Women that marked the criminal history of the world

Even though if it is a well known fact that women are less likely to commit criminal actions then men, these women did crimes that are just as horrible or even worse.

Given the circumstances in the society, and her role as a mother, woman is considered to be gentile, carrying and mild in nature. There is even a saying that says: “Every mother is a good mother except a sick mother”. Well, we don’t know if the women on the following list were sick or not, but they sure did some pretty sick things. In the following text read all about the women that marked the criminal history of the world.

Lizzie Borden – a criminal who murdered her parents

The year was 1892, and Lizzie Borden was a young, 22 years old girl. The story of this infamous female criminal was very intriguing at that time, and for a long time after, since Lizzie was acquitted. So what did Lizzie do? Lizzie Borden was the top suspect in the gruesome 1892 murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. On August 4, 1892, Lizzie found her dead father slumped on a couch and bloodied from multiple crushing blows to his skull and his left eyeball split in half. The Borden’s maid, Bridget Sullivan, was lying down in her room when the murders occurred and was called down by Lizzie when she discovered her father’s body. Her stepmother, Abby Borden, was found dead in the guest bedroom from similar hatchet blows to the head. Lizzie was arrested and taken to jail following the murders. During her murder trial, Lizzie’s stories were inconsistent and suspicious, and much of the incriminating evidence was overlooked. Police even found a hatchet with a broken handle in the basement, and knew that Lizzie had attempted to buy prussic acid and even burned one of her dresses days after the murders. The maid even provided key testimony at the trials, claiming that Lizzie never mourned the loss of her parents. However, no one else was ever arrested or tried for the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden. The stories of Lizzie’s criminal actions don’t end here, but the ones she did afterwards are no match for the murders she has been acquitted for. After the trial, Lizzie Borden changed her name to Lizbeth Borden. Lizbeth Borden's name was again brought into the public eye when she was accused of shoplifting in 1897 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Mary Ann Cotton – a criminal with no mercy

Marry Ann Cotton was, and still is one of the most famous female serial killers. The thing that is most intriguing, and the scariest at the same time, is that it is believed that she has murdered 11 of her own children. This psycho mother, wife, daughter, and a friend was deadly towards everyone she knew. Mary Ann Cotton lived in the 19th century England, and it is believed that she ended about 20 lives in her killing spree by arsenic poisoning. Cotton took no mercy on her victims, killing her husbands, mother, friend and even her own children. Her career as a serial killer began when she married her first husband, William Mowbray. The couple had five children and quickly lost four of them to gastric fever and stomach pains. They had, and lost, three more children, and Mary Ann became a widow after her husband died of an intestinal disorder in 1865. Mary Ann collected his insurance and moved on to her next husband. Mary Ann continued the pattern of marry husband, give birth to child, child dies, then husband dies and she collects the insurance money. By the time she met her fourth and last husband, Frederick Cotton, Mary Ann had lost her mother, friend, three husbands and 11 children all to stomach fevers. After Frederick’s sudden death and the death of the last surviving Cotton boy, Charles Edward, the coroner became suspicious of the cause of death and Mary Ann’s role in the fatalities she had witnessed through the years. When Charles’ body tested positive for arsenic, Mary Ann was arrested and later found guilty for the murders and was hanged.

Elizabeth Bathory – “Blood Countess”

In the 1600s in the land of Hungary, there had lives a Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who belonged to the renowned Bathory family. Now we know that this story sounds like a fairy tale, but wait just a second and see how it turns into a horror one that is driven by the wish of eternal beauty of a criminally psychotic mind. Elizabeth Bathory is not worldwide and timelessly famous for being a Countess and having a fairy tale life, but she is most infamously remembered as a serial killer who tortured and killed hundreds of girls and young women in her castle. As legend has it, Bathory bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth. One witness claimed that the "Blood Countess" and her four accomplices killed more than 600 women, but they were only convicted of 80 deaths. Bathory was sentenced to imprisonment in the Cachtice Castle, where she stayed until she died in 1614.

Diane Downs – criminal that was ready to sacrifice her kids

Elizabeth Diane Frederickson Downs is an American woman convicted for killing her own daughter on the May 1983. But this is not all. Diane Downs is infamously known for shooting her three children, killing one, and seriously wounding two in order to keep her lover who didn’t want kids. After the shooting, Downs told police a stranger had attempted to carjack her and had shot the children. She even shot herself in her left forearm to make the story more convincing, but the investigation later on proved that her wound was self inflicted. To make the matters even scarier, Downs was recorded on camera laughing as she described the traumatic details to the police. This was a key moment when the police figured out that they are dealing with the sick criminal mind that had no problem with shooting her own children to accomplish her own goals, and they became very suspicious of Downs’ role in the shooting and murder of her 7-year-old daughter. When police discovered that Downs was involved with Robert Knickerbocker, an Arizona man who did not want children in his life, all signs pointed to Downs as the murderer. Prosecutors strongly believed that Downs attempted to kill all three kids so she could continue her affair with Knickerbocker, but it wasn’t until her oldest daughter, Christie, gave a key testimony that it was in fact her mother who shot her and her sisters that the case came to rest. Downs was found guilty on all charges and was sentenced to life in prison, plus 50 years, on June 17, 1984.