Belle Gunness, The Rare Female Serial Killer
by Throughout history there are very few female serial killers, but those who kill do it without thought. It becomes natural. Hell on earth is female killer with a mission.
Serial killers and murders lack common sense and the ability to process emotions. These things put together lead down a deadly path. But not all serial killers and murders are driven by the need to kill or by anger. Belle Gunness was driven by money, insurance money.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s insurance claims weren’t as closely looked into as they are now. Belle saw that first hand and used it to her advantage. The first two insurance claims paid out were for simple structure fires. The first was a confectionary shop owned by Belle and her first husband. When they received the insurance money they purchased a house. The second fire was their home, which the money from that accident when to buying another.
Realizing that structure fires and life insurance paid out different amounts, Belle murdered her husband and received $8,500, which at the time was a large sum of money. That money went to purchasing a brothel with a carriage house and a boat house which boat burned a mysterious fire shortly after Belle and her children moved into the home.
Belle married a man by the name Peter Gunness, who had an infant son, and within a week of the marriage Belle managed to kill the son. They married in April, he was dead in December. Her daughters died mysteriously and in every case they were insured and Belle received a check.
Belle was never arrested for any murders, although the town did talk about the relationships that Belle had that all ended in death. The police responded to a house fire at the Gunness home and found a headless women. Later the remains were determined not to be those of Belle Gunness. However, to be certain investigators would have to sift through the ruins of the home and find the head or at least the teeth.
Several bodies were uncovered in the search, among those was the head of Belle Gunness. Throughout her life, it is suspected that she murdered over 40 people in order to collect insurance money. Of the few women serial killers, Belle Gunness certainly stands out.
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