1. Black Widows
2. Angels of Death
3. Sexual Predators
4. Revenge Killers
5. Profit Killers
6. Team Killers
7. Killers Whose Sanity is in Question
8. Killers Whose Motives Defy Explanation,
9. Unsolved Crimes
(Geringer, 2 ).
Black Widows:
In my last blog post i briefly talked about female serial killers being labeled as Black Widows. A huge portion of Black Widows began killing in their mid-thirties, but some started their killing career earlier. Based on cases on record, the average number of victims for a Black Widow was between six and thirteen (Geringer, 3 ). The average span of when the murders occurred was eleven years. The main motive for the Black Widow is profit, and on some rare cases they murder someone they believe learned the truth about them (Geringer, 3 ). For most Black Widows after one husband dies it isn't rare to see them relocated to another part of the country. They will then changed their name and created a completely fabricated background (Geringer, 3 ). They put up an easily act of being a faithful wife and good mom, because society assumes almost all women are. The Kelleher's state in their book also that "Because she will deliberately target those who have come to trust her, the crimes of this type of serial murderer violate our basic assumptions about love, loyalty, guardianship and friendship" (Geringer, 3 ). One example of a Black widow is Judias V. Buenoano who poisoned her husband, son, an attempted to poison her new fiance.
Angels of Death:
A female serial killer that is categorized as an Angel of Death sets herself up as God (Geringer, 2 ). The reason being is that they prey mainly on victims that they believe are already marked for natural death. Sick patients at hospitals and caregivers for the elderly fit under people marked for natural death (Geringer, 2 ). There weapon is either something chemical, like lethal injection of Potassium, or suffocation with a pillow. Both of these means are hard to trace which is why their the most popular for Angels of death (Geringer, 2 ). An example of an Angel of Death serial killer is Jane Toppan. Jane Toppan was a nurse that killed her patients using injections. For more information on Toppan one of my previous blogs is solely dedicated to her.
Sexual Predators:
This means that the female serial killer was driven to kill by some type of sexual fantasy (Geringer, 2 ). This category of female serial killer is quite rare compared to the rest. This tends to be more common in male serial killers. Jane Toppan could also be under this category, because at one point she stated that she derived sexual pleasure from killing her victims (Adams, 1 ). Another debatable one is Alieen Wuornos, some say debatable whether sexual fantasy had any part with her motivation to kill (Geringer, 2 ).
Revenge Killers:
Revenge female serial killers tend to be obsession-driven (Geringer, 2 ). Whether it be by love, hate or jealousy which are the most common factors. They are just as rare as Sexual Predators, but when pushed just enough they will come back for vengeance. The average age for Revenge Killers are between mid 20's to early 30's (Geringer, 2 ). Martha Wise is a perfect example she was told she could not marry a much younger man from her family and minister. To lash back at them she poisoned three family members and burned down the church (Geringer, 2 ).
Profit Killers:
These killers strictly kill for monetary gain. They hire themselves out as "hit women" to mainly jealous wives that want their husband killed because they cheated or are abusive (Geringer, 2 ). The wives don't want to do the dirty work so they hire a Profit Killer. This differs from the Black Widow because the Black Widow chooses their victims, while Profit Killers will commit murder for others (Geringer, 2 ). Because they are considered "silent witnesses" their killing career could last for many years. Madame Alexe Popova is a prime example of a Profit Killer (Geringer, 2 ). She poisoned some three-hundred husbands and boyfriends for different women. She was finally caught in 1909 and executed by a firing squad (Geringer, 2 ).
Team Killers:
(Geringer, 2 ).
Female Team serial Killers can really come in many shapes and sizes. This one category comprises two-thirds of the female serial killer rank and file (Geringer, 2 ). This category consists of three types of Team Killers groups. The most infamous one is the "male/female" duo, which consists of one male and one female partnered together. In most of the cases they are just thrill-seeking lovers (Geringer, 2 ). The second most common Team Killers isthe "female/female" duo. Most of the time these two women agree together to commit the murders as a team (Geringer, 2 ). Although in some cases one female may force the other to be part of the deadly team. The last group is called "killing family" when three or more people come together as a team to commit multiple murders (Geringer, 2 ). The most infamous example of the "killing family" group is Charles Manson. He led sixteen people to commit over dozens of murders back in the late 1900's. Shockingly ten of the sixteen apart of the "killing family" were females (Geringer, 2 ). The last three categories aren't as closely defined as the others (Geringer, 2 ).
Killers whose sanity is in Question:
This category of females usually have gone to trial and plead not guilty because of reason of insanity. There are very few women that have gotten away with murder using this defense and instead of going to prison they go to a mental hospital. Jeanne Weber got out of being hung in 1908 after killing her children. She convinced the jury that she was insane and was sent to an institution instead of prison (Geringer, 2 ).
Killers Whose Motives Defy Explanation:
(Geringer, 2 ).
This category of women are found guilty of their crimes, but they remained unlabeled, The reason being because, there is no clear motives present (Geringer, 2 ). Audrey Marie Hilley is the most famous case for this category (Geringer, 2 ). If there was clear motives she would have been placed in the Black Widow category. From all the evidence collected there was no tangible gain or monetary profit for Hilley (Geringer, 2 ). For some unknown reason, Hilley went on a four year killing spree killing three of her family members (Geringer, 2 ). Unsolved Crimes:
These are crimes that are suspected to be committed by a women but there was no confirmed suspect or motive behind it (Geringer, 2 ). A eerie example of one close by are the murders at Maryland's Prince George's County Hospital during 1984 and 1985 (Geringer, 2 ). Someone killed seventeen patients instantly, by injecting potassium into their IV tubes. When they suspected it was a female, the DA's office believed she was innocent and let her go (Geringer, 2 ).
Works Cited:
Geringer, Joseph. "Black Widow: Veiled in Their Own Web of Darkness."
Adams, Nicole. " Ten American Female Serial Killers." Listverse. 29. Dec. 2012. Web. 4 Feb. 2013.
You have some excellent content here, but tweak that first paragraph to clarify that the categories were added to (I know you say that later in the paragraph, but I was already trying to understand how the psychoses fit into the categories.
ReplyDeleteYou have wonderful research and detailing here. Just watch floating punctuation. Also, maybe consider making those headings stand out more clearly by altering size or bolding them?
Finally--how about extrapolating the categories and thinking of other ones that might come up in the future? That would be fascinating analysis!