“Women of Horror: Diving Into the Lives of 9 Infamous Female Serial Killers”

1. Elizabeth Bathory: A Hungarian noblewoman who tortured and killed around 650 young women. She is considered the most prolific female serial killer in history.

Elizabeth Bathory (1560–1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman who is considered one of the most notorious female serial killers in history. Born into a prominent and wealthy family, she was well-educated and multilingual. She married Count Ferenc Nadasdy at 15 and moved to Castle Čachtice, a wedding gift from the Nadasdy family.

After her husband died in 1604, rumors of Bathory’s cruelty began to surface. She was accused of torturing and killing hundreds of young women, primarily servants and minor noblewomen, who came to her for training and education. The exact number of victims is unknown, but she is reputed to have killed at least 600, earning her a Guinness World Record for the most prolific female murderer.

Bathory’s alleged sadism included various forms of torture, such as mutilation, burning, and freezing. She was eventually arrested in 1610, and although she was never formally tried, she was confined to her chambers at Castle Čachtice until she died in 1614. Some modern scholars have questioned the veracity of the allegations against Bathory, suggesting that her crimes may have been exaggerated as part of a conspiracy against her.

2. Amelia Dyer: Suspected of killing over 400 infants while working at a “baby farm.”

Amelia Elizabeth Dyer (1837 — June 10, 1896), also known as the “Ogress of Reading,” was an English serial killer who is believed to have murdered between 200 and 400 infants in her care during the Victorian era.

Born in the small village of Pyle Marsh, near Bristol, Dyer was the youngest of five children. Her father, Samuel Hobley, was a master shoemaker. She learned to read and write and developed a love for literature and poetry. However, her childhood was marred by the mental illness of her mother, caused by typhus.

Dyer initially trained as a nurse and a midwife. By the 1860s, she became a “baby farmer,” a person who, for a fee, would look after children, usually illegitimate, until a home could be found for them. This was a lucrative trade in Victorian England due to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, which absolved fathers of illegitimate children from financial responsibility.

Dyer assured clients that children under her would be given a safe and loving home. However, she initially let the children die from starvation and neglect, often quieting them with an opium-laced syrup known as “Mother’s Friend.” Eventually, she resorted to faster methods of murder, which allowed her to pocket even more profit.

Dyer managed to elude authorities for years but was eventually arrested when a doctor became suspicious of the number of babies dying under her care. Surprisingly, she was only charged with neglect and sentenced to six months of labor. After her release, she returned to baby farming, but this time, she avoided involving physicians and began disposing of the bodies herself to prevent any added risk. She also relocated frequently to avoid suspicion and took up the use of aliases.

In March 1896, Dyer was tried at the Old Bailey, using insanity as her defense. It took a jury less than five minutes to reach a guilty verdict. She was hanged on June 10, 1896. Her case drew national attention due to the high number of deaths and the amount of time that Dyer had avoided conviction. It also sparked a revolution in adoption laws, pushing authorities to police baby farms and stop abuse.

3. Miyuki Ishikawa: A Japanese midwife who killed an estimated 103 infants, although the exact death toll remains unknown.

Miyuki Ishikawa (1897–1987) was a Japanese midwife and serial killer who, along with several accomplices, is believed to have murdered dozens of infants during the US occupation of Japan. Born in the village of Honjō in Miyazaki Prefecture, Ishikawa graduated from the Tokyo Imperial University as a midwife in 1919. She married Takeshi Ishikawa, and together, they were involved in a heinous crime spree known as the Kotobuki San’in incident, during which they murdered numerous infants. Ishikawa’s method of killing involved neglect, and it is estimated that she was responsible for the deaths of at least 103 babies, although the exact number remains uncertain.

In 1948, Ishikawa and her husband were found guilty of five murders by omission and were sentenced to eight and four years’ imprisonment, respectively. After serving her sentence, Ishikawa lived in Tokyo, where she operated a real estate office. She claimed innocence in the murders and was known to boast about her actions, even building an immense tomb to honor herself.

Ishikawa’s case had far-reaching consequences in Japanese law, as it exposed the lack of social and financial services available to support struggling families, which some saw as a contributing factor to her crimes. Despite the heinous nature of her actions, Ishikawa’s defense that the children were abandoned by their parents garnered public support, and she was ultimately sentenced to just eight years in prison.

4. Nannie Doss: Admitted to killing 11 people, including four of her five husbands, two children, her two sisters, her mother, a grandson, and a mother-in-law.

Nannie Doss (1905–1965), also known as the “Giggling Granny” and the “Lonely Hearts Killer,” was an American female serial killer responsible for the deaths of 11 people between the 1920s and 1954. Born in Blue Mountain, Alabama, she married her first husband, Charles Braggs, at 16 and had four children with him. Their marriage deteriorated, and this period marked the beginning of Doss’s murderous habits.

Over the years, Doss killed four of her husbands, two children, her two sisters, her mother, a grandson, and a nephew. She primarily used poison, such as arsenic, to commit her murders[4]. Doss was finally caught in 1954 after her fifth husband, Samuel Doss, died from arsenic poisoning. Autopsies of eight of her victims revealed arsenic in the remains of three husbands and her mother, while the rest showed signs of being smothered.

Doss confessed to her crimes and became a national sensation due to her seemingly amused demeanor while recounting her murders. She was sentenced to life in prison and died of leukemia in 1965 at the age of 59.

5. Dorothea Puente: Convicted of killing her elderly tenants for their social security checks.

Dorothea Helen Puente (1929–2011) was an American convicted serial killer who ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, during the 1980s. She was born Dorothea Helen Gray in Redlands, California, to Trudy Mae Yates and Jesse James Gray. Her childhood was marked by tragedy, with her father dying of tuberculosis when she was eight and her mother dying in a motorcycle crash a year later.

In the 1980s, Puente ran a boarding house where she offered aid to alcoholics, the homeless, and the mentally ill, including setting up their Social Security accounts and, at times, letting some live at her house. However, she was found guilty of murdering her various elderly and mentally disabled boarders before cashing their Social Security checks. The total count of her victims reached nine; she was convicted of three murders, and the jury hung on the other six.

One of her first victims was Ruth Monroe, who rented a room from her in April 1982 and died from an overdose of codeine and Tylenol. Puente claimed that Monroe had become depressed because of her husband’s illness, and the police officially ruled the death a suicide.

Puente was eventually apprehended on November 11, 1988, after a disabled man with schizophrenia, Alvaro Montoya, disappeared, and his social worker reported him missing. She was charged with nine counts of murder, including the seven bodies found at her house and two additional bodies found in the Sacramento River.

Despite being convicted of murder in 1993 and sent to prison, Puente denied killing the victims, proclaiming innocence until the day she died in 2011. She died in the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California, at 82.

6. Aileen Wuornos: Murdered seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990, becoming the first woman to fit the FBI profile of a serial killer.

Aileen Wuornos (1956–2002) was an American serial killer who murdered at least seven men in 1989–1990. She was born Aileen Carol Pittman on February 29, 1956, in Rochester, Michigan, and faced a deeply troubled childhood. Her father was convicted of child molestation and later committed suicide in prison. At the same time, her mother abandoned her and her brother, leaving them with their grandparents, who reportedly subjected Wuornos to abuse.

Wuornos’ life took a tumultuous turn, and she became involved in a series of criminal activities, including prostitution, armed robbery, and check forgery. In 1989–1990, she murdered several middle-aged male motorists in Florida while working as a prostitute. Wuornos claimed that the killings were acts of self-defense after the men assaulted her, a defense that garnered support from some who saw her as a woman defending herself against male aggression.

She was arrested in 1991, and despite her initial claims of self-defense, she later pleaded guilty to the murders, admitting that she had killed for profit and not in self-defense. Wuornos was convicted of multiple murders and was sentenced to death. She was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.

Wuornos’ case drew national attention to the complex issues surrounding gender, violence, and the legal treatment of acts of self-defense by women. Her life has been the subject of documentaries, books, and the 2003 film “Monster,” which depicted her story.

7. Belle Gunness: An immigrant from Norway who killed her husband for insurance payouts and lured single wealthy men to her farm, where they were murdered.

Belle Gunness, also known as the “Black Widow,” was an American serial killer who operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Norway on November 11, 1859, she emigrated to the United States in 1881. Gunness is believed to have murdered at least 14 people, including two of her husbands, several suitors, and her own children. She lured men to her farm in La Porte, Indiana, through newspaper ads and lovelorn columns, where she would then kill them for their money and property. Her crimes came to light in 1908 when her farmhouse burned down, and the remains of her children and a headless female body believed to be Gunness were discovered. However, Gunness herself was never found, leading to speculation that she may have faked her death and disappeared. The true extent of her crimes and ultimate fate remains a subject of mystery and intrigue.

8. Mary Ann Cotton: A Victorian-era serial killer suspected of killing up to 21 people with arsenic, including her stepson.

Mary Ann Cotton (1832–1873) was an English serial killer who was executed for poisoning her stepson. Between 1865 and 1872, she poisoned 21 people with arsenic, including three husbands, a lover, and 11 of her own children. She was suspected of killing up to 21 people with arsenic but was only convicted of killing her stepson, which led to her hanging in 1873. Cotton’s case is notable as she is believed to be Britain’s most prolific female serial killer, and her story remains a harrowing example of serial poisoning in Victorian England.

9. Juana Barraza: A Mexican professional wrestler who murdered between 42 and 48 elderly women and was later sentenced to 759 years in prison.

Juana Barraza, also known as “La Mataviejitas” (The Little Old Lady Killer), is a Mexican serial killer and former professional wrestler. Born on December 27, 1957, she was convicted of killing 16 elderly women and sentenced to 759 years in prison. Barraza targeted women over the age of 70, strangling them with a stethoscope. Her arrest in 2006 brought an end to a string of murders in Mexico City, where she had eluded capture for years. Barraza’s case was particularly notable as it challenged the stereotype of serial killers being male, and her background as a female wrestler added to the sensationalism of the story.

These 9 women committed some of the most horrifying and barbaric acts, demonstrating that female serial killers can be just as deadly as their male counterparts.

Wish to continue your study of female serial Killers? Consider the book linked below. (Please note that this is an affiliate link. If you make a purchase I will receive a small commission at no additional expense to you).