African American Serial Killers 6

Arsenic has been an agent to kill for centuries. In the hands of the late Roberta Elder, it presented something of a vehicle to dispatch her family members as well as others.

She had taken out insurance policies that linked her to the murders of her husband, his children, and more victims. Such crimes have been largely overlooked, though these individuals should be remembered. Absolutely, Elder should be recalled, but the men and women who fell from being poisoned should be considered for all time.

Though these crimes took place in the 1950’s, the primitive investigative tools used by police could still show that Roberta Elder left clues like traces of arsenic in the hairs of her victims. Reportedly, she found the toxin on a family farm.

She wanted to be a collector of insurance policies, but did she go through the process of murdering her closest folks out of anything else? It’s all speculation but what if she wanted to become famous for being a black woman who could be one of the few serial killers with her status?

They called her Misses Bluebeard after being the feminine version of the legendary story. It was said that Minister William Elder had eaten “cheese and a banana.” Such did not take Elder from the world. A doctor suspected otherwise. The bodies of the minister’s children had been poisoned as well. Their bodies were exhumed.

When the coroner testified, there existed a trail. A detective showed that at least thirteen other people may have gotten sick from Roberta.

At a state trial, Roberta stood on the defense for the murder of Minister Elder. The murders actually started from Roberta’s ex-husbands in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Food poisoning and malnutrition had been the causes of death.

Roberta took out those policies and collected funds. At every instance, she maintained her innocence and denied that she knew anything about the toxic substance. Everyone received “treatment” from Roberta.

Instead of opting for the death penalty, the state sentenced her to life in prison. In a reversal from the usual idea that all serial killers are white males, Roberta’s evil deeds stand as horrific examples of what black women can do as well.

This shows the “missing white girl syndrome” that glorifies the image of a victim of money, looks, and skin color, and is easier to understand by the populace.

There is a dearth of information about the final days of Roberta Elder. This is partly due to racism and the lack of proper record keeping. This vicious woman’s actions should be studied and brought close to the investigators who follow the steps of murderers like her.

The deaths of her victims do not outweigh their lives. They had wanted to live just like anyone else. She wasn’t greedy but ugly. Her soul had been disfigured and made blemished. Roberta discovered that she had money problems and wanted to collect dollars from the various insurance policies.

As a result of not being shown in mainstream and possibly even local news outlets, Roberta’s terrifying acts never reached the audiences who may not have been able to conceive of a black woman serial killer.

Roberta brought the terror to her family and other people as a way not of selfishness but self-destruction. It brought her to a fate of rotting in a jail cell and going down in history as one the most prolific serial killers in American history. This brutish fact is nothing to be proud of, certainly.

What she created sparked ideas for broadcasters and writers to explain this story that has largely been swept into the dustbin of history. Roberta presented an absolute grisly portrait and left a trail of pain and tears.