#Female serial killers serial#

“Women are less likely to be involved in violent crime overall, if you look at rates of assault and rates of homicide,” says DeJong.

#Female serial killers serial#

“The average person probably thinks that serial killers are more common than they really are.”ĭeJong also credits the theories of nature and nurture as reasons there seem to be less female serial killers: Men are generally physically larger and stronger than women and women are often raised to be less aggressive and less physical than men. Why are there-as far as we know-fewer female serial killers? Because serial killers, in general, are a rare and unusual breed, says Christina DeJong associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University and vice-president of the American Society of Criminology. After a suspicious fire, she was never seen again-but a dozen bodies were discovered on her property. She was executed by hanging in 1873.Īnd maybe you read here about Belle Gunness, the early-20 th century widow known for the dozen or more potential suitors she lured and murdered on her Indiana pig farm. She was convicted of killing her 7-year-old stepson and was thought to have murdered as many as 20 others-probably by arsenic poisoning.

Or perhaps you’ve heard of Mary Ann “Dark Angel” Cotton, a British woman in the mid-1800s whose husbands and family members had a bad habit of passing away from stomach trouble.

You may recall Aileen Wuornos, who killed at least six men in Florida and was executed in 2002. Article Details: 4 Female Serial Killers Who Will Haunt Your DreamsĤ Female Serial Killers Who Will Haunt Your Dreamsįor the many male serial killers you can no doubt name off the top of your head-Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper-there are likely far fewer females of the genre that come to mind.