Research Proposal on "Black Widows Serial Killers"

Research Proposal 5 pages (2449 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Black Widows: Female Serial Killers

For many years, people assumed that serial killers were male. This assumption was partially accurate, as the killers who preyed upon random strangers were generally male. Furthermore, it was an assumption that was perpetuated by the media and by the experts who helped develop the field of criminal profiling, which is one of the major tools currently used to help identify serial killers. For example, in Joel Norris' book, Serial Killers: the Growing Menace, he goes into in-depth investigations of several serial killers, but none of them are female. Other serial killer experts, like Robert Ressler, dismiss the idea that a woman can be a serial killer (Ressler & Schachtman, 1992). However, if "the accepted definition of a serial killer is a person who kills at least three times with a cooling off period in between his murders," then women have definitely been serial killers (Brown, 2009). Three of the more famous female multiple murderers include Belle Gunness, Nannie Doss, and Aileen Wournos, and this paper will examine their lives to determine whether these black widows should be classified as serial killers, or placed into a discrete category of women who murder repeatedly.

Norris does an excellent job of identifying some of the characteristics that are prevalent among serial killers. Those characteristics include: 1) ritualistic behavior, 2) mask of sanity, 3) compulsivity, 4) search for help, 5) severe memory disorders and a chronic inability to tell the truth, 6) suicidal tendencies, 7) history of serious assault, 8) deviate sexual behavior and hypersexuality, 9) head injuries or injuries incurred at birth, 10) history of chronic drug or alcohol abuse, 11) alcohol or drug-abusing parents, 12) victim of physical or emotional abuse or of cruel parenting, 13) result of an unwanted pregnancy, 14) products of a difficult gestation period for the mother, 15) interrupted bliss or no bliss of childhood, 16) extraordinary cruelty to animals, 17) arsenal tendencies without obvious homicidal intent, 18) symptoms of neurological impairment, 19) evidence of genetic disorders, 20) biochemical symptoms, and 21) feelings of powerlessness or inadequacy (Norris, 1988). The three black widows examined in this paper all demonstrate many characteristics from Norris' list. What keeps some experts from labeling these women as serial killers is the fact that the women profited from their killings. However, an in-depth look into the murders committed by these women reveals something other than money as the motive for the killings. While male serial killers tend to kill to meet some deviant psycho-sexual need, female serial killers seem to kill to meet other needs. The financial gain anticipated by the murders seems to meet a woman's need for some type of security, and is not surprising given that all three of the women studied grew up in poverty. Therefore, while the women did profit from the murders, it seems erroneous to consider money as the sole motive in their crimes.

Belle Gunness was one of the first modern American female serial killers. She was operating at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when crime-fighting and evidence-gathering techniques had yet to fully develop. As a result, it is difficult to determine how many people she actually killed. She is known to have killed a number of boyfriends and two of her children, and suspected of killing as many as 40 people. Because of when she was born and because she intentionally misled people about her past, some of the facts about Gunness' life are speculative. However, it appears that Gunness was born to a poor, large family in rural Norway. She got pregnant as an unmarried teenager and a man, presumably the father of the child, beat her severely, causing her to miscarry. Some people indicate that the beating and subsequent miscarriage triggered a personality change that may have led to her murderous behavior. Belle saved up for a passage to America and immigrated to the United States in 1881 (Geringer, Belle, 2009).

Belle married her first husband, Mads Sorenson, in 1884 (Geringer, Belle, 2009). They opened a business, which failed, but collected the insurance money after the business burned down in a fire. That appears to have been Belle's first time to collect insurance money as the result of a crime. They later collected money on a house that burned down. Sorenson died of heart failure in 1990, though that cause of death was questioned after Belle's other crimes came to light. It is believed that she poisoned him, and his death occurred when he was insured by two life insurance policies. It is also suggested that she killed two of her children while married to Mads.

Belle moved to La Porte in 1901, purchasing a former brothel for her home. Two of the buildings on the property burned down after she bought it. She married Peter Gunness in 1902. Soon after their marriage, Peter's infant daughter died of unknown causes. In December of 1902, Peter died when a sausage-grinding machine fell on his head. Belle collected life insurance on him. After Belle's daughter Jennie was overheard implicating her mother in the death, the district coroner convened a jury to investigate the matter, but they determined that Belle had not played a role in Peter's death. Belle reportedly sent Jennie away to school and quickly became engaged to her farm hand Ray Lamphere. Although engaged to Lamphere, Belle began seeking husbands through lonely hearts columns. She received a number of responses and appears to have demanded money from her suitors. Many of these suitors disappeared, and there is some suggestion that Lamphere played a role in helping Belle dispose of the bodies. Lamphere and Belle began to fight, and she actually went to the sheriff to report that Lamphere had threatened her family. On the same day that she prepared a will and told her lawyer that Lamphere had threatened to burn her house, Belle's house burned to the ground. Belle and her children were thought to be in the house when that occurred, though the adult female body found in the ruins did not match Belle's physical description. Lamphere was charged with the crime and convicted of arson, though not of murder.

However, while searching the ruins for evidence about the arson and to look for one of Belle's missing suitors, the searchers began to make gruesome discoveries. They found Jennie's body, the bodies of two children, Andrew Helgelien, Ole Budsburg, Thomas Lindboe, Henry Gurholdt, Olaf Svenherud, John Moe, and Olaf Lindbloom. Furthermore, there were several bodies that the authorities could not identify; when they were through searching they had discovered more than 40 bodies on the property. Lamphere eventually confessed to knowing about Belle's murders of the men. He also confessed to helping her burn down the house, but said that Belle had not met him at their appointed rendezvous after he began the fire.

An examination of Belle Gunness' life reveals some factors that suggest she shares characteristics with other serial killers. For example, it is known that she suffered a serious assault that caused her to miscarry when she was a young woman. While it is impossible to determine from that account whether Belle suffered any permanent damages from that episode, that one story demonstrates several factors from Norris' list, including a history of serious assault, deviate sexual behavior (engaging in premarital sex was considered deviate, at that time, possible head injuries, interrupted bliss of childhood, and feelings of powerlessness. Furthermore, before the fire that allegedly killed her, Belle had a history of fires in her life, none of which seemed to have been started to kill people. Three of her homes and one of her businesses burned down. The fact that even a cursory examination of Belle's life reveals so many of the characteristics of the serial killer makes a strong argument for including black widow killers among serial killers.

Like Belle Gunness, Nancy Doss, later known as Nancy Doss, exhibited many of the trademarks of the serial killer, despite the fact that her public persona was almost constantly laughing. She suffered a serious head injury when she was a child, and that injury led to lifelong headaches, blackouts, and depression. (Geringer, Nannie, 2009). Although Nannie was reportedly undereducated, she was fascinated with romance magazines and the lonely hearts column. Nannie's father was very strict, prohibiting his daughters from dating, wearing makeup, or dressing in an attractive manner. Nannie married her first husband, Charlie Braggs, when she was only 16. Nannie had four children during the marriage, two of whom died of suspected food poisoning. Baggs' mother also died during this time. The couple divorced in 1928, and Doss married second husband Frank Harrelson; their marriage lasted 16 years. Doss may have killed a newborn infant grandchild by sticking a hatpin into its head, and her grandson died of asphyxia while in her care. Doss had insured her grandson's life for $500. Doss, who claimed to have been a victim of domestic violence, killed Harrelson by… READ MORE

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