The black widow.

The term "black widow" refers to women who kill multiple husbands, lovers, or close family members, often motivated by financial gain (life insurance) or control. Historically, these killers frequently used poisons like arsenic to avoid detection, with cases spanning from the early 20th century, such as Lyda Southard (1920s), to modern cases involving antifreeze or contract killings.

Notorious "Black Widow" Cases

Helen Golay & Olga Rutterschmidt (2000s): Known as the "LA Black Widows," these pensioners were convicted in 2008 of murdering two men for $2.3 million in insurance money.

Blanche Taylor Moore (1980s): Convicted of murdering her boyfriend with arsenic and suspected of killing others, she became known as the "Black Widow Granny".

Judias Buenoano (1970s-80s): Executed in Florida in 1998, she was convicted of killing her husband, poisoning her son, and attempting to kill her boyfriend.

Belle Gunness (late 19th/early 20th century): A prolific serial killer believed to have killed 25–40 people, including husbands and children.

Chisako Kakehi (2000s-2010s): A Japanese serial killer who murdered partners using cyanide.

Key Characteristics & Methods

Motivation: Primarily financial gain (life insurance), inheritance, or getting rid of abusive/unwanted partners.

Modus Operandi: Poisoning is common, along with staging accidents or arranging for hitmen.

Profile: Often appear as ordinary, caring, or unassuming individuals, allowing them to operate undetected for years.

Distinction: The term is sometimes used in media to describe any woman who kills multiple partners, but it specifically refers to serial, premeditated murder.

In 1908 Clara Carl began her adult life in a way most other young women would have envied: marriage to her childhood sweetheart and the anticipation of a lifetime of domestic bliss. However, in March 1920 the unthinkable happened—her husband, Robert Gibson, died in Missouri of an unknown ailment after 12 years of marriage. Gibson’s $3,000 life insurance policy helped lessen the widow’s grief, and it wasn’t long before Clara cast aside her mourning veil and wed again, this time to a man named Frank Carl. Upon their September 1920 nuptials, the couple settled in Philadelphia, Indiana, where they invited Frank’s father, Alonzo, to live with them. Less than a year later, Alonzo was dead. Two months after that, Frank followed his father to the grave. In the span of a year and a half, Clara had experienced the deaths of three relatives—a spate of misfortune that aroused the community’s suspicions. An investigation ensued and found that both Carl men, as well as Gibson, had died of arsenic poisoning. Clara was arrested, found guilty of second-degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison. She was paroled in 1937.

When Tillie Klimek‘s husband Joseph fell ill in the couple’s modest Chicago home, tests confirmed the cause—arsenic poisoning. The source of the arsenic? The meals that Tillie had prepared for him. Joseph survived his ordeal, but not everyone who consumed Tillie’s concoctions was so lucky. After her arrest for Joseph’s poisoning, authorities discovered that several of Tillie’s relatives and neighbors (including her three known husbands before Joseph) had died or become gravely ill. In fact, Tillie, a Polish immigrant, was said to have the ability to predict when those around her would die—a feat that was initially a source of amazement and fear to her neighbors, but that later became explainable once it was understood that Tillie had, in all likelihood, caused the deaths she predicted. In March 1923, Tillie was found guilty of the murder of her third husband, Frank Kupczyk, and received a life sentence. She didn’t stand trial for any other crimes, and died in prison in 1936.

So those are some famous “black widow” cases I found on a true crimes website, and I’m sure there are a lot more, both here in the U.S. and around the world, that have been caught but we don’t know about or haven’t been caught or haven’t been identified as a black widow. The reason I say that is that I know one that I and everyone I know who knows her suspects she is a black widow.

Let me tell you about her.

I first met her about 10 years ago, her daughter ( Daisy) was dating a friend of mine. Daisy was batshit crazy, addicted to nicotine and alcohol, very toxic, and when I met her mother (sally) I found out that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. She too was a crazy psycho older version of the daughter. Daisy had been married 3 times and divorced, had two very young children, and was only 24 years old. Sally had been married 5 times already, of which she had divorced 3 times and once the husband ran off and was never found again. One husband, the last one, died. I don’t know why or how he died, but he left his sister Betsy millions of dollars as her inheritance, as well as millions to his wife Sally as well as the house they lived in, and some land. Besides talking to my friend and counseling him to lose the girlfriend, Daisy I also talked about the mother, just as an interesting piece of drama involving the girlfriend and her family. I was watching them from a distance. With morbid interest.

The first thing I saw Sally do was sue the company she worked for, and accepted a large cash settlement to drop the lawsuit. Then she married a random man she met at a bar after a one night stand, but divorced him 3 months later when she caught him wearing her bra and panties. She told my friend, her daughter Daisy and her two grandkids and me one night over dinner and drinks. Almost immediately after that episode she met another man and married him. She never introduced him to Daisy. Then one day she was single and never explained where the husband was.

The next thing I observed when we got together for Thanksgiving or Easter or some holiday was the sister of the first dead husband who inherited millions ,Anne, being over medicated on prescription pills that Sally was giving her. When I first saw Anne she was fine. This time she was almost comatose. The next 2 or 3 times I saw her she was worse. In conversation with my friend and Daisy they were aware of the over medication issue, but wouldn’t do or say anything. Anne went to stay with another relative, and when several months later I saw her again she was much better. But then she moved back in with her sister in law Sally and immediately began to be over medicated again until eventually she died. No investigation was initiated, and Sally had her cremated. She also inherited her millions.

When next I heard about Sally her two sons, siblings of Daisy, had moved in with her, and all three were doing meth, drinking heavily, and fighting amongst each other. The younger son had purchased a plot of land from the first dead husband, but all of a sudden Sally had him admitted into a mental institution and the land was signed over to her. We all think she forged her son’s signature. To this day he is still incarcerated in the mental institution.

The other son moved out, and far away. He has not contacted his mother or sister since.

In the mean time my friend impregnated Daisy and a boy was born. The two older half siblings under the guidance and suggestions of their grandmother Sally started calling him “satan’s spawn”,and almost every time she babysits him he gets cigarette burns on his arm from her, “accidentally “. During this time she married another man, a pastor of a local church, bought a house, and before long the drinking and drug taking started again, and the pastor divorced Sally and escaped. Sally immediately found a new husband, but moved away and never invited anyone to visit them. My friend was never introduced to the husband. One day Sally showed up and and moved into their house with them and slept on the couch. Two months went by without a word mentioned about her husband. When questioned, she told Daisy he had died by falling over the balcony of their apartment. It was a tragic accident, which was why she came to them because she needed them. About that time she started drinking wine with Daisy and smoking, and fighting with her. The verbal attacks got very bad, and both Daisy and Sally were swearing at each other all the time, until my friend kicked Sally out and told her not to come back. Within a month Sally got married again. My friend moved out and took his son with him. ZDaisy was fired from her job, went on disability, stayed drunk for days at a time, moved in with her mom, and they both started doing meth and drinking. And fighting. And smoking. It will only be a matter of time before Sally will kill her next husband, and it will only be a matter of time before she teaches Daisy to do the same thing.

All of this is only my opinion, with no real proof. So I can’t go to the authorities to investigate. But I know deep down in my heart that Sally is a black widow hiding in plain sight.