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Femme fatale

News
14 January 2022
Three notorious serial killers who were women.
Rosemary Ndlovu


Since the beginning of humanity’s existence, women have always been considered its softer side, delicate and nurturing. When men were considered hunters, women were considered gatherers of food, however here are three women who chose to gather bodies instead.

Aileen Wournos

American sex worker Aileen Wuornos, murdered seven men in the space of about 12 months, between December 1989 to November 1990. She confessed to shooting men who picked her up hitchhiking in self-defence after she claimed that they had either beat or raped her, claims that she later on retracted. Wuornos was sentenced to death in 1992 and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002. Her story was portrayed in the film Monster starring South African born actress Charlize Theron playing Wuornos.

Juana Barraza

Dubbed "The little old lady killer' Barraza became one of Mexico’s most notorious female serial killers after 16 elderly women were found strangled to death in Mexico City in 2005. According to The Guardian, forensic profilers believe Barraza’s killings were a display of the rage and contempt she had towards her alcoholic mother who had sold her to a man at the age of 12 for a couple of beers.

She was sentenced to 759 years in prison on 11 separate counts of murder and is still in prison today.

Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu

A former South African cop, Ndlovu has earned her space on this dreadful list.  Accused of murdering five relatives and a boyfriend, as well as attempting to murder her mother to cash in on insurance claims between 2012 and 2017, Ndlovu’s victims are said to have been found either bludgeoned, strangled or shot.

Her reign of terror finally came to an end when one of the hitmen tipped off police pending a plan to burn down the home of and kill another sister's family. The fire would have killed the woman and her five children, including a five-month-old baby, knocked out by sleeping pills, their mouths stuffed with socks to avoid screaming. The plan proved too horrific even for a professional killer. Investigators claim that Ndlovu made around R1.4 million in insurance money from her killings. In 2021 she was sentenced to six life terms for the murders, an additional five years for defeating the ends of justice and ten years on each of the four counts of fraud.

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