Officials then found evidenceconfirming thatSouthard had used arsenic to end the lives of multiple people, causing the press to dub her "Mrs. Its safe to say that the police dont believe her. She was also allegedly raped by relatives and attempted suicide at age 16. And these telegenic white men are so often sold and packaged as emblems of normalcy right up until the moment they turn out to be monsters by the media. (Peterson even looked a little like Ben Affleck, who played the missing womans husband in the movie.) With the help of his wife, his cousin, and his then-mistress, she was tortured and killed. named after a maudlin playground song inspired by the gruesome event and sensational trial. Anti-domestic violence advocates asked then-Texas Governor George W. Bush to stay her execution, but he denied the request, even traveling back to the state for the 62-year-old great grandmother's execution in February 2000. Christopher Watts, of Colorado, killed his wife and their 3- and 4-year-old daughters while dating a woman named Nichol Kessinger, who told investigators that when she met him he'd told her. In September, the media uncovered two alleged affairs that extended the storys shelf life. Christopher Watts, of Colorado, killed his wife and their 3- and 4-year-old daughters while dating a woman named Nichol Kessinger, who told investigators that when she met him hed told her he was already separated from Shanann Watts. (That particular gruesome detail is one that lingered in peoples minds, and that commenters on Reddit threats and YouTube videos brought up time and time again.). Neighbors place flowers in front of the Watts home in Frederick, Colorado, in August. or redistributed. For 50 years in the mid-1600s, she helped wives kill their husbands. She washis neighbor, and the wife of a Marine herself. But he changed his mind, and he went to a police station to confess to the murder. A national drama ensues, as the media looks for answers. Its not surprising that people started to get suspicious of the happy widow, who had a penchant for dark humor, asking the local undertaker for a discount. Contact Alessa Dominguez at alessa.dominguez@buzzfeed.com. "We've been relying on the 'crime of passion, spontaneous red-mist' explanation [of killing] forever - and it's just not true," Dr Monckton Smith told the BBC. Neumars son also committed suicide in 1985, and Neumar was named as the beneficiary on his $10,000 life insurance policy. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. According to law enforcement, from 1930 to 1945, Cline murdered eight woman and one man - Reverend Ernest Jones - allowing him to inherit their estates, which were worth thousands of dollars. Though she was acquitted on a technicality, her father was convicted of being an accessory after the fact in the murder of John Dick, specifically for dismembering his corpse in the basement of his home and burning the body parts in the furnace. As one redditor noted, I think this news story just bumped this up from a Lifetime movie to a Netflix docuseries. The Watts family's three appearances on People that month were accompanied by headlines like: A Husbands Deadly Secrets, Did His Affairs Lead to Murder? and Married to a Monster. As with Peterson, so-called experts were trotted out to call him sociopathic, to read the lack of emotion in his responses after the disappearances as explanation for what came before. On August 5, 1948, Cline died of a heart attack in California'sFolsom Prison at the age of 60. With the affair taking over as the main story, the Peterson case was featured on the cover of People, which featured Lacis smiling face even as they teased Petersons double life and other woman as the story inside. Sarah Marshall/AAP. "That information wasn't known to police, Alice had no idea - we had no idea," Mr Ruggles said. But after Yakov filed for divorce citing Ritas abusiveness and lavish spending, she began plotting her revenge. (Prosecutors didnt believe his story.) Christopher Watts was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his pregnant wife, and daughters. On Today, Megyn Kelly also labeled Watts a sociopath, adding, "It's just so shocking and it breaks every covenant of marriage and love and parenthood.". Here, the eight most notorious black widow killers. Petersons first big national interview was on Good Morning America, where he claimed to a disbelieving Diane Sawyer that he had told his wife about his extramarital activities. On trial for her the infant's murder, it turned out she had slept with over 150 men, including the judges own son. She was convicted and sentenced to 51 years, but died in prison earlier this year. Why do men kill their families? According to Peng, he killed the young woman because she had threatened his wife and children, and she had insulted him after he refused to purchase a home for her brother. After the conviction, her lawyers argued that since she had been physically and sexually abused her whole life first raped at five years old, she accused her husbands of abuse as well she should be granted clemency. From January 1915 to January 1919, Landru is believed to have killed 11 women by luring them to his home in Paris, or sometimes his villa in the suburb of Gambais, and stealingtheir money. Price had been concerned that something like this would happen and had told his friends that if he didnt show up at work the next day, Knight had killed him. Founded in 2010, Thought Catalog is owned and operated by The Thought & Expression Company, Inc. For over a decade, we've been at the bleeding edge of media, pioneering an infrastructure for creatives to flourish both artistically and financially. According to the Internet Journal of Criminology: Black Widow killers murder those close to them, usually those who they have some form of romantic association with, such as a husband or lover, however, they also prey on their own relatives. They both ambushed Yakov, with Rita bludgeoning him about the head with a pair of axes and Vladimir finally dismembering his corpse. How could you, Mrs Dick? Since she used an axe to murder her husband, the New York tabloids began referring to her as the Jewish Lizzie Borden. A letter from Yakov Gluzmans parents regarding her sentencing read, in part: For 25 years she gradually demolished him emotionally and in the 26th year she dismembered him physically. The Peterson story first garnered coverage in Modesto, California, in 2002, and focused on Laci, a mother-to-be, who vanished on Christmas Eve. Read about our approach to external linking. Men who kill their partners follow a "homicide timeline" that could be tracked by police to help prevent deaths, new research suggests. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Horror Movies That Don't Look Like Horror Movies. What are bluebeards? Yet stories like Watts and Petersons are still positioned as supposedly shocking anomalies, and become investigations into an apolitical idea about individually evil men and sociopaths not, say, incels or participants in toxic masculinity. While the term bluebeard is typically used in reference to wife-killers like the Buttermilk Bluebeard, the Bluebeard of the Bath, and the Bluebeard Murderer, it has also been used to refer to women who murder their husbands, children, and other relatives. They also agreed that she was a cold-blooded killer, who earned her infamy as the "Torso Killer." She killed Beets for his insurance money and pension benefits. Colorado father Barry Morphew was arrested on murder charges earlier this week in connection with the Mothers Day disappearance of his wife and the mother of their two daughters, Suzanne Morphew, roughly a year ago. Then, while pregnant with her daughter, she torched his clothing and walloped him on the head with a frying pan. Attorney Gloria Allred (far left) leaves the courtroom with her client Amber Frey in 2004; People magazine featuring a Laci and Scott Peterson cover story. She allegedly even once told her daughter that theyd have fun spending his insurance money were Bruceto suddenly drop dead. When I found they had money, I went after that.". 1 Susan WrightApril 24, 1976-. Adam Janos. This is despite the fact that its the minivan majoritys identification with the lost lives of these innocent, pregnant white women that mobilizes so many resources and brings the glaring media spotlight that keeps even prosecutors under constant scrutiny. From BTK to the Green River Valley slayer, this list of serial killers who had wives or husbands includes criminals like John Wayne Gacy, Dennis Radner, and Robert Lee Yates.. Also among the many serial killers who were not only some of most notorious in history, but also happened to be married are Dr . The eight steps she discovered in almost all of the 372 killings she studied were: The only instance where a stage in the model was not followed was when men did not meet stage one - but this was normally because they had not had a relationship before, she said. With Andrea Bowen, Yasmeene Ball, Jim Thorburn, Chad Krowchuk. Both men had been shot multiple times in the back of the head. Between 1911 and 1916, a staggering 48 of her residents died in this mannerthis includes five of her husbands, all of whom were found dead of arsenic poisoning. In October of 2001, Knight, brutally stabbed her new live-in boyfriend, John Price, 37 times while he tried to escape. While Klimek spent the rest of her life in prison, her cousin was tried for murder and acquitted, allowing Koulik to go free. A similar scenario played out with Watts after he reported his wife and daughters missing in August, asking for their safe return on television, only to later be accused of murdering them. A police officer whod dealt with Calvey remarked that every man she has ever been involved with is either in prison or dead. After being released from prison and suspected of killing at least two former male loversearning her infamy as a Black Widowshe married a third man in 2009. A local bank manager, Susan Snow, died from ingesting one of the capsules. The True Story Of The 17th Century Cosmetician Who Helped More Than 600 Women Murder Their Husbands. Real Adults Who Convinced Kids to Do Their Bidding, 12 Husbands Who Killed The Woman They Were Cheating With To Stay Out of Trouble, he was released from jail in February 2017 on a legal technicality, Peng hit his mistress in the head with a rock, in June 2010, he was convicted of second-degree murder, wanted her married lover to choose her or his wife. Nelsonstabbed Cisneros repeatedly, killing her and her unborn baby with a knife from the Chipotle where the two had worked together. Malonerefused to abort their baby, and she threatened to tell Jones's wife about their affair. Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. She shot him when he got home, and when she was on the phone with 911, the idiot told her dying husband that he was a piece of shit and would die knowing that. This of course startled the 911 dispatcher. (Courtesy of Suzanne Morphew's Family) (Courtesy of Suzanne Morphew's Family).