The following list of the Top 10 Women Serial Killers in History is provided courtesy of Nabanita Dhar. It is noted that Dhar’s original post is titled: Top 10 Most Evil Women in History. All Things Crime Blog has altered the text significantly but kept close to the spirit of Dhar’s text. And, of course, this list is hardly definitive. There are lots of other female serial killers who could join this “august company”.
10: Charlene Adelle Gallego
Gallego and her partner Gerald Armond wreaked havoc in Sacramento, California between 1978 and 1980. They kept a harem as sex slaves whom they utilized to spice up their own sex life. They ultimately killed around 10 of their victims. Gallego was apprehended in November 1980 and received a “sweetheart deal” not unlike Karla Homolka’s in return for testifying against her partner. She was not charged in California but pleaded guilty to murders in Nevada and received a sentence of 16 years and 8 months.
9: Ilse Koch
This fiend from hell was the wife of Karl-Otto Koch, commandant of the Nazi concentration camps Buchenwald and Majdanek. Known as the “the concentration camp murderess“, she tortured and killed prisoners without empathy. An extreme sadist, she kept the skin of murdered inmates with distinctive tattoos as souvenirs. “The Witch of Buchenwald”and “The Beast of Buchenwald”were some of the nicknames attributed to her by prisoners due to her cruelty.
8: Beverly Allitt
This English serial killer was convicted of murdering 4 children and charged with attempting to murder 3 others. In addition, she caused grievous bodily harm to another 6 children. All of these crimes were committed within a 3-month stretch in the spring of 1991 and took place in the children’s ward at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire. Her position as hospital nurse put here in close proximity to her victims. She was described as a “serious danger to society” and was awarded 13 life sentences.
7: Belle Gunness
Belle Gunness was a physically strong Norwegian-American female serial killer. She murdered her suitors, boyfriends, two daughters, and probably both her husbands as well as the rest of her children. She is believed to have killed around 25 to 40 people in all over the course of several decades. She would split open the head of her victims with a meat chopper or simply chloroform them while they were sleeping. She was the true American female Bluebeard.
6: Myra Hindley
Myra and her twisted partner Ian Brady were responsible for the Moors Murders between July 1963 and October 1965 in and around present day Greater Manchester, England. Their child victims were between 10 and 17 years of age, and at least four of them were sexually assaulted. She has been labeled “the most evil woman in Britain” by the press. She appealed her life sentence repeatedly with no success. She died in prison at age 60 in the year 2002. Her partner Ian Brady is still alive and has stated many times that he wants to die so that his misery can cease. Brady is usually on a hunger strike and is fed by means of a feeding tube.
5: Irma Grese
Of engaging appearance, this unsettling young Nazi was nicknamed the Beast of Belsen or the Hyena of Auschwitz. She was employed at the Nazi concentration camps of Ravensbrück and Auschwitz and was the warden of the women’s section of Bergen-Belsen. She was promoted to Senior Supervisor by the end of 1943, and was placed in charge of around 30,000 Jewish female prisoners whom she tortured and often murdered in cold blood. She was captured by the British in 1945 and executed for crimes against humanity at the age of 22.
4: Queen Mary I
This fiendish monarch is known for the brutal persecution of Protestants. During her reign, over 280 religious rebels were burned at the stake which earned her distinctive nickname, Bloody Mary. She was the only child to survive the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Queen Mary ruled as the Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. The fourth monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for her restoration of Roman Catholicism for a brief period until her death.
3: Rosemary West
Convicted in 1995 of 10 murders, which she committed along with her husband, Rosemary West was a British serial killer who is now imprisoned in Durham. The murders occurred between April 1973 and August 1979. It was the disappearance of Heather West, their daughter, that led to a thorough investigation of the couple and their subsequent conviction. Heather’s body was found at 25 Cromwell Street along with other bodies.
2: Elizabeth Báthory
A undoubtedly striking woman, Elizabeth Báthory was a Countess from the renowned Báthory family in the Kingdom of Hungary. Known as the “Blood Countess”, she is one of the most discussed female serial killers in history. She along with four of her partners have been accused of committing over 650 murders. Torture was also an integral part of their ritual. Though she was never tried or convicted, she remained confined in a set of rooms in Čachtice Castle upon her arrest in 1610 until her death.
1: Mary Ann Cotton
This sly fiend murdered up to 21 children by poisoning them with arsenic. She first married William Mowbray. Four out of their five children died from gastric fever and then Mowbray succumbed to an intestinal disorder. Oddly enough, her second husband died of a similar ailment. But she didn’t stop there and racked up several more “life partners” who all died of intestinal disorders. The downfall of one of history’s most evil women came shortly after the death of her last husband, Charles Edward Cotton. She was hanged by the neck until dead in 1873.