Women Executed in the U.S.

Since 1976 -the year the U.S. reinstated the death penalty- only 1.15%, or 18, of the 1,500+ executed inmates have been women. Even then, another eight years passed before any state took a woman to the death chamber for execution. The death penalty sparks plenty of controversy, although in the U.S. still is a punishment handed down to criminals convicted of the worst crimes imaginable. Now and again, those heinous people happen to be women.

The Last Woman Executed in the U.S.

Amber McGloughin was the last woman executed in the U.S. On January 23, 2023, the State of Missouri executed Amber in the gas chamber for the 2003 rape and murder of her girlfriend/roommate.

McGloughlin also holds the title of the first transgender woman executed in U.S. history.

At the time of her crimes, Amber was a male known as Scott. Beverly Gunither’s remains were dumped in St. Louis, and Scott McGloughin was quickly apprehended and charged with the crimes.

McGloughin transitioned to a female while in the custody and care of the state. He was the first person executed in Missouri since the 1953 execution of Bonnie Brown Headley and her lover, Carl Austin Hall.

The Crimes & Execution of Bonnie Brown Headley

In 1953, Headley and Hall kidnapped a young child from Kansas City and murdered him.

The child, 6-year-old Robert “Bobby’Greenlease was the son of a prominent multi-millionaire auto salesman in Kansas City. Although Heady and Austin demanded a $600,000 ransom from Greenlease, the pair had already killed the young boy. Greenlease paid the ransom and the two fled the area. They were soon captured and sentenced to death.

On Dec. 18, 1953, eleven weeks after Headley was sentenced to death row, she and Hall were executed together in the gas chamber.

The Execution of Lisa Marie Montgomery

In 2021, Lisa Marie Montgomery was executed by lethal injection for the murder of Bobbi Jo Stinnett and the attempted murder of her unborn child. The child survived the vicious attack.

Montgomery met Stinnett, a dog breeder, online in 2004. She met up with her under the pretense of buying a pet. After making it inside of Stinnett’s home, Montgomery brutally murdered her and then cut the fetus from her womb.

Lisa Marie Montgomery was sentenced to die by lethal injection, although spent 17 years on death row before she met her fate in the death chamber.

She Killed Her Husband, Son, and Boyfriend, and Attempted to Kill Another Boyfriend

Judy Buenoano is the only woman executed since 1976 to die in the electric chair. The two-time killer murdered her husband in 1970, and her son in 1980, and attempted to kill her boyfriend in 1983. Judy also acknowledged she murdered another boyfriend in 1978. She killed two of her victims by arsenic poisoning.

On March 30, 1998, 54-year-old Judy became the first woman executed in the state of Florida since 1848. Her last meal consisted of broccoli, asparagus, strawberries, and hot tea. Judy declined to make a last statement or give any final words, simply replying "No sir" when asked if she had anything to say. Her body was cremated several hours after her execution.

More Information: Women Executed in the U.S.

If you want more information about the 18 women executed in the U.S. since 1976, click below to visit the Death Penalty Information Center website. You can find the list and information about the women and others who currently await death as an inmate on death row.