The Female Serial Killer Thread (4 Viewers)

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SCULL, SARAH JANE NEWMAN [SALLY]

SCULL, SARAH JANE NEWMAN [SALLY] (1817–?). Sally Scull (Skull), the daughter of Rachel (Rabb) and Joseph Newman, was born in 1817 and arrived in Texas with the first settlers in Stephen F. Austin's colony. She was noted for her husbands, her horse trading, her aim with the two pistols she wore, her forceful language, and for hauling cotton and critical supplies for the Confederacy. On October 13, 1833, she married Jesse Robinson, who was twice her age. He had served in the first Texas Ranger company ten years earlier and in several Indian campaigns. They moved to Jesse's land grant, twelve miles north of Gonzales, where in March 1836 Sally in all probability was caught in the Runaway Scrape with her two-year-old daughter, while Jesse fought at San Jacinto. He divorced her on March 6, 1843, in Colorado County, where she was living on her inherited land. She married George H. Scull eleven days later. In December 1844 they sold 400 acres of her land and their livestock. Legend is that she spent the next several years contesting with Jesse the custody and education of their children, Nancy and Alfred. In 1849 she declared that Scull was dead. In 1852 she attended Henry L. Kinney's fair in Corpus Christi, and John S. Ford later wrote that he saw her shoot a man there. She took up residence at Banquete, twenty-five miles west of Corpus Christi, and later purchased 150 acres there. In the mid-1850s a European tourist recorded her activities and reputation.

"The conversation of these bravos drew my attention to a female character of the Texas frontier life, and, on inquiry, I heard the following particulars. They were speaking of a North American amazon, a perfect female desperado, who from inclination has chosen for her residence the wild border-country on the Rio Grande. She can handle a revolver and bowie-knife like the most reckless and skillful man; she appears at dances (fandangos) thus armed, and has even shot several men at merry-makings. She carries on the trade of a cattle-dealer, and common carrier. She drives wild horses from the prairie to market, and takes her oxen-waggon, along through the ill-reputed country between Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande."

Sarah Jane was married three more times: on October 17, 1852, to John Doyle, who disappeared; on December 20, 1855, to Isaiah Wadkins, whom she divorced in 1858; and by 1860 to Christoff Horsdorff. She was eighteen years his senior. At the outbreak of the Civil War, she quit trading livestock to haul Confederate cotton to Mexico for shipment to Europe. Banquete was at midpoint on the cotton road, and Sally operated trains of wagons carrying cotton from the railhead at Alleyton on the Colorado River to Matamoros. The imported goods moved to the railhead on the backhaul. The time and cause of her death is unknown. One story in several versions is that her last husband killed her for her gold and buried her in a shallow grave. Another is that she moved to a relative's home near El Paso. The last written record found on her activities is in the Goliad District Court minutes, stating that she was indicted for perjury on May 4, 1866, and acquitted May 11.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

T. Virginia Bradford, Sallie Scull on the Texas Frontier: Phantoms on Rio Turbio (San Antonio: Naylor, 1952). Dan Kilgore, "Two Sixshooters and a Sunbonnet: The Story of Sally Skull," in Legendary Ladies of Texas, ec. Francis E. Abernethy (Dallas: E-Heart, 1981). Oran Warden Nolen, "Guntoting Woman Horse Trader," Cattleman, July 1943. Joyce Gibson Roach, "The Story of Sally Skull, Border Horse Trader," Horseman, April 1972.

 

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Marie Noe

Marie Noe (born 1928) is an American serial killer. She was convicted in June 1999 of murdering eight of her children. Between 1949 and 1968, eight of the ten Noe children died of mysterious causes which were then attributed to sudden infant death syndrome. All eight children were healthy at birth and were developing normally. Two other children died of natural causes. Noe pled guilty in June 1999 to eight counts of second-degree murder, and was sentenced to twenty years' probation and psychiatric study.

Biography
Early life

Marie Noe was one of several children born of her parents' troubled marriage. Marie contracted scarlet fever at age five, which she later credited as the cause of learning difficulties. She dropped out of school as a young teenager to work and help care for a niece, born to one of her older sisters when Marie was 12 and raised as Marie's sister.
Marriage and children

Marie and Arthur Noe met at a private club in the West Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. After a brief courtship, the couple eloped.
The couple proceeded to have ten children, all of whom died between the ages of 5 days and 14 months.

Richard Allan Noe (March 7, 1949–April 7, 1949)
Elizabeth Mary Noe (September 8, 1950–February 17, 1951)
Jacqueline Noe (April 23, 1952–May 3, 1952)
Arthur Joseph Jr. Noe (April 23, 1955–April 28, 1955)
Constance Noe (February 24, 1958–March 20, 1958)
Letitia Noe (stillborn, August 24, 1959; cause of death was umbilical cord knot)
Mary Lee Noe (June 19, 1962–January 4, 1963)
Theresa Noe (died in hospital, June 1963; cause of death was "congenital hemorrhagic diathesis")
Catherine E. Noe (December 3, 1964–February 24, 1966)
Arthur Joseph Jr. Noe (July 28, 1967–January 2, 1968)

During the Caesarean birth of her last child, Noe suffered a uterine rupture and underwent a hysterectomy.

Reinvestigation and charges

Interest in the case was renewed after the publication of the 1997 book The Death of Innocents, about New York woman Waneta Hoyt, and an investigative article that appeared in the April 1998 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

The author of the Philadelphia article turned over his investigation results to the Philadelphia Police Department in March 1998. Upon questioning by police after receiving the material, Mrs. Noe admitted to suffocating four of her children. She stated that she could not remember what happened to the other four children who died under similar circumstances. She was charged with first-degree murder in August 1998.

A plea agreement was reached in which Mrs. Noe admitted to eight counts of second-degree murder and she was sentenced in June 1999 to 20 years of probation with the first five years under house arrest.

As a condition of her plea agreement, Noe agreed to psychiatric study in hopes of identifying what caused her to kill her children. In September 2001, a study was filed with the court that stated Noe was suffering from mixed-personality disorder.

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Marie Noe (born 1928) is an American woman who was convicted in June 1999 of murdering eight of her children. Between 1949 and 1968, eight of the ten Noe children died of mysterious causes which were then attributed to sudden infant death syndrome. All eight children were healthy at birth and developed normally. Two other children died of natural causes. Noe pleaded guilty in June 1999 to eight counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to twenty years' probation and psychiatric examination.

In 1948, Philadelphia welcomed newlyweds Marie Noe and Arthur Noe her first son, Richard, on 7 March. On 7 April, Noe her newborn rushed to the hospital, he was not breathing. Doctors they wrote sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Marie Noe had a second child, Elizabeth, in September 1950. In February 1951, Marie Noe went to the hospital and held a dead infant. SIDS again. There were no marks on the child, broken bones or bruises, or signs of neglect. Year after year, Noe had a child, and a few months later she got in the hospital with a dead child. Nurses noticed Noe never mourned their children. After the birth of their sons, a nurse heard Marie Noe threaten him while trying to feed him, "If you do not, I'll kill you." Some suspected foul, but no one acted. During the birth of her last child, Joseph Arthur in 1968, Noe had an emergency hysterectomy. None of their children survived to 2 years.

In 1998, a reporter wrote a book and magazine from Philadelphia said Noe should be investigated, because eight children from a family could not all possibly die of SIDS. When police questioned her, she was suffocating four of her children, but was not sure what happened to the other four. She pleaded guilty in June 1999. She was sentenced to 20 years probation with the first five years under house arrest.

Interest in the case was renewed after the publication of the 1997 book The Death of Innocents, via New York woman Waneta Hoyt and an investigative article published in the April 1998 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

The author of the article Philadelphia turned his critiques of the Philadelphia Police Department in March 1998. After questioning by police after receiving the material, Mrs. Marie Noe admitted suffocating four of her children. She said she could not recall what happened to the other four children who died in similar circumstances. She was charged with first-degree murder in August 1998.

A plea agreement was reached in which Mrs. Marie Noe admitted eight counts of second-degree murder, and was sentenced in June 1999 to 20 years probation with the first five years under house arrest.

As a condition of their contract has Marie Noe out in psychiatric study, in the hope of causing her to kill her children. In September 2001 a study by the court, the Noe was suffering from mixed-personality disorder explained filed

 

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Junko Ogata

Junko Ogata (緒方 純子 Ogata Junko?, born February 25, 1962) is a Japanese woman who acted as an accomplice to serial killer Futoshi Matsunaga.


Early life and murders

Ogata was born on Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, and grew up in a wealthy family. She was Matsunaga's schoolmate in high school, but she did not know him very well, and he transferred to another school. She was originally a gentle person and got a job in a preschool, but changed after she started dating Matsunaga in 1982. Ogata had remained a virgin until she became involved with Matsunaga, but he suspected her of having relationships with other men. During their relationship, she and Matsunaga had two sons.

Matsunaga abused her severely. He insisted that Junko's mother tried to seduce him, so he abused her, but during the trial Junko began to suspect that Matsunaga had raped her mother. He eventually recruited her in his murder spree. She became cruel under his influence. Matsunaga and Ogata killed at least seven people between 1996 and 1998. Their victims included her parents and two children, Ogata's nephew and niece.

Arrest and trial

Ogata was arrested in March 2002. Japanese writer Masayoshi Toyoda supported her, and created doubt about the trial in his book published in November 2005. When he first tried to meet with her he was not allowed because she was a murderer, but he was eventually allowed to meet her on September 27, 2005.

Ogata was sentenced to die in a Fukuoka district court on September 28, 2005, a sentence she appealed on October 11. The court tried six murders, and her father's death was regarded as manslaughter. On September 26, 2007, the high court in Fukuoka sentenced her to life in prison, rejecting the death penalty. Prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court, which narrowly upheld the life sentence.

 

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Milka Pavlovich

A peasant woman from the region of Belovar, Yugoslavia, Milka Pavlovich, was accused of poisoning sixteen relatives in the early months of 1935. Six of the victims, including her husband, had died, ten others surviving to testify at Milka’s murder trial. Convicted on May 19, she was promptly sentenced to hang.

[Article from unidentified newspaper, circa May 20, 1935; a similar article, “Woman to Die For Poisoning Six.” with only slightly different wording appeared in the New York Times, May 20, 1935]

 

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Jane Taylor Quinn: Black Widow Serial Killer - 1911

She married John McDonald at London, Ont., Oct. 23, 1883. McDonald died Sep. 23, 1901, at Jackson, Mich., of alcoholism.

She married Warren Thorpe Oct. 28, 1901, at Jackson, Mich. Thorpe was killed by “a burglar” at his home June 13, 1903.

She married John M. Quinn at Kalamazoo, Mich., not longer after Thorpe’s death. Quinn was shot dead by “a burglar” at Chicago Nov. 2, 1911.

FULL TEXT: The deaths of the three husbands of Mrs. Jane Taylor Quinn are being investigated by the Chicago police while she is in a cell. Her first husband died of alcoholism. Her second husband was shot dead and she accused a burglar. Charles E. Thorpe, her step-son, testified that she was alone with Thorpe when he was killed, a few hours before he was to have transferred his property to his son. Her third husband was shot in his Chicago home Nov. 2. She accused a burglar of the deed. A revolver was found later hidden in her bathroom. Two of her husbands were insured in her favor.

[“Her Three Husbands Are Dead - Tacoma Times (Wa.), Nov. 14, 1911, p. 7]

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FULL TEXT: Chicago, June 1.—As soon as she recovered from a fainting spell which overcame her when the verdict of not guilty was read, Mrs. Jane Taylor Quinn, acquitted of the murder of her husband, .John Quinn this evening personally thanked each of the jurors who had given her life and liberty.

“I want to thank as much on behalf of my daughter who is dying, as on my own behalf,” she said several tunes, and tears coursed down her cheeks. “Your judgment has enabled me to go and see her, and it will help her to die happily.”

The daughter, Mrs. Catherine Huber, who is dying in Omaha Neb., was not mentioned while the woman was facing the charge of murder. At times during the trial when Mrs. Quinn bent her head and sobbed, persons m the court room thought it was because the state was piling up irrefutable circumstantial evidence that would meat her death or imprisonment for life.

Today’s verdict proves that the widow’s confidence was not unfounded when she said repeatedly “they will not find me guilty.”

Mrs. Quinn tonight left for Ann Arbor, Mich., to visit Mrs. James Dowling, her sister, who has been with. her during the trial. She will leave there in a few days to visit the daughter in Omaha, who is rapidly losing the struggle against tuberculosis. Elmer Kirby, one of Mrs. Quinn’s attorneys, and the lawyer who defended her when she was accused of the murder of her second husband, Warren Thorpe, accompanied the sisters. Through Attorney Kirby, Mrs. Quinn tonight gave out the following, statement:

“The verdict proved that Mr. Quinn was killed as I said – by a robber. I would never have been charged with the crime had it not been that I was once before unjustly suspected. The first charge grew out of the enmity of the relative of Warren Thorpe. He committed suicide, as was proved at the trial. The second indictment was against me only because of this former unjust suspicion.”

“During his argument the prosecuting attorney spoke of the beauty of circumstantial evidence. I think it is the most diabolical thing in human invention, any innocent victims have been sent to the gallows with the brand of human hatred upon their memories, because of lying circumstances. If I were a state’s attorney, I would never convict any one on such evidence.”

The jury was out three hours today. During that time there was not a moment’s doubt in Mrs. Quinn’s mind but that she would be acquitted. She remarked when the jury was instructed, “they will not be out long. They will acquit me.”

The arrest of Mrs. Quinn after the death of her third husband was made by the police, who thought they had a strong circumstantial case against her. Her first husband, John McDonald died at London, Ont. in 1901, under mysterious circumstances. Her second spouse, Warren Thorpe, was found dead in bed on the morning of June 13, 1903, a bullet wound indicating murder. At that time Mrs. Quinn was charged with the murder, but was acquitted. John Quinn, the third husband, was shot to death as he lay in bed on the night of November 4, 1911. There were powder burns on his night shirt. The revolver from which the shot was fired was found later in the Quinn bathroom, which appeared in a towel which was identified as one Mrs. Quinn had been seen to carry into the bathroom. The revolver was identified as one belonging to a roomer in the house who had mislaid the weapon from his bureau drawer about a week before the tragedy.

[“Jurors - Return Verdict Of Not Guilty In Quinn Case - Acquitted Defendant Faint When She Learns Of Her Vindication - Has Lost Three Husbands In Mysterious Manner. - Declares She Will Now Go To Omaha, Nebraska To See Dying Daughter.” Syndicated (UP), The Lima News (Oh.), Jun. 2, 1912, p. 1]


QUINN Jane ... ...

... ... ... 4+
aka 1883 1911 IL


Awakened by a gunshot in the pre-dawn hours of November 2, 1911, John Miller scrambled out of bed and rushed to the apartment of his landlord, whence the sound had emanated. On arrival at the scene, he found John Quinn, the landlord, Iying in his bed, blood streaming from a fatal bullet wound. According to the dead man's wife, a prowler was responsible, though Miller saw no evidence of theft or any struggle. Jane Quinn declined to testify at the resulting inquest, and a Chicago coroner's jury deliberated for one hour before ordering her arrest on murder charges. By that time, on November 10, police had learned a thing or two about the lethal Mrs. Quinn. They knew about her marriage to Canadian John McDonald, in October 1883, and his subsequent death -from "alcohol poisoning " - on September 28, 1901. A short month later, at Bass Lake, Michigan, the grieving widow had married Warren Thorpe - and he had been later been shot to death in circumstances similar to those surrounding the Chicago case. Another death in bed this time, involving Jane's own mother - had occurred a short time later, in the house once occupied by Warren Thorpe. The evidence was overwhelming, and Jane Quinn was speedily convicted at her trial on murder charges, sentenced to a term of life imprisonment. If nothing else, the verdict may have spared some future victims from the clutches of a bona fide "black widow."

 

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RAIES Jean

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NO FURTHER INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THIS

 

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Dao Ruiying, Chinese Female Serial Killer of 5 Neighbor Children - 1999

Beijing, China - Chinese authorities have executed seven people for murder, including a woman who used rat poison to kill five children in revenge against their parents, the official newspaper Beijing Evening News reported today.

Dao Ruiying, 44, was executed Monday [Jan. 18] in Shangqiu in central Henan province for having killed the five children, aged 4 to 6, by feeding them sweets laced with rat poison, the report said.

The report did not explain details of the conflict between Diao and the families she targeted for revenge.

In a separate report, the newspaper said six people were executed in Beijing today for murder and robbery

[“Seven Executed in China for Murder,” Associated Press, Jan. 19, 1999]

 

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ROEDER Michaela (RÖDER) 1950

... ... ... 10-17
Wuppertal Angel of Death, Todesengel von Wuppertal
ANOTHER ONE WITH NO REAL INFO ON THE WEB...

 

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SCIERI Antoinette

... ... ... 12
AD 1924 1926 St. Gilles
Verdict/Urteil:

Little is known of Antoinette Scieri's early life, aside from the fact that she was born in Italy and emigrated to France as a child. In the early days of World War I, she worked at a casualty clearing station in Doullens, there beginning a long life of crime. She stole cash and jewelry from the wounded, also forging signatures on letters to their families, requesting money through the mail. Jailed for the theft of an officer's paybook in 1915, she was released the following year. Celebrating her freedom, Antoinette married an Italian soldier named Salmon, bearing him two children before he discovered her flagrant infidelity and left her flat. Next, she took up with an alcoholic brute named Joseph Rossignol, who beat her regularly. Several times she had him jailed on charges of assault, but they were always reconciled. She bore another child, outside of wedlock, and in 1920 they moved to the village of St. Gilles, in southern France. Billing herself as "Nurse Scieri," Antoinette began shopping for elderly patients who needed her care... at a price. With Nurse Scieri on the scene, St. Gilles experienced a rash of sudden deaths among the elderly and ailing. Antoinette lost five patients before the murder machine hit high gear, in December 1924, and from that point there was no turning back. On December 11, a 58-year-old spinster named Drouard died in Scieri's care. Christmas Eve saw the death of Madame Lachapelle, her final convulsions ascribed to "ptomaine poisoning ." When Lachapelle's husband collapsed two days later, Antoinette blamed a heart attack, and a friendly physician agreed. Joe Rossignol welcomed the new year in typical fashion, mauling his common-law wife in a drunken rage, but this time he had gone too far. When Antoinette served up a bowl of mussels, Rossignol consumed them greedily - and died two hours later. According to the testimony at her trial, Scieri watched his death throes, then went out to celebrate her freedom with a drunken orgy. Nurse Scieri's next patients were Marie Martin, 67, and her sister, Madame Doyer. When Antoinette prepared a pot of coffee, Madame Doyer found it bitter, pouring hers down the sink when the nurse's back was turned. Martin drank hers down and shortly died, a circumstance that started ripples of suspicion in St. Gilles. The last to die was Madame Gouan-Criquet, an ailing septuagenarian whose health declined rapidly under Antoinette's "nursing." The victim's husband notified police of his suspicions, and a bottle was found beneath the dead woman's bed, containing a mixture of ether and the herbicide pyralion. The bodies of Joe Rossignol and several other victims were exhumed for autopsy , and all contained huge doses of pyralion. In custody, Scieri openly confessed her crimes and tried to implicate a neighbor, who was later cleared by the police. On April 27, 1926, she was condemned to die upon conviction for a dozen homicides, the judge informing her: "You have been called a monster, but that expression is not strong enough. You are debauched. You are possessed of all the vices. You are also a drunkard, vicious, and a hypocrite. You have no shame. I do not believe judicial history contains the records of many criminals of your type." Scieri shrugged and laughed as sentence was pronounced, aware that there had been no execution of a woman in France since the end of World War I. As expected, her death sentence was soon commuted to life imprisonment , and she subsequently died in jail.

 

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Donna Sorenson, Nebraska Serial Killer: “I had a feeling of elation and happiness” - 1925

St. Paul, Neb., April 20. – Mrs. Bella Sorensen, 28, who yesterday confessed the killing by poison of seven persons, including two of her own children and her husband, probably will never be tried on charge of murder.

County Attorney Dobrey announced last bight that an investigation had shown that Mrs. Sorensen was mentally unbalanced and that she would be placed in the State Insane Asylum. If she should be released from the institution "within two or three years" the attorney said, the murder charges could be revived.

The investigation into the series which led to Mrs. Sorensen's arrest Saturday and subsequently her confession, was started three weeks ago following the serious illness of two small children whom Mrs. Sorensen is alleged to have given some poisoned cookies.

In her signed confession yesterday, Mrs. Sorensen related how she had killed two of her own children, a baby, Delores, and her three-year old daughter, Minnie; the former because her "crying and fretting" irritated her, and the latter because she was ill with St. Vitus dance and "I could do nothing for her."

Her husband, Joseph Weldam, she said, she poisoned after a quarrel.

Mrs. E. Wilhelmina Weldam, Mrs. Sorensen's aged mother-in-law, died of poison given by the accused woman, according to her confession, in the summer of 1920, because "she was feeble and childish and a burden. I wanted to get her out of the way."

Two children of Mrs. Wetzel Cooper, Mrs. Sorensen’s sister-in-law were slain because, Mrs. Sorensen said, she had offended their aunt by “gossiping about her.” The first of these, a little girl, was killed in July, 1918. The second, a four months old baby, was put to death in August, 1922.

“Every time I gave poison to one of Mrs. Cooper’s children, I said to myself, “Now I’m going to get even with you (Mrs. Cooper) for what you have said about me,” the confession said.

On the 20th of February, 1923, came the last of the slayings attributed to Mrs. Sorenson. This was the death of Ruth, baby daughter of Mrs. Christina Brock, whom Mrs. Sorenson confessed she had poisoned “because I felt sorry for the poor child, because its mother did not care for it.

“After the death of my little daughter, Minnie,” the poison slayer said. “I had a feeling of elation and happiness. Then, after I got to thinking about what I had done, I was afraid and tried to hide it. I had the same feeling after the death of every one of those I poisoned.”

[“Gave Poison To Children And Husband - Nebraska Mother Admits Long List of Crimes to Police Following Arrest - Killed Mother-In-Law Slayer Mentally Unbalanced and Will Be Sent to State Asylum,” syndicated (AP), The Bismark Tribune (N.D.), Apr. 20, 1925, p. 1]

Omaha, Nebr., April 29. – “They bothered me, so I decided to kill them.”

This is the only explanation Mrs. Emmanuel [Della] Sorenson has offered authorities regarding the eight murders she admits committing.

Mrs. Sorenson, a dull, commonplace woman, is 25 years old. Her home is a bleak, frame dwelling in Danneborg, Nebr. in this house she killed all of her victims, using poison.

The persons she murdered were all her relatives, through blood or marriage, and three were her own children.

It is Nebraska’s most sensational murder case in many years. It closely parallels the case of Mrs. David Cunningham, who is being held in Chicago for the murder of her husband and five children.

Both used poison. The crimes of both were committed at intervals and escaped detection for a long time.

Mrs. Sorenson’s first victim was little Viola Cooper, daughter of her first husband’s sister. The baby died July 23, 1918.

Her first husband, John Weldman, was her next victim. He passed away of poison in 1920. John Weldman’s mother. Mrs. Wilhelmina Weldman, died a short time later from the same cause.

Mrs. Sorenson’s other victims, in the order of their deaths, were:

Minnie Weldman, 8, daughter. She died September 7, 1921.

Clifford Cooper, 4 months old, infant brother of Viola Cooper. August 20, 1932.

Ruth Brock, less than a year old, daughter of a relative. February 20, 1923.

Delores Sorenson, one year, daughter of her second marriage. February 19, 1924.

Another child, an unnamed infant, sometime in 1924.

[“Woman Remorseless After Taking Eight Relatives’ Lives by Poison,” syndicated (Central Press), The Sioux City Journal (Io.), Apr. 28, 1925, p. 2]

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Miyoko Sumida

"The Piranha Family"

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: To claim insurance or pension money
Number of victims: 6
Date of murder: 2003 - 2011
Date of arrest: December 5, 2011
Date of birth: 1948
Victim profile: Hisayoshi Sumida, 51 / Kazuko Oe, 66 / Jiro Hashimoto, 54 / Mitsue Ando, 71 / Mariko Nakashima, 29 / Takashi Tanimoto, 68
Method of murder: Beating - Starvation - Dehydration
Location: Japan
Status: Committed suicide in her cell on December 12, 2012




Suicide of the Piranha granny: Japanese serial killer, 64, found dead in her cell after murdering six people to claim life insurance

Miyoko Sumida, 64, choked herself in her cell despite being on suicide watch

Sumida is central figure in investigation into multiple deaths of people she was related to and was also suspected of killing her husband

Six other people, including sister-in-law and daughter-in-law, dubbed 'The Piranha Family', have been in custody since November


December 12, 2012

A Japanese grandmother who allegedly orchestrated the murders of six members of her family so she could make money from insurance claims has killed herself.

Miyoko Sumida, 64, the primary suspect behind a series of mysterious deaths in Amagasaki, Japan, took her own life while she was in a holding cell, it was reported today.

Despite being on suicide watch it appears as though she choked herself and her body was found in the early hours of this morning.

She was taken to hospital where she was confirmed dead.

Sumida was the central figure in an investigation into the multiple deaths of people she was related to, or acquainted with, while she was also suspected of killing her husband to claim insurance.

Six other people, including her sister-in-law and daughter-in-law, dubbed 'The Piranha Family' have been in custody since November in connection with the case.

Six bodies were found in steel drums or wrapped in blankets and hidden beneath floorboards of family properties.

Police said she told investigators she was to blame for everything.

The grandmother was arrested following a tip off to police that a number of people who had visited her luxurious penthouse apartment in Amagasaki had subsequently disappeared.

Sumida was charged with the murder of a 66-year-old woman, Kazuko Oe, whose body was found in November 2011 in a concrete-filled metal drum in a warehouse in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, the Japan Times reported.

She was served with a fresh arrest warrant last month on suspicion of killing Jiro Hashimoto, 53, one her distant relatives, after his body, encased in concrete and also inside a steel drum, was pulled from a harbor in Okayama Prefecture.

New charges were filed against a group of suspects on December 5th for Hashimoto’s confinement and murder.

Sumida was also under investigation for her suspected role in a series of other deaths.

Police sources told the Japan Times that Sumida was found this morning in her cell after choking herself.

According to police, she was confirmed to have been dozing in her cell until around 6am but ten minutes later she was found to have stopped breathing.

She was immediately taken to a hospital, where she was confirmed dead, the police officials said.

In October, police discovered the partly mummified remains of three corpses beneath the home of the 88-year-old grandmother of Mrs Sumida’s daughter-in-law.

One of the bodies was identified as Mitsue Ando, 71, the partner of Mrs Sumida’s older brother.

The other two were Mariko Nakashima, the 29-year-old older sister of Mrs Sumida’s daughter-in-law, and 68-year-old Takashi Tanimoto, whose elder brother was a friend of Mrs Sumida.

An investigation into the killings was also widened to look into the death in 2005 of Mrs Sumida’s husband during a holiday in Okinawa.

He was part of a group of nine people having their photo taken on top of a cliff when he fell. The family received Y90million (£705,218) in insurance and had a property mortgage written off.

Police are investigating suggestions from people who were present that the man was coerced into committing suicide, Asia One reported.

Other victims had reportedly loaned money to Sumida or had left property or other assets to her. In police interviews, Sumida’s relatives said they lived in an apartment with her in Amagasaki last year.

They said they were forced to assault Hashimoto and then lock him in a shed on the balcony for several days until he died. The police reportedly believe Sumida intentionally made sure he died from neglect.

According to the police, on October 22, Sumida said to an officer in charge of managing the detention facility in which she was being held: 'I want to die. How can I kill myself'.

She also hinted she wanted to commit suicide on three different occasions, according to the Japan Times. The incidents prompted officers to put her on suicide watch.

Sumida's lawyer, Hajime Takagi, told reporters today that Sumida had told him it was meaningless to continue living.

He said she told him: 'I won't be able to see my family. I have something I want you to convey (to them).'

Takagi last saw Sumida on Tuesday evening. At that time, she stood up and bowed to thank him, he said.

Police are also investigating two more suspicious deaths, including that of her daughter-in-law's 88-year-old grandmother.

Japanese 'killer granny' Miyoko Sumida kills 6 incl. her hubby to claim insurance


December 12, 2012

Even by the standards of vicious crimes committed in Japan, Miyoko Sumida stands out.

Last Wednesday, police filed a new murder charge against Sumida and six members of her extended family for handcuffing a man in a shed on the balcony of her apartment, starving him to death and then placing his body in a barrel before filling it with cement and dumping it into a nearby harbour in western Japan.

The 64-year-old Sumida is said to be the mastermind of at least six murders to claim insurance or pension money.

One of the victims was Sumida's husband, who was part of a group of nine people having their photo taken on top of a cliff when he fell. The family received 90 million yen (S$1.3 million) in insurance and had a property mortgage written off.

Police are investigating suggestions from people who were present that the man was coerced into committing suicide.

Other victims apparently had loaned money to Sumida or had left property or other assets to her after their untimely deaths. More bodies have been found in steel drums or wrapped in blankets and hidden beneath floorboards of family properties.

The authorities are still looking into two more suspicious deaths, including that of her daughter-in-law's 88-year-old grandmother.

While the grisly murders have shocked many Japanese, perhaps what was more shocking is that the alleged leader of the pack - nicknamed The Piranha Family by local media - is a grandmother in her 60s.

But it goes some way towards bearing out new government statistics that suggest Japan is experiencing a crime wave committed by the elderly.

A White Paper on crime released last month showed that 48,637 people aged 65 and older were the subject of criminal investigations last year, accounting for 16 per cent of all those investigated in the 12-month period.

It was the highest percentage since statistics were first collected in 1986, and the total was over six times the figure 20 years ago.

The figures also paint a picture at odds with the image of genial and gentle grandparents. This is particularly when one considers that the number of elderly people charged with inflicting bodily injury has risen almost ninefold since 1992, and the number of assaults has rocketed more than 49-fold in the same period.

"It is a very difficult time for many old people," noted Mr Nobuyuki Kanematsu, the founder and chairman of the Association Against Ageism.

"A lot of older people are experiencing financial problems; their pensions do not go as far as they should and their savings are shrinking," he said.

"And there is a growing gap between the poor and the rich, with the poor often having to resort to shoplifting and such minor crimes just to survive."

Another problem is the way families have changed here in recent years, he said.

Grandparents used to live under the same roof with their children and their families.

"That was good because all the generations had support and could share advice. And it was simple things like eating together and talking that made the nuclear family so strong. But that has gone now."

Increasingly, old people are living as couples or alone and cut off from their families and society.

There are also indications that the less well-off, particularly those who are old and homeless, often commit minor crimes so that they can spend the cold winter months in a comparatively warm and comfortable prison.

While 70 per cent of the crimes committed by the elderly involve theft or shoplifting, it is the violent crimes committed by people like Sumida that cause the Japanese authorities the greatest worry.

Homicides committed by old people have risen even as the overall murder rate has declined.

To deal with the problem, the Japanese government is spending 8.3 billion yen on building three new prison wards specifically designed to cater to the rising number of elderly inmates.

Many of them are repeat offenders who commit another minor crime shortly after their release simply to get back into prison, where they know they will be warm and comfortable, get regular meals and have friends of their own age.

The convoluted crime spree of Amagasaki's 'piranha family'


November 25, 2012

By next week, the media will start compiling lists of the top news stories of 2012. The short list can be expected to include natural and manmade disasters, political bombshells, international disputes, indiscretions by celebrities in the worlds of sports and entertainment and, of course, sensational crimes.

For the latter, the year's top story in Japan is almost certain to be the Amagasaki renzoku fushin-shi jiken (Amagasaki incident involving a series of suspicious deaths).

On Oct. 30, a metal drum filled with concrete and containing the corpse of Jiro Hashimoto, was pulled out of the harbor in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture. Hashimoto, age 53 at the time he was believed to have been beaten to death in September last year, was the younger brother of Hisayoshi Sumida, who died at age 51 in 2005 when he "accidentally" fell off a cliff in Cape Manza, Okinawa.

Three weeks earlier police had found the body of Kazuko Oe, 66, in a metal drum at a warehouse in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture. A search also turned up the skeletal remains of two women and one man under the floorboards of a weatherbeaten house in Amagasaki.

If four other persons who have been declared missing can also be presumed dead as a result of foul play, the body count is now up to 10 — one death by falling, five corpses and the four who are missing. (Some writers have suggested even more bodies may be forthcoming.) The first of these deaths appears to date as far back as 1987, when the mother of Jiro Hashimoto went missing in Amagasaki.

Six men and two women, ranging in age from 25 to 64, have been implicated in the deaths. The tabloid media has nicknamed them the "piranha family," and in attempts to bring order to the confusion some publications have produced detailed diagrams showing the family tree, outlining the convoluted relationships between the victims and the alleged perpetrators.

The scene of at least some of the crimes was apparently a condominium in Amagasaki, where several victims appeared to have been beaten and locked in a storage shed on the veranda until they expired from starvation or dehydration. The corpses of Hashimoto and Oe were then dismembered and placed in large metal drums, which were filled with concrete.

The leading role in this shocking affair is attributed to 64-year-old Miyoko Sumida, a former operator of a "snack" establishment to whom the media refers to as a kijo (devil woman). Reportage of Sumida's crimes briefly took on the theater of the absurd when it was revealed that the photo of her which initially ran in numerous publications was actually a completely different person — a mistake since rectified.

Sumida's common-law husband Yutaro Azumayori, 62, has also been implicated, although his complicity in the crimes is unclear. Miyoko's younger sister Mieko Sumida reportedly received a total of ¥90 million in life-insurance payouts from two companies following the accidental death of her husband, Hisayoshi, in 2005.

While Miyoko is known to have expensive tastes (her residence was reportedly filled with deluxe furnishings), the true motives for the killings, and degree of involvement by other family members, have yet to be clarified. Miyoko has allegedly said she would accept full blame for all the deaths, but some concerns have arisen that the prosecutors may not be able to charge her with homicide, having to settle instead for a lesser charge of injury resulting in death.

While the death penalty can be imposed for the former, maximum punishment for the latter is 20 years' imprisonment, possibly extended to 30 years for multiple crimes. Sumida's defense attorneys are likely to argue that she could not have foreseen the deaths.

However, it appears Sumida may have arranged for a monitor camera to be set up outside the storage sheds in which the victims were imprisoned, and it has been suggested that this might justify upping the charges against her.

"If (the accused) maintains she did not believe the first victim would die, it will be difficult to prove homicidal intent," professor emeritus Hiroshi Itakura of Nihon University told Sunday Mainichi (Nov. 25). "But if she repeated the same actions, I suppose it's possible that charges of homicide through 'willful negligence' will be recognized."

Attorney Kazuo Mizushima told Aera (Nov. 26) he thinks the investigation into the crimes may require a year or longer. The media is digging in for the long haul.

Meanwhile the citizens of Amagasaki, a rough-and-tumble industrial town of 460,000 on Osaka's western periphery, have been aghast at the negative publicity dumped on their town in the wake of the Sumida affair. In the latest fallout, Aera noted that when 15 middle school students from neighboring Nishinomiya were scheduled to tour local factories earlier this month, only three showed up.

Citing a 2006 survey of residents of six Kansai prefectures, Aera noted that 61.9 percent of respondents said they regarded Amagasaki as a town with a poor public-safety record, and 57.6 percent considered it "dirty." But much progress has been made in reducing the city's once-notorious air pollution, and residents — despite the stigma brought on by the recent revelations — generally give their city better marks than do outsiders.

Japan in shock over woman’s 'reign of terror'

The Asahi Shimbun

November 9, 2012

AMAGASAKI, Hyogo Prefecture—It’s a crime spree that has gripped the nation, a horrific chain of events involving torture, death--and a 64-year-old woman so terrifying that she coerced children to turn against their parents.

Five bodies have been found, including two stuffed in concrete-filled drums. Four people remain missing, and multiple arrests have been made.

Police are still trying to uncover details of the crimes linked to Miyoko Sumida, the apparent ringleader of a group behind the violence.

Sumida, her common-law husband and six relatives were arrested on Nov. 7 on suspicion of abandoning the body of Jiro Hashimoto, 53, in a drum filled with concrete. The suspects include Sumida’s sister-in-law, Mieko Sumida, 59, Sumida’s cousin Masanori Sumida, 38, Sumida's son Yutaro Sumida, 25, and Rui Sumida, 27, Yutaro's wife.

Hashimoto was the brother of Mieko Sumida's husband.

Police suspect Hashimoto was living at Miyoko Sumida’s condominium in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and died in July 2011 after being repeatedly assaulted and left handcuffed in a locked hut on the balcony for a week or so.

The drum containing his body was retrieved from the water at Hinase Port in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, on Oct. 30.

Miyoko Sumida has generally admitted to the allegations, police said.

Hashimoto’s mother remains missing.

Sources said Miyoko Sumida was the tyrannical leader of the group of relatives, close and distant, who lived in her lavish condominium.

Not only was Sumida intimidating, but she was also a braggart, once showing off jewelry she claimed was worth 200 million yen ($2.5 million) to a neighbor.

It is unclear where Sumida obtained her apparent wealth. She dropped out of high school and opened a bar that hired women in an entertainment district of Amagasaki when she was a teenager. She married when she was 23 but divorced two years later, the sources said.

At the condominium filled with relatives and acquaintances, Mieko Sumida acted as Miyoko Sumida's treasurer, while Masanori Sumida was her bodyguard and Rui Sumida was considered her successor.

Miyoko Sumida and her minions were so intimidating that they forced family members of one victim to participate in her death, the sources said.

The victim was Kazuko Oe, 66, who lived in a condominium next to Sumida’s. Oe’s body was found in a concrete-filled drum in a warehouse in Amagasaki in November last year, apparently after having been confined in her condominium.

Miyoko Sumida, Masanori Sumida, Oe’s two daughters and a former husband of one of the daughters have been indicted on charges of causing injuries resulting in Oe’s death and abandoning her body.

The discovery of Oe’s body led to the wider investigation surrounding Sumida. Police soon discovered that eight other individuals connected to the Amagasaki woman were missing.

The bodies of three of them--Mariko Nakashima, 29, Takashi Tanimoto, 68, and Mitsue Ando, 71--were found under the floor of a house in Amagasaki in mid-October.

Nakashima was an older sister of Rui Sumida, and Tanimoto was their uncle. Ando had been a girlfriend of Miyoko Sumida’s late elder brother.

Police suspect the three died before 2008 after continued abuse from Sumida’s relatives in her condominium. They were fed only instant noodles and snacks during their final days, the sources said.

Sumida was long known to overreact to even the slightest inconveniences, and demanded outrageous compensation from the target of her vicious verbal attacks to make things right. She effectively took over and broke up the family of Nakashima and Rui Sumida using her methods of terror, according to sources close to the family.

In 2003, Miyoko Sumida and others invaded the family’s home in Takamatsu. According to sources, Sumida was infuriated because the sisters’ parents had refused to live with their nephew, Masanori Sumida, the sources said.

During the occupation of the house, the parents suffered months of violence from Miyoko Sumida, Masanori Sumida and others. Miyoko Sumida even forced the daughters to turn against their parents. Tanimoto, the father’s older brother, was later brought into the ring, the sources said.

The mother was reportedly reduced to skin and bone and died of an illness. The father was forced to borrow 18 million yen from his relatives before Sumida and her subordinates finally left for Amagasaki, taking with them the two daughters and Tanimoto, the sources said.

Rui, who had won Sumida’s favor, married son Yutaro in 2007.

In addition to Hashimoto’s mother, three other individuals remain unaccounted for: the brother of Miyoko Sumida’s adopted son, Kentaro; the woman who lived in the house where the bodies of Nakashima, Tanimoto and Ando were found; and the woman’s daughter.

(This article was compiled from reports by The Asahi Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun Weekly AERA.)

Miyoko Sumida, 7 others to be arrested in death of man discovered in drum in Okayama

Prime suspect is also being investigated for three bodies found under a home in Amagasaki


November 7, 2012

TOKYO (TR) – Hyogo prefectural police on Wednesday are expected to arrest Miyoko Sumida and seven others in connection to the discovery of a concrete-covered corpse stuffed inside a barrel raised last week from the bottom of Hinase Harbor in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 7).

The barrel, retrieved on October 30, was confirmed to contain the body of a 54-year-old Jiro Hashimoto, who police suspect died after being physically abused at the residence of Miyoko Sumida, the central figure in a continuing investigation related to multiple suspicious deaths.

Miyoko Sumida, 64, was previously indicted for the death of 66-year-old Kazuko Oe, whose body was discovered last November encased in concrete inside a drum stored in a warehouse in Amagasaki City, Hyogo. She is accused of inflicting injury resulting in death. Sumida is expected to be re-arrested for the dumping of Hashimoto’s body.

According to police, Hashimoto, who is a distant relative of Sumida, died about a year ago.

On October 14 and 15, police discovered three corpses under the unoccupied Amagasaki home of the 88-year-old grandmother of the wife of the son of Sumida. Sumida’s sister-in-law, 59-year-old Mieko Sumida, and daughter-in-law, Rui Sumida, 27, are under prosecution for stealing 3.7 million yen in pension money from the grandmother’s account.

Investigators later announced that one body found under was that of Mitsue Ando, 71, the girlfriend of Miyoko Sumida’s elder brother. The other two corpses are Mariko Nakashima (29), the older sister of Rui Sumida, and 68-year-old Takashi Tanimoto, whose elder brother was an acquaintance of Miyoko Sumida.

Both Mieko and Rui Sumida are also expected to be re-arrested in the dumping of Hashimoto’s body. Included among the other five suspects are Nakashima’s 42-year-old husband and Masanori Ri, 38, Miyoko Sumida’s cousin who is serving a prison sentence in the death of Oe.

Ri is alleged to have masterminded the encasing of Hashimoto’s corpse in concrete with the other suspects assisting in the body’s disposal.

Police also revealed in October that following the accidental death of the 51-year-old husband of Mieko Sumida during a sightseeing trip to Cape Manza in Okinawa in 2005, payouts of 90 million yen for insurance policies and a home mortgage exemption were made to the junior Sumida.

On July 1, 2005, a group of nine people, including both Miyoko and Mieko Sumida, their relatives, and friends, gathered for a photo session at the edge of a 30-meter cliff overlooking the ocean. While standing in the back of the group, the victim reportedly dropped to his death.

According to the Sankei Shimbun (Oct. 29), police are currently investigating the insurance payout as a matter of fraud as witnesses have said that the man, who is the older brother of Hashimoto, was coerced into committing suicide.

In 2000, a condominium, also located in Amagasaki, was purchased in the name of Mieko Sumida’s husband. A loan of 29.8 million yen was taken out for the purchase, with Ando, who was found under the Amagasaki home, as one guarantor. Mieiko Sumida later paid off the loan in full.

Investigators believe that more people seen regularly around the Amagasaki home are still missing, including the 88-year-old grandmother, who police have been told was buried at the home of a relative in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture. She has not been seen since 2003.

Drum discovered sunk off Okayama, believed linked to mysterious deaths in Hyogo

Miyoko Sumida is being investigated for three bodies found under a home in Amagasaki


October 30, 2012

TOKYO (TR) – Hyogo prefectural police on Tuesday raised a barrel filled with concrete from the bottom of Hinase Harbor in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture that is believed to contain a body related to an ongoing case of mysterious deaths in Hyogo Prefecture, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Oct. 30).

The barrel, retrieved from a depth of approximately three meters, is believed to hold the body of a 54-year-old man who police suspect died after being physically abused at the residence of Miyoko Sumida, the central figure in a continuing investigation related to multiple suspicious deaths.

Miyoko Sumida, 64, was previously indicted for the death of 66-year-old Kazuko Oe, whose body was discovered last November encased in concrete inside a drum stored in a warehouse in Amagasaki City, Hyogo. She is accused of inflicting injury resulting in death.

On October 14 and 15, police discovered three corpses under the unoccupied Amagasaki home of the 88-year-old grandmother of the wife of the son of Sumida. Sumida’s sister-in-law, 59-year-old Mieko Sumida, and daughter-in-law, Rui Sumida, 27, are under prosecution for stealing 3.7 million yen in pension money from the grandmother’s account.

Investigators later announced that one body found under was that of Mitsue Ando, 71, the girlfriend of Miyoko Sumida’s elder brother. The other two corpses are Mariko Nakashima (29), the older sister of Rui Sumida, and 68-year-old Takashi Tanimoto, whose elder brother was an acquaintance of Miyoko Sumida.

Police revealed last week that following the accidental death of the 51-year-old husband of Mieko Sumida during a sightseeing trip to Cape Manza in Okinawa in 2005, payouts of 90 million yen for insurance policies and a home mortgage exemption were made to the junior Sumida.

On July 1, 2005, a group of nine people, including both Miyoko and Mieko Sumida, their relatives, and friends, gathered for a photo session at the edge of a 30-meter cliff overlooking the ocean. While standing in the back of the group, the victim reportedly dropped to his death.

The man was the older brother of the missing man whose remains are believed to be inside the barrel raised on Tuesday.

According to the Sankei Shimbun (Oct. 29), police are currently investigating the insurance payout as a matter of fraud as witnesses have said that the man was coerced into committing suicide.

In 2000, a condominium, also located in Amagasaki, was purchased in the name of Mieko Sumida’s husband. A loan of 29.8 million yen was taken out for the purchase, with Ando, who was found under the Amagasaki home, as one guarantor. Mieiko Sumida later paid off the loan in full.

Police plan to open the barrel discovered on Wednesday to confirm its contents.

Investigators believe that more people seen regularly around the Amagasaki home are still missing, including the 88-year-old grandmother, who police have been told was buried at the home of a relative in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture. She has not been seen since 2003.

Grisly Amagasaki details emerge

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Oct. 24, 2012

KOBE--A 54-year-old man, whose body is thought to have been abandoned in a metal barrel in the sea off Okayama Prefecture, died after being physically abused and confined at the home of Miyoko Sumida, the main figure in the so-called Amagasaki case in which three bodies were found at a home in the Hyogo Prefecture city, Sumida's relatives reportedly told police.

Meanwhile, the Hyogo prefectural police said the identity of the last body found in the house had been confirmed as Mariko Nakashima, 29, who was living in Amagasaki.

The man is one of many missing people in the case. He is a younger brother of the husband of Mieko Sumida, Miyoko's sister-in-law.

Miyoko Sumida, 64, has been indicted on suspicion of inflicting injuries on a woman resulting in death and other charges in a separate case in which the woman's body was found in a metal barrel last year. Mieko Sumida, 59, has been indicted on suspicion of theft in a separate case.

Miyoko's relatives reportedly told the police the man was beaten at her home and confined in a shed on the balcony for several days but was found dead when it was opened, investigative sources said Tuesday. The shed can be locked from outside.

Nakashima died under similar circumstances after several days of confinement in the shed after having been beaten, the relatives reportedly told the police.

The police suspect they died of starvation or dehydration.

The 54-year-old man had been living with Sumida and others for a while, but fled to Tokyo. He was found by members of Sumida's group in 2009 and taken back to Sumida's condominium in Amagasaki. He had been living with her until he died around the summer of last year, the police suspect.

The relatives said he had been regularly punched and kicked by those close to Sumida, the investigative sources said.

After he died, he was put in a metal drum with concrete, carried to Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, and abandoned in the sea, they reportedly told police.

Nakashima is the granddaughter of an 87-year-old woman who was living in the house where the three bodies were found and a daughter of a family in Takamatsu that was reportedly broken up by Sumida.

She was taken to the Kansai region by Sumida and others in 2003 and is believed to have died around 2008.

The other two bodies have been identified as Takashi Tanimoto, Nakashima's uncle, and Mitsue Ando, who was a girlfriend of Sumida's elder brother.

Sumida's condominium, with three rooms and a living-dining space, is on the top floor of an eight-story building. The living room is filled with luxury furniture, according to investigative sources.

The balcony is surrounded by a wooden fence, preventing people from seeing inside.

Woman at center of Amagasaki mystery deaths lived in luxurious condo

Mainichi Japan

October 22, 2012

AMAGASAKI, Hyogo -- A condominium here where Miyoko Sumida, the central figure in a series of mysterious deaths and disappearances, and her close acquaintances had lived will come up for court-ordered auction in early November.

Photos of the condo -- seized over the group's failure to keep up debt payments -- revealed the luxurious life Sumida, 64, and her close friends had led until recently. Sumida has been indicted on charges of inflicting injuries resulting in the death of a woman whose body was found in a concrete-filled drum in this city in November 2011.

The body of Mitsue Ando, 71, a girlfriend of Sumida's elder brother, was also discovered recently.

The condo was purchased in 2000 in the name of the husband of Sumida's younger sister Mieko, 59. Ando was one of the guarantors listed for a 29.8 million yen home loan. Mieko has been indicted on charges of theft.

Mieko's husband fell from a cliff and died during a trip to Okinawa in July 2005 and she received about 10 million yen in insurance money. She fully repaid the loan the following month. In 2008, revolving mortgages totaling 37.9 million yen were taken out on the condo in two installments.

According to a report prepared by the Amagasaki Branch of the Kobe District Court, the condo on the top floor of an eight-story building has about 75 square meters of floor space. Photos attached to the report show the condo has been renovated and features a mirrored entrance and hallways. The entrance porch and a major portion of the veranda are screened by wooden fences. The property's residents, however, had fallen nearly 80,000 yen behind in service charges and other costs by July this year.

A man who was invited to the condo by Miyoko Sumida three years ago remembers that lighting was dim and the house looked like a VIP room in a bar. She boasted that tableware, jewels and other valuables in a showcase amount to 200 million yen, the man says.

Investigative sources say the condo had been used exclusively by Sumida and her close acquaintances.

Hyogo bodies identified as murder case expands, reaches into past


October 20, 2012

KOBE — Two of three bodies discovered under a house in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, have been identified, and police speculate the murder suspect they are holding in connection with the case may be responsible for the disappearance of several other people.

The two bodies identified were those of Takashi Tanimoto of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, and Mitsue Ando, of Amagasaki.

Both Tanimoto, 68, and Ando are linked to Miyoko Sumida, 64, the prime suspect in a murder case in which the body of Kazuko Oe, a 66-year-old woman, was discovered last year in another part of Amagasaki, buried in cement inside an oil drum. Sumida's sister-in-law, Mieko, 59, is also under arrest.

Tanimoto, whose body was identified Thursday through DNA tests, is the uncle of Rui Sumida, 27, the daughter-in-law of suspect Miyoko Sumida.

Sources close to Tanimoto alleged that Miyoko Sumida extorted at least ¥16 million from relatives of Rui Sumida's father by forcing the daughter-in-law to beat him at his home in Takamatsu in 2003. Rui Sumida is now on trial for theft in a separate case.

Tanimoto and Rui Sumida's sister vanished soon afterward. The third body found under the Amagasaki house is suspected to be that of the sister, whose name was not provided.

The second body identified Friday, Ando, was a girlfriend of the older brother of Miyoko Sumida and had been financially linked to an apartment the suspect lived in. The flat was formerly owned by Mieko Sumida's late husband.

Ando's corpse as well as Tanimoto's were partly skeletonized, and sources said they have been dead several years.

Tanimoto's body had several bruises on the head and legs. According to sources, there is unverified information that Tanimoto was killed in 2003.

The police are investigating events that led up to the deaths, but have so far not revealed any causes of death.

Sources close to Miyoko Sumida said more corpses linked to the case have been dumped in Okayama and Kagawa prefectures. The police believe she played a key role in the deaths. Other reports said she intimidated her victims and exerted some sort of mind control over them.

Japan police make grisly discovery while investigating woman's 2011 murder


October 16, 2012

KOBE - Two bodies have been found under a house in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, during a police investigation conducted based on a source close to a woman believed to be a prime suspect in a murder that came to light last year, according to police.

The 64-year-old woman, Miyoko Sumida, is one of five people who were indicted in December on suspicion of abandoning the body of Kazuko Oe, 66. Oe's body was found encased in concrete inside a metal drum on Nov. 9 last year.

"Three bodies are in the house, and three others were killed and their bodies were abandoned at other locations in the prefecture," police quoted the source as saying.

Police continued searching the house Monday and planned to investigate other locations for additional victims. At least seven people who were acquainted with Sumida have gone missing.

The two bodies were found naked in a hole under the floor of a six-mat tatami room. One of the victims was a woman with gray hair. The body had been covered in concrete and part of her feet had decomposed.

Another body, which had also decomposed, was found about two meters from the first victim. The gender was not determined, but the deceased had 10-centimeter-long hair, the sources said.

Police believe more than one year has passed since the two died.

An 87-year-old woman who lived in the house went missing more than 10 years ago, prompting the police to suspect that one of the bodies is hers.

Of the seven missing people, two are male and five are female aged from 29 to 87.

Four of them are identified as Sumida's kin, and five of them temporarily registered their residency at the house or two other locations in the city, according to the sources.

The five who were indicted over the abandonment of Oe's body were Sumida; Sumida's cousin, 38; Oe's eldest daughter, 44; Oe's second daughter, 41; and her former husband, 42.

In February, all four except Sumida's cousin were indicted on an additional charge of beating Oe to death and unlawful confinement. The cousin received a prison sentence for abandoning the body.

Sumida knew family

According to police sources, a six-member family comprising a couple with two sons and two daughters originally lived in the house.

Around 2001, the eldest son, 69, who was a janitor at a primary school in Amagasaki, became acquainted with Sumida, who was married to a man who went to the same middle school as the son.

The family was soon on good terms with Sumida.

After the eldest son quit his job in 2002 on Sumida's advice, he moved into Sumida's apartment in the same city.

However, he went missing around 2003. By that time, the second son had already moved into Sumida's apartment. She demanded the second son pay for daily living expenses in place of the eldest son, after which he started giving his elder brother's pension payments to Sumida, the sources said.

The 87-year-old mother of the two sons had been living alone in the house, but went missing around 2002. The house has remained vacant since then.

The second son later moved out of Sumida's apartment and is believed to have died of a disease in Tokyo last year, sources said.

A police official tracked down the eldest son this summer, who lived and worked in a laborers' lodge in the city.

He had been living under a false name for many years, the police official said. "I tried to escape Sumida's place many times, but was taken back every time I tried. I'm afraid of her," he was quoted as saying.

The 87-year-old woman's 60-year-old daughter is missing.

Her granddaughter Rui, 27, who married Sumida's son in 2007, was indicted for stealing the pensions of her grandmother and her eldest son.

Rui's elder sister, 29, and her uncle, 68, are also missing.

Miyoko Sumida
(Provided by Hyogo prefectural police)

Miyoko Sumida

Reporters surround a vehicle carrying Miyoko Sumida to the Kobe District Public
Prosecutors Office on Nov. 8, 2012.
(The Asahi Shimbun)

A drum is retrieved at Hinase Port in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, on Oct. 30. The body of Jiro
Hashimoto was later found inside.
(The Asahi Shimbun)

Police inspect the balcony of Miyoko Sumida’s condominium in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture,
on October 26, 2012.
(The Asahi Shimbun)

Police search the home in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, where the bodies of three people
were found encased in concrete in steel drums.
(Mainichi)

A photo attached to a report prepared by the Amagasaki Branch of the Kobe District Court
shows luxurious furniture as well as a showcase containing tableware and jewels in
Miyoko Sumida's condominium.

Relations in the cases of unnatural deaths
(The Asahi Shimbun)

 

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Maria Catherina Swanenburg

A.K.A.: "Goeie Mie" (which translates as Good Mee)

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Poisoner - Swanenburg's motive was the money she would receive either through the victims' insurance or their inheritance
Number of victims: 27 +
Date of murder: 1880 - 1883
Date of arrest: December 1883
Date of birth: September 9, 1839
Victims profile: Children and ill people in the poor neighbourhood of Leiden in which she lived
Method of murder: Poisoning (arsenic)
Location: Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands
Status: Sentenced to life in prison in 1885. Died in prison on April 11, 1915





Maria Catherina Swanenburg (Leiden 9 September 1839 - Gorinchem 11 April 1915) was a Dutch serial killer, who murdered at least 27, and was suspected of killing more than 90 people.

Swanenburg was the daughter of Clemens Swanenburg and Johanna Dingjan. After her first two daughters died at a young age, she married Johannes van der Linden on 13 May 1868. The result of this marriage was five sons and two daughters. The marriage lasted until 29 January 1886. Her nickname was Goeie Mie, also spelt as Goede Mie in modern Dutch (which translates as Good Mee) which she got for taking care of children and ill people in the poor neighbourhood of Leiden in which she lived.

It was established with certainty she poisoned at least 102 people with arsenic of which 27 died between 1880 and 1883. The investigation included more than ninety suspicious deaths. Forty-five of the survivors sustained chronic health problems after ingesting the poison.

Swanenburg's motive was the money she would receive either through the victims' insurance or their inheritance. She had secured most of the insurance policies herself. Her first victim was her own mother in 1880; shortly after this, she killed her father too.

She was caught when trying to poison the Frankhuizen family in December 1883. Her trial began on April 23, 1885. Maria Swanenburg was found guilty of murder of her last three victims and sentenced to live in a correctional facility for the rest of her life. She died there in 1915.

Maria Swanenburg

 

[b2ux]

Bobbie Sue Terrell

A native of tiny Woodlawn, Illinois, the future death angel of Florida grew up overweight, myopic, and painfully shy. Her seven siblings included four brothers afflicted with muscular dystrophy, two of whom would die from the disease before Bobbie Sue reached her mid-thirties. Above-average grades in school were countered by an outspoken religious fervor that amused or embarrassed Bobbies classmates. Only in church did she shine, playing the organ for Sunday services, displaying a fine singing voice. Graduating high school in 1973, Bobbie Sue was doubtless influenced by family illness in her choice of a nursing career. By 1976, she was a registered nurse, ready to take her place in the medical community. Married to Danny Dudley a short time later, Bobbie was despondent at learning she could not bear children. The couple adopted a son, but their marriage collapsed when the boy was hospitalized for a drug overdose. Dudley accused his wife of feeding the child tranquilizers prescribed for her own schizophrenia, a charge that led to Bobbie being stripped of custody in the divorce. Alone again, Bobbie Sues health and mental state swiftly declined. In short order, she was hospitalized five times--for fibroid stomach tumors, for a hysterectomy and removal of her ovaries, for surgery on a broken arm that failed to heal properly, for gall bladder problems, for ulcers and pneumonia. Bobbie voluntarily committed herself to a state mental hospital, spending more than a year under psychiatric treatment. On release, she held several short-term nursing jobs before she was hired to work at Hillview Manor, a rest home in Greenville, Illinois. It wasnt long before the staff at Hillview Manor started to record bizarre events surrounding Bobbie Sue. She fainted frequently on duty, with no apparent cause, and twice she slashed her own vagina with a pair of scissors. The second wound required emergency surgery at Barnes Hospital, in St. Louis, where Bobbie told a counselor she stabbed herself in rage and frustration over her own infertility. Discharged from her job at the rest home, Bobbie Sue moved to St. Petersburg in July 1984, obtaining a Florida nursing license that August. Drifting from job to job in the Tampa Bay area, she was still dogged by mysterious ailments, including a bout of rectal bleeding that led to an emergency colostomy. In spite of everything, October found Bobbie Sue employed as a shift super-visor at St. Petersburgs North Horizon Health Center, assigned to work from 11 P.M. to 7 A.M. With Bobbie Sue in charge, the late-night graveyard shift soon lived up to its sinister nickname. Aggie Marsh, age ninety-seven, was the first to die, on November 13, 1984. Advanced age made her death seem commonplace, but eyebrows were raised a few days later, when 94-year-old Anna Larson nearly died from an insulin overdose. The riddle: Mrs. Larson was not diabetic, and insulin was kept in a locked cabinet, with Nurse Dudley holding the only key. And the grim toll continued. On November 23, 85-year-old Leathy McKnight died from an insulin overdose on Dudleys shift; the same night, an unexplained fire broke out in a hospital linen closet, with arson suspected. Two more patients, 79-year-old Mary Cartwright and 85-year-old Stella Bradham, died on the night of November 25. The next day, a Monday dubbed The Holocaust by worried staffers, five more patients died in quick succession. Matters went from bad to worse after that, including an anonymous call to the rest home, a womans voice whispering that five patients had been murdered in their beds. Police were summoned to North Horizon in the predawn hours of November 27, finding Nurse Dudley with a stab wound in her side. Bobbie Sue blamed a prowler for the assault, and detectives were further concerned by reports of twelve patient deaths in the past thirteen days. A full-scale investigation was launched, leading to Bobbie Sues December dismissal for the good of the facility. When Bobbie filed a $22,000 claim for workmens compensation based on her stabbing, the hospital countered with psychiatric reports branding Dudley a borderline schizophrenic who suffered from Munchausens syndrome (a mental condition characterized by self-inflicted wounds and false claims of illness). Reports of Bobbies Illinois self-mutilations were obtained, and her claim was rejected. On January 31, 1985, Dudley entered a Pinellas County hospital for medical and psychiatric treatment. By this time, she was already a prime suspect in several deaths at North Horizon, and detectives had obtained exhumation orders for nine patients-- including bodies buried in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Bobbie Sue was still hospitalized on February 12, when Floridas Department of Professional Regulation issued an emergency order suspending her nurses license. DPR spokesmen further asked the states Board of Nursing for a permanent revocation order, calling Dudley an immediate, serious danger to the public health, safety, and welfare. Bobbie Sue demanded a formal hearing, and while waiting for her day in court, she married 38-year-old Ron Terrell, a plumber from Tampa. Matrimony failed to do the trick where Bobbies mental problems were concerned, and she soon found herself in another mental ward, this time committed against her will. She was still inside when the Board of Nursing announced a five-year suspension of her license, with reinstatement condiMJû 0Ãû ¥Hû tional upon successful psychiatric treatment. Licensing became the least of Bobbies problems on March 17, when she was formally charged with attempting to murder Anna Larson in November 1984. Arresting officers found the Dudleys living in a roadside tent, but a search of their former residence still turned up sufficient evidence to support indictments on four counts of murder. Bobbie Sue was held without bond pending trial in the deaths of Aggie Marsh, Leathy McKnight, Stella Bradham, and Mary Cartwright. The trial was scheduled to begin on October 20, 1985, but legal maneuvers and psychiatric tests repeatedly postponed the date. At last, in February 1988, Bobbie Sue pled guilty to reduced charges of second-degree murder and was sentenced to a combined term of sixty-five years in prison.
TERRELL Bobbie Sue

... ... ... 12

1984 1985

 

[b2ux]

Lydia Trueblood

Black Widow - Lydia Trueblood:
Lydia Trueblood was from Pocatello, Idaho and earned her seat on the list of female serial killers for poisoning five of her husbands, her brother-in-law and her baby girl.
Tragic Losses:
Lydia Trueblood was less than remarkable in appearance yet something about her seemed to capture the attention of men. At the age of 19, she married one such man, Idaho land owner, Robert C. Dooley. The happy couple had a baby girl who they named Lorraine and all seemed well until the sudden death of Lorraine. Soon after, Robert's brother Edward Dooley who was living with the couple, also died. Then tragically in October 1915, Robert also died from what was thought to have been typhoid fever.
Husband Number Two:
Within two years Lydia overcame her grief and married William G. McHaffle and moved to his home in Montana. But within a year and a half, the unlucky widow suffered another loss. On October 1, 1918 McHaffle died from what was thought to be complications of influenza and diphtheria.
Husband Number Three:
But Lydia had a way of bouncing back from her grief and at the age of 25, and twice widowed, she met yet another man. His name was Harlan C. Lewis, an automotive engineer from Billings, Montana. However, within four months, Lewis was dead from complications of gastro-enteritis.
Husband Number Four:
Lydia managed to get over her loss fairly quickly as in the past and it was not long before the 27-year-old widower three times over met and married Edward F. Meyer, a ranch foreman from Pocatello, Idaho. Edward only survived the marriage for one month, dying after contracting typhoid.
On the Run:
This time her unfortunate history with dying husbands aroused suspicion and a local chemist, Earl Dooley, decided to dig a little deeper into the death of Meyers. He collected soil on the spot where Meyers died, tested it and discovered it contained arsenic. After testing was done on the exhumed body of Meyers and large traces of arsenic was uncovered, authorities went to arrest Lydia, but she was no where to be found.
Husband Number Five:
Eventually the bodies of all her dead husbands, her baby and her brother-in-law were tested and traces of arsenic was detected in some. By the time authorities caught up with Lydia she was living in Hawaii and married to Paul Vincent. Lydia was returned to face murder charges of which she was found guilty and sentenced to ten years to life. It was determined that her motive for murder was money, since she had taken out and collected on the life insurance policies of each of her dead husbands.
Easy Prey:
Lydia was very resourceful, even behind bars, and she managed to escape from prison into the arms of David Minton, an ex-convict who had fallen in love with her before his release from prison. Once outside the prison walls, Lydia didn't stay with Minton for long, but she did leave him alive. This proved to be her demise because Minton, angered at Lydia leaving him, told police where she was living in Topeka, Kansas.
Husband Number Six:
Somehow Lydia had managed to marry yet another man, Harry Whitlock, after leaving Minton and before the police caught up to her. She was returned to prison, leaving her stunned husband, who described her as a model wife, behind.
The Warden Rudd:
Once back in prison, Lydia had one last trick up her sleeve. This time she convinced George Rudd, the prison warden, to grant her special privileges such as day trips to a local resort and special visitation to her sick mother. When an investigation into prison conditions was performed and the truth came out about her getting special treatment, Rudd was forced to resign. What happened to Lydia Trueblood afterwards is unknown.





Lydia Trueblood was an unremarkable woman yet she captured the attention of men. At the age of 19, she married Idaho land owner, Robert C. Dooley. The couple had a baby girl named Lorraine who died suddenly. Robert’s brother Edward Dooley, who lived with the couple, also died. In October 1915, Robert died from what was thought to be typhoid fever. Within two years Lydia married William G. McHaffle and moved to his home in Montana. On October 1, 1918 McHaffle died from what was thought to be complications of influenza and diphtheria. Lydia met another man named Harlan C. Lewis, an automotive engineer from Billings, Montana. Within four months, Lewis was dead from complications of gastro-enteritis. It was not long before the 27-year-old widow three times over, married Edward F. Meyer, a ranch foreman from Pocatello, Idaho. Edward survived one month, dying after contracting typhoid. Her dying husbands aroused suspicion and a chemist, Earl Dooley decided to dig deeper into the deaths. He collected soil on the spot where Meyer died, and discovered it contained arsenic. After testing was done on Meyers exhumed body and large traces of arsenic were uncovered, authorities went to arrest Lydia but she was nowhere to be found. The bodies of all her dead husbands, her baby and her brother-in-law were tested and traces of arsenic was detected in some. By the time authorities caught up with Lydia she was living in Hawaii and married to Paul Vincent.
Lydia was returned to face murder charges of which she was found guilty and sentenced to ten years to life. It was determined that her motive for murder was money. Lydia managed to escape from prison into the arms of David Minton, an ex-convict who fell in love with her before his release from prison. Once outside the prison walls, Lydia deserted Minton, but she left him alive. This proved to be her demise because Minton, angery at Lydia’s desertion, told police where she was living in Topeka, Kansas. Lydia married another man, Harry Whitlock after leaving Minton. She was returned to prison. Once back in prison Lydia convinced George Rudd, the prison warden, to grant her special privileges such as day trips to a local resort. When the truth came out, Rudd was forced to resign. What happened to Lydia Trueblood afterwards is unknown. Perhaps she became widowed a few more times.

 

[b2ux]

Lise Jane Turner

no pictures available



Megan Turner was eleven weeks old on January 11, 1980, when her mother rushed her to a hospital emergency ward in Christ-church, New Zealand. The child had inexplicably stopped breathing, Lise Turner said, and help arrived too late to save her life. Physicians could not specify a cause of death, and so they blamed the tragedy on SIDS--the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome that strikes certain newborns without warning or apparent cause. Lise Turners second child, daughter Cheney Louise, was born on January 31, 1982. Seven weeks later, on March 15, a visiting neighbor found the baby dead in her crib, the blanket stained with blood from Cheneys mouth. Again, no cause of death was ascertained. Again, physicians put the blame on SIDS. Lise Turner would have no more children, but bad luck continued to haunt her, stretching out a lethal hand to others in her company. Nine months after Cheneys death, in October 1982, four-month-old Catherine Packer was left with Lise while her mother went shopping. Mrs. Packer returned to find her child vomiting, bleeding from the mouth, but hospital physicians saved her life. At first, Catherine seemed to recover with no ill effects, but the strange attacks were repeated over the next six months, always occurring when Lise Turner came to call. Catherine's mother finally saw through the coincidence when Lise joined her on a visit to the hospital, her appearance prompting tearful screams from Catherine as she cowered in her bed. Turner was henceforth barred from the Packer residence, but no charges were filed ... and there were always more children around. Katrina Hall, five weeks old, was stricken with vomiting and labored breathing in Lises care, but she recovered in the hospital and suffered no more ill effects. Eight-month-old Michael Tinnion was less fortunate, found dead while Turner baby-sat, with sticky fluid seeping from his nose and mouth. This time, physicians diagnosed asphyxiation as the cause of death. prompting police to reexamine other cases from their files. In November 1984, Lise Turner stood trial in the High Court of Christchurch, charged with three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors referred to four other attacks, on children unnamed in the indictments, but the evidence on file was bad enough. No motive was advanced, though Lises crimes are strongly reminiscent of several American killers, all diagnosed as suffering from Munchausens syndrome by proxy. Convicted on all counts, Turner was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, plus five years on each of the attempted murder counts.

Convicted child killer Lisa Jane Turner, 41, was released from Arohata Women’s Prison in August 1997 after serving 13 years for killing three babies and attempting to murder two others. At her trial, evidence was presented that she had tried to kill four other babies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turner, formerly of Christchurch was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of three babies, and to three five year sentences for the attempted murder of two others. Two of the murdered children, Megan and Cheney Louise, had been her own. The third was eight months old Michael Clark Tinnion whom she suffocated.
Children under her care developed cot-death syndrome or respiratory problems, some of which were very serious. The circumstances led to authorities asking questions and a case was made against her.
Turner w At the time of her release, Lauree and Kelvin Tinnion whose son Michael was suffocated by Turner, issued a news release saying they felt freeing her was ‘the end of justice’ for their son, who by then, would have been a teenager.as released this year on life parole, under the control of her probation officer. As a condition of her parole, she is not allowed unsupervised contact with children. Dick Ashley, her de facto husband at the time she committed the crimes, waited out the 13 years she was in prison and they are now re-united.
At the time of her release, Lauree and Kelvin Tinnion whose son Michael was suffocated by Turner, issued a news release saying they felt freeing her was ‘the end of justice’ for their son, who by then, would have been a teenager.

TURNER Lisa Jane 1956

... ... ... 4
1980 1982 Christcurch

 

[b2ux]

Le Thanh Van

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Poisoner - To steal money and goods
Number of victims: 13
Date of murders: 1998 - 2001
Date of arrest: August 2001
Date of birth: 1956
Victims profile: Men and women (including her mother-in-law, brother-in-law and foster mother)
Method of murder: Poisoning (cyanide)
Location: Binh Duong province, Vietnam
Status: Sentenced to death on September 1, 2004




Death sentence upheld for Vietnamese serial killer

February 3, 2005

Hanoi - A court of appeal in Vietnam upheld the death sentence on a 49-year-old woman from Ho Chi Minh City, who poisoned 13 people to death with cyanide, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Thursday.

The People's Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday upheld the verdict passed by the People's Court of southern Binh Duong province last September on Le Thanh Van who on the charges of murder, robbery and illegal possession of toxic chemicals.

The defendant appropriated nearly 20,000 US dollars in Vietnamese and US bank notes, a radio cassette player a mobile phone from the 13 victims, who were from the city and the southern provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai, between January 1998 and August 2001.

Taking full advantages of her lovely face, sweet voice and good command of medicine, Van tried to make friends with rich people, and then fooled them into drinking water or eating foods containing cyanide, the paper said.

Death penalty for Vietnamese Black Widow Poisoner

September 3, 2004

Hanoi - A woman from Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City was given death penalty for poisoning 13 people to death with cyanide, following an eight-day trial, said a local court official on Friday.

Le Thanh Van, 48, was also on the charge of robbery and illegal possession of toxic chemicals, said the official from the Binh Duong People's Court which passed the verdict on Wednesday.

The defendant appropriated nearly 242 million Vietnamese dong (VND) (15,400 US dollars), a radio cassette player a mobile phone from the 13 victims, who were from Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai, from January 1998 to August 2001.

Taking full advantages of her lovely face, sweet voice and good command of medicine, Van tried to make friends with rich people, and then fooled them into drinking water or eating foods containing cyanide. She even poisoned her mother-in-law and a brother-in-law partly due to family conflicts.

Van's accomplice, her 31-year-old husband without a marriage certificate, named Dinh Danh Quang was given a jail term of 21 years for helping her kill a motorbike taxi driver.

Local investigators are still looking into the case, since Van is suspected to have involving in eight other cases of poisonings, which killed three people, including her two ex-husbands, and injured 13 others, said the official.

“Serial killer” woman stands trial

August 26, 2004

A 48-year-old woman accused of killing 13 people stood trial for murder, robbery and keeping and using a poisonous chemical at the People’s Court in Binh Duong southern province yesterday August 25.

Le Thanh Van, living in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 10 was accused of murdering 13 people by putting cyanide into their drinks and food in order to steal their possessions valued at 300 million VND in total. Her boyfriend Diu Dang Quang, 31, and born in Dong Nai Province was also on trial for his suspected involvement in the murders. The list of victims included Van’s brother-in-law and Quang’s mother.

Van and Quang had previously admitted to the crime when arrested but both retracted their confessions when questioned by prosecutor Chau Thi Nga at the court on Wednesday. Van said that she was forced by police to confess.

The murders took place in HCMC and the southern provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai from early 1998 to August 2001, according to the indictment of the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

In July 2000, Ms. Van was arrested as the prime suspect in the murder cases when investigators of Binh Duong Province’s Police Department found 2.8 grams of cyanide in her handbag. According to the Criminal Science Sub-institute under the Ministry of Public Security, cyanide is a highly poisonous chemical compound and a small dose of 0.15-2.0 grams can kill a person.

But, she was later released for lack of further evidence when investigators used the cyanide found in her handbag to experiment on animals. They could not detect the poisonous chemical when the animals died, thus there was no evidence to prove that the cyanide had killed the victims.

The 13 victims all had similar symptoms of dizziness, vomiting and headaches before dying. But, most hospitals could not determine the cause of the death. Some hospitals speculated that some victims may have suffered from pneumonia and others from coronary thrombosis.

Investigators from the Ministry of Public Security later became involved in the investigation.

During the trial, Van said the cyanide found in her purse was given to her by a friend of her father’s, Dr. Lam Thien Truong in Dong Nai Province.

“Dr. Truong asked me to bring it to HCMC for forensic tests.” she said. “I did not even know what the substance was until investigators told me that the yellow-color chemical found in my handbag was cyanide,” added Ms. Van.

“Dr. Truong has a friend working at the Binh Thuan Province’s Police Department who had an acquaintance poisoned with the chemical. The friend asked for Dr. Truong’s help and the doctor asked me to help,” she affirmed.

But, the accused could not give an explanation when prosecutor Nga asked, “Why couldn’t the provincial-level police department do forensic tests? Also, if the police couldn’t do it, Dr. Truong has the right to ask relevant agencies to do such tests and wouldn’t need to ask the accused to help out.”

The trial continues today.

Ms. Van is also suspected of being involved in eight others cases in which 16 people were poisoned and three of them died. But, there is no sufficient evidence showing that Ms. Van is involved in the cases.

Vietnamese serial killer on trial

Wednesday, 25 August, 2004

A Vietnamese woman accused of killing 13 people with poison has gone on trial in the southern province of Binh Duong.

Court officials said Le Thanh Van admitted she killed them so she could steal their possessions and money.

She is accused of poisoning her victims, who included several family members, by putting cyanide into their drinks or food.

She could face the death sentence if convicted for the killings, which took place between 1998 and 2001.

Fake wills

Le Thanh Van, 48, admitted killing her victims, including her mother-in-law, brother-in-law and foster mother, to steal money and goods worth more than $US15,000, said Nguyen Thanh Tung, an official with Binh Duong People's Court.

The state-run Phap Luat newspaper said she faked her victims' wills and other documents.

She was arrested twice between 1998 and 2000, but was later released for lack of evidence.

Van will stand trial alongside her boyfriend. They are both charged with murder and robbery.

Vietnam to try alleged black widow poisoner

August 23, 2004

Binh Duong - Vietnam is set to try a 48-year-old woman who confessed to poisoning 13 people in what might be the country's first prosecution of a serial killer.

Le Thanh Van, who will face a court on August 24, told police she used cyanide to murder her victims in order to steal their possessions, according to state media reports.

Van's victims allegedly included her mother-in-law, brother-in-law and foster mother, as well as
acquaintances and lovers.

The state-run Phap Luat newspaper says the killings took place between 1998 and 2001.

Police are also investigating whether Van, a mother of two who did not work outside the home, murdered her businessman husband.

Serial killers are practically unheard of in Vietnam, where newspapers have eagerly published accounts of Van's alleged crimes.

The newspaper report said Van took all the victims to hospital after administering the poison in an attempt to cover up her involvement.

After the victims died, she faked their wills and other documents to steal their possessions, estimated at a total of $26,000, the report said.

Van will appear in a court in southern province Binh Duong along with her boyfriend, who is 20 years younger and who is accused of aiding her crime spree.

They are charged with murder and robbery, both punishable by death by firing squad.

Le Thanh Van

Le Thanh Van

Le Thanh Van

Le Thanh Van

Le Thanh Van

Le Thanh Van

Le Thanh Van

Le Thanh Van and her husband Dinh Danh Quang

Le Thanh Van and her husband Dinh Danh Quang

Le Thanh Van and her husband Dinh Danh Quang

Le Thanh Van and her husband Dinh Danh Quang

Le Thanh Van and her husband Dinh Danh Quang

 

[b2ux]

Maria Velten

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Poisoner
Number of victims: 5
Date of murder: 1963 - 1980
Date of arrest: August 1983
Date of birth: 1916
Victim profile: Her father, an aunt, two husbands and a lover
Method of murder: Poisoning
Location: Kempten, Bavaria, Germany
Status: Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1983





A classic "black widow," Maria Velten spent twenty years killing her loved ones, around Kempten, West Germany, before she was finally arrested at age 67.

Her father was the first to die, in 1963, followed by an elderly aunt in 1970. Under questioning, Velten would describe the early poisonings as murders of convenience, with her victims being ill and she unable to provide the necessary care.

From that point on, a profit motive would prevail, with Velten killing off two husbands -- in 1976 and '78 -- along with a well-to-do boyfriend in 1980.

Arrested during August 1983, she was convicted on the basis of her own confessions and was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment.


SEX: F RACE: W TYPE: T MOTIVE: PC/CE

MO: "Black widow" poisoner of father, aunt, husbands/lovers; "mercy" motive claimed in first two deaths; others killed for money.

DISPOSITION: Life sentence, 1983.

Maria Velten

 

[b2ux]

Gwen Graham & Katherine Wood​

Mugshots of Gwen Graham (top) and Cathy Wood (bottom)​

Background information​

Also known as​

The Lethal Lovers

Born​

August 6, 1963 (age 49) (Graham)
March 7, 1962 (age 50) (Wood)

Penalty​

Life imprisonment (Graham)
20 – 40 years imprisonment (Wood)

Killings​

Number of victims​

5

Country​

United States

State(s)​

Michigan

Date apprehended​

December 1989




Gwendolyn Graham (born August 6, 1963) and Cathy Wood (born 1962) are American serial killers who killed five elderly women in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the 1980s. They committed their crimes in the Alpine Manor nursing home, where they both worked as nurse's aides.


Crimes

The two women met at the Alpine Manor nursing home where Graham was a nurse's aide and Wood was her supervisor. They quickly became friends and then lovers in 1986. They practiced sexual asphyxia to achieve a better orgasm. Graham began to talk about committing murder as a sexual game.

Posting Wood as a lookout, Graham attempted to kill a few elderly women. However, the women were able enough to fight back. In January 1987, Graham entered the room of a woman who had Alzheimer's disease; the woman was too incapacitated to fight back, and thus became the pair's first victim. The woman's death appeared to be natural, so an autopsy was never performed.

Over the next few months, four more Alpine Manor patients were murdered. Many of the victims, whose ages ranged from 65 to 97, were incapacitated and suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Graham and Wood turned the selection of victims into a game, choosing victims whose initials collectively spelled M-U-R-D-E-R. Graham took souvenirs from the victims, keeping them to relive the deaths. Both women openly bragged about smothering six victims to their coworkers, with Graham even showing off her souvenirs, but no one believed them.

The couple broke up when Wood refused to actively kill a patient to prove her love to Graham. Wood transferred to another shift. Graham moved to Texas with another woman and began work in a hospital taking care of infants.

The murder investigation began in 1988 after Wood’s ex-husband, whom she had told about the murders, went to the police. Her ex-husband told the police in October 1988, which led them to investigate further. The first victim was exhumed on November 30, 1988 almost a year after her burial. The coffin was then taken to Kent County Morgue for examination. Eight possible victims were identified, but police ended up pursuing five.

In the end there was enough evidence to warrant the arrest of Wood and Graham. In December 1989, Graham was arrested in her hometown of Tyler, Texas; however, she maintained their claims were made as a joke to scare their co-workers.

During the trial, Wood plea-bargained her way to a reduced sentence, claiming that it was Graham who planned and carried out the killings while she served as a lookout or distracted supervisors. On November 3, 1989, Graham was found guilty of five counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and the court gave her five life sentences. She resides in the Huron Valley Complex (for female offenders). Wood was charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. She was sentenced to 20 years on each count and has been eligible for parole since March 2, 2005.[2] Wood is currently incarcerated in the minimum security Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida, she is expected to be released on June 6, 2021.[3]

Several of the families sued the owners of Alpine Manor for hiring "dangerous and unbalanced employees". Alpine Manor has since gone out of business, but the building now houses a nursing home called "Sanctuary at Saint Mary's".

 

[carlacarnage]

If I can make a request, I'd like to see anything that can be found on Diane Downs. She is interesting in that she used a gun to shoot her three children instead of using poison like most women do. She also escaped from prison at least once. Not technically a serial killer because the shootings all took place on the same night, and she only managed to kill 1 of them and seriously injure the other 2 but her methods and motive differ from most other female killers. Think it happened in the 80's or 90's. Thanx.

 

[plasticdollparts]

Diane Downs. Guilty Of Shooting Her 3 ChildrenDiane Downs (Elizabeth Diane Frederickson Downs) is a convicted murderer responsible for shooting her three children.
Childhood Years
Diane Downs was born on August 7, 1955 in Phoenix, Arizona. She was the oldest of four children. Her parents Wes and Willadene moved the family around different towns until Wes got a stable job with the U.S. Postal service when Diane was around 11 years old.
The Frederickson's had conservative values, and until the age 14 Diane seemed to follow her parent's rules. Entering into her teen years a more defiant Diane emerged as she struggled to fit into the "in" crowd at school, much of which meant going against the wishes of her parents.
At the age of 14, Diane dropped her formal name Elizabeth, for her middle name Diane. She got rid of her childish hairstyle opting instead for a trendy, shorter and bleached blond style. She began wearing clothing that was more stylish and that showed off her maturing figure. She also discovered boys and began a relationship with Steven Downs, a 16-year-old boy who lived across the street. Her parents did not approve of Steven or of the relationship, but that did little to sway Diane and by the time she was 16 their relationship had become sexual.
Marriage
After high school Steven joined the Navy and Diane attended Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College. The couple promised to remain faithful to each other, but Diane apparently failed at that and after one year at school she was expelled for promiscuity.
Their long distant relationship seemed to survive, and in November 1973, with Steven now home from the Navy, the two decided to marry. The marriage was tumultuous from the start. Fighting about money problems and accusations of infidelities often resulted in spurts of Diane leaving Stephen to go to her parent's home.
In 1974, despite the problems in their marriage the Downs had their first child, Christie.
Six months later Diane joined the Navy, but returned home after three weeks of basic training because of severe blisters. Diane later said her real reason for getting out of the Navy was because Steven was neglecting Christie.
Having a child did not seem to help the marriage, but Diane enjoyed being pregnant and in 1975 their second child, Cheryl Lynn was born.
Raising two children was enough for Steven and he had a vasectomy. This did not stop Diane from getting pregnant again, but this time she decided to have an abortion. She named the aborted child, Carrie.
In 1978 the Downs moved to Mesa, Arizona where they both found jobs at a mobile home manufacturing company. While there Diane began having affairs with some of her male coworkers and she became pregnant. In December 1979, Stephen Daniel "Danny" Downs was born and Steven accepted the child even though he knew he was not his father.
The marriage lasted about a year more and in 1980 Steve and Diane decide to divorce.
Affairs
Diane spent the next few years moving in and out with different men, having affairs with married men and at times trying to reconcile with Steven.
To help support herself she decided to become a surrogate mother, but failed two psychiatric exams required for the applicants. One of the test showed that Diane was very intelligent, but also psychotic - a fact that she found funny and would brag to friends about.
In 1981 Diane got a full-time job as a postal carrier for the U.S. Post Office. The children often stayed with Diane's parents, Steven or with Danny's father. When the children did stay with Diane, neighbors voiced concerns about their care. The children were often seen poorly dressed for the weather and at times hungry, asking for food. If Diane was unable to find a sitter she would still go to work, leaving six-year-old Christie in charge of the children.
In the later part of 1981, Diana was finally accepted into a surrogate program to which she was paid $10,000 after successfully carrying a child to term. After the experience she decided to open her own surrogate clinic, but the venture quickly failed.
It was during this time that Diane met coworker Robert "Nick" Knickerbocker, the man of her dreams. Their relationship was all consuming and Diane wanted Knickerbocker to leave his wife. Feeling suffocated by her demands and still in love with his wife, Nick ended the relationship.
Devastated, Diane moved back to Oregon, but had not fully accepted that the relationship with Nick was over. She continued to write to him and had one final visit in April 1983 at which time Nick completely rejected her, telling her the relationship was over and that he had no interest in being a "daddy" to her children.
The Crime
On May 19, 1983, at around 10 p.m., Diane pulled over on the side of a quiet road near Springfield, Oregon and shot her three children multiple times. She then shot herself in the arm and drove slowly to the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital. The hospital staff found Cheryl dead and Danny and Christie barely alive.
Diane told the doctors and the police that the children were shot by a bushy-haired man who flagged her down on the road then tried to hijack her car. When she refused, the man began shooting her children.
Detectives found Diane's story suspicious and her reactions to police questioning and to hearing the conditions of her two children inappropriate and odd. She voiced surprise that a bullet had hit Danny's spine and not his heart. She seemed more concerned about getting in touch with Knickerbocker, rather than informing the children's father or asking about their conditions. And Diane talked a lot, too much, for someone who had suffered such a traumatic event.
The Investigation
Diane's story of the events of that tragic night failed to hold up under forensic investigation. The blood splatters in the car did not match her version of what occurred and gun powder residue was not found where it should have been found.
Diane's arm, although broken when shot, was superficial compared to that of her children. It was also discovered that she failed to admit to owning a .22 caliber handgun, which was the same type used at the crime scene.
Diane's diary found during a police search helped to piece together the motive she would have for shooting her children. In her diary she wrote obsessively about the love of her life, Robert Knickerbocker, and of particular interest were the parts about him not wanting to raise children.
There was also a unicorn found which Diane had purchased just days before the children were shot. Each of the children's names had been inscribed on it, almost as if it was a shrine to their memory.
Also a man came forward who said he had to pass Diane on the road on the night of the shooting, because she was driving so slowly. This conflicted with Diane's story to police in which she said she sped in terror to the hospital.
But the most telling evidence was that of her surviving daughter Christie, who for months was unable to speak due to a stroke she suffered from the attack. During the times that Diane would visit her, Christie would show signs of fear and her vital signs would spike. When she was able to speak she eventually told prosecutors that there was no stranger and that it was her mother that did the shooting.
The Arrest
Just prior to her arrest Diane, likely feeling that the investigation was closing in on her, met with the detectives to tell them something she had left out of her original story. She told them that the shooter was someone she may have known because he called her by her name. Had the police bought her admission, it would have meant several more months of investigation. They did not believe her and instead suggested that she did it because her lover did not want children.
On February 28, 1984, after nine months of intensive investigation, Diane Downs, now pregnant, was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, and criminal assault of her three children.
Diane and the Media
During the months before Diane went to trial she spent a lot of time being interviewed by reporters. Her goal, most likely, was to strengthen the general public's sympathy for her, but it seemed to have a reverse reaction because of her inappropriate responses to reporters' questions. Instead of appearing as a mother destroyed by the tragic events, she appeared narcissistic, calloused and strange.
The Trial
The trial began on May 10, 1984 and would last six weeks. Prosecutor Fred Hugi laid out the state's case which showed motive, forensic evidence, witnesses which contradicted Diane's story to police and finally an eye witness, her own daughter Christie Downs who testified that it was Diane who was the shooter.
On the defense side, Diane's lawyer Jim Jagger admitted that his client was obsessed with Nick, but pointed to a childhood littered with an incestuous relationship with her father as reasons for her promiscuity and inappropriate behavior after the incident.
The jury found Diane Downs guilty on all charges on June 17, 1984. She was sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years.
Aftermath
In 1986 prosecutor Fred Hugi and his wife adopted Christie and Danny Downs.
Diane gave birth to her fourth child, who she named Amy in July 1984. The baby was removed from Diane and was later adopted and given her new name, Rebecca "Becky" Babcock. In later years, Rebecca Babcock was interviewed on The Oprah Winfrey Show on October 22, 2010 and ABC's 20/20 on July 1, 2011. She spoke of her troubled life and of the short time that she communicated with Diane. She has since changed her life around and with help has determined that the apple can fall far from the tree.
Diane Downs' father denied that the accusations of incest and Diane later recounted that part of her story. Her father, to this day, believes in his daughter's innocence. He currentlyoperates a webpage on which he is offering $100,000 to anyone who can offer information that will completely exonerate Diane Downs and free her from prison.
Escape
On July 11, 1987, Diane managed to escape from the Oregon Women's Correctional Center and was recaptured in Salem, Oregon ten days later. She received an additional five-year sentence for the escape.
Parole
Diane was first eligible for parole in 2008 and during that hearing she continued to say she was innocent. "Over the years, I have told you and the rest of the world that a man shot me and my children. I have never changed my story." Yet throughout the years her story has changed continuously from the assailant being one man to two men. At one point she said the shooters were drug dealers and later they were corrupt policemen involved in drug distribution. She was denied parole.
In December 2010 she received a second parole hearing and again refused to take responsibility for the shooting. She was again denied and under a new Oregon law she will not face a parole board again until 2020.
Diane Downs is currently incarcerated at the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California.

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