The Most Notorious Female Serial Killers From Each State

3 years ago

Florida: Aileen Wuornos

From late 1989-late 1990, 7 bodies of middle-aged men were discovered across Florida. Wuornos would rob all her victims, then proceed to shoot them to death and steal their cars. Wuornos was a street prostitute and defended herself by claiming her victims had attempted to rape her. She was sentenced to death for 6 of the murders in 2002 and was executed by lethal injection.

California: Dana Sue Gray

After failing to carry out her 4th murder, Gray was finally caught and identified. Gray had previously murdered 3 elderly women in 1994 for her own financial gain, claiming she was supporting her spending habits. Gray's case terrorised locals, many of whom began moving in with loved ones or slept in large groups for fear of being murdered. Gray was sentenced to life Imprisonment after claiming insanity in 1998.

Tennessee: Christa Pike

Pike lived a troubled life and dropped out of high school. Pike was jealous of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, so Pike alongside Shadolla Peterson beat and taunt Slemmer to death on January 12, 1995. Piken smashed Slemmer's skull, keeping a piece of it to show around school. Pike was sentenced to execution, however remains on death row.

Idaho: Robin Lee Row

On February 10, 1992, Row murdered her husband and 2 children by setting their apartment on fire. Row had previously separated from her husband. All 3 had dies from carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of the fire Row started. Detectives discovered row had taken out life insurance policies for her husband and children. She was trialled in 1993 and found guilty to first degree murder.

West Virginia: Reta Mays

One way of treating elderly U.S. military veterans is definitely not to murder them. Mays over the course of a year between July 2017- June 2018 injected lethal doses of insulin to 7 patients. She was employed as a nursing assistant at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Medical center in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Mays was sentenced to 7 consecutive life sentences for murder last year in 2021.

Oklahoma: Nannie Doss

Nannie Doss, other wise Known as the "Giggling Granny" was responsible for murdering 11 family members between 1920s and 1954. By the time her killing had ended, she had killed 4 husbands, 2 children, 2 of her sisters, her mother, two grandsons and a mother in law. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for her twisted crimes in 1954.

Indiana: Belle Gunness

Originally from Norway, Belle Gunness moved to America 1881 where she would turn into one of America's most notorious female serial killers. Gunness is thought to have killed at least 14 men, the majority being men who she would entice to her rural Indiana property on the promise of marriage. Her crimes spanned across 1884-1908 across and some sources speculate her involvement is as many as 40 murders.

New York: Diane O'Dell

Born in 1953, Dianne O'Dell was convicted of murdering 3 of her 12 children, as well being investigated in the disappearance of another child. The bodies of the newborns were discovered after her landlord cleared out her storage unit due to failure of payment. By all accounts O'Dell murdered he baby children because they were illegitimate. Her case in 2003 became known as "The Babies in Boxes Murder Case".

Georgia: Judith Neelley

Alongside her husband Alvin, Judith Neelley committed the Kidnappings and torture murders of Lisa Ann Millican and Janice Kay Chatman. Neelley had known history of violent crimes including armed robberies. Millican was a vulnerable girl who was only 13 at the time, and was coerced by Neelley from the local mall's arcade. Her captivity was very horrific, with severe sexual and physical torture and later death by numerous lethal injections. Neelley remains in prison to this day.

Connecticut: Amy Archer-Gilligan

Having inspired the play "Arsenic and Old Lace", Archer-Gilligan's case gathered wide publicity at time as she exploited the vulnerable patients in her nursing home for her own monetary gain. With at least 5 confirmed murders by poisoning, Archer-Gilligan could have been involved in 40. He was sentenced to death in 1917, however pled to insanity in 1919, hence sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ohio: Martha Wise

After her husband died, and she forced to end her relationship with her lover, Wise retaliated by poisoning 17 family members, 3 of which died. Her poisonings spanned between 1924-1925. On Thanksgiving eve, 1924, several family members including her mother got severe stomach pains due to her poisonings. Wise claimed she was mentally ill and her lover ordered the poisonings, however she ended up guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Texas: Kimberly Clark Saenz

Formerly a licensed practical nurse, Saenz completely abused her power for evil when she murdered several patients at a Texas dialysis centre by injecting bleach into their dialysis lines. Saenz was convicted or murdering 5 patients and attempting to murder another 5 in 2012. Saenz is currently serving. 5 consecutive life imprisonments without parole for the 5 murders she committed.

Pennsylvania: Marie Noe

Convicted of murdering 8 of her 10 children between 1949-1968, Noe became notorious across Pennsylvania for her crimes. 8 for her children died of mysterious causes, despite all being born healthy. Noe pleaded guilty to 8 counts of second-degree murder in 1999 and was sentenced to 20 years' probation. She admitted to strangling 4 of her children, but forgot what happened to the remaining 4, which all died of similar circumstances.

Illinois: Tillie Klimek

Claiming she experienced precognitive dreams, accurately predicting dates of the deaths of her victims, Klimek in reality was scheduling their deaths. Klimek was a Polish born American living in Chicago at the time of her murders, it was also where she was accused of murdering between 5-7 people from arsenic poisoning. She was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1923, she later died in prion in 1936.

Washington: Linda Hazzard

Given the nickname "Starvation Doctor", its clear to see why Linda Hazzard gained this name. She was notorious for promoting starvation methods and hours-long enemas as treatment. In 1911, Hazard was found guilty of manslaughter for killing at least 15 people for financial gain. She was sentenced to 2-20 years hard labour, however was released on parole after 2 years.

Massachusetts: Kristen Gilbert

Having been a former nurse, Gilbert abused all the power she had to murder 4 people and attempted to murder another 2. Her way of killing was to induce her patients into cardiac arrest by injecting their intravenous therapy bags with masses doses of epinephrine. Her crimes spanned across 1995-1996 and she gained the chilling name, "The Angel of Death".

Missouri: Bertha Gifford

Gifford was renowned in her community for caring for sick neighbours and relatives, however this gained mass attention when 5 people died in her care. Gifford acted as the role of a nurse for her sick patients, and a total of 17 people died in her care between 1900s-1928. The bodies were found with high amounts of arsenic in their blood, however the use of arsenic for medical reasons at the time had increased. Nobody can therefore prove she had purposely killed everyone in her care.

Rhode Island: Lydia Sherman

Having been orphaned as a child, Sherman's troubled past may have resulted in the sick killings she committed. After moving to New York in 1864, Sherman poisoned her husband. Only 6 weeks later she poisoned 3 of her children, both sets of murders using arsenic. By the time of her arrest in 1872, she had murdered 11 people, including 3 husbands and 8 children, 6 of whom were her own.

Maine: Hattie Whitten

After being arrested at daughter's funeral, Whitten was finally caught for her evil crimes on her own family. Whitten had poisoned her husband and 2 daughters between 1900-1902 using arsenic. The motive for the killings was clear as Whitten received large insurance payouts for the death of her daughters and husband. Whitten hung herself while in prison custody in 1902.

Alabama: Patty Cannon

Shown above holding a black child in a fire, Cannon was notorious for being one of the most evil women in American history. She was a slave traded and murder in the late 1700s who would sell slaves into southern states, mainly Alabama. Cannon was captured and arrested in 1829 after the remains of 4 black boys were found on her property. She later confessed to killing over 20 people, and died in her prison cell the same year.

Utah: Megan Huntsman

You may recognise this case as the "Pleasant Grove child murders", as it involved Huntsman murdering 6 of her newborn children very shortly after birth. The murders took place between 1996-2006 until her ex-husband discovered a decomposed body of a baby. Huntsman would kill the babies minutes after their birth.

Kansas: Kate and Kit Kelly

Kate and her daughter Kit were members of the notorious Kelly Family. The family was believed to have killed 11 wealthy travellers between August-December 1887. The family were eventually hunted down and killed whilst fleeing from vigilantes in 1888. Kate died by falling from a horse. William, the youngest son admitted the family to all the crimes before being hanged alongside his farther and Kit.

Michigan: Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood

Much like many others on this list, both Graham and Wood abused their positions as nurses. The pair met at the Alpine Manor nursing home, and within 2 years they had murdered 5 elderly women. The pair appeared to target elderly women suffering from Alzheimer's disease and would murder them by smothering their faces with a wash cloth. They developed the name "The Lethal Lovers".

Arizona: Diane Downs

On May 19, 1983, Downs decided to shoot her 3 children, and drove the blood splattered car to Mckenzie-Willamette Hospital. Upon arrival her daughter Cheryl (aged 7) was dead, Danny (aged 3) and Christie (aged 4) were both critically injured. Down's tried to blame her horrific crimes on a carjacker, however the police saw through thus and she was sentenced to life plus 50 years in 1984.

Nebraska: Caril Ann Fugate

Fugate was the adolescent apprentice girlfriend of Charles Starkweather. Being only 14 when his murders took place in 1958, she became Americas youngest ever female tried of first degree murder. Starkweather and Fugate fled to Nebraska after murdering her family. She then alongside her lover killed 6 more people before she was arrested.

Colorado: Judy Buenoano

Buenoano was responsible for the death of her boyfriend Bobby Joe Morris in Colorado in 1978. She had committed previous murders of boyfriends, where she would use arsenic to poison her victims, in order to receive healthy amounts of insurance money. Her crimes led her to receive the death penalty in 1998 in Florida, as she had already been sentenced to death before authorities linked her to the murder in Colorado.

Oregon: Charlene Gallego

Charlene alongside her husband Gerald, murdered 21-year-old Linda Teresa Aguiler in June 1980. The pair abducted the girl who was hitchhiking, where they proceeded to rape and murder her with a blunt object. The committed a further 9 murders across a 12 year period. After her arrest, Charlene extensively studied psychology, claiming she was also a victim and that she tried to save some of the lives.

Mississippi: Lisa Jo Chamberlain

Chamberlain, along with Roger lee Gillet murdered Linda Heintzelman and Heintzelman's boyfriend, Vernon Hullet. The bodies of the victims were found inside a freezer, having been bludgeoned by a hammer and suffocated to death. Chamberlain was sentenced to death in 2006 and remains on death row to this day.

North Carolina: Blanche Taylor Moore

Having been convicted already of first degree murder, Moore remains a possible serial killer for the deaths of her farther, mother-in-law and first husband. She is still awaiting execution for the arsenic poisoning of her boyfriend in 1986. She has been on death row since 1989.

Louisiana: Clementine Barnabet

Known as a the "Voodoo Murderer", Clementine Barnabet terrorised and murdered a minimum of 12 African American families between 1911-1912. Her murders were all of similar nature, they occurred at night and involved an axe to fracture the victims skulls. Barnabet eventually confessed to 35 murders despite only being convicted of killing one. However, speculation over her involvement in the murders arose as the axe murders continued whilst she remained in custody.

Illinois: Dorothy Williams

Dorothy Williams, aged 44, was sentenced to the death penalty in 1991 for strangling 97-year-old Mary Harris. She then also pleaded guilty to strangling Lonnie Laws in 1987 as well as the stabbing of Caesar Zurell in 1988. All 3 victims were very elderly people. Williams killed them after robbing them so that she could use their money to buy heroin.

Boston: Jane Toppan

Jolly Jane Toppan killed at least 31 people in a spree between the years 1880 and 1901. But she was hired by doctors who considered her one of their best nurses. It turned out that she would kill vulnerable and helpless people and feel a sexual thrill when she killed them.

New York: Marybeth Tinning

Marybeth Tinning was a child serial killer from New York. She horrendously smothered her own 3 and a half month old baby girl in 1985. She confessed to killing two of her sons and it is further suspected that she actually killed all eight of her children. Her previous children it was fist thought died of natural causes.

Tennessee: Georgia Tann

Georgia Tann was a serial killer from Tennessee. She stole an estimated 5000 children and she was responsible for killing 19 children due to abuse. She was the director of a Memphis-based adoption organization. She kidnapped children from poor homes and then sold them to wealthy families.

California: Olga Rutterschmidt

Olga Rutterschmidt was a former Hollywood star who lived in Los Angeles, California. She was convicted of the murders of two migrants named Paul Vados (in 1999) and Kenneth McDavid (in 2005), she staged them as a hit and run in order to collect their life insurance policies..

Boston: Sarah Jane Robinson

Sarah Jane Robinson has become better known as The Boston Borgia. She is an a serial killer who poisoned the members in her family from the years 1881 to 1886. Initially she was sentenced to jail for the killing of her brother on law, but this was changed to life imprisonment when her other crimes came to light.

California: Dorothea Puente

Dorothea Helen Puente is an American convicted serial killer from the 1980s. She ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, and murdered various elderly and mentally disabled boarders and then she would profit by cashing their Social Security checks.

Maryland: Geraldine Parrish

Geraldine Brown Parrish was an American criminal and murderer despite the fact that she never. She hired two men named Edwin Gordon and Lionel Robinson to undertake a series of horrendous murders in Maryland. She was convicted on four counts of murders.

Philidelphia: Adrienne Moton

Adrienne Moton (36) was an employer and the wife of the abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell (72). They would illegally kill late term babies and born alive babies by snipping their necks with scissors. She pled guilty to third degree murder and was sentenced to a lifelong imprisonment.

Georgia: Anjette Lyles

Anjette Lyles owned a restaurant in Georgia. She was also a serial killer who was responsible for the poisoning of four of her own relatives. Her crimes spanned the years of 1952 to 1958. She was sentenced to death and then later diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic and sent to a hospital where she remained for life.

New Orleans: Delphine LaLaurie

Marie Delphine MacCarthy was a very wealthy socialite of New Orleans who was more commonly known as Madame Blanque or, after her third marriage she was known as Madame LaLaurie. She was a serial killer who would torture and murder slaves in her house.

New York: Waneta Hoyt

Waneta Holt was an American serial killer who murdered five of her own children, for which she was convicted to life imprisonment. She blamed Sudden Infant Dead Syndrome (SIDS) to gain sympathy. But later it was found that she in fact murdered them.

Missouri: Sharon Kinne

Sharon Kinne, was a murderer from America. She was in Mexico when she was convicted for a murder. But there was strong suspect that she was also responsible for two murders in America, despite the fact that she was acquitted for these when it went to trial.

Texas: Genene Jones

Genene Anne Jones is an American serial killer, more specifically a child murderer. She was responsible for the deaths of up to 60 infants and children. These children were trusted in her care as she was a licensed vocational nurse in the 1970s and 1980s.

New York: Lizzie Halliday

Lizzie Halliday was an Irish-American serial killer who was responsible for the murder of four people in New York in the 1890s. She then (in 1894) became the first woman to be sentenced to death by the electric chair - but, this sentencing was overturned and instead she was committed to a mental institution for life.

Helen Golay

Helen Golay is a part of the duo of murderers (alongside Olga Rutterschmidt) who committed the Black Widow Murders - both Californian socialites. This was the famous name for the double murder of two pensioners in California, Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid.

Georgia: Janie Lou Gibbs

Janie Lou Gibbs was an American serial killer from Cordele in Georgia. She was responsible for murdering members of her own family, her three sons, a grandson, and also her husband. She committed these murders within the year between 1966 and 1967 by poisoning them with arsenic.

Illinois: Louise Vermilya

Louise Vermilyea was an American woman who was suspected of the poisoning of her husbands and her children. She committed these murders for money in order to gain their life insurance. As well as this, she also poisoned lodgers that she kept in her rooming house.

Texas: Vickie Jackson

Vickie Jackson is an American serial killer who was responsible for the murder at least 10 patients at the Nocona General Hospital in Nocona, Texas where she worked as a nurse for around a year between 2000 2001. She would use the muscle relaxant Mivacron which she would inject to her patients and kill them. During an FBI investigation it was deemed that she killed her patients if she saw them as overly demanding.