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Female Serial Killers Overview
Egger (1) claims that "there are no known serial killers who are female" (p.348). This is clearly not accurate. Newton (1993) has compiled an exhaustive accounting of 183 female murderers, finding that 70% meet the definition of a serial killer. Victim-wise, these female serial killers showed a different profile than males: 45% killed family members, 26% murdered friends or acquaintances, 10% took the lives of those left in their care (wards, charges or patients), 19.5% were "mixed" predators, while only 11% murdered strangers. And while almost all male serial killers fall into the "motiveless" category, 35% of the females killed for profit, 28% due to mental illness (delusions or command hallucinations) and only 8% killed for "sadistic thrills". (About 9% of the documented female serial killers were motivated by drug trafficking, jealousy, mercy or religion, combined.) Method of killing followed the pattern for males outlined above.
From "Nurture-Born Killers: the Motivation and Personality Development of the Serial Killer", by Sean Wolf Hill; Fall 1994.
| Female Serial Murderers | |||||
| Name | Kills | Survivors | Victims | Time Span | Modus |
| Sara Aldrete | 15/24/30/? | cops, drug dealers, college students, peasants | 2 years | human sacrifice | |
| Beverly Allitt | 4 | 22 | Children in hospital | 58 days | Injection |
| Susan Atkins | 9 (20+) | random strangers | 1 year | helter skelter | |
| Kathleen Atkinson | 4 | patients | |||
| Margie Velma Barfield | 4 (7) | husband, mother, fiancee | 9 years | poison | |
| Erszebet (Countess) Bathory | (650) | ? | peasant girls | 30 years | torture |
| Martha Beck | 12 (20) | lonely women | 2 years | poisoned, drowned, bludgeoned, strangled | |
| Marie Alexandrine Becker | 12 | husband, lover, friends | 4 years | poison | |
| Betty Lou Beets | 2 | 1 | husbands | 11 years | shot |
| Mary Flora Bell | 2 | 1 | playmates | 10 weeks | strangled |
| Kate Bender | (50) | travellers | 3 years | hammer | |
| Marie Besnard | 13 | two husbands, parents, in-laws, cousins, neighbors | 22 years | poison | |
| Catherine Birnie | 4(8) | 1 | rape victims | 2 months | Strangled, stabbed, axed |
| Cecile Bombeck | 3+ | ||||
| Elfriede Blauensteiner | 5+ | 1+ | husbands, lovers, neighbors | 10 years | poisoned |
| Debra Denise Brown | 8 | 1 | rape victims | 2 months | strangled, bludgeoned, shot |
| Mary Brunner | 9 (20+) | random strangers | 1 year | helter skelter | |
| Judias Anna Lou Buenoano | 3 | 1 | two husbands and a son | 9 years | poison |
| Carol M. Bundy | 6 (50) | rape victims | 1 year | shot, stabbed, strangled, decapitated | |
| Susan Carson | 3 | friends | 2 years | shot, stabbed, bludgeoned | |
| Cynthia Coffman | 4 (+) | rape/robbery victims | 5 weeks | strangled | |
| Mary Ann Cotton | (17+) | husbands, children, stepchildren, mother, sister-in-law | 28 years | poison | |
| Theresa Cross | 2 (3) | daughters, possibly husband | shot, beaten | ||
| Faye Copeland | 5 | farm hands | 3 years | shot | |
| Daisy Louisa C. De Melker | 3 | two husbands and a son | 9 years | poison | |
| Minnie Dean | 2 (3+) | ? | babies (other women's) | ? | smothered |
| Nannie Hazel Doss | 10 | children, husbands, sisters, mother | 29 years | poison | |
| Marti Enriqueta | 6+ | 1 | children (other women's) | ? | cannibalism and witchcraft |
| Ellen Etheridge | 4 | stepchildren | 4 months | poison | |
| Christine Falling | 6 | infants in babysitting | 2 years | smothered | |
| Constance Fisher | 6 | children (hers) | 13 years | drowned | |
| Debbie Fornuto | 6 | children (hers) | suffocated | ||
| Caril Fugate | 11 | mom, dad, baby sister, strangers | 10 days | shot, stabbed, choked | |
| Mrs. Julius Fuzekos/Fazekas | 7 (100) | 1 | husbands (other women's) | 30 years | poison |
| Charlene Gallego | 10 | rape victims | 2 years | shot, bludgeoned, tortured | |
| Ann Gates | |||||
| Tillie Gbrurek | 5 | 1 | four husbands, one neighbor | 7 years | poison |
| Janie Lou Gibbs | 5 | husband, four children | 2 years | poison | |
| Kristen Gilbert | 5+ | 2+ | VA patients | injection | |
| Amy Gilligan | 9 | 5 husbands, 4 patients | 13 years | poison | |
| Delfina Gonzales | 91+ | prostitutes and johns | 9 years | ||
| Maria de Jesus Gonzales | 91+ | prostitutes and johns | 9 years | ||
| Gwendolyn Graham | 5 | 5 | female nursing home patients | 4 months | suffocation |
| Ann Green | 2 (?) | 1 | children (hers) | 15 years | suffocation |
| Caroline Grills | 4 | 2 | family members, friend | poison | |
| Maria Gruber | 49 (300) | 17+ | elderly patients | 6 years | injection, drowning |
| Belle Gunness | 16 (49) | husbands, children, employees, suitors | 12 years | poison, bludgeoning, decapitation | |
| Anna Marie Hahn | 5 (7) | 2 | elderly men | 5 years + | poison |
| Audrey Marie Hilley | 3 (4) | 4 | husband, daughter, mom-in-law, neighbor child | 4 years | poison |
| Myra Hindley | 5 (15) | rape victims | 2 years | shot, strangled, stabbed, tortured | |
| Karla Homolka | 3 (?) | ? | rape victims | 2 years | strangled, drugged |
| Waneta E. Hoyt | 5 | children (hers) | 6 years | suffocation | |
| Helene Jegado | 23+ | 9 | sister, aunt, employers, fellow nuns, fellow servants | 18 years | poison |
| Martha Ann Johnson | 4 | children (hers) | 5 years | suffocation | |
| Genene Jones | 11 (46) | children (other women's) | 4 years | injection | |
| Linda Kesabian | 9 (20+) | random strangers | 1 year | helter skelter | |
| Claudette Kibble | 3 | 1 | children | 4 years | suffocation, drowning |
| Sharon Kinne | 3 | 1 | husband, lover's wife, motel pick-up | 4 years | shot |
| Patricia Krenwinkel | 9 (20+) | random strangers | 1 year | helter skelter | |
| Christa Lehman | 4 | husband, father-in-law, and at least two neighbors | 2 years | poison | |
| Irene Leidolf | 49 (300) | 17+ | elderly patients | 6 years | injection, drowning |
| Juliane Lipka | 7 (100) | 1 | husbands (other women's) | 15 years | poison |
| Diana Lumbrera | 6 | children (hers) | 13 years | strangled and suffocated | |
| Anjette Lyles | 4 | 2 husbands, mother-in-law, daughter | 6 years | poison | |
| Sarah Makin | 7+ | babies | stabbed with knitting needles | ||
| Christine Malevre | 7 (30) | elderly patients | probably injection | ||
| Rhonda Belle Martin | 6 (8) | 1 | mother, 2 husbands, 3 (5) children | lifetime | poison |
| Stephanija Mayer | 49 (300) | 17+ | elderly patients | 6 years | injection, drowning |
| Carolyn McCrary | 11 (22) | robbery/rape victims | 10 months | shot | |
| Virginia McGinnis | 4 | husband, mother, daughter | 20 years | "accidents" | |
| Alice Mitchell | (37) | babies (nurse) | starvation, neglect | ||
| Blanche Taylor Moore | 5 | 1 | 2 husbands, father, mother-in-law, lover | 23 years | poison |
| Patricia Moore | 3 | babies (sitter) | 1 year | stranged, suffocated | |
| Judith Ann Neelley | 12 (15) | 4 | robbery/rape victims | 1-3 years | shot, injected with drain cleaner |
| Marie Noe | 8 | children (hers) | 19 years | smothering | |
| Louisa Northcott | ? | ? | young boys | ? | ? |
| Susi Olah | 7 (100) | 1 | husbands (other women's) | 15 years | poison |
| Sandra Pankow | 3 | children (babysitting) | 5 years | smothered | |
| Bonnie Parker | 12 | ? | Law men, robbery victims | 2 years | shot |
| Madame Alexe Popova | (300) | husbands (other women's) | 29 years | poison | |
| Dorothea Puente | 9 (25) | tenants | 2 years | poison | |
| Terri Rachals | 6 (9) | 11 | nursing home patients | 2 years + | injection |
| Vera Renczi | 35 | husbands, lovers, son | ? | ? | |
| Martha Rendell | 3 | 1 | stepchildren | 1-2 years | hydrochloric acid |
| Amelia Sach | ? | ? | infants, adoption | ? | poison |
| Antoinette Scieri | 12 (?) | elderly patients | poison | ||
| Lydia Sherman | 10(+) | ? | 3 husbands, 5 children, 2 stepchildren | poison | |
| Mrs. Szabo | 7 (100) | 1 | husbands (other women's) | 15 years | poison |
| Ginger Taylor [nee McCrary] | 11 (22) | robbery/rape victims | 10 months | shot | |
| Bobbie Sue Terrell | 12+ | nursing home patients | 2 weeks | injection | |
| Marybeth Tinning | 8 | children (hers) | 13 years | smothered | |
| Jane Toppan | 31 (100) | nursing patients | 21 years | injection | |
| Lydia Trueblood | 6 | 1 | four husbands, son, brother-in-law | 4 years | poison |
| Debra Sue Tuggle | 4 | children (hers, fiance's) | 8 years | suffocated, drowned | |
| Lise Jane Turner | 3 | 2 (6) | children (hers and others) | 4 years | smothered |
| Leslie Van Houten | 9 (20+) | random strangers | 1 year | helter skelter | |
| Maria Velten | 5 | two husbands, father, aunt, lover | 17 years | poison | |
| Louise Vermilyea | 10 | 2 husbands, 3 children (hers), stepson, friends | 18 years | poison | |
| Waltraud Wagner | 49 (300) | 17+ | elderly patients | 6 years | injection, drowning |
| Rachel Wall (pirate) | 1+ | ? | sailors | ? | |
| Annie Walters | ? | ? | infants, adoption | ? | poison |
| Jeanne Weber | 10+ | children (hers and others) | 4 years | strangled | |
| Rosemary West | 10 (18) | women, children, rape victims | 16 years | ||
| Dorothy Williams | 3 | adult female 97, two elderly men | 3 years | strangled, stabbed | |
| Stella Williamson | 5 | infants, presumably hers | 10 years | ||
| Martha Hasel Wise | 3 | (?) | mother, aunt, uncle | months | poison |
| Catherine May Wood | 5 | 5 | female nursing home patients | 4 months | suffocation |
| Martha Woods | 7 | children (hers and others) | 23 years | suffocation | |
| Carol Aileen Wuornos | 7+ | 2+ | male strangers | 1 year | shot |
| Lila Gladys Young | (100+) | babies (other women's) | 19 years | neglect, starvation | |
| Aida Noureddin Mohammed Abu Zeid | 1 | 29 | hospital patients | 1 year + | injection |
| Anna Zwanziger | 3+ | ? | rivals, employers and their families | poison | |
(1) Egger, Stephen A. (1984). A working definition of serial
murder and the reduction of linkage blindness. Journal of Police Science and
Administration, 12,3, 348-357.
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