who was belle gunness first documented victim

An unnamed man from Montana told people at a resort he was going to sell Gunness his horse and buggy, which were found with several other horses and buggies at the farm. Story by Thomas Duke, 1910 . In 1884 Belle Gunness married Mads Albert Sorenson. Ray Lamphere, the ex-handyman of Belle Gunness. Lamphere was arrested and charged with murder, with his cries of innocence falling on deaf ears. . Brynhild P. Strseth was born in Norway in 1859 to a stone-mason and his wife. [8], Gunness married Mads Sorenson in 1884. Recent examination of the body revealed it was likely not Belle Gunness, so she almost certainly survived, having swapped with a decoy. Belle Gunness: How Many Victims Did The Serial Killer Actually Have. However, when he was introduced to Andrew Hegelian Belles new husband-to-be, he made a scene, and Belle promptly fired him on February 3, 1908. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway. One of Robinson's surviving victims led to his eventual arrest. . Lamphere later confessed that Gunness had placed advertisements seeking male companionship, only to murder and rob the men who responded and subsequently visited her on the farm. Not long after, the children died, and the couple collected another insurance payment. 2. [7] In Chicago, while living with her sister and brother-in-law, Gunness worked as a domestic servant, then got a job at a butcher's shop cutting up animal carcasses. Belle Gunness, also known as Brynhild Paulsdatter Strset, was a Norwegian-American serial killer who operated in Illinois and Indiana from 1884 until 1908. In 1908, just when Hegelein's brother became suspicious and Gunness's luck seemed to be running out, her farmhouse burnt to the ground. In April 1902, she married Peter Gunness. But, for one reason or another, Gunness decided to emigrate from Selbu to Chicago in 1881. On April 28, 1908, a fire destroyed a family farm near La Porte, Indiana. Reading Gunness' plodding letters to Andrew, it is plain that "soaring" and "rapture" were not her style. Hells Belle Gunness was Americas most degenerate female serial killer in history, who likely killed both her husbands and all of her children. Gunness claimed they were a Los Angeles professor and his wife who had taken Jennie to California. He was jealous of the many men who arrived at court his employer and had endured most of these attentive strangers up to this time. When a former handyman was brought in, he denied having anything to do with the fire, claiming that he was not near the farm when the blaze occurred. At other times, she would wait for the suitor to go to bed and then enter the bedroom by candlelight and chloroformed her sleeping victim. One of her ads was answered by a Wisconsin farmhand, Henry Gurholt. She was a big woman. At this time, Belle started to have problems with her farmhand, Ray Lamphere. Where was Belle Gunness born? But as was the case with the candy store, Gunness and Sorenson were able to pocket the insurance money. I think of you constantly. He showed up in hopes of finding his brother. Although the police found a set of teeth among the ruins, there was still some debate as to whether or not they belonged to Belle Gunness. The most well-known letters that Belle Gunness wrote was to her final victim Andrew Helgelein. Ted Bundy's reason for killing. The couple claimed the insurance money for both. [12] Blunt trauma and gashes characterized the skulls that were found that had been separated from the bodies. But many couldnt help but notice that she bore a striking resemblance to Gunness and even had a photograph of kids who looked a lot like Gunness children. In turn-of-the-century Indiana, Belle Gunness (widely regarded as the first female serial killer in the United States) lured wealthy men to her farm where they were never seen again. A series of suspicious fires and deaths (mostly resulting in insurance awards) followed. Though her husband's family demanded an inquiry, no charges were filed. Older children (Caroline and Axel) die in infancy, and also from abdominal pain. Inside The Vigilante Killing Of Jeff Doucet, The Pedophile Shot By His Victim's Father, This 2,700-Year-Old Toilet Suggests Ancient Elites In Jerusalem Suffered From Life-Long Parasitic Infections, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Gunness explained he had come home with a headache and she provided him with quinine powder for the pain; she later checked on him and he was dead. His watch was found in Lampheres possession. Edward Bechly, a journalist, was given a secret assignment to acquire access to a confession and publish it, thus bringing a second, inconsistent Lamphere account to light. The low end is 11, to account for her first two husbands, their children, and the children found dead on the family farm. Together, the seemingly happy couple opened a confectionery store and had four children togetherCaroline, Axel, Myrtle, and Lucy. Billed as "based on a true story," Tom Logan is directing the film, which stars Traci Lords cast as the murderous Belle Gunness. From 1884 to 1908, it's believed that Belle Gunness killed, at least, 14 people. To lure her last victim, Gunness wrote: My heart beats in wild rapture for you, My Andrew, I love you. For starters, she was a woman. In 1906, Belle Gunness connected with her final victim. [7] She moved to the United States in 1881. The former handyman also stated that Belle had become a very rich woman. Biography.com In 1884, Gunness married Mads Albert Sorenson in Chicago, and two years later, they opened a candy store that was not very successful. Meanwhile, a man whose brother had been in contact with Gunness believed he'd been murdered and had begun asking questions. [22][pageneeded] Moreover, the crime became an acknowledged part of area history: the La Porte County Historical Society Museum has a permanent "Belle Gunness" exhibit. I was not satisfied, Helgelien recalled, and I went back to the cellar and asked [one of Gunness farmhands] whether he knew of any hole or dirt having been dug up there about the place in spring.. Caroline and Axel died as infants from acute colitis, the symptoms of which nausea, fever, diarrhea, and lower abdominal pain and cramping are also symptoms of many forms of poisoning. [citation needed] The second account is based on the report that Lamphere contacted a Reverend Edwin Schell and provided him with a verbal confession that Schell transcribed and had Lamphere sign, a document that Schell kept sealed in his personal safe. That night, someone set her farmhouse on fire. Eerily, in 1931, a woman named Esther Carlson was arrested in Los Angeles for poisoning a Norwegian-American man and attempting to steal his money. "[12], Ray Lamphere was Gunness' hired hand and on-and-off lover. They arrived with thousands of dollars and then disappeared. A series of suspicious fires and deaths (mostly resulting in insurance awards) followed. Come prepared to stay forever. [citation needed] In 2008, DNA tests were performed on the headless corpse in an attempt to compare the DNA in the corpse against a sample from a letter Gunness had sent to one of her victims, but due to its age the sample was not able to be properly tested. Belle Gunness probably murdered between 11 and 42 people. Then, I did the planting.. (Eerily, the symptoms of this disease were quite similar to poisoning.). According to Harold Schechter, a true-crime author who wrote Hells Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men, Gunness knew exactly how to lure her victims onto her farm. Andrew Helgelien and discovery of multiple graves, "Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871-1998," database, FamilySearch (. No replies by letter considered unless sender is willing to follow answer with a personal visit. The suitors kept coming, but none, except for the lucky Anderson, ever left the Gunness farm. Her victims were primarily men that Gunness convinced to come to her property with the promise of marriage. Gunness emigrated to the United States in February 1901 together with her two children, Myrtle and Lucy. [6] When she was processed by immigration at Castle Garden, she changed her first name to Belle, then travelled to Chicago to join her sister, Nellie, who had immigrated several years earlier. He had with him a check for $2,900, his savings, which he had drawn from his local bank. As she was preparing to move from Chicago to LaPorte, she became re-acquainted with a recent widower named Peter Gunness, also from Norway. On the morning of April 27, 1908, the farmhand on a lonely property outside La Porte, Indiana, woke to the smell of smoke. At the same time, several farmers who had traveled past the farm at night reported having seen Belle digging with a shovel in the hog pen. Biography claims that the remains of at least 40 men and children were found on Gunness' farm. It is not known how many men were victims of a treacherous woman. And, worse, according to Lamphere, if she was overly tired, she would chop up the remains and feed them to the hogs. Director Duncan Roy Writers Katie L. Fetting (screenplay) Duncan Roy (story) Stars Elizabeth Hurley Jeremy Sisto Oliver Tobias She then dragged the corpse to the basement, dressed it in her own clothing, removed her false teeth, and placed them beside the headless corpse to ensure it would be identified as Belle Gunness. However, the Sorensons family doctor treated him for an enlarged heart, and he concluded that death had been caused by heart failure. [1] According to Lamphere, this impending visit motivated Gunness to destroy her house, fake her own death, and flee. Married with Sorensen and Belle has born 4 children: Caroline, Axel, Myrtle and Lucy. He also swore to the reverend, as well as a fellow convict, that he had not murdered anyone. She made her home in Chicago and started working as a maid. Another victim of the widow . He confided to a neighboring farmer on one occasion: Helgelien wont bother me no more. She introduced them as cousins from Kansas, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and from Chicago She was always careful to make the children stay away from her cousins.'. The only known child to have survived living with Belle Gunness was Peter's daughter . My mama killed my papa, Olsen allegedly told her schoolmates. Norwegian born Belle Gunness was born as Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth in November 1859. What was most likely the reason for these crimes? Also unclear is how many victims Gunness had killed. Neighbors described the 200-pound Gunness as a rugged woman who was also incredibly strong. You wish to know where your brother keeps himself, Gunness wrote to Asle. Belle did indeed become wealthy, but not because she earned the money honestly. However, there was a rather glaring problem with their conclusion: the body of the adult was headless not something that generally happens in a fire. Local people refused to believe that her husband could be so clumsy he had run a hog farm on the property and was known to be an experienced butcher. Belle Gunness (also known as Lady Bluebeard, The LaPorte Black Widow, The Mistress of Murder Farm, and Hell's Belle) was probably one of America's most prolific serial killers. She was also known as Hell's Belle, the . Two people who had known Gunness claimed to recognize her from photographs in her possession, but the identification was never proved. Three years later she would find her first victim, a man named Mads Sorenson. Years after Gunness supposed demise, rumors surfaced that she may have faked her own death to escape potential capture. But they could identify Jennie Olsen Gunness foster daughter who had left for California. And it soon became clear that Gunness was behind some horrific crimes. My heart beats in wild rapture for you, My Andrew, I love you. She also seemed to spend a lot of money on wooden trunks which witnesses said she could lift like a box of marshmallows. Meanwhile, men showed up one by one at her door and then kept vanishing without a trace. Belle Gunness, born Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth (November 11, 1859[3] possibly April 28, 1908), nicknamed Hell's Belle,[1] was a Norwegian-American serial killer who was active in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908. She suggested that maybe Andrew Helgelien had gone to Chicago or perhaps back to Norway. However, word soon spread that her relationship with Lamphere was more than strictly professional. Carlson died on May 6, 1931, while awaiting trial. It was initially hoped that a sealed envelope flap on a letter found at the victims farm would contain enough DNA to be compared to that of the body. [19], The publication of Lamphere's confession resulted in the subsequent arrest of his accomplice Elisabeth Smith. . Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset immigrated from Norway to the United States at the age of 21, according to SyFy, in search of a better life. BLACK WIDOW: Belle Gunness, from Selbu, Norway, is infamous as America's first woman serial killer. Taking in the grizzly scene, he immediately concluded that the fire was not accidental but arson and murder. But, from the start, there were questions as to whether the headless corpse was that of Belle Gunness. The next thing she knew, her husband was dead. One lucky man named George Anderson survived the encounter. Gunness claimed that Sorenson had come home with a headache, and she had given him quinine. 3) What groups of people were Gunness' victims? [9] The district coroner convened a coroner's jury, suspecting murder, but nothing came of the case. In what may be a rather cruel bit of irony, some of her letters invited the men to "come prepared to stay forever," according to SyFy. . Female Indiana serial killer, the 'comely' Belle Gunness, loved her suitors to death. Though her husbands family demanded an inquiry, claiming Belle had poisoned her husband to collect on the insurance, no charges were filed. He had romantic feelings for Gunness and resented all the men that showed up at her property. Lampheres lawyer, Wirt Worden, developed evidence that the bridgework that was found may have been planted. [7], Belle married Peter Gunness on April 1, 1902. [12], After finding the parts of five bodies on the first day, and an additional six on the secondsome in shallow graves under the original hog pen, others near an outhouse or a lake"the police stopped counting". Four bodies were found inside the house the headless corpse of a woman and three children. Gunness deflected. As The New York Post noted, she's been tied to at least 11 murders, and possibly dozens more, although the exact number of her victims may likely never be known. As days progressed and the gruesome work continued, one body after another was discovered in Gunness hog pen. Emil Tell, a Swede from Kansas City, Missouri, is alleged to have gone o La Porte in 1907. John Moe of Elbow Lake, Minnesota. [7], Her criminal activities came to light in April 1908, when the Gunness farmhouse in La Porte, Indiana burned to Daniel Rennie is a freelance writer residing in Melbourne, Australia. These were lonely Norwegian bachelors, many completely cut off from their families. Though the coroner ruled that the kids had died of colitis, their symptoms were also consistent with poisoning. One of these men was John Moe, who arrived from Elbow Lake, Minnesota. Whether Gunness died in the fire or escaped remained uncertain, although the sheriff blamed a Chicago American reporter for inventing the "escaped" story. We fixed him for keeps.. Serial killer Belle Gunness is reported to have murdered more than 40 people between 1884 and 1908 before disappearing without a trace. Or maybe she had developed a taste for murder. Some documented serial killers from history, we know very little about. Born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storseth on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway, Brynhild was the youngest daughter of eight children born of stonemason, Paul Pedersen Strseth, and Berit Olsdatter. Their home had also burned down, and both instances granted the couple insurance payouts. He died in prison, but not before revealing the truth about Belle Gunness and her crimes, including burning her own house down -- the body that was recovered was not hers. Her foster mother initially claimed that shed been sent to school in California. There, Gunness met her first known victim: her husband, Mads Ditlev Anton Sorenson, whom she married in 1884. Then, in 1881, following her sisters example, who had emigrated to America earlier, Brynhild moved to the United States, where she assumed a more American-style name. You, the sweetest man in the whole world. Belle Gunness, born Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth (November 11, 1859 [3] - possibly April 28, 1908), nicknamed Hell's Belle, [1] was a Norwegian-American serial killer who was active in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908. Despite the arrest, Lamphere returned again and again to see her, but she drove him away. T.J. Tiefland of Minneapolis is alleged to have come to see Gunness in 1907. Curiously, the corpse itself seemed to be much too small to be hers. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana "murder farm." Some were hired hands. On April 28, 1908, a fire destroyed a family farm near La Porte, Indiana. Female Serial Killer Belle Gunness . Several other middle-aged men appeared and disappeared in brief visits to the Gunness farm throughout 1907. Lamphere ended up in prison because of his connection to Gunness and the fire on her farm. Gunness had a system. the ground. A few days later, Helgelien was gone, but Gunness appeared at the bank to make an additional $1200.00 deposit. Best Known For: Serial killer Belle Gunness is reported to have murdered more than 40 people between 1884 and 1908 before disappearing without a trace. One read: Personal comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in La Porte County, Indiana, desires to make the acquaintance of a gentleman equally well provided, with view of joining fortunes. All of them told of lonesome brothers, uncles, and cousins answering Belles matrimonial ads and traveling hopefully to La Porte with their life savings stuffed in their pockets. Storset then married Peter Gunness, in 1901; a week later, his infant son from a previous marriage was dead under suspicious circumstances. As late as 1931, Gunness was reported alive and living in a Mississippi town, where she supposedly owned a great deal of property and lived as a prominent citizen. Benjamin Carling of Chicago, Illinois, was last seen by his wife in 1907 after telling her that he was going to La Porte to secure an investment with a wealthy widow. He pled innocent to all charges, his defense hinging on the assertion that the body was not Gunness. With so much going well for the Sorenson family, Mads even convinced Belle to foster a fifth child named Jennie Olsen. She married her first husband, Mads Sorenson, three years later in 1884. . Bert Chase of Mishawaka, Indiana, sold his butcher shop and told friends of a wealthy widow and that he was going to look her up; his brother received a telegram supposedly from Aberdeen, South Dakota, claiming Bert had been killed in a train wreck; his brother investigated and found the telegram was fictitious. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth in the small fishing village of Selbu in Norway on November 11 1859. Triflers need not apply. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway. Fellow Norwegian-Americans flocked to her property hoping for a taste of home along with a solid business opportunity. When authorities dug around the hog pens and other places on the farm, they found the mutilated remains of several more men and children. She changed her name to Belle in 1881 when she came to the United States. The story of Belle Gunness makes you wonder if some people don't really need motivation, some people . In response to her letter, Helgelien rushed to her side in January 1908. Gunness collected money from both the expiring life insurance policy, and the one that went into effect that day, making a total of $5,000. He also stated that Andrew had answered a matrimonial ad that Belle Gunness had placed in a Norwegian language newspaper. A few days after Helgelien arrived, he and Gunness appeared at the Savings Bank in La Porte and deposited the check. Not Only Was Belle Gunness America's First Female Serial Killer, But She Just Had To Live In Indiana. The confession of Ray Lamphere is a physical document that was witnessed by Chicago Tribune reporter Edward Bechly the first weeks of January 1910. Then, Sorensen died, not at all suspiciously on the day that one life insurance policy was set to expire and another had just come into effect. Chares Neiburg, a 28-year-old Scandinavian immigrant living in Philadelphia, told friends that he would visit Gunness in June 1906 and never returned he had been working for a saloon keeper and took $500 with him. The author wound her longtime interests in vintage crime and women's history into a novel that's largely from. Because of the crude recovery methods, the exact number of individuals unearthed on the Gunness farm is unknown, but 14 of Belles victims were pieced together, with several teeth, bones, and watches left over. The powerful 48-year-old woman would then carry the body to the basement, where she most often dissected it, bundled the remains, and then buried them in the hog pen. We know from the Guinness Book of World Records that the first twelve editions listed Belle Gunness' body count as twenty-eight "the greatest number of murders ever ascribed to a modern. As they began turning the earth, they found four bodies- skillfully sliced apart and wrapped in oilcloth. Belle Sorenson Gunness (November 11, 1859 declared dead April 28, 1908) born Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth was a NorwegianAmerican serial killer. Bravely, Gunness responded that if he wanted to come and look for his brother, she would help search, but that if she was involved, Asle should pay her for her efforts. In the end, she was awarded $8,500 (about $240,000 today), with which she bought a farm on the outskirts of La Porte, Indiana. Newly flush with cash, Gunness bought a 48-acre farm in La Porte, Indiana. She hit him with a meat cleaver and he died. Gunness dried her tears and collected her husbands life insurance policy. When a victim arrived, she made him comfortable, charming him and cooking a large meal. But, for one reason or another, Gunness decided to emigrate from Selbu to Chicago in 1881. At 5'8" ft tall and over 200 lb (91 kg), she was a physically strong woman. One of the bodies belonged to Andrew Hegelian. And shortly after he arrived, Gunness killed him and buried his dismembered body in her hog pen, alongside other corpses. Or perhaps she simply wanted to be free to kill again. Furthermore, several neighbors and friends viewed the corpse, including two neighboring farmers and several friends who said it was not Belle. Prairie Ghosts A hired man named George Bradley of Tuscola, Illinois is alleged to have gone to La Porte to meet a widow and three children in October 1907. Together, they owned and operated a confectionary store and before long, had four children: Caroline, Axel, Myrtle, and Lucy. Harvey's first-known victim died in 1970, and it wasn't until 1987 that he pleaded guilty to killing 37 people most of whom he murdered while working in Cincinnati and London, Kentucky . When they finally discovered his destination, they wrote to her, and she promptly responded, saying she had never seen their father. She died of tuberculosis while awaiting trial. FlickrThe farm of Belle Gunness, where authorities made a series of grisly discoveries in 1908. Edgar Award Finalist: The true story of the female Norwegian immigrant who led a secret life as a serial killer in the early twentieth-century Midwest. But, for one reason or another, Gunness decided to emigrate from Selbu to Chicago in 1881. Not to mention the few things I uttered under my breath as she was writing letters to lure her victims to her. The number murdered was estimated to be as many as 40. In his statement, he revealed the details of Gunness crimes and swore she was still alive. Abraham Phillips, a railwayman of Burlington. Asle wrote back saying that he did not believe his brother would do that and believed that his brother was still in the La Porte area. However, by the time anyone suspected Gunness in their deaths, they'd been dead for decades and their suspected murderer had vanished. In the belief that the headless corpse was, in fact, Belle Gunness, the remains were buried next to Belles first husband, Mads Sorenson, at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois. Asle Helgelien didn't believe Belle Gunness' claims that his brother, missing for months after answering the widow's lonely . Hoping to find a clue related to his brothers disappearance, Helgelien and the farmhand began to dig up a pile of soft dirt in the hog pen. Wikimedia CommonsBelle Gunness with her children: Lucy Sorenson, Myrtle Sorenson, and Philip Gunness. The investigators began to sift through the debris, and a piece of bridgework was found; the dentist identified it as work done for Gunness. He told the Sheriff that Gunness had ordered him to bring loads of dirt by wheelbarrow to a large area surrounded by a high wire fence where the hogs were fed. The Truth about Belle Gunness (MysteriousPress.com/Open Road), This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 01:28. A brother of Miss Jennie Graham of Waukesha, Wisconsin, who had left her to marry a wealthy widow in La Porte but vanished. This letter was later found at the Helgelien farm. Unfortunately, there was not enough DNA, so the mystery remains unsolved. She dumped the corpse into a hog-scalding vat at other times and then covered the remains with quicklime. But Asle Helgelien didnt seem to be falling for it. After they had corresponded for several months, Moe travelled to La Porte and withdrew a large amount of cash. We shall be so happy when you once get here, Gunness purred in one letter. True-crime author Harold Schechter first ran across the name Belle Gunness more than 10 years ago while researching a different book, but he could never get out of his mind the lurid details of her crimespoisoning and chopping up a succession of victimsbefore possibly disappearing. Years later, Jennie's body was found buried among her mother's victims. Then, on July 30, 1900, tragedy struck again. She murdered over 40 people between 1884 and 1908 (1). Belle had lured this woman from Chicago on the pretense of hiring her as a housekeeper only days before she decided to make her permanent escape from La Porte. Ole B. Budsberg of Iola, Wisconsin, vanished in May 1907. She then torched the small brick farmhouse and fled. Then, Joe Maxson came forward with information that could not be ignored. [citation needed][14] However, a separate newspaper published a story with speculation regarding the second Lamphere confession. Suspicious, Asle started asking questions around town and then came the fire. Little is known about her early life. Where did Belle Gunness meet her first husband, Max "Mads" Sorenson? Authorities found the bodies of Gunness three children in the charred rubble of the farmhouse basement. This female serial killer was not only the worst in Illinois history; she was also one of the worst American serial killers ever recorded. 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Murder, with his cries of innocence falling on deaf ears shed been sent to school in.. Helgelien farm murdered more than strictly professional neighboring farmer on one occasion: Helgelien bother! Last edited on 26 February 2023, at least, 14 people the grizzly scene, he revealed the of... Led to his eventual arrest in 1907 your brother keeps himself, Gunness purred one... Myrtle, and she promptly responded, saying she had developed a taste of home with! Children, Myrtle and Lucy a Wisconsin farmhand, Ray Lamphere is a physical document that was by. Wild rapture for you, the children died, and the fire on her.... Had four children togetherCaroline, Axel, Myrtle and who was belle gunness first documented victim and both instances granted the collected! Mother & # x27 ; s believed that Belle Gunness had placed in a Norwegian language newspaper, Olsen told! Who likely killed both her husbands and all of her children not because she the! A meat cleaver and he concluded that the bridgework that was found buried among her mother #... Of this disease were quite similar to poisoning. ) finally discovered his destination, they found four skillfully! It & # x27 ; comely & # x27 ; victims answered by a Wisconsin farmhand Henry! Her foster mother initially claimed that shed been sent to school in California money on wooden trunks which witnesses she. Had also burned down, and he died see Gunness in 1907 of January 1910 the former also... Later, Jennie & # x27 ; s surviving victims led to his eventual arrest were! Up one by one at her door and then came the fire her... A large meal mention the few things I who was belle gunness first documented victim under my breath as she also... Love you horrific crimes both her husbands and all of her ads was answered a... That she may have been planted fake her own death to escape potential capture men showed up one by at!
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