Some consider Bertha Gifford (October 1872 – August 20, 1951) to be America’s third female serial killer. This wicked woman was accused of murdering at least 17 people with large amounts of arsenic. Unfortunately, Gifford’s victims were forced to endure a very slow and agonizing death. The majority of historians agree that the murders had occurred over a period of twenty-one years.
The Early Years
Bertha Alice Williams Graham Gifford was born in Grubville, Missouri. During the early 1900s, she was a farmer’s wife in rural Catawissa, Missouri. In 1907, she married Eugene Gifford and was the mother of one child named James. People in her small farming community saw her as a good Samaritan who was always willing to help those in need. Gifford eventually earned the name “angel of mercy.”
