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I've been watching "Serial Killers Week" on Oxygen and last night and a program came on about a female serial killer in the United Kingdom. It got me curious about the women serial killers here in New York. According to Murderpedia, here are seven female serial killers (or mass murderers) in the state.

"The Lonely Hearts Killer"

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Martha Beck, also known as "The Lonely Hearts Killer," killed four or more people between 1948 - 1949, according to Murderpedia. She was arrested on February 28, 1949, for the murders of Myrtle Young, Janet Fay, Delphine Downing, and two-year-old Rainelle. Beck was executed for her crimes on March 8, 1951, at Sing Sing prison in New York.

She and her lover, Raymond Fernandez committed the murders. According to Murderpedia,

Their killing spree began in New York and ended in Michigan, where they were caught and arrested after a double murder of a young mother and her two year old child. Michigan had no death penalty, so extradited them back to New York to stand trial for a murder there.

Kathryn Dempsey Schoch

Kathryn Dempsey Schoch is classified by Murderpedia as a mass murderer. Schoch was from Dunkirk, New York. She murdered six of her family member, on December 23/24, 1934, allegedly because she was grieving the death of her only child. Her sister, Ruth Dempsey Hughes, her brother, Walter Dempsey, and his four children, Robert, Thomas, Walter, Jr., and David were all killed by Schoch. She also shot Mrs. Clara Dempsey, who survived. Schoch poisoned herself on December 24, 1934. You can see her photo here.

Waneta Ethel Hoyt

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Waneta Ethel Hoyt killed her own children over many years in Oswego, New York. She murdered five of her six children - Erik, Julie, James, Molly, and Noah - between 1965 and 1971. According to Murderpedia, she claimed that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome was the cause of her children's deaths. Hoyt was arrested on March 23, 1994, and was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison. She died in prison on August 13, 1998.

According to Murderpedia,

She confessed to the murders of all five children by suffocation. Consequently she was arrested. The reason she gave for the murders was that the babies were crying and she wanted to silence them.

"Black Eyed Borgia"

Mary Frances Creighton, also known as "Black-Eyed Borgia," killed three victims (possibly four). Her victims - Ray Avery, her brother, Anna Creighton, her mother-in-law and Ada Applegate, her lover's wife - were all poisoned. She may have poisoned her father-in-law, as well. The murders took place between 1923 and 1935. Creighton was electrocuted at Sing Sing prison in New York on July 16, 1936, according to Murderpedia.

"The Derby Poisoner"

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Lydia Sherman, also known as "The Derby Poisoner," murdered 10 people between 1864 and 1871. According to Murderpedia, she used poison to kill her victims. All 10 of her victims were her family members - Edward Struck, her first husband, Martha Struck her 6-year-old daughter, Edward Struck Jr. her toddler son, / William Struck, her infant son, Dennis Hurlburt, her second husband, Horatio N. Sherman her third husband, Ada Sherman, her stepdaughter, and Frankie Sherman, her stepson. Sherman was sentenced to life in prison in 1872 and she died in prison on May 16, 1878. You can check out an article about Sherman here.

Marybeth Tinning

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Marybeth Tinning is classified by Murderpedia, but she could be considered a serial killer. She killer between two and nine of her children between 1972 and 1985. She murdered her children - Timothy, Nathan, Mary Frances, Jonathan, Michael and Tami Lynne - by smothering them.

According to Murderpedia,

For a devoted mother, Marybeth Tinning seemed to have no luck at all in raising children. In the thirteen years from 1972 to 1985, she lost nine infants in Schenectady, New York, and police would later charge that eight of those were slain deliberately, for motives no one has been able to articulate.

"The Babies in Boxes Murder Case"

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Diane Odell, also known as "The Babies in Boxes Murder Case," killed three or possibly four of her own infant children between 1982 and 1985. While classified by Murderpedia as a murderer, she killed her children over the course of years. The babies were born in Sullivan County, New York, but were discovered in Arizona.

According to Murderpedia,

For Stephen Lungen, Sullivan County’s veteran district attorney, the “Babies in Boxes” murder case against Diane Odell started in 1989 when the remains of a mummified infant born to her in 1972 were discovered in a suitcase in a junked car. But for the Grant County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona, it began 14 years later on May 12, 2003 when the mummified and/or badly decomposed remains of the three babies (born from 1982-95 in Sullivan County) were uncovered in a storage shed in Arizona.

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