Infamous Wives: 10 Chilling True Crime Cases

History is filled with chilling stories, but some of the most shocking involve women who betrayed the ultimate vow. These aren’t just tales of unhappy marriages; they are accounts of wives who became murderers. Driven by motives like rage, jealousy, deep-seated hatred, or cold, hard greed, these women earned titles like “black widows.” Let’s delve into the dark stories of ten such murderous wives whose actions continue to horrify and fascinate.

10. Chisako Kakehi (November 28, 1946 – Present)

Chisako Kakehi, a woman from Japan, was responsible for the deaths of at least four men. All of these men were her husbands. The media in Japan called her the “Black Widow.” Kakehi found her targets on dating websites. She always looked for the same type of man: rich, without children, elderly, and lonely. Once she charmed them, she would poison them with cyanide. She’d mix it into their drinks or even hide it inside medicine capsules. Her reason for these killings was simple: she wanted to collect their insurance money. Kakehi managed to gather about $12 million from insurance payouts and inheritances. However, she later fell into debt because she made poor choices with her investments. In 2017, Kakehi was finally arrested. This happened after her fourth husband died, just one month after they married. She admitted to killing him, saying he gave money to other women but not to her. She received a death sentence for her crimes.

9. Evelyn Dick (October 13, 1920 – ??)

Evelyn Dick’s case is one of Canada’s most talked-about crime stories. People often called her the “torso murderer.” In 1944, a group of schoolchildren found something horrifying while walking in the woods. It was the torso of Evelyn’s husband, John Dick, a streetcar driver who had been missing. His head and arms were gone. Later, investigators discovered they had been burned in the furnace of their home. Evelyn quickly became the main suspect. In 1946, she was found guilty of his murder and sentenced to be hanged. However, her lawyer appealed the case, and she was acquitted. But the story took another shocking turn. Evelyn Dick’s baby boy was found dead, encased in cement under the floorboards of her house. This sent her back to court, facing another murder charge. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison and was released in 1958. After her release, she was given a new identity. Her parole and case records were sealed, almost like a royal pardon. No one knows for sure what happened to her after that.

8. Betty Lou Beets (March 12, 1937 – February 24, 2000)

Betty Lou Beets was married six times, and two of those marriages were to the same man. She tried to kill two of her husbands. First, she shot Bill Lane in the back of his head—twice. They divorced after this incident but later remarried before separating for good. Then, she attempted to run over her third husband, Ronnie Threlkeld, with her car. Both Lane and Threlkeld later testified against her at her murder trial. In 1983, Beets reported that her sixth husband, Jimmy Don Beets, was missing. But the truth was much darker. She had told her son, Robert Branson, to leave their house because she planned to kill Jimmy. Afterward, she asked Rob to help hide the body in the front yard. She also had him plant Jimmy’s heart medication on his boat and then abandon the boat in a lake. This was to make it look like Jimmy had fallen overboard and drowned. The lake was searched, but Jimmy’s body wasn’t found there. Later, a search warrant for Beets’s property led to a grim discovery: the bodies of both Jimmy Don Beets and Doyle Wayne Barker, another former husband, were found buried there. Betty Lou Beets was arrested and later sentenced to death by lethal injection. She was executed in Texas on February 24, 2000.

7. Stacey Castor (July 24, 1967 – June 11, 2016)

Stacey Castor earned the nickname “black widow” after she murdered her husband, David Castor, in 2005. She poisoned him with antifreeze, a substance that has no color or smell. She didn’t stop there. In 2007, she also tried to murder her own daughter, Ashley Wallace, by mixing pills into her drink. Authorities also suspected Stacey of murdering her first husband, Michael Wallace. His body was exhumed, and an examination revealed traces of antifreeze crystals. Initially, the coroner ruled David Castor’s death a suicide by drinking antifreeze. However, investigators found Stacey Castor’s fingerprints on the antifreeze bottle. They also found a turkey baster in the trash, leading them to believe she had force-fed the antifreeze to her husband. In 2009, Castor was convicted of murder and attempted murder. She received a sentence of 51 years in prison. She died in prison from a heart attack in 2016.

6. Belle Gunness (November 11, 1859 – April 28, 1908)

Belle Gunness was a notorious figure who lured men to her farm in Indiana. She would promise them marriage and a warm welcome, but instead, she murdered them in cold blood. Her terrible deeds came to light after her house burned down, supposedly with her and her children inside. While investigating the fire at the Gunness farm, authorities noticed many soft spots in the ground. When they started digging, they found a bag containing human remains. Further searching revealed dozens of these depressions, each hiding a sack of human bodies. Reports say that after finding five bags on the first day and six on the second, the police simply stopped counting. The exact number of people Belle Gunness killed isn’t known, but estimates suggest it could be as high as forty. Although she was officially declared dead in the house fire, many people believed she escaped. There were even reported sightings of her in the Chicago area long after she was supposed to have died.

5. Mary Ann Cotton (October 31, 1832 – March 24, 1873)

Mary Ann Cotton was an Englishwoman believed to have murdered three of her four husbands. Her motive was to collect their insurance money. She used arsenic poisoning to carry out these murders. Each of her husbands would fall ill with stomach problems. After they died, Mary Ann would collect money from their life insurance policies. Her downfall began with the death of her stepson, Charles Edward Cotton. He was known as a sickly boy. When he died, Mary Ann claimed she had tried to help him by giving him arrowroot. However, newspapers started looking into her past. They found out that Mary Ann had lost three husbands, a lover, and eleven children, all to stomach illnesses. This raised serious suspicions. When Charles’s body was examined, doctors found traces of arsenic. Mary Ann was quickly arrested. She was found guilty of murder and was hanged in 1873.

4. Nannie Doss (November 4, 1905 – June 2, 1965)

Nannie Doss, also known as the “self-made widow” or the “Giggling Granny,” was an American serial killer. She was responsible for the deaths of four husbands, two of her children, her sister, her mother, two grandsons, and a mother-in-law. Despite this horrifying list of victims, she sometimes appeared cheerful, earning her unsettling nickname. Nannie’s first marriage was at age 16 to Charley Braggs. They had four children together, but two of them died from what was suspected to be food poisoning. The marriage ended in divorce. She quickly remarried Robert Franklin Harrelson. This marriage lasted 16 years until she poisoned him with rat poison after he allegedly assaulted her. Her later husbands included Arlie Lanning, who died from a suspected heart attack, and Richard Morton, whom she also poisoned. Before killing Morton, she had poisoned her own mother. Her deadly spree finally ended after she murdered her fourth husband, Samuel Doss. An autopsy revealed large amounts of arsenic in his system, leading to her arrest. Nannie Doss was sentenced to life in prison. She died of leukemia in 1965 while incarcerated.

3. Amy Duggan Archer-Gilligan (October 31, 1873 – April 23, 1962)

Amy Duggan “Sister” Archer-Gilligan ran a nursing home called the Archer Home for the Elderly and Infirm. Her husband, James Archer, had founded it. Sadly, James Archer later died from what was then called Bright’s Disease, a term for kidney disorders. Just a few weeks before his death, Amy had taken out a life insurance policy on him. This money allowed her to continue running the Archer Home. Later, she married Michael W. Gilligan. He died only three months into their marriage, reportedly from severe indigestion. Over the years, many deaths occurred at the Archer Nursing home. Between 1911 and 1916, 48 residents died there, including a man named Franklin R. Andrews. His family, especially his sister Nellie Pierce, became suspicious of so many deaths. Nellie contacted the media, and several articles were published about the strange occurrences at the home. However, it took another year before Amy was arrested. The bodies of some former Archer Home residents were exhumed. Examinations revealed they had died from arsenic or strychnine poisoning. Amy Archer-Gilligan was arrested and initially sentenced to death. Later, she pleaded insanity and was transferred to a mental facility, where she spent the rest of her life.

2. Betty Broderick (November 7, 1947 – Present)

Elisabeth Anne Broderick, known as Betty, killed her ex-husband and his second wife while they were asleep in their home. Betty’s divorce from Daniel T. Broderick III was very public and messy. The Broderick vs. Broderick case became one of the most famous divorce cases in the United States. This was partly because Betty had worked to support Daniel while he went through post-graduate school to become a lawyer. After their divorce, Daniel married his legal assistant, Linda Kolkena. He later admitted to having an affair with Linda while he was still married to Betty. Betty became increasingly bitter and angry. She left violent voice messages on Daniel’s phone and even sent strange items to Linda on her wedding day. On the night of Sunday, November 5, 1989, Betty broke into Daniel and Linda’s home. She shot Linda first, killing her instantly. Then, she shot Daniel as he was trying to reach for the phone. Daniel did not die immediately. Betty later admitted that she spoke to him as he lay dying. Betty Broderick was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison. She remains in prison in California. Parole hearings in 2010 and 2017 did not result in her release. Her next parole hearing is scheduled for 2032.

1. Susan Wright (April 24, 1976 – Present)

Susan Wright tied her husband, Jeff Wright, to their bed and then stabbed him 193 times. She used two different knives in the attack. Afterward, she buried his body in their backyard and painted the bedroom to hide any evidence of the crime. She later confessed to her lawyer, claiming that she killed her husband in self-defense. During her trial, Susan testified that her husband was abusive. She said that on the night of his murder, he was high on cocaine. She claimed she killed him to protect herself and their two children from his drug-fueled rage. However, the prosecutor presented a different story. They argued that Susan’s motive was to collect $200,000 in life insurance money. Susan Wright was convicted of murder in 2005 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. In 2010, an appeal based on witness testimony about her husband’s abusive behavior led to her sentence being reduced to 20 years. In December 2020, Susan Wright was granted parole and released from prison.

These stories serve as dark reminders of how terribly wrong relationships can go. The actions of these women, driven by a range of dark emotions and desires, led to tragic and violent ends for their partners. They remain some of the most chilling figures in true crime history.