1. Prevalence of female serial killers
Females account for only 15% of all violent crime
Female serial killers account for only 8% of American serial killers
Among all the female serial killers worldwide, American females account for 76%!

2. Contrasting the male and female
Method of choice:
Stabbing
Strangulation
Shooting
Choice of victim:
Wide range, often strangers
Usually of same race as killer
Usually adults
FEMALE:
Method of choice:
Poison/injection (80%)
Suffocation (16%)
Drowning (5%)
Choice of victim:
Family members or lovers
Often children or the elderly
Gets away with it for a longer period of time!

3. Median length of killing period, in years

4. Types of female serial killers:
Black widow
Angel of death
Revenge
Murder for profit
Sexual predator

5. Sexual predator: Aileen Wuornos
33-year-old prostitute
Killed 7 men in Florida
Method: shooting
Confessed to six murders, but claimed self-defense in all
Sentenced to death and recently executed

6. Black Widow: Vera Renczi
Active throughout her adult life
Motive: Jealousy; inability to deal with rejection
Method: Poison (arsenic)
Victims: 2 husbands, 1 son, 32 lovers
Police found 35 zinc-lined coffins in her wine cellar!
Sentenced to life in prison

7. Black Widow: Diana Lumbrera
Born in Texas, 1957
Active killer, 1977 to 1990
Murdered six of her own children
Method: Strangulation and suffocation
Motive: Profit from life insurance policies
Sentenced to life in prison

8. Angel of Death: Terri Rachals

9. Angel of Death: Terri Rachals
Born in 1962
Active from 1985 to 1986
Nurse, attacked victims between the ages of 3 and 89
Method: Injections of potassium chloride
Motive: ego, control
Acquitted of murder; sentenced to 17 years in prison for aggravated assault

10. Angel of Death: Genene Jones

11. Angel of Death: Genene Jones
Born 1951
Active 1978 to 1982
Number of victims unknown; believed to be responsible for at least 11 murders and possibly as many as 46
Victims were all children and babies
Method: lethal injection
Motive: ego, power, control

12. Revenge killer: Martha Wise
The “Borgia of America”
Born 1885, active in 1925
Murdered three members of her own family: mother, aunt, uncle
Method: Poison (arsenic)
Motive: Revenge for her family’s opposition to her marriage
Sentenced to life in prison

13. Murder for Profit: Madame Popova
Born in Russia in the 1800s
Active from 1879 to 1909
Confessed to the murder of over 300 men
Method: Poison
Motive: Popova ran a business that would “liberate” married women from their cruel husbands, for a modest fee
Arrested in 1909 and executed by firing squad

14. Unexplained: Christine Falling
Born in 1963
Active 1980 to 1982
Murdered at least 5 children and 1 elderly man
Method: suffocation
Motive unexplained
Sentenced to life in prison; eligible for parole in 2007