“Shui Hing Black Widow Serial Killer” – 1908, China

FULL TEXT: A rival to the Lamporte [sic] murderess, Mrs. Gunness, of death-farm fame, has been found by the agency of the recent floods in a village in Shui Hing prefecture. A few days ago after the floods had partially subsided, a posse of soldiers went to a farm occupied by a supposed widow. Whilst trying to save this woman’s household effects they unearthed, below a broken-down matshed, eight coffins which contained headless, and in some cases, mutilated bodies of supposed males. The widow was an attractive looking woman, and had had many suitors of her own class for her hand. According to the latest reports this woman has confessed to the murder of the persons whose bodies were discovered on her farm.

[“A Chinese Wholesale Murderess.” South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), Jul. 6, 1908, p. 9]

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Shui Hing prefecture = Zhàoqìng (Chinese: 肇庆) is a prefecture-level city of Guangdong province, People's Republic of China and the southern districts and Sihui is considered part of the Pearl River Delta region.

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For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.

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[625-1/13/21]

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Around the World with Female Serial Killers: A Sampler

It is common to see false claims such as: “serial killers are usually white men in their 20s or 30s who come from lower- or middle-class backgrounds” and “Female serial killers are rare compared to their male counterparts.” Neither claim is accurate.

This post is a “sampler,” offering a link to a single case for each of the nations listed. This makes for a convenient way to understand the wide proliferation of female serial killers through the entire world.

[Count: 73; as of Aug. 9, 2015]

► AFRICA (15)

Angola – 1663 – Queen Nzinga – Ndongo (Angola)

Egypt – 1920 – Raya & Sakina Aly Hammam – Alexandria, Egypt

Ethiopia – 1918 – Taytu Betul – Addis Abbaba, Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

Ghana (Ashanti Kingdom) – 1948 – Balagee – Nayagli, Ghana

Kenya – 2010 – Elizabeth Wambui – Kiambu, Kenya

Madagascar – 1828 – Ranavalona the Cruel, Queen – Madagascar

Malawi (Nyasaland) – 1963 – Mairiya Zikabuma – Blantyre, Nyasaland (Malawi)

Morocco – 1938 – Moulay Hassen – Fez, Morocco

Mozambique – 1914 – “Beira Black Widow” – Beira, Mozambique

Nigeria – 2001 – Jummai Hassan – Maiduguri, Nigeria

Rwanda – 1994 – Angeline Mukandutiye – Rwanda

South Africa – 1962 – Sienna Engelbrecht – Cape Town, South Africa

Uganda – 2000 – Credonia Mwerinde – Kunungu, Uganda

Zambia – 1995 – Filita Mashilipa – Zambia

Zimbabwe – 2014 – Angeline Mabhiza – Nago 1 Village Zimuto, Masvingo Province, Z.

► EUROPE (34)

Austria – 1917 – Leopoldine Kasparek – Vienna, Austria

Belgium – 1988 – Myriam Marlein – Ostend, Belgium

Czech Republic – 2003 – Jaroslava Fabianova – Decin, Czech Republic

Denmark – 1819 – Ane Nielsdatter – Copenhagen, Denmark

England – 2013 – Joanna Dennehy – Petersborough, Cambridgeshire, England

Estonia (?) –1912 – Ivanova & Olga Tamarin – (Kurdio?, Kulda?, Estonia?)

Finland – 2009 – Aino Nykopp-Koski - Helsinki, Finland

France – 1808 – Catherine Bouhours ("Auguste Manette") – Paris, France

Germany – 1924 – Erna Warz – Berlin, Germany

Greece – 1927 – Mme. Tamara – Athens, Greece

Haiti – 1910 – Esteis Liberis – Barahona, Haiti

Hungary – 1888 – Eva Micsik – Csoka,Serbia

Ireland – 1761 – Dorcas Kelly – Dublin, Ireland

Italy – 1923 – Clothida Cravana (Maria Clothida Gaione, nee Cravino) – Turin, Italy

Latvia –1956 – H. B. Zarin – Riga, Latvia

Lithuania – 1892 – Feige Noskina – Vilna, Lithuania

Macedonia (ancient) – 316 BC – Queen Olympias – Macedonia

Netherlands – 1883 – Maria Swanenburg (Van der Linden) – Leiden, Netherlands

Norway – 1875 – Sofie Johannesdotter – Fredrikshald (Halden), Norway

Poland – 1890 – Marianne Skoublinska – Warsaw, Poland

Pontus, Kingdom of – 1st c BC – Princess Laodice of Cappadocia – K. of Pontus

Portugal – 1772 – Luiza de Jesus – Coimbra, Portugal

Romania – 1906 – Martha Petromany – Knees, Temesvar, Romania

Rome (ancient) – 48 AD – Valeria Messalina – Rome

Russia – 1927 – Sophie Safarine – Navoia, Russia

Scotland – 1850s – Allie Belchie – Lintlaw, Buncle Parish, Scotland

Serbia – 1928 – Annuja de Poshonja (Anna Pistova) – Valadimirovac, Serbia

Sicily – 1788 – Giovanna Bonnano – Palermo, Sicily

Slovakia – 1931 – Madame Stanke – Levice, Slovakia

Spain – 1912 – Enriqueta Martí – Barcelona, Spain

Sweden – 1906 – Mrs. Gustav Holmen (alias) – Stockholm, Sweden

Switzerland – 1920 – Frau Buchmann ("Backman") – Geneva & Zurich, Switzerland

Ukraine – 1885 – Rachel Ostrovoskafa – Odessa, Ukraine

► FAR EAST (13)

Australia – 1980 – Helen Patricia Moore – Fullwood Place, Claymore, Australia

China – 1200 – Ta-Ki – China

Indonesia – 1996 – Astini (aka Bu Lakri) – Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia

Japan –1921 – Iniego Kaneiko – Kumakura, Japan

Malaysia – 1953 – Yoke Ying – Bentong area of Pahang, Malaysia

Maldives – 1300s – Sultana Khadeejah – Maldives

New Zealand – 1984 – Lise Jane Turner – Christchurch, New Zealand

Philippines – 1880s – Sultana Pangyan Inchi Jamela – Philippines

South Korea – 2015 – Noh (married to Kim; Lee) – Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, South Korea

Tahiti – 1780s – Queen Ideah – Kingdom of Tahiti

Taiwan – 1987 – Chen Kao Lien-yen – Fan Liao, Taiwan

Thailand – 2002 – Natthakan Anaman – Bankok, Thailand

Vietnam – 2004 – Le Thanh Van – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

► NEAR, MIDDLE EAST & SUBCONTINENT (9)

Afghanistan – 2005 – Shirin Gul – Kabul & Jalalabad, Afghanistan

Armenia – 1923 – Marie Torosian – Armenia

India – 1951 – Lala Wanh – Bhatanta, East Punjab, India

Iran – 2009 – Mahin Qadiri – Qazvin, Iran

Persia (ancient) – 5th c BC – Parysatis – Persia

Lebanon – 1871 – “Dahr-al-Ahmur Serial Killer” – Dahr-al-Ahmur, Lebanon

Sri Lanka – 42 BC – Anula of Anuradhapura – Sri Lanka

Syria – 275 – Zenobia – Syria

Turkey – 1925 – “Constantinople Female Serial Killer” – Istanbul, Turkey

► NORTH AMERICA & CARRIBEAN (6)

Bahamas –1998 – Sante Kimes – Bahamas, Los Angeles, New York, USA

Canada – 2012 – Melissa Friedrich (Weeks) – Pinellas Park, Florida, USA & Canada

Cuba – 1852 – Margaret Waldegrave – Buffalo, New York, USA & Cuba

Haiti – 1910 – Esteis Liberis – Barahona, Haiti

Mexico – 1912 – Maria Reyes – Mexico City, Mexico

USA – 1921 – Lyda Trueblood Southard – Twin Falls, Idaho, USA

► SOUTH AMERICA (5)

Argentina – 1941 – Magdalena Castel – Parma, Argentina

Brazil – 2012 – Bruna Oliveira da Silva – Garahuns, Brazil

Chile –1660 – Catalina de los Ríos y Lisperguer – Chile

Colombia – 1998 – María Concepción Ladino Gutiérrez – Bogota, Colombia

Panama – 2010 – Laura Michelle Reese – Panama

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Anna Dusikova, Serial Baby-Killer Mom – Czech Republic, 2015

“I was afraid of losing my boyfriend.”

That’s the reason Anna Dusikova gave for killing three newborns between 2013 and 2015. Unlike American counterparts Czech journalists ignored politically correctness and noted the fact that  this case was similar to other cases of the type in that the mother attempted to unload the blame for baby-killings on the man.

Anna’s explanation was a fiction. Her partner, Daniel Masaryk, when informed of the claim, said he would never have left her had she birth.

The murderess has two children, a boy and a girl, whom she abandoned to be with Daniel Masaryk. They live with their father.

When pregnant, Anna disguised her growing belly by telling Masaryk that water bloating was a side effect of a health complication.As a result, Masaryk allegedly never noticed or suspected that she was pregnant. Her first two babies – first a girl, then a boy – were strangled with shoelaces and their corpses were hidden in the attic of the couple’s home.

Her third child came into the world on February 12, 2015. It was full-term, healthy, breathing, crying. Anna wrapped him in rags, threw im the bag of dog food and stuffed it  under the radiator. Then she fainted from blood loss, then she fainted for When he awoke, the child was dead. She put the corpse in the attick with the others and went to a nearby hospital where doctors recognised she had given birth and raised the alarm when she couldn’t explain where her baby was.

In court, Anna Dusíková “spoke calmly, as if she did not even know what she had done.”

She was found guilty and was sentenced to 24 years in prison.

[Robert St. Estephe, Dec. 14, 2018]

 

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Anna Duskiova / Anna Dusíková (25); Lower Dunajovice, Czech Republic / Dolních Dunajovicích.

2013 – newborn girl, murdered.

2014 – newborn boy murdered.

Feb. 12, 2015 – newborn boy murdered.

Sep. 2015 – tried in Brně court; convicted; sentenced 24 years in prison. 

 

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Sources:

[“Matka bestie Anna Dusíková: Tři děti uškrtila tkaničkami, strčila do pytle od psího žrádla nebo do batohů a zahrabala na půdě,” Security Magazin (Czech), Aug. 28, 2018]

[Alana Moorhead, “I killed my babies so boyfriend wouldn’t leave me: Mum hid three tots' bodies in the attic to keep drug addict man,” The Sun (London), Sep. 29, 2015]

[(“Strangled three children of her own with shoe laces: I was worried that my boyfriend would leave, she confessed in court”) “Tři vlastní děti uškrtila tkaničkami: Bála jsem se, že mě opustí přítel, přiznala se u soudu,” Kriminálka Blesk.cz, Sep. 23, 2015] 

 

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[786-1/9/21] 

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Tamara Samsonova, Russian Serial Killer Who Dismembered Her Victims - 2015

Tamara Samsonova, 68, was arrested in St. Petersburg, Russia July 27, 2015 after her image was captured on a closed circuit security camera dragging a bag suspected of containing human body parts. The remains were presumed to be those of 79-year-old Valentina Ulanova, a paralytic  who Samsanova was the caretaker for. Ulanova’s headless body was found near a pond on Dimitrova Street in St. Petersburg.

In one of the clips from the CCTV footage, Samsonova is seen carrying a saucepan downstairs and exiting the building where the victim lived, located a few blocks from her fiend, and killer. The saucepan contained the head of Valentina.

RT News reports that: “First the upper torso, missing the head and one hand, was found wrapped in a shower curtain. Shortly afterwards a plastic bag with hips and thighs was discovered. The body had been cut into eight pieces.

Samsonova, who had recently been in a hospital receiving mental health treatment, confessed, telling police she had gotten tired of her companion. The 79-year-old had offended her, Samsonova said, for having failed to wash out the tea cups.

Police discovered diaries written by Samsonova which included entries in three languages (Russian, German English) detailing eleven dismemberment murders that took place over a span of then years. These volumes were among books on black magic and astrology. The press dubbed her the “Granny Ripper.” Others have given her the moniker of the ogress of Russian, folklore, Babushka Yaga (“Baba Yaga”).

A ‘book of spells’ with missing pages belonging to Samsonova was found by the police. Pages from the same book were found in packages containing the dismembered the remains of the 2003 murder victim.

A number of unsolved murder cases – in which victims had been dismembered, with body parts in bags found across the city – are being reinvestigated by police. The diaries are being used in attempt to match the detailed descriptions to the evidence on file. The total number of possible murders, based on the diary plus the evidence, is 13.

~ Other Murders ~

2003 – Male tenant, 44-year-old native of  Norilsk; his headless, armless and legless was found on Dimitrova Street.

2005 – Samsonova reported her husband missing in 2005. He was never found. It is suspected she murdered him. A neighbor named Maria, interviewed by reporters, told how she once asked Samsonova about the absence of her husband and was answered with: “Oh, it's very sad - he just left and disappeared.”

Samsonova confessed to murdering and dismembering another tenant (English language news reports don’t mention the year). Bags of remains were found around Frunzensky district of the city. Police say that Samsonova would drug her victims to immobilize them before murdering them.

~ Her Soviet Past ~

After the arrest, police found blood spots in her bathroom, a saw and a knife they suspect she used to cut up the corpses of her victims.

Samsonova lied to police about her background, claiming she was a retired actress and a graduate of the Vaganov Ballet Academy, when in fact she was a former Soviet “monitor” who surveilled hotel guests at the Grand Hotel Europe, which was once regarded the most luxurious hotels in the world.

The description of Samsonova’s job “monitoring” hotel guests describes what in the Soviet era was a KGB-employed prostitute. Prostitution was illegal in the Soviet era, yet prostitutes were used by the KGB as informants, assigned to hotels to collect information on foreign guests.

~ Continuing Investigation ~

On August 5, 2015 the sensational news that Samsonova may cannibalized her victims appeared in the international media. Police are giving out little about their ongoing investigation, but reports are that the woman had cut out the lungs of those she murdered and consumed the organs.

The information was given by unidentified sources in Russia’s Investigative Committee (equivalent of USA’s FBI). Forensic reports indicate that internal organs, in particular lungs, were removed from victims’ bodies.

Another sensational piece of the story is the allegation that her final victim, 79-year-old Valentina Ulanova, was still living (but drugged) when her friend and caretaker began to use a hacksaw to cut her to pieces.

Several quotations from the diaries were given to the press. Referring to a tenant to whom she had rented a spare room, she wrote: “I killed my tenant Volodya, cut him to pieces in the bathroom with a knife, put the pieces of his body in plastic bags and threw them away.”

~ Before the Court ~

When Samsonova appeared in court in the opening week of August, 2015 to face the first charges to be made against her, the murder of her friend Ulanova, the prisoner declared to Judge Roman Chebotaryov:

“I was getting ready for this court action for dozens of years. It was all done deliberately. With this last murder I closed the chapter.”

He replied: “I am asked to arrest you. What do you think?”

Her answer was: “You decide, your honor. I am guilty and I deserve a punishment.”

~ Updates ~

Investigators are now considering the number of Samsonova’s possible victims to be as many as 24.

Officials have stated that Samsonova whas been obsessed with the history of Russian male serial killer “Chikalito,” a cannibal who, over a period of 12 years murdered at least 52, mostl;y (or all?) woman. Marina Krivenko, a neighbor who has known Samonova for 15 years told news reporters that her friend was “very interested in maniac Chikatilo” and had “gathered information about him and how he committed his murders.”

[This article will continue to be updated as new information comes in.]

[Robert St. Estephe; based on facts found in: Will Stewart, “Secret confession of the 'Granny Ripper,’” Daily Mail (London, England), Jul. 29, 2015; “Granny the Ripper of St Pete? Body parts & book of spells expose pensioner. RT, Jul. 29, 2015; Richard Hartley-Parkinson, “Pensioner nicknamed the Granny-Ripper ‘murdered and dismembered 10 people,’” Metro (UK), Jul. 30, 2015; Adam Justice, “Granny from hell: Russian pensioner ‘killed and chopped up 13 people,’” International Business Times,” July 31, 2015; “RT explores bloody path of ‘head in a saucepan’ serial killer granny,” RT, Aug 1, 2015; RT, "’An extraordinary psychopath’: Bloody path of Russian 'head in a saucepan' serial killer granny,” Sott.net (from RT), Aug. 1, 2015; Jeff Farrell, “Grannyball Lecter: Woman ripper, 68, murdered, chopped up and ate 14 victims,” Daily Star (London, England), Aug. 5, 2015; [Will Stewart, “Granny Ripper who killed and 'ate' 11 victims was 'obsessed' by Russian 'vampire' maniac who raped and mutilated at least 52 women in 12 year reign of terror, Daily Mail (London, England), Aug. 12, 2015]

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Chronology & Suspected Victims (out of 14 estimated victims):

Sep. 6, 2003 –  Tenant, 44 year old native of Norilsk

2005 – husband, reported missing

Year? – Volodya, tenant, remains found in Frunzensky district; confessed

July 25, 2015 – Valentina Ulanova (79), murdered

July 27, 2015 – Valentina Ulanova (79), body parts discovered

Jul. 29 (28?), 2015 – Samsonova arrested

Aug. 5, 2015 – court hearing before Judge Roman Chebotaryov

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Chronology & Suspected Victims (out of 14 estimated victims):

Sep. 6, 2003 –  Tenant, 44 year old native of Norilsk

2005 – husband, reported missing

Year? – Volodya, tenant, remains found in Frunzensky district; confessed

July 27, 2015 – Valentina Ulanova (79), body parts discovered

Jul. 29, 2015 – Samsonova arrested

Aug. 5, 2015 – court hearing before Judge Roman Chebotaryov

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Related themes:

Cannibal women

Diaries of Female Serial Killers

Female Serial Killers & Dismemberment of Victims
Female Serial Killers of Russia

Female Serial Killers of the 21st Century – A Photo Gallery

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MORE: Elderly Female Serial Killers

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[5133-1/9/20]
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“Critical Gender Theory” Comix (a collection of memes)

This is a collection of memes created for the Unknown History of Misandry that use Comix. Below the memes you will find a discussion of the term “critical gender theory.”

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What is “critical gender theory?” It is the dominant philosophy of feminism; the one that is used (in the US) by the American Bar Association to shape laws, by government agencies, and by private foundations and universities to shape policy and protocols (in order to engage in social engineering). It derives from “critical theory” a philosophical position shaped by Frankfurt School philosophers. Adherents of the “critical theory” philosophy often refer to their belief system simply (and quite cryptically)  as “theory,” as in “I’m studying theory.”

Some of these philosophers, such as Frederick Jameson, use the term “Cultural Marxism” to describe a more general political approach that includes both Frankfurt School Marxism and other “post-structuralist” and “post-modernist” ideas and philosophies.

Critics of the top-down agendas of institutions that have shaped themselves after the “critical gender theory” formula sometimes call the agenda and its results “feminist governance.”

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Here is a an example of the use of the term “critical gender theory” in its professional (philosophical) context:

“So it is that deconstruction and critical gender theory both seek to unveil capitalism’s ‘other’ and disrupt the ‘ontological totality’ which Marx proffers.”

[Chris Lloyd, “Heirs of Marx, Critical Legal Thinking,” Oct. 24, 2011; a discussion of the 1996 book The End of Capitalism (as we knew it): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy by of Katherine Gibson and Julie Graham]

http://criticallegalthinking.com/2011/10/24/heirs-of-marx/

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The term “critical theory” has become so dominant in academe that it has been allowed to, in essence “colonize” language and usage in some cases.  Notable example is “critical thinking,” a non-political term describing “the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.”

Yet more and more we see the term “critical thinking” used in a radically different sense, one that denotes adherence to a particular a priori political stance. The trend apparently flows from another “critical” term, Critical Literacy ( a term “usually traced to Paolo Freire, the Brazilian lawyer turned educator”).

Today “critical thinking” is often a term used to denote a specifically political approach to pedagogy that is based on Friere-type politicized “critical literacy.”

[Charles Temple, Ph.D, “Critical Thinking and Critical Literacy,” Critical Thinking International, undated]

http://www.criticalthinkinginternational.org/further-reading?id=22

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Another instance of the “critical” term as applied to political ideology labelled in such a way that the terms resembles the objective, rational approach of authentic critical thinking is the term “critical pedagogy.”

Example:

“The idea of Critical Pedagogy begins with the neo-Marxian literature on Critical Theory (Stanley 1992). The early Critical Theorists (most of whom were associated with the Frankfurt School) believed that Marxism had underemphasized the importance of cultural and media influences for the persistence of capitalism; that maintaining conditions of ideological hegemony were important for (in fact inseparable from) the legitimacy and smooth working of capitalist economic relations.

[Nicholas C. Burbules and Rupert Berk, Department of Educational Policy Studies, “Critical Thinking and Critical Pedagogy: Relations, Differences, and Limits,” published in Critical Theories in Education, Thomas S. Popkewitz and Lynn Fendler, eds. (NY: Routledge, 1999).]

http://faculty.education.illinois.edu/burbules/papers/critical.html

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Dominique Cottrez, French Mother Who Killed 8 Newborns - 2010

VILLIERS-AU-TERRE, FRANCE: On July 2, 2015, Dominique Cottrez, a 51, French former health worker, was, after years of legal delays, convicted of murdering 8 newborns. Despite prosecutors’ request for an 18 year sentence the jury recommended only 9 years of prison for the killer mom.

It was on July 24, 2010 that new buyers of the former home of Dominique’s parents in Villers-au-Tertre in the north of France near the Belgian border, discovered the skeletons of two babies in the garden. Mme. Cottrez was arrested and confessed. She agreed to show police the location of 6 more tiny corpses of babies she had smothered to death. They were stored in a fuel storage tank, in plastic bags, in the garage of her own home in the same village. The killings occurred from 1989 through 2000 in the village with a population of 655. In most of the killings she suffocated the baby in the bathroom.

Daughter Virginie, 21, told reporters at  La Voix du Nord (on July 29, 2010): “It’s incomprehensible.” We never noticed anything. She had moments of fatigue, it's true, but she was working almost 24 hours a day. She would wake up early for her work as a nurse's home aid, and when she would return home, she had her housework.”

~ Blame “The Patriarchy” ~

After her arrest, Dominique confessed and told police she was the victim of rape, by her own father, who died three years earlier in 2007. In her tale she said the first rape occurred when she was only 8 year old and continued into her teens. She claimed that as an adult she the entered a voluntary incestuous with her father that continued after her marriage. She “she was in love with her father more than with her husband.”

Five years later, on June 29, 2015 while in court she admitted that the incest story was a fabrication. DNA evidence confirmed that her husband was the father of each of the deceased children.

~ Blame another woman ~

She was already obese when, in 2000, she gave birth for the first time. Her weight when pregnan was given as around 130 kg (286 lbs). It was a difficult delivery. Lawyers attempted to blame Ms. Cottrez’s murderous proclivities by arguing that the midwife who attended her at that first birth had hurt her feelings by pointing out her unhealthy condition of obesity.

~ Husband: Two Different Stories ~

At first she asserted her husband had no knowledge of the pregnancies. Years later, as the process dragged on she changed her story on this point and claimed her husband had been aware, despite the obesity that succeeded in hiding the pregnancy from the two daughters whom she had allowed to live as well as, neighbors, nurse colleagues and the doctors at a nearby hospital.

Associated Press in Paris reported that a spokesman for prosecutors reported that Mme. Cottrez “did not want any more children and that she did not want to see a doctor about methods of contraception.”

~ Trial, Conviction ~

Trial at the Douai Assize court opened June 25, 2015, closing on July 2. After five hours of deliberation the jury found her guilty of all counts, but recommended a reduced sentence based on the view that the defendant had “impaired judgment.” Prosecutors requested an 18-year sentence but the jury set the sentence at 9 years.

[Robert St. Estephe; Based on facts in multiple sources, including: “French woman accused of killing 8 newborns ‘very distressed,’” CNN.com July 30, 2010; “French woman jailed for nine years for killing eight of her newborn babies,” Guardian, Jul. 2, 2015; Associated Press in Paris, “Trial opens of French woman accused of killing eight of her newborn babies,” The Guardian, Jun. 25, 2015; Agence France-Presse in Douai, “French woman jailed for nine years for killing eight of her newborn babies.” The Guardian, Jul. 2, 2015]

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Chronology:

1989 – 2000 – 8 babies murdered

Jul. 24, 2010 – 2 bodies found at parents’ home at Villers-au-Tertre, Nord, France pop. 655; discovered by new owners

Jul. 28?, 2010 – arrested (aged 45)

Jul. 29, 2010 – Charged with 8 counts of voluntary homicide

Jun. 1, 2013 – Cottrez freed under supervision

Jun. 25, 2015 – trial begins, Assize Court, Douai

Jul. 2, 2015 – sentenced to 9 years in prison; prosecutors requested 18 years sentence

Husband – Pierre-Marie Cottrez

Surviving Cottrez daughters: Virginie (aged 21 in 2010) and Emeline

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For more cases of this type, see Serial Baby-Killer Moms.

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[919-1/16/21]

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Kaisa Emilia Vornanen-Karaduman, Serial Killer Mom – Finland, 2014

Wikipedia: The Oulu child murders is a Finnish murder case, referring to the discovery of the bodies of five infants in the basement of an apartment in Oulu, on June 3, 2014. The mother of the babies, 35-year-old Kaisa Emilia Vornanen-Karaduman, had concealed the pregnancies and abandoned them, after giving birth at home. The Rovaniemi Court of Appeal sentenced her to 13 years imprisonment for five counts of manslaughter, but not for concealing a corpse. According to District Prosecutor Sari Kemppainen, who was the lead prosecutor for the case, there have been no similar cases in Finnish criminal history.

~ Discovery ~

On June 3, 2014, Oulu police received a complaint about some foul-smelling packages found in the basement of an apartment block in the center. When examined, the packages were found to contain the bodies of five infants.

The 35-year-old mother of these children, Kaisa Emilia Vornanen-Karaduman (b. 1979), was arrested and detained on suspicion of manslaughter and concealment of a corpse. During interrogation, the charges were increased to five homicides. The woman claimed that she had given birth at home, and preserved the bodies after death. She could not explain the motive for her actions, and denied deliberately killing them.

The preliminary investigation determined that the children were born in the years 2005, 2007, at the turn of the year 2011-2012, 2012 and 2013. They were born in apartments on Rommakkokatu and Peltokatu streets. The causes of death could not be determined, because the bodies had been severely degraded by then. According to the prosecutor later at trial, Vornanen-Karaduman had usually given birth in the bathroom or toilet, wrapped the babies up in plastic bags, put them in a bucket, closed it and then took it to the basement. In two instances, she claimed to have used a steam bath and a shoe box instead of the bucket. According to the prosecutor, the woman had left the children without any care or assistance after they were born.

During the examinations, 28 people were interviewed as witnesses, including relatives, colleagues and acquaintances. Vornanen-Karaduman had hidden her pregnancies from the others, with loose clothing. Her relatives knew about one pregnancy, that the woman claimed had ended in a miscarriage. A former boss of Vornanen-Karaduman suspected that she was pregnant at one time, but she had explained to her manager that her stomach was rounded as a result of all the greasy pizzas that she had eaten the previous night. Vornanen-Karadumanen's father described his daughter as a pathological liar during police interrogations.

Vornanen-Karaduman's lawyer stated in his final statement in the district court hearing that his client was pregnant, yet again, during the summer of 2014, when she was arrested by police. This pregnancy, however, was terminated at her own request

~ Trial and imprisonment ~

The Oulu District Court handled the case in a matter of four days in December 2014. Vornanen-Karaduman was charged with five murders and five counts of concealing a corpse. She denied all charges, and insisted on her innocence. However, if found guilty, she claimed that it would at most be negligent homicide or aggravated death. Vornanen-Karaduman said that for every baby she gave birth to, she felt lifeless, because they did not move or cry. According to her, it was only later did she learn that the babies had been alive.

The district court found that Vornanen-Karaduman acted deliberately in the deaths of her babies, and was ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment. On June 1, 2015, a trial concluded that she was of guilty on the grounds of non compos mentis, even though she suffered from a mixed personality disorder.

On June 15, the District Court sentenced Kaisa Vornanen-Karaduman to life imprisonment for five murders and five counts of concealing a corpse. According to the law, the repetition of the acts almost identically, in five separate instances, showed that the acts had been planned out.

In June 2016, the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal reduced Vornanen-Karaduman's sentence to 13 years imprisonment for five counts of manslaughter. The Court of Appeal recognized that the acts had been done in a cruel way, but by somebody with a sound mind. They also said that none of the acts had been aggravated, and dropped the five counts of concealing a corpse, as they claimed that her intent was to merely conceal her crimes by hiding the bodies. According to the court, Vornanen-Karaduman would, in principle, be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, but the Court of Appeal considered that her behavior affected her heavily, even though the woman's guilt had not been diminished.

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Some professional medical ethicists would call this practice as “after birth abortion”: Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva).

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For more cases of this type, see Serial Baby-Killer Moms.

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[1052-1/16/21]

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