One of the first things to come to mind when inventorying the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time is that there aren’t nearly as many female serial killers as there are male. As a matter of fact, since 1820 only 16% of those apprehended have been female, but this comes as no surprise since women only began to be regarded by law as possible serial killers in 1990. Call me a feminist, but if I had to put money on why the numbers are so different I’d say that it’s chiefly because, like in many other fields, women just weren’t given the opportunity, nor the credit to really factor in. If you take a look at our 9 most evil serial killers ever, I think you’ll agree the people on murder watch this last century might have missed a couple of hundred unconventional ladies.
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An article in The New Yorker, based on a study conducted by evolutionary psychologist Marissa Harrison shows that unlike men, women tend to face the deed in a more rational and non-aggressive way, the most popular method being poison. Motive-wise, their drive is not one of sex or passion, whereas it involves a financial end in a vast majority of cases. This also differs from men, whose kills usually involve a weapon and are often uncomfortably messy.
Peter Vronsky, another expert in the matter, has recently shared some enlightening data on the myth that female killers prefer to unleash their murderous impulses on their families or male paramours. On the contrary, he asserts that in this day and age the ladies might even prefer strangers as victims, and more than 50% have murdered at least one female adult, with a female child murder rate of 32%. But you’re not here to read about rates! You just want some horrid stories about people being maliciously slaughtered, so let’s get this freak show on the road! And now, let’s see the list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time.
9. Nannie Doss, aka “The Lonely Hearts Killer”
Besides having a badass nickname, The Lonely Hearts Killer (born Nancy Hazel and also known as “The Giggling Nanny”) made it into the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time when in 1954 she confessed to the murder of four out of five husbands, her two sisters, her mother, two of her own children, a grandson, and a mother-in-law (although many wouldn’t hold the latter against her).
Her first marriage was arranged, and produced four daughters, two of whom passed away due to “food poisoning”. Suspecting his young alcoholic bride to be the author of this tragedy, hubby number one wisely fled the coop and took with him his two surviving daughters.
Groom number 2 wasn’t so lucky. Two years after the divorce, she got hitched to a man she’d met through the Lonely Hearts column in the newspaper, and remained with him for 16 years, until one drunken night he forced himself upon her. The next morning she adulterated his whiskey with rat poison and that same evening he died a slow, excruciating death.
She married number three, another lonely and alcoholic heart, only three days after they’d met. He soon died from “heart failure” and not long after, their house burnt down. Once the afflicted widow had collected the insurance money her mother in law “died in her sleep”, and she went on to stay with her sister, who shockingly also died.
Along came and went husband number four: they got married, he died, she cashed in, you know the song. Nannie’s mother also passed away around that time, ironically, she was accidentally poisoned while residing with the couple.
Last but not least comes clean-cut, churchgoing Mr. Doss, who three months after their wedding attended the hospital with flu-like symptoms, and was diagnosed with a digestive tract infection for which he was treated, and released a few days later. Of course, he died that same evening, which was sensibly odd to his doctor, who ordered an autopsy that unveiled the presence of a massive amount of arsenic in his system.
After being arrested, the number nine serial killer in our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time confessed to all the murders, but only got convicted for the last one, and died in jail from leukemia ten years later. So, revisiting what I was saying earlier: this woman murdered EVERYONE around her, and it still took 25 for someone to notice! C’mon!
8. Jeanne Weber aka “The Ogress”
Born in France in 1874, “The Ogress” who ranks 8th in our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, reasonably earned her nickname by establishing herself as the meanest babysitter ever: she’d strangle with her own hands the children she was looking after, including family, and then make up seizures and attacks as an explanation.
Weber left her small fishing village when she was 14 and headed to Paris, where she soon met her husband to be and had four children, two of whom died under mysterious circumstances. Those were the first of many dubious events.
While babysitting her sister-in-law’s daughters, the youngest “fell ill” and died, but since the marks on her neck were ignored by everyone, she was asked back to babysit some days later. On that day “unexplained convulsions” claimed the life of the eldest child. Two weeks after that, she attempted to strangle her seven-year-old niece but failed, so the following day she returned to complete her task, and the girl died of “diphtheria”. Her brother followed shortly after. Seriously, where the parents at?
It was a few months later that two of her sisters-in-law returned early from shopping for groceries, only to find psyched out Jeanne crouched over her 10-year-old nephew, hands wrapped around his neck while he gasped for air. Jeanne, definitely one of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, was charged with the murder of 8 children, but skillfully depicted by her lawyer as a grieving mother (even though two of the charges concerned her own children), she was acquitted by the jury.
After that she twice changed her name, moved cities, and killed (or tried to kill) several children, but was never formally charged. She later returned to Paris, where she worked as a prostitute for a period of time before getting married. She was then caught while trying to choke the innkeeper’s son and was finally trialed, declared insane, and locked up in an Asylum, where she hung herself two years later.
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7. Aileen Wuornos, aka “The Florida Highway Killer”
We are continuing our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time with Aileen Wuornos, who sure made some racket in Florida (and the world) when in 2002 she became the first American woman to be executed by lethal injection after she got convicted of killing seven men between 1989 and 1990. In 2003 she became immortalized on the big screen in the movie “Monster”, featuring Charlize Theron.
Roughly raised, and abused by her grandfather, she dropped out of high school at age 15, soon after giving up for adoption a baby that had resulted from being raped by one of the pops’ friends. Not long after her grandmother’s death, she was kicked out of the house and began to support herself by working as a prostitute and living in the woods nearby.
At age 20, Aileen who ranks 7th in our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, hitchhiked to Florida, where she met and married 69-year-old yacht club president Lewis Gratz Fell. The whole thing went south pretty fast, and not even six months later he filed a restraining order against her.
Throughout the next 13 years, she was arrested for armed robbery, car theft, resisting arrest, and obstruction of justice. In 1988 she moved in with her new found lover, Tyria Moore and the following year the murders began. Seven men were shot several times at close range and robbed, their bodies found lying along the highway, sometimes stripped of their clothes. It was through a pawnshop where she had sold items belonging to her victims that they finally caught up with her.
After she had been charged, she claimed all the kills had been in self-defense, and that the men had either raped her or attempted to. She was found guilty for six of the murders and so, sentenced to death by a needle in 1992, although the sentence took ten years to be carried out.
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6. Magdalena Solís, aka “The High Priestess of Blood”
Probably the owner of the best serial killer name of all times, this chick literally raised hell: Magdalena Solís was a Mexican cult leader, nymphomaniac, and aserial murderer. During the 60’s she involved with the Hernandez Brother’s rip off cult, who demanded tribute, both financial and sexual, from its followers in the name of the Inca gods. Upon realizing their popularity was dwindling, they introduced Magdalena to the people as an Inca Goddess, to help perpetuate the scam. However, they did not count on Magdalena buying the story herself, taking over the entire operation a few months later. And that’s when the crap hit the fan.
Soon after she took command, Magdalena who ranks 6th in our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, grew bored of the orgies and began to demand blood sacrifices, first putting to death two reluctant members who were considering leaving the convention. She would have the whole faction beat and cut the hesitant to death, and subsequently bleed them into a grail from which she would drink, and then pass around the crowd, so they too could be blessed.
One day, a 14-year-old boy ran into one of Magdalena’s rituals, attracted by the lights and the chanting in the woods. Terrified, he hurried to the nearest police station, and still breathless told the two policemen what had happened. Of course, they laughed in his face, but the next day the boy and one of the officers returned to the spot and disappeared. The case began to be taken seriously, and they eventually captured Magdalena and one of the Hernandez brothers, who died in a shooting while resisting arrest. This led them to find all the bled-out, severed bodies, and to visit the home of the cult, where several members died in a shootout. Magdalena and the remaining brother were given 50 years in prison but were charged only for two murders, and since the other killings proved to be a team effort, the rest of the participants got 30 years. And now let’s see who else we have on our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time.
5. Leonarda Cianciulli, aka “The Soap-Maker of Correggio”
Born in the late 1800s, she is known to have murdered three women between 1939 and 1940, turning the bodies into pastries and soap, thus earning herself a spot in the ranking of the 10 most evil female serial killers of all time.
At age 21 Leonarda who ranks 5th on our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, married a man without her parent’s approval, for she was promised to somebody else. The couple moved away, eventually ending up in Correggio, where she opened a small shop and became known as a loving mother, caring neighbor, and all-around good person.
Having lost 13 out of 17 pregnancies and infants, and being a very superstitious woman, she consulted a fortune teller who told her all of her progeny would die, which caused her to develop an irrational fear and grow overprotective of her family. Upon finding out that her eldest and favorite son was to be shipped off to war, she concluded that such protection could not be achieved without sacrifice.
The first one to go was a lifelong spinster, who she promised to introduce to a fictional man residing in another town. She had her write letters to friends and family as well, saying everything was fine, but not mentioning where she was going. Before departure, she paid Leonarda a visit to thank her deeply, and pay her for her services, but she was drugged with corrupted wine and murdered with an ax. In her memories, Cianciulli vividly describes how she used the woman’s blood to make crunchy tea cakes, which she then dished out to the friendly neighbors, asserting that her eldest and she also had some.
The second and third cases were very much alike the first, only the lies differed. In the latter incident the woman was “heavier”, so once the meat had boiled, and the fat melted, Leonarda figured she’d add cologne and make some nice soap that she and her unsuspecting family would use for bathing and protection. This time, however, the number 5 in our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, was not so lucky, since the sister-in-law grew suspicious about the disappearance and alerted the authorities. She was soon discovered and arrested, and upon being charged, the soap-maker confessed to everything in a very detailed manner. She was imprisoned and died in 1970 of cerebral apoplexy.
4. Juana Barraza, aka“La Mataviejitas” (The Old Lady Killer)
Barraza ranks 4th in our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time. She was a professional wrestler from Mexico who got several life sentences for the murder of 11 elderly ladies in the late 1990s, although she’s believed to have killed about 50. Her ring name in Lucha Libre (a Mexican mock-wrestling form that involves masks) was “La Dama del Silencio” (The Silent Lady).
In her young years, Barraza was sold by her drunkard mother in exchange for a beer to a stranger, who raped her repeatedly and got her pregnant. Resentful towards her mother, Juana targeted ladies over 60 years old, who either lived alone or were unaccompanied at the time. She would bludgeon or strangle them and then she would rob them, although in several cases there were also signs of abuse.
Baffled in the face of this jigsaw, the investigators called the elusive killer “a brilliant mind”, and bred several hypotheses: that she disguised as a government employee to obtain access to the homes, that she met the women days prior in order to gain their trust, or even that there were two killers. Of course, all of these theories pictured Barraza as a man, and not even when it was discovered that the assailant “would wear women’s clothes to appear less threatening” did it occur to the police that the murderer could actually be a woman. As you can imagine, the whole thing took some time.
48-year-old Barraza, definitely one of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, was finally captured in 2006, after being seen leaving a murder scene, and linked to the case through a fingerprint found in the victim’s house. In 2008 she was sentenced to 759 years in prison.
3. Raya & Sakina
This tale takes place in Egypt, a nation riddled with violence and war since ancient times, so it’s not strange that the facts in this story aren’t entirely clear. It all happened around the time the country was fighting the British for their independence, so hell was raining upon the slummier neighborhoods. However, this particular area was located nearby an English army camp, so while the husbands fought in war, the wives dedicated their time to set up brothels. It was here that the sisters saw an opportunity.
Nonetheless, the money they made from the five establishments they owned was not enough to satisfy their greed, and soon women around the vicinity began to disappear. Altogether, seventeen women went missing that winter, and skepticism arose. The witnesses claimed to have seen the missing women recently wearing gold and carrying with them a lot of money, many times escorted by Sakina. Nevertheless, hearsay was not enough to make the case, and the police didn’t find sufficient evidence to arrest them.
Summer was coming to an end when a man who was attempting to fix a broken pipe in the floor of a house found the murdered women’s remains. It was soon discovered that the sisters who rank third in our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, had been renting the place at the time of the murders, as a result of which they were convicted, and became the first women to be sentenced to death in modern Egypt.
2. Genene Jones, aka “The Angel of Death”
Although she was only charged with one count of murder, she’s supposed to have had over forty victims. Working as a pediatric nurse, she’d inject her patient with paralyzing or seizure-inducing drugs (digoxin, heparin, and later succinylcholine) to swoop in and save the day, however, most of the kids didn’t survive.
During her youth, Jones, who ranks second in our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, worked as a beautician, then she married her highschool sweetheart, and in the early 70s, she began attending nursing school. She was first removed from her job as a licensed vocational nurse in the pediatric ICU of a San Antonio clinic when it became evident that the child death rate had shot through the roof since she’d started working there. However, the clinic didn’t want a scandal, so she was quietly dismissed and the incidents, never reported.
She then commenced working at a pediatric physician’s practice in Texas, where she was in charge of applying shots to the patients. Six children were poisoned during that time, and it wasn’t long until the media picked up on the series of suspicious baby deaths.
The incident that finally brought her down was that of a 15-month-old girl, who immediately after being vaccinated by the nurse suffered a seizure, and died while being driven to the nearest hospital. Upon researching her cabinet, the doctor noticed puncture marks in one of the medicine bottles. Jones was again dismissed, this time pending Jury investigation.
Soon after, she was charged with one murder, and given 99 years in prison. However, according to a new maneuver to avoid prison overcrowding in Texas, she is due to be mandatorily released in 2018. Yikes!
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1. Dorothea Puente, aka “Death House Landlady”
Puente became known for her ruthlessness, having murdered at least 9 people, most of them elderly, disabled, or addicts. She would rent those in need an apartment, but instead of caring for them and helping them, she would intercept their mail, stealing their money and giving them a tiny commission. Those who complained were never seen again, falling victims of one of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time.
Her first husband died two years into the marriage, and for trying to forge checks with his name, she went to jail for a year. Immediately after being released she got pregnant from a stranger and gave the baby up for adoption. She had two other marriages, during which she committed several crimes and even returned to prison for 90 days.
Before divorcing Mr. Puente, she took over a care home, where she tended to the homeless and destitute. There, suspicious things began to happen. She “adopted” a homeless man as her handyman, and he’d repeatedly be seen taking out dirt from the basement, where he later installed a concrete slab on the floor, and soon after he disappeared.
After another short marriage and 40 charges of insurance scam, in 1981 she began renting a first floor apartment in Scramento. The first tenant to live there, an elderly woman “committed suicide” by injecting herself with Codeine and Tylenol. A few weeks later, the new resident accused her of drugging and robbing him, so she once again went to prison, this time for thievery.
Her last marriage was to a 77-year-old retiree with whom she’d maintained correspondence during her 3 years in jail. As soon as she got out, they opened a joint bank account, and a few months later his swollen, rotting body (unidentified at the time) was found in the river inside a wooden box. She kept collecting his checks and writing to his family to avoid suspicion.
Throughout the following years she proceeded to take in over 40 tenants, who she’d rob and kill, but in 1988 the police began to investigate, when a developmentally disabled schizophrenic boarder was reported missing by his social worker. Upon visiting the house, the police was overwhelmed by the foul smell that came from Dorothea’s garden, about which the neighbors had complained several times, so they returned the following day with shovels, and discovere a woman’s decomposing remains. She was not immediately charged, so she fled to Los Angeles, but was instantly placed by a pensioner at a bar, and reported to the police.
7 bodies were found in total, but she was charged with 9 murders and was given life sentence, although until her last day she defended her innocence and claimed that her tenants had died of natural causes. No wonder she is the number one on our list of the 9 most evil female serial killers of all time, right?
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