Black Widows

AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE MOST MURDEROUS GOLD-DIGGERS IN MODERN HISTORY 
LOUISE PEETE 
"She's an entrepreneur. A homicidal entrepreneur." 

Louise Peete was a convicted American murderer famous for becoming the second woman in history to be executed in the State of California. 
She was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a wealthy mining engineer named Jacob C. Denton in 1920. Nineteen years later, however, she would be released from prison only to kill again. In a bizarre series of crimes, she would kill one of her benefactors, a social worker named Margaret Logan and be executed for committing that murder in April of 1947. 
DENA THOMPSON 
Dena Thompson is a woman who held power over every man that had the misfortune of falling for her charms. 
Dubbed a psychopath, Dena succeeded in fooling everyone around her, including investigators, with her lies and charm for over twenty years. 
Dena would post to Lonely Hearts columns and lure a steady stream of lovers and husbands into her world, eventually leaving each one emotionally and financially bankrupt. 
Her first husband lost everything to her and wound up as a desperate man on the run from a mafia threat that did not exist. With one husband gone and his money spent, Thompson would go on to bigamously marry Julian Webb, a successful advertising salesman. In three short years, Mr. Webb would be found dead in his bed from an unexplainable drug overdose. Thompson's third and final husband would soon be fighting for his life when she suddenly attacked him with a bat. Still, somehow, this master manipulator would convince an entire jury that she was nothing less than the victim of abuse. No matter how many fruitless chases she sent investigators on, Thompson would not be able to keep the family members and friends of her victims from stringing the pieces together one at a time. 
Her crimes were finally brought into the light of day and she would be imprisoned for her killings. 
VIRGINIA LAZERLERE 
Mid-afternoon shots rang out in the middle of a suburban dental clinic almost 27 years ago. A frantic call was received by emergency dispatch. The call was made by the wife of the slain dentist yelling down the line for assistance to save her husband's life, following a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. 
March 8, 1991 was the day that changed Virginia Larzelere's life forever. The cold-blooded murder of her dentist husband Norman Larzelere sparked off a chain of events that culminated in her lifelong incarceration. Although it could be proven that she never pulled the trigger on her husband, the prosecution successfully argued that she was the mastermind behind the crime. Police investigating the crime scene discovered that as Norman lay dying in a pool of blood he mumbled, "Was that Jason?" 
Jason was his son, adopted when he had married Jason's mother. 
JANIE LOU GIBBS 
Oppressed by a strict upbringing Janie Lou Gibbs was an American serial killer from Cordele, Georgia. She would go on to kill her three sons, a grandson, and her husband, by poisoning them with rat poison in 1966 and 1967. This is her story. 
BETTY LOU BEETS 
Betty Lou Beets is a perfect historical example of how multifaceted crime can be, how a victim could become an aggressor, or an aggressor may adopt the mask of victimhood, and how all is not necessarily as it seems. Convicted for murdering two men and assaulting or attempting to kill four, Betty Lou's story is one that would send chills down the spine of any man from any era.