Belle Ganess is unofficially considered the first female serial killer in the United States. This monster in a skirt killed without mercy. She became the personification of female cruelty and madness. Her victims were both men and women, husbands and strangers, her own and other people's children. Memories of her to this day excite the minds and terrify. The motive for the murders of Belle Gunness was the seizure of insurance, money and other valuable things, as well as the elimination of witnesses.
Cruelty breeds cruelty
She was born in Norway on September 11, 1859 in a poor family of a bricklayer. At birth, she received the name Brunhilde Sterset. In addition to her, the family had 7 children, she was the youngest child. 1877 - at the age of eighteen, Brunhilde first became pregnant from a loved one.
The child was desired, but trouble happened. During a Norwegian national holiday, she took part in a general dance, and during this a man attacked her with a kick in the stomach. There was a miscarriage. The man was wealthy, he was able to avoid responsibility by getting off with a small cash payment.
Many of those who knew Brunhilde said that after the loss of the child, she changed beyond recognition, her character became completely different. On her face, and previously not distinguished by grace (she had a somewhat muzhish appearance and, with a height of 172 cm, weighed about 90 kg), a gloomy, displeased expression was forever imprinted.
First of the victims
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Following the example of her sister, Nelly Larson, who had previously immigrated to the United States, she moved to America in 1881 and changed her name to a more American and euphonious, as she thought - Belle. There she, at first, began to work as a servant, and a little later in 1884 she became the wife of Mads Ditlev Anton Sorenson. At the wedding, the bride wore a black dress. Subsequently, many considered this to be the first sign of mental illness and the terrible deeds of this woman.
The couple were the owners of a candy store in Chicago, which brought little profit and soon "safely" burned down. According to Belle Gunness, the fire started from an exploding kerosene lamp. And although the remains of the lamp were never found in the ashes, the insurance indemnity was still received.
Belle and Mads had 4 children: Caroline, Axel, Lucy and Myrtle. Two older children (Caroline and Axel), whose life was insured, died in infancy, allegedly from acute colitis. Symptoms of acute colitis are abdominal pain, nausea, convulsions, fever, diarrhea. As with poisoning? The symptoms are the same.
1900, July - Mads Sorenson died, while he died "very well" - the only day when two insurance policies were in force simultaneously, insuring his life. The first doctor believed that Mr. Sorenson died from strychnine poisoning. And Sorenson's family doctor treated his "enlarged" heart and believed that he died as a result of heart failure.
Insurance companies awarded Bella $ 8,500 (more than $ 200,000 today), with this money she bought the McClang Road farm on the outskirts of La Porte, Indiana. This is already money, but not yet wealth.
Lust for blood
1902 Belle moved to La Porte, Indiana, and married Peter Gunness on April 1st that same year. They settled on the McClang Road farm, which the newly minted Mrs. Gunness bought with insurance money, for the death of her first husband. Peter had an adopted daughter from his first marriage - 14-year-old Jenny Olsen. She lived with them, though not for long.
Soon Belle lost her second husband - he died in a strange way in December 1902, after a coffee grinder fell from a shelf on his head. According to another version, the tragedy occurred in a barn, and a heavy part from the machine fell on the husband's head. According to the third version, he entered the barn and a huge meat knife fell on his head. The locals, who knew Peter as an experienced butcher, simply did not believe that this could be an accident. Anyway, the new insurance claim was another $ 3,000.
Meanwhile, Jenny Olsen confessed to a classmate that her stepmother killed her father by hitting him in the head with a meat cleaver. It got to the police and Belle Gunness was questioned. She, of course, denied everything, saying that these were the fantasies of a girl who was going through the death of her father. In addition, Belle was pregnant (in 1903 she had a son, Philip from the late Peter), this made an impression on the investigators. At this point, the whole investigation ended, so, in fact, before it could begin.
Soon Jenny Olsen disappeared from the sight of her neighbors on the Gunness farm. When asked, Belle said that she had sent the girl to study in California. Her body will eventually be discovered.
Marriage ads
Meanwhile, Belle Gunness got in touch with Ray Lamfer, who helped her get things done on the farm. By 1906, he was already considered her fiance.
In the meantime, marriage announcements began to appear in Norwegian newspapers, where it was said that the pretty widow "with a mortgaged farm" wants to meet a man willing to move to America. After that - Belle Gunness had no end to those wishing to meet. The problem was that none of the men who went on the date could return either to Norway or stay in the United States - they all ended their days at Belle Gunness Farm.
Several middle-aged men immediately responded to her ad. Among them was John Moe from Minnesota. He took with him on a date with a young widow $ 1,000 in mortgage. Belle introduced him to her neighbors as her cousin, and a week later he simply disappeared.
Then George Anderson (an immigrant from Norway) from Missouri responded. During dinner, Belle brought up the issue of a mortgage. The man said that he would pay if she married him. In the middle of the night, Anderson suddenly woke up and saw that Belle was standing over him, and in her hands was a heavy candlestick with a candle, with a strange, sinister expression on her face. Seeing that he woke up without a word, she left the room. In the morning, Anderson immediately left her farm and returned to Missouri. This was the only time that would-be fiancé Belle Gunness survived.
Several years passed in this way. How many of these suitors disappeared without a trace, having arrived on a date with a young widow?
The last of the men to respond to Belle Gunness's invitation was Andrew Helgelein. During the correspondence, Belle convinced him of her feelings, and also that he did not come to her empty-handed. Helgelein sold almost all of his property in Norway and went to see his pen-pal. Belle Gunness romantically enclosed clover petals in the envelope containing the last letter to him.
He arrived at La Porte in 1908 with $ 3,000 in cash. And he was gone. The lack of news from Andrew alarmed his brother As, who found some letters from Belle and realized where he was going. Ace immediately followed in Andrew's footsteps, but it was too late.
Quarrel
In the meantime, problems began with Ray Lamfer. Lamfer, who was passionately in love with Belle, was very jealous of her men, with whom she periodically met. Jealous, he began to arrange scenes for his mistress more and more often, and in February 1908 she shot him.
At the trial, she said that her employee went crazy and attacked her, and began to insist on his arrest, because he allegedly poses a threat to society. Lamfera was found sane, and they did not detain him. Belle Gunness was also allowed to go home, but a few days later she complained to the sheriff that Lamfer had broken into her farm and threatened her.
Lamfer was arrested for illegal entry. Having freed, Lamfer began to come to her, but every time she chased him away. Belle went to lawyer M. Leliter and told him that Ray Lamfer was threatening to set fire to her house, and she was afraid for her life and the lives of her children.
Fire
1908, April 28, morning - Belle Gunness's house was on fire. Leliter's lawyer recalled how Belle had informed him of Lamfer's threats. Lamfer was arrested and charged with arson and murder.
The bodies of Belle's children and the body of a woman without a head were found in the ashes. One of the neighbors' farmers, upon identifying the remains, confidently stated that they did not belong to Belle Gunness.
Belle's old friends from Chicago arrived, but they also didn't dare claim it was Belle's corpse. According to the coroner's measurements, taking into account the absence of the head and part of the neck, the woman should be 5'3 feet tall and weigh about 150 pounds, while Belle Gunness was at least 5'8 feet tall during her life and weighed from 180 to 200 pounds. Dr. J. Myers, who performed the autopsy on the deceased woman, concluded that she did not die in a fire, but as a result of strychnine poisoning.
Spooky finds in the garden
At this time, As Hegelein arrived at the Belle Gunness farm and after his statement about the disappearance of his brother, a closer inspection of the fire site was carried out. It was then that the eerie details of what happened at the Gunness farm surfaced.
Andrew Helgelein's body, found in a shallow grave in the garden, first. In total, 40 graves were found at the Belle Gunness farm, including the body of Jane Olsen's adopted daughter.
Confession before death
A farm worker and Belle's fiancé, Ray Lamfer, were accused and convicted of arson. He confessed to the arson, but denied any involvement in the murder. As a result, he was found guilty of arson, but not guilty of murder. 1908, November 26 - He was sentenced to 20 years in a state prison (in Michigan City). Died of tuberculosis on December 30, 1909.
The priest who confessed it before his death reported that Lamfer had sworn that Belle Gunness was alive. He said that he himself did not kill anyone, but helped Gunness bury his victims. Belle, having learned from her second husband, a butcher, to butcher carcasses, personally dismembered bodies and fed some of their parts to pigs. Other parts Lamfer buried in the wasteland. At times she poisoned the victims, sometimes she stabbed the butcher with a huge knife, and when she added chloroform to the coffee, and when the victim passed out, she choked her with her weight.
Lamfer also told about the strange corpse of a decapitated woman, found at the site of the conflagration of Belle's house. It turned out that just days before the arson, she had hired a housekeeper from Chicago. Lamfer claimed that Belle poisoned this woman, then beheaded her and drowned her head in a swamp, and put her old clothes on the corpse.
Then she put her children to sleep with chloroform, strangled them and transferred their corpses, along with the decapitated corpse of the housekeeper, to the basement. After setting a fire, she ran away. Lamfer said that he was waiting for her on the road at the appointed place, but she betrayed him and did not come. Lamfer reported that Belle Gunness was a very wealthy woman, and that, according to his calculations, she killed 42 people, and probably more.
Bloody money
Over the years, killing people, this monster in a skirt has managed to save more than $ 250,000 (now about $ 6.3 million). Local banks said Belle Gunness had withdrawn most of her savings shortly before the fire. Over the years following these events, there were occasional reports throughout the country that she had been seen, but none of them were confirmed.
1931 - A woman named Esther Carlson is arrested in Los Angeles for poisoning her husband August Lindstrom in order to get insurance. Two people who remembered Belle Gunness claimed to recognize her from the photo, but that is not enough to identify her. Esther Carlson died while awaiting trial.
How Belle Gunness actually ended her life remains a mystery …