#Black serial killers serial

She then began placing newspaper advertisements in search of a third husband, with the requirement that potential suitors had to visit her Indiana farm. While an inquest was held, no proof of foul play could be produced, leading to another hefty insurance payout. Gunness claimed that he’d received a fatal burn from scalding water and had been hit on the head by a heavy meat grinder. She quickly remarried, and just eight months later her second husband died. Although both happened under suspicious circumstances, Gunness was able to collect multiple insurance policy payouts allowing her to purchase a farm in La Porte, Indiana. By 1900 the store had mysteriously burned down, and Gunness’ husband was dead. The couple had four children (two of whom died young) and ran a candy store. The woman who became known as the “Lady Bluebeard” immigrated to America from Norway in 1881, settling in Chicago where she married a fellow Norwegian immigrant. Murderer Belle Gunness who killed up to 15 men for their insurance. He never admitted to any of the killings. Shipman died in 2004, after committing suicide in his cell. He was formally charged with 15 murders and was convicted and sentenced to life without parole in 2000. Unlike his earlier victims, Grundy had not been cremated, and an autopsy revealed lethally high levels of diamorphine (the drug Shipman used for most of the killings). Shipman’s luck ran out later that year, when the daughter of his final victim, lawyer Kathleen Grundy, claimed he’d not only killed her mother but had also tried to create a new, fake will, naming him as her sole beneficiary. Despite these clues, this initial investigation was shoddily handled, allowing Shipman to kill three more times. They also noticed striking similarities in the recently-deceased patients themselves the majority were elderly women who were found sitting up and fully clothed, not in bed as would usually be the case with the gravely ill. Harold Shipman began his murderous spree in 1972, and it’s believed he killed at least 71 patients while working at his first practice, and doubled that number at a second practice he joined after butting heads with colleagues who found him arrogant, brusque and overconfident.įinally, in 1998, both a local undertaker and another doctor noticed the unusually high number of cremation certificates Shipman had signed off on.

#Black serial killers serial

One of history’s deadliest serial killers was a married family man who managed to squeeze in 218 credited murders (and as many as 250) while working as a popular British physician.

Death” after his horrific killing spree came to light, was sentenced to life in prison after killing over 200 patients.