Modus Operandi of Black Widows
These Most Dangerous Women are More Successful than Male Predators
Jul 16, 2009
Black Widows seem as driven by their own compulsions and needs as their male serial killer counterparts are overwhelmed by their fantasies. In the case of the men, their killings are part of an elaborate sexual fantasy that builds to a murderous climax. For women this compulsion is often more subtle and practically invisible. Black Widows also do not typically go out on the road looking for victims and they do not usually kill strangers.
Grieving Widow
Picture the scene at a cemetery — the grieving widow all in black – distraught, sobbing over the open grave of her dearly departed spouse. Her relatives and loved ones support her through this terrible time and neighbors whisper behind their hands how unlucky she is to have had three husbands dying on her.
Not all of these women are femme fatales. Many are really plain, ordinary looking housewives; but for some reason, most of them are able, with a smile and a solid dose of feminine charm, to win men’s trust – and access to their bank accounts. Some manage to do this within a few weeks; others are patient and wait many years before killing their mate to get their hands on the whole lot.
Lonely Hearts Ads
According to a mixture of fictional and factual accounts, Black Widows meet their husbands through lonely-hearts ads, at widows-and-widowers clubs, or through matchmaking mutual acquaintances.
A common thread that runs through the background of these most dangerous, prolific predators is that when one husband dies, the Black Widow usually packs up and relocates to an entirely new area of the country or even moves overseas. At this new location, the “femme fatale” will change her name, her personality and create a totally fabricated background, playing each personae to the hilt.
Far More Lethal
The Black Widow's façade holds up well in a society that places so much stock in the virtue of the faithful wife and doting Mom. Say the Kellehers in Murder Most Rare, "Because she will deliberately target those who have come to trust her, the crimes of this type of serial murderer violate our basic assumptions about love, loyalty, guardianship, and friendship." The Kellehers profiled over 100 fatal females. They say these women are "far more lethal – and often far more successful in their determination to kill – than their male counterparts."
Often Overlooked as a Suspect
The lone female serial killer including the Black Widow, is rarely motivated by sex, chooses a method difficult to detect (poison, simulated accident, suffocation), and selects victims with whom she has a relationship. To add to the charm, "she is often overlooked as a suspect because of her maturity or position of trusted responsibility."
According to Joseph Geringer in Black Widows: Veiled in Their Own Web of Darkness, the majority of Black Widows begin killing in their mid-thirties, although some have begun much earlier. “Based on cases of record, the average number of victims has been six to thirteen in the United States and ten to fifteen in other countries. Murders occur within an average span of eleven years in the States and sixteen elsewhere,” he says
Is Profit the Motive of Black Widows?
Geringer believes that the motive is profit, although only on rare occasions does rage enter into the crime of these most dangerous women.
“Although wealth may seem to be an external gratification to others, female serial killers do kill for money to gratify their deep, deprived psychological need for security,” says South African profiler, Dr Micki Pistorius in her book Fatal Females: Women who Kill.
Sources:
Black Widows: Veiled in Their Own Web of Darkness, by Joseph Geringer. truTV. Criminal Psychology.
Fatal Females: Women who Kill. Micki Pistorius, Penguin Books, 2004
Murder Most Rare. Michael D Kelleher and DL Kelleher. Dell Publishing (Random House), 1998
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