By Katie Ta’ssell
As much as there are a great number of horrific crimes committed by men, don’t be under any false pretenses that women are always pure and innocent. Those listed here are over 30 of the women made famous by the crimes they committed or were sentenced for. While the crimes do vary, there is certainly a ruthlessness and astonishing coldness that forms a notable pattern throughout. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and here is a list that evinces that expression. So next time you think all women are kind and caring, just beware.
Rosemary West
Rosemary West was one half of the murderous couple Fred and Rose West, who became widely reviled in the UK during their trial in 1995. She is currently incarcerated in Yorkshire.
The extensive and abhorrent crimes that West committed (in partnership with her husband) shocked the UK. One of the ten women she killed was her own daughter, Heather West.
Elizabeth Báthory
A noblewoman from what was Hungary (now Slovakia) in Eastern Europe, Elizabeth Báthory earned the sobering sobriquet of the Blood Countess after she allegedly tortured and murdered many young women.
There was never any documented evidence of Báthory’s guilt (or otherwise), but rumors of her abusive behavior persisted until it became an urban myth. She died under house arrest in 1614.
Queen Mary I
Although Mary I only reigned for five years, from 1553 to 1558, but in that relatively short time she earned the moniker of Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestant dissidents.
To be more precise, she was intent (some might say hell-bent) on undoing the English Reformation instigated by her father, King Henry VIII. She had 280 people burned at the stake.
Leonarda Cianciulli
Leonarda Cianciulli (left) came to be known as the Soap Maker of Correggio, but the reason why is much more disturbingly creepy than the innocuous nickname might suggest.
Cianciulli murdered three women in Correggio, Italy, and turned the bodies into soap – and teacakes. Apparently she was convinced she had to protect her son through human sacrifices. Grim.
Karla Homolka
Considered by many to be one of Canada’s worst serial killers, Karla Homolka was involved in the murders of three teenage girls in Ontario – one of whom was her sister.
Homolka slyly negotiated a plea bargain that ensured she only served 12 years if she testified against her husband, claiming she was an unwilling accomplice. Post-bargain video footage showed differently.
Gertrude Baniszewski
Gertrude Baniszewski became known as the Torture Mom after she was convicted of the murder of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, who was effectively tortured to death by Baniszewski and four others in 1965.
The case garnered huge public attention at the time, and a subsequent petition of over 40,000 signatures protesting against Baniszewski’s parole in 1985. She never admitted full responsibility for her crimes.
Myra Hindley
Branded as “the most evil woman in Britain” by the British press, Myra Hindley was convicted of the murders of three children, but (along with Ian Brady) killed five children in total.
Hindley maintained she was infatuated with Brady, saying that “he could have told me that .. the moon was made of green cheese … I would have believed him”. Unsurprisingly, nobody fell for her excuses.
Catherine de’ Medici
This Italian noblewoman married into the French monarchy in 1533, and had a resounding influence on the era, which resulted in what’s known as the age of Catherine de’ Medici.
Perhaps her most memorable legacy was the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of 1572, in which thousands of rebelling Protestants were killed. Oh, and some believed she also dabbled in witchcraft.
Mary Ann Cotton
Mary Ann Cotton was convicted for the murder of her stepson, although she is believed to have killed quite a few people, not least 11 of her 13 children.
She also killed three of her husbands to claim their life insurance policies. Arsenic poisoning wasn’t exclusive to Cotton, but she certainly made good – or rather, bad – use of it.
Enriqueta Martí
Many people earn a reputation that historians later argue is unfair or overexaggerated. The story of Enriqueta Martí, known as the Vampire of Barcelona, could be one such example.
What is known is that she ran a brothel in Barcelona in the early 20th century, and during that time, a number of children disappeared. She died in prison in 1913.
Ilse Koch
Ilse Koch had a number of nicknames attributed to her while her husband was posted at Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II, and all because of her cruelty to prisoners.
One urban myth about her claimed that she selected inmates to die because she wanted to use their tattoos to create lampshades from. An unproven rumor, but seriously unpleasant nonetheless.
Amelia Dyer
Amelia Dyer was a baby farmer in southern England in the late 19th century, posthumously earning the nickname of the Ogress of Reading, murdering an untold number of babies and children.
She used dressmaking tape to asphyxiate infants in her care, and was identified by said tape when a body was found in the river Thames near Reading. She was hanged in 1896.
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian was the first and only female emperor in Chinese history, and what a woman she was. She had no qualms in having potential challengers exiled or even executed.
She is regarded by many as one of the great leaders of Chinese history, widely expanding its size and influence, but her brutal ambition gains her a place in this list.
Griselda Blanco
Known as The Black Widow, Griselda Blanco was a fearsome figurehead in Miami in the 1970s until 1985, when she was arrested for conspiring to manufacture, import, and distribute drugs.
Blanco spent almost twenty years in prison for her crimes, which had contributed to a period of intense violence in Miami, known as the Cowboy wars. She was assassinated in 2012.
Fusako Shigenobu
Fusako Shigenobu was the founder and leader of the (now disbanded) Japanese Red Army, a communist militant group who were responsible for various terrorist activities in the 1970s and 1980s.
Although Shigenobu was never directly involved in any of the hijackings, bombings or mass shootings committed by the JRA, she was its leader. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Minnie Dean
Minnie Dean was a baby farmer in New Zealand in the late 1800s, which was a common practice at the time – caring for unwanted babies for a one-off fee.
Three children’s bodies were found on her property, and Dean was found guilty of infanticide and sentenced to death. She remains the only woman to be executed in New Zealand.
Madame Delphine LaLaurie
This lady was a well-known socialite of New Orleans in the early 19th century, but became most well known after a house fire enabled the discovery of her barbaric ways.
She had her 70-year-old cook chained to the stove and several slaves locked in the attic who showed signs of abuse. She fled to France after a mob attacked the house.
Irma Grese
Even when you consider this long list of women, Irma Grese is right up there as one of the worst, known as the Hyena of Auschwitz (amongst other nicknames).
Grese was one of the most infamous and sadistic of the guards at the Nazi concentration camps of Ravensbrück, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. She was executed for her war crimes in 1945.
Biljana Plavšić
Biljana Plavšić was President of Republika Srpska, a political group in the Eastern European country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was imprisoned for her part in the Bosnian War in 1992-1995.
Plavšić was involved in the ethic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, and was sentenced to 11 years in jail. The Red Cross estimated the death toll at around 140,000 people.
Ma Barker
Described by Edgar Hoover as “the most vicious, dangerous, and resourceful criminal brain of the last decade”, Ma Barker is quite the legend. However, historians regard this as largely fictitious.
Whether or not she was the criminal mastermind she is portrayed to be in recent times, she was aware of her sons’ activities as part of the long-standing Barker-Karpis gang.
Dagmar Overbye
One of only three women in Denmark to receive the death penalty in the 20th century, Dagmar Overbye was sentenced for murdering at least nine children between 1913 and 1920.
Her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, although some might feel she deserved the death penalty after she murdered up to 25 children (one of whom was her own). Horrific.
Christiana Edmunds
The far-from-sweet Christiana Edmunds became known as the Chocolate Cream Killer after she bought chocolates, added the poison strychnine and then returned the chocolates.
What possessed her to do something so twisted, you might wonder? Well, there might have been a married man involved. She was discovered and imprisoned at a mental asylum near London.
Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar
History is awash with stories of monarchs who have done dreadful deeds in the name of duty. Ranavalona I was no different, becoming known as the Mad Queen of Madagascar.
She reigned for 33 years, during which time, a combination of war, disease, forced labor and trial by ordeal – jury by poisoning – reduced the population from 5 to 2.5 million.
Klara Mauerova
The bizarre and terrifying case of Czech mother Klara Mauerova is the stuff of horror movies. The story involves sinister cults, malevolent doctors and a 33-year-old woman posing as an orphaned child.
As a result of her delusion, Mauerova’s sons suffered horrendous abuse at their mother’s hands. It was only discovered when the neighbors’ baby monitor inadvertently picked up the video signal from Mauerova’s own.
Verónica Mireya Moreno Carreon
Ironically, Verónica Mireya Moreno Carreon was a police officer in Mexico before she joined the Los Zetas cartel in 2010 and was voted to replace the previous head honcho.
Known as La Flaca, which means skinny girl, her time as a cruel and ruthless cartel boss came to an abrupt end when she was arrested by the Mexican marines.
Tillie Klimek
There are plenty of examples of women in history who have poisoned their husbands, but Tillie Klimek apparently claimed to be clairvoyant, predicting her victims’ deaths before they happened.
Easy to say, when you’ve already decided to poison them with arsenic – husbands, relatives, neighbors, a local dog – Klimek’s poison knew no bounds, it seems. She, however, died in prison.
Charlene Gallego
It’s funny that you can look at a photo of someone and think they don’t look evil. Yet Charlene Gallego and her husband Gerald definitely committed some truly horrendous crimes.
They were convicted of the murders of eleven young people from 1978 to 1980, having subjected the victims to some awful things beforehand. Charlene later said she was a living victim.
Darya Saltykova
To be precise, Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova, because this murderous lady from 18th century Russia had a namesake in Darya Petrovna Saltykova, an innocent Russian socialite who lived at (almost) the same time.
The not-so-innocent Darya took pleasure in torturing and killing her servants, and she was eventually arrested in 1762 and sentenced to life imprisonment, as Russia had abolished capital punishment in 1754.
Aileen Wuornos
Aileen Wuornos could be America’s most infamous female serial killer, due to the portrayal of her crimes by Charlize Theron in the 2003 film Monster (for which Theron won an Oscar).
Wuornos maintained that she killed her clients in self-defense, but it didn’t save her from lethal injection in 2002 for the deaths of the seven men that she shot and robbed.
Miyuki Ishikawa
Miyuki Ishikawa was an experienced midwife in Japan. After World War II, she was responsible for the neglect and murder of babies in her care, known as the Kotobuki San’in incident.
As if that wasn’t heinous enough, she even solicited money from the parents, shockingly claiming that the cost was less then it would have been to raise their babies.
Marquise de Brinvilliers
This fine lady was an esteemed member of the French aristocracy in the 17th century, until she was executed for the murder of her father and two of her brothers.
It was rumored that she tested her poisonous concoctions on hospital patients. Her execution brought about a scandalous period in French history known as the Affair of the Poisons. Dark.
Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing had many names, but she was famously known as Madame Mao, fourth wife of the infamous Chairman Mao, who was president of China from 1949 to 1976.
She was convicted for her part in the devastating cultural revolution in China (1966 – 1976). She famously said “I was Chairman Mao’s dog. I bit whomever he asked me to bite.”