Killer)

1912 – Enriqueta Marti – Barcelona, Spain – grabbed street children, hired them out to pedophiles and murdered them, cooking their corpses to make “love potions.” (Serial Killer).

1912 – Ivanova & Olda Tamarin – Kurdla, Estonia – mother and 17-year old daughter; leaders of a large gang; daughter lured victims to the Tamarin home where they were robbed and murdered and cannibalized. 27 corpses were found. (Serial Killer).

1913 – Frau Kocheritz – Berlin, Germany – She murdered her boyfiend, sliced out his heart, baked it and dined upon it.

1941 – Leonarda Cianciulli – Reggio Emilia, Italy – murdered and cooked 3 women, making cakes and soaps from their flesh. (Serial Killer).

1981 – Anna Zimmerman – Germany – murdered boyfriend, cut him into pieces, stored in freezer and cooked them to serve to her children.

1983 – Philippa Mdluli – Swaziland – cannibal chef.

1991 – Omaima Aree Nelson – Costa Mesa, California – murdered, cooked and ate husband, boasting of her recipes.

1993 – Carolyn Gloria Blanton; legally changed name to Jane Lynn Woodry – Alamosa, Colorado – Blanton shot boyfriend Peter Michael Greene four times with a revolver, dismembered his body, wrapped his torso in a blanket, and stored it in a closet in his home, but took the legs home to her kitchen. She took Bite-sized chunks from his legs and cooked a stew with them.

1995 – Filita Mashilipa – Zambia – prosecuted as a witch who killed and ate six of her own children in order to gain magical powers (Serial Killer). 

1996 – Lyudmila Spesivtsev – Novosibirsk, Siberia – with son, Sasha, killed an estimated 32 teenage girls, who were raped by the son and cut up and cooked by the mother.

1997 – Agnes Pandy – Brussels, Belgium – with serial killer father, Andras, murdered and ate women  – (Serial Killer).

2000 – Katherine Mary Knight – Aberdeen, NSW, Australia – a woman who had a long history of violence who murdered her husband, dismembered his corpse and cooked portions to be served in a diabolical ritual meal to his unwitting children.

2002 – Valentina Dolbilina  – Manturovo, Russia – with her husband murdered a woman, cooked and ate her.

2002 – “Zhytomyr Cannibal Female Serial Killer” – Zhytomyr, Ukraine – 3 men and a woman were accused of murdering and cannibalizing up to six people.

2005 – “Krasny Sulin Female Cannibal” – Krasny Sulin, Russia – woman (name not disclosed)  and her two young adult sons murdered a neighbor then cooked and ate his body.

2008 – Ms. Jabarkhel – Kabul, Afghanistan – kidnapped and partially ate an 8-year-old girl.

2009 – Klara Mauerova – Brno, Czech Republic – cult member mother tortured her two young sons mercilessly over a period of six months. She sliced off pieces of one of the boys’ skin and served the flash to other cult members and forced the victim to eat portions of his own mutilated body.

2009 – Olesya Mostovschikova – Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia – murdered a female friend with an axe and with another female friend cooked at ate portions of the corpse. Olesya made a chilling detailed confession of her actions.

2009 – “Sunday” – Southern Sudan – mother who planned to eat her own newborn but ran off when the child was rescued was caught eating the corpse of another child.

2009 – Otty Sanchez – San Antonio, Texas – murdered her baby and ate portions of the child.

2012 – Bruna Oliveira da Silviera & Isabel Cristina Pires da Silviera – Garanhuns, Pernambuco state, Brazil – two women suspected, along with Seňor da Silviera, of murdering, cooking and eating parts of 10 young women. Some were made into food sold to villagers. The three belong to a cult that promotes depopulation. (Serial Killers).

2012 – “Chiang Mai, Thailand Mother” – Chiang Mai, Thailand – butchered and ate her two young sons – aged 1 and 5 – has claimed she was hallucinating and thought they were pigs.

2015 – Catherine Muthoni – Korogocho, Nairobi – Murder victims: Muthoni’s baby boy (1 week); neighbor’s children: Nyambura Gatei (4) Peter Gatei (10 days) “On February 17, 2015, Catherine Muthoni, 20, is alleged to have slit open her son’s belly, removed his intestines and eaten them before going to her friend’s house and killing two other children.” The same day she murdered her neighbor’s two children. [Stella Cherono, “Police detain woman in gruesome Korogocho triple murder,” Daily Nation (Nairobi, Kenya), Feb. 17, 2015]

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SEE MORE: Female Serial Killer Collections

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Ivanova Tamarin, Murder-Coaching Mom Serial Killer - 1912

FULL TEXT: St. Petersburg, July 20. – A real live ogress with a desperate desire for flesh and blood, having a daughter similarly depraved and numerous cannibal retainers, has just been seized at Kurdla [place not located, see note].

People remarked that numerous men and women, decoyed to the house of Ivanova Tamarin and her 17 year old daughter, Olga, were never seen returning. The discovery in a neighboring wood of corpses, mutilated beyond recognition, led to the house being surrounded by a force of gendarmes under Colonel Vassiteff.

~ GHASTLY EVIDENCE FOUND ~

Ivanova and her daughter were secured after violent resistance, and a search of the premises resulted in the discovery of 27 corpses in a storehouse, as well as a great number of watches, purses and other articles of value, and a quantity of male and female garments.

The eating room of the house was furnished with a trap door, through which the victims were precipitated into the cellar. In the cellar murderous instruments and fetters of all sorts were found.

The women confessed to being at the head of a band which, during recent months, had robbed and murdered 40 people who had been decoyed to the house by Olga, and mentioned thirty other peasants belonging to the band, who were also arrested, while nine others escaped.

[George Fraser, “Woman And Her Daughter Slay Twenty-Seven - Horrible Discovery in Forest Is Clew to Bloody Carnival of Murder Fiendish Trap Laid by Ogresses; Victims Mutilated Past All Recognition,” The San Francisco Call (Ca.), Jul. 21, 1912, p. 49]

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NOTE: “Kurdio” as a place name has not been identified. The word could be a reference to Kurdish ethnicity.

Previously, we considered the place name to identify a location in Estonia. The Russian names may or may not be good evidence of the proper location. They may be English transliterations of Russian transliterations from a different language.

Here is our original note arguing for an Estonian location: "Kurdio" is given as the place in this version in the San Francisco Call. The Los Angeles Times prints the same article, but with “Kurdla” instead of ”Kurdio.” “Kurla” presumably identifies one of these two Estonian villages: Mägi-Kurdla, a village in Laimjala Parish, Saare County in western Estonia; or Paju-Kurdla, a village in Laimjala Parish, Saare County in western Estonia. A similar place name in Estonia is: Kärdla, the largest town on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa and the capital of Hiiu County.

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For similar cases, see: Female Serial Killer Bandits

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For similar cases, see Murder-Coaching Moms

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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“Krasny Sulin Female Cannibal”: Russian Murder-Coaching Mom – 2005

A woman in her late 30s and her two teenage sons, born in 1986 and 1989, whose names were not disclosed, were arrested in November 2005 in in the Rostov region town of Krasny Sulin, about 925 kilimeters south of Moscow, charged with strangling a man and eating his internal organs. Regional police spokesman Alexei Polyansky stated they strangled the local man during an argument. Polyansky said the suspects were being questioned and would be sent to a psychiatric clinic to undergo tests. [UHoM]

[Based on: AP, “Russian woman, sons accused of cannibalism,” The Age (Sydney, Australia), Nov. 18, 2005]

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For similar cases, see Murder-Coaching Moms

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Elizabeth Cahy, Tasmanian Woman Who Attacked Other Women in a “Cannibalistic” Fashion - 1856

FULL TEXT: Hobarton, Tasmania – Elizabeth Cahy, p.h., was charged with a “common assault” on Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis on the 19th instant, by “then and there biting a portion of her right eye brow off.”

The prisoner pleaded guilty, but standing in her own defence.

Mrs. Lewis stated, that the prisoner was in her service; at 10 o’clock on the night of the day mentioned, witness, who keeps a public house, (the Freemason’s Arms) went to clear the Tap room, when the prisoner prevented her; witness told her to go to her room, but she refused, and rushed witness against a cask in her bar; she afterwards seized witness by her hair, and pulled some of it out by the roots, and, then, bit a piece of her eye brow off.

A witness, named Margaret Davidson, who was stopping at Mr. Lewis’ on the night in question, corroborated Mrs. Lewis’s testimony, and stated, that the prisoner’s conduct was very violent, and that Mrs. Lewis was bleeding profusely from the eye brow.

Dr Smart deposed to the nature of the wound, which was about an inch in length, and half au inch broad; a portion of the flesh had been torn off which Mrs. Lewis showed to witness: he sewed up the wound which was not of a dangerous character.

Mr. Burgess said, that the Bench adjudged the prisoner guilty; her conduct towards her mistress appeared most brutish, and it was only in October 1854, that she received a sentence of nine mouths’ imprisonment for a similar offence. She was now sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment with hard labor.

[“The Female Cannibal,” The Hobarton Mercury (Tasmania), Jul. 25, 1856, p. 3]

Note: The meaning of the abbreviation "p. h." is unknown to the UHoM editor.

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Miss Akkerman, Cannibal Child Murderer from Bessarabia - 1892

FULL TEXT: St. Petersburg, Nov. 11. – A most horrible story of cannibalism is reported from Bessarabia. A woman named Akkerman, a giantess in stature and strength, sought shelter at the house of a peasant woman named Yooreski Sariera. The woman and the peasant drank considerable, and when the supply of vodka gave out, Yooreski went out to get another bottle. She was gone quite a little time.

When she returned she was almost struck dumb with horror on finding that her guest in her absence had killed her baby, gnawed the soft parts of its body and sucked its blood and brains. The woman was then in the act of attempting to kill another child, a girl, who was seeking to escape from the hut, screaming at the top of her voice. The mother rushed in and tried to save her child from the murderess, but the latter struck the little girl with a bludgeon and killed her before her mother could reach her.

The mother's brain was turned by the terrible scene, and she became a raving maniac. She attempted to kill herself, but neighbors who had been attracted to the scene by her wild shrieks prevented her.

The Akkerman woman made a most desperate resistance to arrest. She fought like a tigress, and some of the peasants weft quite severely injured. She was finally overpowered and bound with ropes. Five men accompanied her to the jail.

The news of the terrible crime spread rapidly, and a number of men tried to take the prisoner from her guards to lynch her.

The woman was locked up. It is not known whether she is insane or not.

[“A Female Cannibal - Kills Two Children of Her Host and Partly Devours One of Them The Mother Becomes a Having Maniac Peasants Attempt to Lynch the Murderess.” syndicated, The Pittsburg Dispatch (Pa.), Nov. 12, 1892, p. 7]

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Klara Mauerova, Czech Cannibal Sex-Abusing Torture Mother - 2008

In 2008 31-year-old Czech mother Klara Mauerova tortured her two sons, 8-year-old son Ondrej and Jakub, 10,  over a period of six months. She stubbed cigarettes out on their bare skin, whipped them with belts and tried to drown them. Eventually Klara decided to slice off sections of Ondrej’s skin and forced him to eat it. Karla’s sister, Katerina, helped her in executing the tortures. Other relatives, among them Barbara Skrlova, partook of the human flesh Klara provided. After their rescue from their single mom, the boys said they were kept in cages or handcuffed to tables, sexually abused, forced to cut themselves with knives,  and made to stand for days in their own urine.

Klara claimed the activities were not her fault and that she had been brainwashed by Barbora Skrlova. She explained herself in vague terms using the passive voice: “Terrible things have happened. I realize it and can’t understand how I could have allowed it.” During the trial the defense claimed that the abuses were coordinated via text messages sent by a leader of the Grail Movement cult, of which the defendants were members— who was known only as the “Doctor.”

The Czech Republic court in Brno sentenced the mother, Klara  Mauerova, to nine years in prison. Her sister Katerina given 10 years. Barbora Skrlova, 34, got five years. Three others who took part in the abuse were also given jail terms: Hana Basova, 28, and Jan Skrla, 25, 7 years each; Jan Turek, 5 years. [UhoM] 

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Ms. Jabarkhel, Afghan Cannibal Murdered Eight-Year-Old Girl - 2008

On August 28, 2008 in Kabul Afghanistan Ms. Jabarkhel, daughter of Hudkhel, aged about 40, was arrested for kidnapping from her home and biting to death an 8-year-old girl named Marwa. The child, who lived in the eighth precinct of Kabul had opened the gate of her home to give a handout to Jabarkhel. Gen Alishah Paktiawal, chief of the criminal investigation division of Kabul police told reporters that the woman took her victim to the tent in which she lives and proceeded to bite her until the child died. Ms. Jabarkhel had consumed one of her victim’s hands before being apprehended. No other details were offered. Police said they considered the murderess to be mentally ill and they had not yet determined whether she had killed any others. [UHoM]

[Source: Based on BBC translation of National Afghanistan TV, Kabul, in Dari and Pashto 1530 gmt 5 Sep 08]

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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A South Sudanese Cannibal Mother Named Sunday - 2009

On November 3, 2009 a woman identified by police as “Sunday” was arrested in Juba in Southern Sudan after she was found in a cemetery near Konyo-Konyo market feasting on a corpse of a child. Police were tipped off by an area resident and arrived to find found Sunday devouring the corpse with red and green paper and onions. Yet she managed to outrun the officers discarding the body as she fled. She was located as she was just about to snatch a little boy.

Mark Tombe, the Criminal Investigation Department officer in Malakia police post, told reporters that "The woman wanted … to get another baby to eat but police could not give her that chance,"

It was learned that Sunday had recently given birth at Juba Teaching Hospital, according to Dr John Lomoro. At that Sunday revealed to hospital staff that she intended to eat the newborn. She managed to drink blood (presumably from the umbilical chord) before doctors arrived to take the baby from Sunday. The mother then ran off.

Lomoro continued that she wanted to eat her baby but the doctors came in to rescue the girl. “She ended up drinking the blood of the baby after delivering her,” Lomoro said.

The rescued baby girl was dubbed “Innocent” by her benefactors. [UHoM]

[Based on: “Woman suspected of cannibalism arrested in southern Sudan capital.” The Juba Post (South Sudan), Nov. 8, 2009 (English language paper)]

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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For more Real Life Ogresses see: Ogresses: Female Serial Killers of the Children of Others

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Cannibalistic Katherine Knight, Australian Queen of Violence - 2000

Katherine Knight, who had a long history of violence behind her,  is known for having murdered John Charles Thomas Price on February, 29, 2000 and cooking up his dismembered corpse for a ritual meal to be served to her victim’s unwitting children.

Following is a long, but an excellent and well-researched Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Knight

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Katherine Mary Knight (born 24 October 1955) was the first Australian woman to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. She was convicted of the murder of her partner, John Charles Thomas Price (born 6 January 1955) in October 2001, and is currently detained in Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre.

~ Family ~

Originally from the town of Aberdeen in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley, Barbara Roughan (Née Thorley) was forced to move to Moree after beginning a relationship with Ken Knight, a co-worker of her husband Jack Roughan. The Roughan and Knight families were both well known in the conservative rural town and the affair was a major scandal. Two of Roughan’s four children remained with their father while the two youngest were sent to live with an aunt in Sydney.

Katherine Knight was the younger of twins born to Barbara and her de facto partner Ken on 24 October 1955 in Tenterfield, New South Wales. Jack Roughan died in 1959 and the two children who had lived with him moved in with the Knight family. Barbara’s grandmother was apparently an Indigenous Australian from the Moree area who had married an Irishman. She was proud of this fact and liked to think of her own family as Aboriginal. This was kept a family secret, as there was considerable racism in the area at the time and this was a source of tension for the children. Apart from her twin, the only person Knight was close to was her uncle Oscar Knight who was a champion horseman. She was devastated when he committed suicide in 1969 and continues to maintain that his ghost visits her. The family moved back to Aberdeen the same year.

~ Early life ~

Knight’s father Ken was an alcoholic who openly used violence and intimidation to rape her mother up to ten times a day. Barbara in turn often told her daughters intimate details of her sex life and how much she hated sex and men (Later, when Knight complained to her mother that one of her partners wanted her to take part in a sex act she didn’t want to do, Barbara told her to “put up with it and stop complaining”). Knight claims she was frequently sexually abused by several members of her family (though not by her father), which continued until she was 11. Although they have minor doubts about the details, psychiatrists accept her claim as all her family members confirmed the abuse did happen.

Katherine was by all accounts a pleasant girl who experienced uncontrollably murderous rages in response to minor upsets. When she attended Muswellbrook high school, she became a loner and is remembered by classmates as a bully who stood over smaller children. She assaulted at least one boy at school with a weapon and was once injured by a teacher who was found to have acted in self-defense. By contrast, when not in a rage Knight was a model student and often earned awards for her good behavior. On leaving school at 15, without having learned to read or write, she gained employment as a cutter in a clothing factory. Twelve months later she left to start what she referred to as her “dream job”, cutting up offal at the local abattoir from where she was quickly promoted to boning and given her own set of butcher knives. At home she hung the knives over her bed so that they “would always be handy if I needed them”, a habit she continued - until her incarceration - everywhere she lived.

~ David Kellett ~

Katherine first met hard drinking co-worker David Stanford Kellett in 1973 and completely dominated him, if Kellett got into a fight at the hotel Knight would step in and back him up with her fists without fail. In Aberdeen she was renowned for offering armed combat to anyone who upset her.

Knight married Kellett in 1974, at her request, with the couple arriving at the service on her motorcycle with a very intoxicated Kellett on the pillion. As soon as they arrived Knight’s mother Barbara gave Kellett some advice:

“The old girl said to me to watch out. ‘You better watch this one or she’ll fucking kill you. Stir her up the wrong way or do the wrong thing and you’re fucked, don’t ever think of playing up on her, she’ll fuckin’ kill you.’ And that was her mother talking! She told me she’s got something loose, She’s got a screw loose somewhere.”

On their wedding night she tried to strangle him. Knight explained it was because he fell asleep after only having intercourse three times.

The marriage was particularly violent and on one occasion a heavily pregnant Knight burned all Kellet’s clothing and shoes before hitting him across the back of the head with a frying pan, simply because he had arrived home late from a darts competition after making the finals. In fear for his life, Kellet fled before collapsing in a neighbors house and he was later treated for a badly fractured skull. Police wanted to charge her but Knight was now on her best behaviour and talked Kellet into dropping the charges. In May 1976, shortly after the birth of their first child, Melissa Ann, Kellett left her for another woman and moved to Queensland, apparently unable to cope with Knight’s possessive, violent behavior. The next day Knight was seen pushing her new baby in a pram down the main street, violently throwing the pram from side to side. Knight was admitted to St Elmo’s Hospital in Tamworth where she was diagnosed with postnatal depression and spent several weeks recovering. After being released, Knight placed two month old Melissa on a railway line shortly before the train was due, then stole an axe, went into town and threatened to kill several people. A man known in the district as “Old Ted”, who was foraging near the railway line, found and rescued Melissa, by all accounts only minutes before the train passed. Knight was arrested and again taken to St Elmo’s Hospital but, apparently recovered, signed herself out the following day.

A few days later Knight slashed the face of a woman with one of her knives and demanded she drive her to Queensland to find Kellett. The woman escaped after they stopped at a service station but by the time police arrived Knight had taken a little boy hostage and was threatening him with the knife. She was disarmed when police attacked her with brooms and she was admitted to the Morisset Psychiatric Hospital. Knight told the nurses she had intended to kill the mechanic at the service station because he had repaired Kellett’s car, which had allowed him to leave, and then kill both her husband and his mother when she arrived in Queensland. When police informed Kellett of the incident he left his girlfriend and along with his mother, they both moved to Aberdeen to support her.

Knight was released on 9 August 1976 into the care of her mother-in-law and along with Kellett, they now moved to Woodridge, a suburb of Brisbane, where she obtained a job at the Dinmore meatworks in nearby Ipswich. On 6 March 1980, they had another daughter, Natasha Maree. In 1984 Knight left Kellett and moved in, first with her parents in Aberdeen, then to a rented house in nearby Muswellbrook. Although she returned to work at the abattoir, she injured her back the following year and went on a disability pension. No longer needing to rent accommodation close to her work the government gave her a Housing Commission house in Aberdeen.

~ David Saunders ~

Knight met 38-year-old miner David Saunders in 1986. A few months later he moved in with her and her two daughters although he kept his old apartment in Scone. Knight soon became jealous regarding what he did when she was not around and would often throw him out. He would move back to his apartment in Scone and then she would invariably follow and beg him to return. In May 1987 she cut the throat of his two-month-old dingo pup in front of him for no more reason than as an example of what would happen if he ever had an affair before going on to knock him unconscious with a frying pan. In June 1988 she gave birth to her third daughter Sarah, which prompted Saunders to put a deposit on a house, which Knight paid off when her workers’ compensation came through in 1989. Knight decorated the house throughout with animal skins, skulls, horns, rusty animal traps, leather jackets, old boots, machetes, rakes and pitchforks. No space, including the ceilings, was left uncovered. After an argument where she hit Saunders in the face with an iron before stabbing him in the stomach with a pair of scissors, he moved back to Scone, but when he later returned home found she had cut up all his clothes. Saunders took long service leave and went into hiding. Knight tried to find him but no one admitted to knowing where he was. Several months later he returned to see his daughter and found that Knight had gone to the police and told them she was afraid of him. They issued her with an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) against him.

~ John Chillingworth ~

In 1990 Knight became pregnant by a 43-year-old former abattoir co-worker, John Chillingworth and gave birth the following year to a boy they named Eric. Their relationship lasted three years before she left him for a man she had been having an affair with for some time, John Price.

~ John Price ~

John “Pricey” Price was the father of three children when Knight had an affair with him. Reputedly a “terrific bloke” liked by everyone who knew him, his own marriage had ended in 1988. While his two-year-old daughter had remained with his former wife, the two older children lived with him. Price was well aware of Knight’s violent reputation and she moved into his house in 1995. His children liked her, he was making a lot of money working in the local mines and, apart from violent arguments, at first “life was a bunch of roses”.

In 1998 they had a fight over Price’s refusal to marry her and in retaliation Knight videotaped items he had stolen from work and sent the tape to his boss. Although the items were out of date medical kits that he had scavenged from the company rubbish tip, Price was fired from the job he had held for 17 years. That same day he kicked her out and she returned to her own home while news of what she had done spread through the town.

A few months later Price restarted the relationship although he now refused to allow her to move in with him. The fighting became even more frequent and most of his friends would no longer have anything to do with him while they remained together.

~ Price’s Murder ~

In February 2000, a series of assaults on Price culminated with Knight stabbing Price in the chest. Finally fed up, he kicked her out of his house. On 29 February he stopped at the Scone Magistrate’s Court on his way to work and took out a restraining order to keep her away from both him and his children. That afternoon Price told his co-workers that if he did not come to work the next day, it would be because Knight had killed him. They pleaded with him not to go home but he told them that he believed she would kill his children if he did not. Price arrived home to find that Knight, although not there herself, had sent the children away for a sleep-over at a friend’s house. He then spent the evening with his neighbors before going to bed at 11pm. Earlier that day, Knight had bought new black lingerie and had videotaped all her children while making comments which have since been interpreted as a crude will. Knight later arrived at Price’s house while he was sleeping and sat watching TV for a few minutes before having a shower. She then woke Price and they had sex after which he fell asleep.

At 6am the next morning the neighbor became concerned that Price’s car was still in the driveway and when Price did not arrive at work, his employer sent a worker to see what was wrong. Both the neighbor and worker tried knocking on Price’s bedroom window to wake him but after noticing blood on the front door alerted the police who arrived at 8am. Breaking down the back door police found his body with Knight comatose from taking a large number of pills. She had stabbed Price with a butcher’s knife while he was sleeping. According to the blood evidence, he awoke and tried to turn the light on before attempting to escape while Knight chased him through the house, he managed to open the front door and get outside but either stumbled back inside or was dragged back into the hallway where he finally died after bleeding out. Later, Knight went into Aberdeen and withdrew $1,000 from Price’s ATM account. Price’s autopsy revealed that he had been stabbed at least 37 times, in both the front and back of his body with many of the wounds extending into vital organs. Several hours after Price had died, Knight skinned him and hung the skin from a meat hook on the architrave of a door to the lounge room. She then decapitated him and cooked parts of his body, serving up the meat with baked potato, pumpkin, zucchini, cabbage, yellow squash and gravy in two settings at the dinner table, along with notes beside each plate, each having the name of one of Price’s children on it; she was preparing to serve his body parts to his children. A third meal was thrown on the back lawn for unknown reasons and it is speculated Knight had attempted to eat it but could not and this has been put forward in support of her claim that she has no memory of the crime. Price’s head was found in a pot with vegetables. The pot was still warm, estimated to be at between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius, indicating that the cooking had taken place in the early morning. Sometime later Knight arranged the body with the left arm draped over an empty 1.25 litre soft drink bottle with the legs crossed. This was claimed in court to be an act of defilement demonstrating Knight’s contempt for Price. Knight had left a hand written note on top of a photograph of Price. Blood stained and covered with small pieces of flesh the note read.

Time got you back Johathon for rapping [raping] my douter [daughter]. You to Beck [Price’s daughter] for Ross — for Little John [his son]. Now play with little Johns Dick John Price. (sic)

The accusations in the note were found to be groundless.

~ Trial ~

Knight’s initial offer to plead guilty to manslaughter was rejected and she was arraigned on 2 February 2001 on the charge of murdering Price, to which she entered a plea of not guilty. Her trial was initially fixed for 23 July 2001 but was adjourned due to her counsel’s illness and it was re-fixed for 15 October 2001.

When the trial commenced, Justice Barry O’Keefe offered the 60 jury prospects the option of being excused due to the nature of the photographic evidence which five accepted. When the witness list was read out to the prospects several more also dropped out after which the jury was empanelled. Knight’s attorneys then spoke to the judge who adjourned to the following day; the next morning, Knight changed her plea to guilty, and the jury was dismissed. It was now made public that Justice O’Keefe had been advised of the plea change the day before. He had adjourned the trial and then ordered a psychiatric assessment overnight to determine if Knight understood the consequences of a guilty plea and was fit to make such a plea. Knight’s legal team had planned to defend Knight by claiming amnesia and dissociation, a claim supported by most psychiatrists although they did consider her sane.

No reason has ever been given for the guilty plea, and despite giving it, Knight still refused to accept responsibility for her actions. At the sentencing hearing, Knight’s lawyers requested that Knight be excused to avoid hearing some of the facts, but the application was refused. When Dr. Timothy Lyons took the stand and described the skinning and decapitation, Knight became hysterical and had to be sedated.

On 8 November, Justice O’Keefe pointed out that the nature of the crime and Knight’s lack of remorse required a severe penalty; he sentenced her to death sentence, refused to fix a non-parole period and ordered that her papers be marked “never to be released”, the first time that this had been imposed on a woman in Australian history.

In June 2006, Knight appealed the life sentence, claiming that a penalty of life in jail without possibility of parole was too severe for the killing. Justices Peter McClellan, Michael Adams and Megan Latham dismissed the appeal in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in September, with Justice McClellan writing in his judgement “This was an appalling crime, almost beyond contemplation in a civilized society.”

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Omaima Aree Nelson, Man-Eating California Wife - 1991

“Nothing tastes as good as the man I married. It’s the sauce that does it.” – Omaima Aree Nelson

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Based on Wikipedia: Omaima Aree Nelson is an Egyptian-born nanny and model who was convicted of murdering her husband, Bill Nelson. She is serving a life sentence at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California. Her case made international headlines due to allegations of bondage sex, decapitation, castration, and cannibalism.

Omaima Aree Nelson was born and raised in Egypt, and immigrated to the United States in 1986. She, then 23, met her husband Bill Nelson, a 56 year-old pilot, in October 1991; the couple married within days of meeting. Omaima would later claim that during the couple’s month-long union, she suffered sexual abuse by her husband.

On Thanksgiving Day 1991 (November 28), as Omaima claimed after her apprehension, that Bill had sexually assaulted her in their Costa Mesa, California apartment. Following this, as Omaima explained, she stabbed Bill with scissors, then began beating him with a clothes iron. After he was dead, she began dismembering his body, and allegedly cooked his head and boiling his hands to remove his fingerprints. She then mixed up his body parts with leftover Thanksgiving turkey and disposed of the mixture in a trash can. She reportedly castrated him in revenge for what she described as sexual assaults.

Bill Nelson's head was decapitated and cooked. His severed hands were fried in cooking oil. 80 pounds of him were never recovered.

Omaima was arrested on a suspicion of murder charge in December 2, 1991, and her trial began almost exactly one year later on December 1, 1992. She was convicted of second-degree murder on January 12, 1993. She was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison.

Deputy Disttrict Attorney Randolph J. Pawloski told jurors Nelson was a "predator" who planned to flee the area with his car, cash and credit cards after the grisly slaying. During the investigation, it was revealed that Nelson tied up and demanded money at gun point from Robert Hannson of Huntington Beach in November 1990. Pawloski argued this was part of a pattern of Omaima using her looks to seduce men and then turning violent once alone with them to get what she really wanted. This culminated in her shackling her husband to a bed during what he believed to be sex-play. Instead, she murdered him with a pair of scissors and an iron and then began dismembering him.

Neighbors said it seemed as if the garbage disposal in the Nelson unit ran non-stop for two days.

The psychiatrist testified at trial [that] in his over 20 years of experience Mrs. Nelsons mental state was the most psychotic he had ever seen.

Omaima first became eligible for parole in 2006, but was denied when “commissioners found her unpredictable and a serious threat to public safety.” She became eligible again in 2011, but was denied by the parole board again, citing that she had not taken responsibility for the murder, and would not be a productive citizen if she were freed.

The parole Board cited reports that while in prison she “continuously engaged in the habit of having relationships, including conjugal visits, with older men while incarcerated for financial gain.”

She will not be able to seek parole again until 2026.

Omaima Nelson has been compared to fictional serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter, from Silence of the Lambs. Her case has been televised on the Investigation Discovery programs Happily Never After and Deadly Women.

[Wikipedia article with quotes from OC Weekly article inserted]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaima_Nelson

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An excellent long article on the case was published in 2011 by OC Weekly, Omaima Aree Nelson and the Prosecutor Trying to Keep the Model-Cannibal in Prison--"I Did His Ribs Just Like in a Restaurant"

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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