Among the known facts about Belle Gunness is that she was an imposing woman, very tall and 250 pounds and that only one child - her second husband's daughter Swanhild - survived her clutches. Neighbors described the 200-pound Gunness as a rugged woman who was also incredibly strong. Reading Gunness' plodding letters to Andrew, it is plain that "soaring" and "rapture" were not her style. The next thing she knew, her husband was dead. 1908) left her native Norway in 1881, at the age of 21, to travel to Chicago. Initially, authorities found the remains of an adult woman and three children and quickly concluded that they belonged to the homeowner, a Norwegian immigrant known as Belle Gunness and her three foster children. Eerily, in 1931, a woman named Esther Carlson was arrested in Los Angeles for poisoning a Norwegian-American man and attempting to steal his money. Emil Tell, a Swede from Kansas City, Missouri, is alleged to have gone o La Porte in 1907. He pled innocent to all charges, his defense hinging on the assertion that the body was not Gunness. He searched the property on his own and shouted to the men to start digging in the rubbish hole in Belles hog pen. Belle Gunness was one of the first "Black Widows" and became a prolific serial killer. Though her husband's family demanded an inquiry, no charges were filed. Belle began putting the following ad in out-of-state newspapers: "Comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in La . This Norwegian-American had insured her first husband and two of her children before. Most of the remains found on the property could not be identified. The district coroner reviewed the case, unequivocally announced that he had been murdered, and convened a coroners jury to look into the matter. [2] She killed most of her suitors and boyfriends, and her two daughters, Myrtle and Lucy. Usually accompanied by a handsome man, she was unrecognizable from the rough farm woman the locals were used to seeing. To lure her last victim, Gunness wrote: My heart beats in wild rapture for you, My Andrew, I love you. In June 1908, his widow was able to identify his remains from La Portes Paupers cemetery by the contour of his skull and three missing teeth. To make matters worse, one of Belles children told a classmate that her mother had hit her husband over the head with a cleaver. It remains unconfirmed when and where Belle Gunness actually died. Meanwhile, a man named Asle Helgelien had found correspondence between his brother, Andrew, and Gunness. Although her farmhouse burned down in April 1908, seemingly with her inside, some believe that Gunness slipped away perhaps to kill again. Gunness is a rare female serial killer-for-profit, although she seems to have had other motives as well. Of the remains found at the murder site, the bodies of Belles three children and several of her suitors were identified. For these reasons and others, it's impossible to say how many people Gunness murdered. For starters, she was a woman. Neighbors gossiped about the babies, since Gunness never appeared to be pregnant. She wanted the ground made level, so he filled in the depressions. He moved to La Porte, Indiana on January 3, 1908 to be with Belle Gunness. Although the police found a set of teeth among the ruins, there was still some debate as to whether or not they belonged to Belle Gunness. Chares Neiburg, a 28-year-old Scandinavian immigrant living in Philadelphia, told friends that he would visit Gunness in June 1906 and never returned he had been working for a saloon keeper and took $500 with him. Her suitors were her next victims, each of whom brought cash to her farm and then disappeared forever: John Moo, Henry Gurholdt, Olaf Svenherud, Ole B. Budsburg, Olaf Lindbloom, Andrew Hegelein, to name just a few. They then found the small bodies of two unidentified children. From 1884 to 1908, it's believed that Belle Gunness killed, at least, 14 people. Budsbergs sons had no idea their father had gone off to visit Gunness. Between 1884 and 1908, the Norwegian immigrant is believed to have slain over 40 people in Chicago, Illinois, and La Porte, Indiana, profiting from insurance claims and other scams before disappearing without a trace. (Eerily, the symptoms of this disease were quite similar to poisoning.). Hunting Humans: The Rise of Modern Multiple Murder examined the _____ _____ of serial murders. She was the only child to have survived to live with Belle. He raced to town to get help, but by the time it arrived, the house was already in smoking ruins. By 1886, she was married to a man named Mads Sorensen, had somehow wound up with an unknown number of children (although whether they were the couple's natural children or foster children remains unclear), and the family was running a failing candy shop. In her reply, Belle offered true love and a life of wedded bliss but also mentioned a quick $1,000 that she needed to pay off a mortgage. However, a neighborhood boy said he had seen Lamphere running down the road from the Gunness house just before the structure erupted in flames. An unknown man and woman are alleged to have disappeared in September 1906, the same night Jennie Olson went missing. Belle had anywhere from 13 to 42 victims. 3) What groups of people were Gunness' victims? But, for one reason or another, Gunness decided to emigrate from Selbu to Chicago in 1881. As The New York Post noted, she's been tied to at least 11 murders, and possibly dozens more, although the exact number of her victims may likely never be known. Had Belle Gunness committed . [6] When she was processed by immigration at Castle Garden, she changed her first name to Belle, then travelled to Chicago to join her sister, Nellie, who had immigrated several years earlier. She was one of America's first woman serial killers convicted and put on death row. Gunness had a system. Once dead, she decapitated the body, tied weights to the head, and disposed of it in a swamp. One man, George Anderson, managed to escape with his life when he realized Gunness had murder on her mind. [9], Two babies in Gunness' home died from inflammation of the large intestine, which can result from poisoning. Gunness and Sorenson opened a candy store, but it soon burned down. Sorenson died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth in the small fishing village of Selbu in Norway on November 11 1859. [9] The district coroner convened a coroner's jury, suspecting murder, but nothing came of the case. A series of suspicious fires and deaths (mostly resulting in insurance awards) followed. Then, in December 1907, Andrew Helgelien, a bachelor farmer from Aberdeen, South Dakota, wrote to her and was warmly received. Caroline and Axel died as infants from acute colitis, the symptoms of which nausea, fever, diarrhea, and lower abdominal pain and cramping are also symptoms of many forms of poisoning. In 1881, when she was 21 years old, Belle Gunness moved to Chicago. Shutterstock. She dumped the corpse into a hog-scalding vat at other times and then covered the remains with quicklime. Her adopted daughter Jennie's body would also be found on Belle's property. Further digging yielded more grisly discoveries. An older sister, likely named Nellie, emigrated to the United States in the early 1880s. In April 1902, she married Peter Gunness. The essential fact, however, was that the murderess was not alive as a fugitive. But did Lamphere actually cause the fire? The coroner described the incident as a little queer but believed that it was an accident. In the smoldering ruins workmen discovered four skeletons. She got away without a trace and it's still a mystery as to where she went today. Belle also began. They arrived with thousands of dollars and then disappeared. Belle Gunness. The couple claimed the insurance money for both. Gunness received men visitors all the time, one of her farmhands later told the New York Tribune. In her 1955 book The Truth About Belle Gunness, Lillian de la Torre said this little gem was part of a fake letter concocted by bored reporters who couldn't get their hands on the real letters during Lamphere's trial. Concurrently, Gunness had begun to develop problems with a farmhand named Ray Lamphere. The story of Belle Gunness makes you wonder if some people don't really need motivation, some people . When first interrogated as to his whereabouts on the night of the fire, Lamphere claimed that he was in the company of an [African-American woman] named Mrs. Elizabeth Smith until 4 a.m., or one-half hour after the fire started, but he subsequently confessed that he burned the . Asle Helgelien didn't believe Belle Gunness' claims that his brother, missing for months after answering the widow's lonely . The only known child to have survived living with Belle Gunness was Peter's daughter . At first, investigators believed the bodies to be Belle Gunness and her three children: Myrtle, age eleven, Lucy, age nine; and Phillip, age five. But as was the case with the candy store, Gunness and Sorenson were able to pocket the insurance money. Lampheres lawyer, Wirt Worden, developed evidence that the bridgework that was found may have been planted. The will was completed, leaving her estate to her children. But after Andrew Helgelien stopped answering letters, his brother Asle got worried and demanded answers. Dont tell a soul.. The night he visited Belle's farm was the last he would have. Belle Gunness. The couple collected the insurance money and bought a new home. However, he had helped Belle bury many of her victims. Ole B. Budsberg of Iola, Wisconsin, vanished in May 1907. Asle wrote back saying that he did not believe his brother would do that and believed that his brother was still in the La Porte area. She introduced them as cousins from Kansas, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and from Chicago She was always careful to make the children stay away from her cousins.'. After the fire, her victims were unearthed from their shallow graves around the farm. Belle Gunness. Anderson had come to the Gunness farm from Missouri with money and a hopeful heart. Some of these were most undoubtedly additional victims, though they were never proven. (Serial Killer) Belle Sorenson Gunness, birth name Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth, was a Norwegian-American serial killer. Ole B. Budsberg, an elderly widower from Iola, Wisconsin, appeared next. [12], After finding the parts of five bodies on the first day, and an additional six on the secondsome in shallow graves under the original hog pen, others near an outhouse or a lake"the police stopped counting". [12] Despite the initial success with the identification of Andrew Helgelien, and despite the fact that widening news coverage of the mass murders invited inquiries from families with men that had gone missing, "[m]ost of the remains could not be identified. One of Robinson's surviving victims led to his eventual arrest. In this depraved story of sex, deception, greed, and murder, a veteran true-crime writer offers the first definitive history of Belle Gunness (circa 1859-1908), the most prolific female serial killer in American history.In previous books, Schechter (American Literature and Culture/Queens Coll. Four bodies were found inside the house the headless corpse of a woman and three children. One of these men was John Moe, who arrived from Elbow Lake, Minnesota. 4/27/1908 49 Belle writes last will and testament. Belle Gunness had asked him to level dozens of soft depressions in the ground, which supposedly covered trash. Anderson was so startled by the ravenous expression in Gunness eyes that he left immediately. But she never showed up; instead, she cut across open fields and disappeared into the woods. BLACK WIDOW: Belle Gunness, from Selbu, Norway, is infamous as America's first woman serial killer. A well-built woman with six feet height and over 90 90 kg, Belle immigrated to the US in 1881. Gunness deflected. In response to her letter, Helgelien rushed to her side in January 1908. But in reality, she was a serial killer who murdered at least 14 people. Adopted daughter Jennie Olsen. In the ruins, authorities found the bodies of a headless adult woman, initially identified as Belle Gunness, and her three children. [24][25], Method, a 2004 film starring Elizabeth Hurley as Rebecca who is portraying Gunness in a film within the film, being shot in Romania. Mrs. And some estimate that she may have killed as many as 40 victims. He slammed the door and then, in his underwear, leaped from the second-story window, barely surviving the fire that was closing in around him. At the age of 22, she immigrated to Chicago, Illinois in 1881.She murdered over 40 people including two of her husbands and about 4 of her children. He then sent two of his deputies to dig into the debris digging for the corpses missing head and sent two others to arrest Lamphere. Not Only Was Belle Gunness America's First Female Serial Killer, But She Just Had To Live In Indiana. He quickly jumped out of bed and threw on his clothes. Then, in 1881, following her sisters example, who had emigrated to America earlier, Brynhild moved to the United States, where she assumed a more American-style name. Shortly after dispensing with Lamphere, she presented herself at the La Porte County courthouse, declaring that her former employee was not in his right mind and was a menace to the public. Either way, the twice-widowed Gunness began posting personal ads in Norwegian-language newspapers to find a new companion. 2. [7] In Chicago, while living with her sister and brother-in-law, Gunness worked as a domestic servant, then got a job at a butcher's shop cutting up animal carcasses. On November 26, 1908, he was sentenced to two to 21 years in the State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana. A few days later, Helgelien was gone, but Gunness appeared at the bank to make an additional $1200.00 deposit. John H. McJunkin of Coraopolis (near Pittsburgh) left his wife in December 1906 after corresponding with a La Porte woman. As a result, Coroner Charles Mack officially concluded that the adult female body discovered in the ruins was Belle Gunness. [Gunness] beguiled them with promises of down-home Norwegian cooking and painted a very seductive portrait of the kind of life theyd enjoy.. Belle Sorenson Gunness (born as Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth; November 11, 1859 - April 28, 1908) was a Norwegian-American serial killer. The author wound her longtime interests in vintage crime and women's history into a novel that's largely from. Married with Sorensen and Belle has born 4 children: Caroline, Axel, Myrtle and Lucy. 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