Over the decades or centuries for profit insurance companies have paid millions of dollars to people that committed murder for insurance money; and there are hundreds of people killed every year in the hopes of collecting more. The information to support this conclusion is public, although the media declines to report on the vast majority of it; and when they do they report it as one isolated incident after another, without reporting just how often it happens!
Coincidence or not the media is collecting an enormous amount of money in advertising from insurance companies; and, as I reported in another
recent article, they also have interlocking boards of directors and other financial ties to the insurance industry.
I first reported this in
Life Insurance and media companies are encouraging lots of murders which included a partial statistical review of the murders listed on Murderpedia, where I found more that one and a half percent of their entries at the time were related to insurance, but it was clear that this was incomplete and that it could be as high as six to eight percent of their entries that had an insurance incentive to commit murders. I didn't search further until recently and quickly found enough additional entries to put the figure over two and a half percent minimum; and I found them so quickly that it's virtually guaranteed that the total will be at least three or four percent if I did a more thorough search and it could still be as high as six to eight percent.
I also found dozens of cases where they paid out claims to people that were later implicated in the murders, including at least four over a million dollars, and more just below that. Obviously, if the insurance companies or the government knew they would be implicated right away these claims never would have been paid, but these cases weren't solved right away, and in some cases they weren't even recognized as murders, initially.
In many cases the only reason they were re-investigated is because once they got away with murder and collected insurance for it they did it again; and in some cases, especially in the nineteenth century or early twentieth century they kept on doing it, becoming mass murderers for insurance money! If many of these people were smart enough to quit while they were ahead after killing only one, or in some cases two people and collecting their insurance they never would have been caught; and there's no way of knowing home many other people were smart enough to quit while ahead, which means there are virtually guaranteed to be more cases that have never been exposed.
As I reported in the previous article about this subject, when they first started selling airline life insurance, there were close to a dozen mass murders where planes were blown up by people trying to collect insurance. Little or nothing was done to inform the public about this problem or how they prevented it from continuing; but it appears that the insurance companies voluntarily stopped selling insurance at machines at airports with no legislation in most states, except Colorado, which was where many of the victims from one of the planes that blew up came from.
Since the insurance companies are controlled by some of the wealthiest people in the country, and they share the proceeds with politicians and media outlets, they have an enormous amount of clout; and, whether you call it a quid pro quo of not, there's little or no discussion about how to minimize the incentive to kill for insurance or to study how often it happens. If anything, instead of passing disclosure laws to make it easier to study this, they pass proprietary information laws to keep data secret so it's more difficult to study it and figure out how to minimize this. However simply by comparing murder rates to Europe, where they have a stronger safety net and more regulation along with better child care, education and health care, it's clear that heir practices are working better.
Even if there's not much more than three percent, and Murderpedia over represents the total percent of murders related to insurance claims, it's virtually guaranteed that there are still over two or three hundred people killed each year partly as a result of the incentive provided by insurance pay-outs, even if the vast majority of them don't get away with it; however there's no way of knowing for certain how many there are, since many of the one exposed, that did pay out, weren't even considered murder, some as a result of poisoning or perceived accidents or natural causes. A more likely estimate is that there are at least four or five hundred people killed each year, partly as a result of the insurance incentive, and possibly over one thousand.
This doesn't mean that the incentive from insurance is the only contributing factor in many if any of these murders; however it is one of them and often the deciding factor, although it's difficult if not impossible to tell exactly, when looking through all these cases. In most cases the person committing murder also comes from an abusive upbringing and there may be other contributing issues; however the same people that don't cover the insurance incentive adequately aren't covering how poverty, early child abuse, income inequality, abandoned inner cities, untreated PTSD after wars based on lies, gambling and many other issues contribute to violent crime. In many cases, like gambling or the military industrial complex the media and political establishment also have conflicts of interest when reporting on them as well, since thy also have ties to these industries as well.
One simple solution that would greatly reduce the incentive to kill for insurance would be to explain the fundamentals of insurance to the public so they would understand it better and realize that sale should be kept to a minimum and only use to minimize damages when a disaster strikes, possibly considering a more rational safety net for all instead of the promise of massive payouts in what seems like a get rich quick scheme. The reason this isn't considered is that the entire industry is based on deceptive advertising leading consumers to believe that it's a solution to everything, but once they try to collect they often find out the hard way that something in the fine print means they won't get much if anything when a disaster really does strike and those that know how to rig the system wind up with all the money, especially those that own the insurance companies, although their scams are considered legal under the law, which is written by politicians collecting their campaign donations.
The basic principles of insurance is that it's pooled risk, which means that everyone puts a small amount in to the pool of money to pay claims then when a disaster happens those in need collect from it; however expenses have to be subtracted first, and in the case of for profit industry so do profits which aren't available to pay claims either. Once you understand this principle it should be obvious that the average consumer rarely ever get's their money's worth since the most efficient system is bound to cost at least 15-20% of the total amount collected for one bureaucratic expense or another, but few if any systems, especially for profit insurance are that efficient, which means the average consumer isn't likely to get more than fifty to sixty cents on the dollar they spend on insurance; and if some are scamming the system then those not in on the scam get even less.
If you asked for change for a dollar and only got forty to fifty cents you would be outraged; but that is essentially what happens with insurance.
They tell us that competition makes this system more efficient; however they don't compete by being more efficient; instead they compete by coming up with more deceptive advertisements and the more they spend on advertising the less they have for claims! So this is one industry where competition makes the product less efficient; but it's virtually impossible for consumers to get accurate information about insurance.
The more you think about the expenses that come from the pool of money used to pay claims the more obvious that it is how inefficient our current system is, and that we should buy as little insurance as we can get away with assuming that we buy any at all. The person selling you insurance gets his commission, which isn't available for pay outs; the money insurance companies pay on advertising isn't available for claims; the money to lobby against single payer health care comes from your premium dollars, and so much more. Multi million dollar compensation packages for CEOs aren't available to pay claims, the money murderers collect when they get away with murder isn't available for claims.
As I reported previously in
For profit insurance has an incentive to betray people after disasters! and insurance agent investigating a fallen tree tree trying to save on claims
sent photos of their flowering plant to police who responded by detaining them for hours before determining that the plant wasn't marijuana but a hibiscus plant. They were of course sued along with the insurance company, and the money the insurance company spends on this lawsuit and thousands of others isn't available to pay legitimate claims!
If you look up any given insurance company and check to see how often they're being sued, either by checking their Wikipedia page or googling them among other means, they all spend an enormous amount of their resources, which come from your premium dollars in courts or paying out settlements. The money they collect from your premium dollars could and often is used for legal expenses to deny your claims! If you Google past disasters like Hurricane Katrina or half a dozen more each year you'll find one lawsuit after another going to court instead of paying claims.
They spend enormous amounts of money on ads to convince you that your covered for this that or another thing! However, if they keep all these promises how can they possibly make enough money to spend a fortune on executive pay, return for stock holders or lobbying against single payer?
They can't of course!
Our entire insurance system is a scam and it's providing a massive amount of incentive for people to kill each other or burn down houses and fake car crashes, which often also lead to deaths!
Then if you want someone to help stand up against the powerful insurance companies there's always plenty of lawyers advertising about how they want to help you out; however where is the money for their ads coming from; and what's their motive?
They want to get rich too; which means that they have an incentive to only take the cases they think they can profit off of, often by settling quickly and quietly, which almost never happens with large pay-outs. Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson have demonstrated that it's not unprecedented for two lawyers, who in this case wind up on opposing sides, supposedly, to be working together for the benefit on one client while pretending to defend others. It's unlikely that many lawyers are quite as obvious as them but many of these lawyers supposedly taking on the insurance companies might be inclined to settle them as easily as possible to maximize their own profits, even if it isn't in their clients best interests, which could mean that they're just adding one scam to another with consumers getting little or nothing!
As I reported previously in
For-Profit Insurance is Government Authorized Crime Syndicate many of the people involved in these insurance scams are those selling the insurance or lawyers representing professionals which according to recent reports includes Michael Cohen, who was also exposed representing clients staging crashes for insurance!
On top of all the money consumers lose from a fraudulent insurance system we also have to pay out an enormous amount of money in court costs and to keep all these people in jail for life, which is what insurance companies consider a "negative externality" since they don't have to pay these expenses.
And many of these cases aren't fully solved or there are often major doubts about the outcomes possibly sending the wrong people to jail or continuing to let people get away with murder. As I reported previously, one of the victims was a famous politician from Nevada, Kathy Augustine, who previously collected on her husband's million dollar insurance policy then married his caretaker, who was later convicted of killing her; and there's good reason to believe that she might have been involved in her previous husband's death.
Another examples is when De'Marquise Elkins was convicted of killing a baby in a stroller in a very controversial murder where the daughter of Sherry West said "The night her little brother Antonio was killed, Glassey says West was already asking her about collecting life insurance money, and that her story has changed." there was a lot of suspicion that Sherry West, who had major emotional problems of her own, possibly similar to Susan Smith, might have arranged to kill her own son for the insurance money. The main witness against De'Marquise Elkins claimed he testified "for my conscience,” however he already "collected $2,000 and (would) get another $8,000 (reward money) if Elkins and Lang are convicted." De'Marquise Elkins had a violent history but a close look at this case raises major doubts about it even without legal expertise. If they needed to blame someone for it the police would have been smart enough to pick someone that had a bad record.
This of course sounds like a fringe conspiracy theory however as Jen Roesch pointed out in
The making of a racist travesty 07/31/2013 there are an enormous amounts of problems with this case. It's hard to imagine that the insurance companies would want to be involved in the cover-up of something like this; however the publicity for a case like this could be incredibly bad for their reputation, especially since as I pointed out in
Killing Kids For Insurance Is Semi-Routine, which also mentions this case, there can be no justification for selling insurance for babies, and there have been over a dozen other cases where babies were killed for their insurance.
News reports don't say whether or not Sherry West actually collected on this policy; however, since they convicted Elkins, justifiably or not, it's virtually guaranteed that they did. If they hadn't they might have been sued drawing attention to the case, which would have been bad for sales, if the media reported that they paid it that would also have outraged people, so one way or another they avoided any media reports either way, perhaps helping it fall down the memory hole while they conduct business as usual, until the next child is killed for insurance, assuming they can't keep that out of the news.
Also, Helaine Olen and Chuck Jaffe both pointed out in reviews cited in previous articles this is an incredibly obvious scam even when the babies aren't killed for insurance money!
A single payer system for health care as well as a better and modest safety net for everyone that didn't pay out massive amounts of money to a small number of people, along with better child care education and other programs that prevent violence from escalating from an early age would be far more effective at minimizing these murders than our current system! Unfortunately the people controlling the system are making massive amounts of profits off it while it's the rest of us that have to pay the price for the enormous amounts of violence that it incites.
 |
| The best, and simplest, way to minimize losses from lapsed insurance policies, is to never buy them in the first place! |
The following are over three dozen cases (In the week after posting this I found an additional half a dozen cases where large amounts were collected bringing the total to close to four dozen; however it's virtually guaranteed that the longer list has many more that resulted in successful collections and the total could quickly rise into hundreds of people that successfully collected insurance for a while before getting caught) where scam artists or murders successfully collected money for insurance before eventually getting caught; this includes at least four or five cases where they collected more than a million dollars, more that were close to it and a lot that were for much smaller amounts which make it seem petty, but that's little consolation to the victims; there are also a handful that are collections for other types of insurance but a murder was also involved; and a further search is virtually guaranteed to turn up hundreds more where this came from:
Update 07/18/2018: Since this was first posted I found almost 5% of all entries on Murderpedia that had a potential insurance motive, mostly for life insurance, although there were a few others that followed another type of insurance fraud and may have covered them up. There might be a handful of these that are weak cases, and in almost all of them if not all of them there are other contributing causes; however there may be additional cases where I didn't find them due to limited search function. And there may also be additional cases where the insurance motive wasn't even mentioned in the Murderpedia article, a couple of these which I found through other sources, virtually guaranteeing that there are more. Chances are a more accurate percentage is over 5% of all these entries, possibly close to or more than 6% have a potential insurance motive. In addition to that I found about 85 entries where some insurance was collected by the person eventually convicted of murder, mostly for life insurance, which comes to about 1.15% of all entries successfully collecting something. There are about a dozen additional successful collections not listed on Murderpedia but reported elsewhere. At least eight of the successful collections were for amounts over one million dollars and one more that was above a million in a foreign currency at the time it was collected.
If this is statistically representative it means about seven-hundred and fifty murders in the United States per year have a potential insurance motive; if not it is certainly well over a hundred and perhaps even higher than a thousand.
Police Investigate ’03 Death After Charge Against Nurse 10/03/2006 Mr. Higgs and Ms. Augustine were married three weeks after the death of Mr. Augustine in 2003, and the newlyweds received $1 million from his life insurance policy.
Kathy Augustine's Family Outraged About 48 Hours Mystery Show 05/23/2007
Charles Augustine's Death Ruled Natural 05/01/2007
But
They did find the metabolite of succinylcholine, succinylmonocholine. (Forensic Files 2010) Narrator: A metabolite means it's a by-product of succinylcholine. If you don't look for it, you don't find it. And that's not a condescending answer. That is the truth. Narrator: There has never been a documented case of succinylmonocholine produced as a result of embalming fluid. However, in Charles Augustine's case, there were no records of which embalming fluids were used. So, this possibility, however remote, could not be eliminated. Therefore, the medical examiner did not change the manner of his death to homicide.
Black Widow Murders Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt were convicted of the murders of two vagrants Before their arrest, Golay had received a total of $1,540,767.05 in insurance proceeds from McDavid's death, and Rutterschmidt a total of $674,571.89.
Wife accused of cold-case murder used insurance payout for lavish trips 08/15/2017 She collected a cool $1.4 million insurance payout and made regular jaunts to the Turks and Caicos Islands after killing her coffee-bar-owning husband in Manhattan in 1996, authorities say.
3 Accused of Murder in a Plot To Get $1 Million in Insurance 1989 Mr. Hanson was believed dead until mid-1988, when the police in California discovered that he was not the man who had died in Dr. Boggs's office. The discovery and the fact that Mr. Hawkins had cashed $1 million in life insurance checks prompted the authorities to seek Federal warrants for the arrests.
The Infamous Entrepreneur Just Sweats murder for insurance and Penitentiary Fitness
Ex-wife of slain NBA player Lorenzen Wright faces murder charge in court 01/25/2018 Sherra Wright was arrested in December in Riverside County, California, more than seven years after Lorenzen Wright's decomposing body was found in a suburban Memphis field. He was missing for 10 days before his body was found on July 28, 2010. ..... Sherra Wright received $1 million from her ex-husband's life insurance policy. She agreed to a settlement in 2014 in a court dispute over how she spent the insurance money meant to benefit their six children, The Commercial Appeal has reported.
Wife helped plan, cover up murder of husband initially reported missing after a hunting trip, grand jury says 05/09/2018 The best friend and wife of a man who went missing for 17 years are accused of killing him and covering up his murder. Denise Williams, 48, did benefit financially from her 31-year-old husband's disappearance, persuading a judge to declare him accidentally dead fewer than six months after he went missing. That allowed her to collect more than $2 million in life insurance.
Indictment: Florida man missing for 17 years was killed by wife, friend
Florida authorities arrest widow in 2000 murder case 05/09/2018 Winchester helped him write a $1 million insurance policy six months before he disappeared, and later married his widow.
Lowell Edwin Amos convicted of killing four 1979 -1994 Detroit, Michigan, USA Lowell was a former General Motors plant manager. Some sources spell his first name as "Lowel". .... Lowell's statement to police at that time was that Saundra had mixed wine with a sedative, collapsed, and hit her head. The cause of death was ruled indeterminate, and Amos received a $350,000 insurance payout. .... Because she was 76 years old, no autopsy was performed, and authorities presumed she died of natural causes. Lowell inherited more than $1 million. ..... Lowell received $800,000 from the insurance policies. (Total of one million, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars)
Their main claim centers around the $2 million life insurance policy Pamela Phillips took out on ex-husband, the $400,000 she is accused of transferring to convicted hit-man Ron Young and bombshell testimony from a former friend. 05/1/2017 11/01/1996 Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, USA More than 17 years after a fiery explosion killed a prominent real estate investor and rocked Tucson, his ex-wife will stand trial for masterminding the murder of Gary Triano. Jury selection in the trial of Pamela Phillips, who collected $2 million in life insurance after Triano died, is to begin this week in Pima County Superior Court. ..... Nov. 1, 1996: Phillips sends a missed October payment on Triano’s life insurance policy. Following an investigation, the company pays the claim, totalling $2.2 million. Phillips declines requests from Pima County Sheriff’s investigators to take a lie detector.
Joseph Lyle & Erik Galen Menendez killed parents August 20, 1989 In recognition of Jose's importance to LIVE, the company invested in a "key man" life insurance policy that would guarantee that if Jose died, the company could continue operating without worrying about going under. The policy was valued at $15 million. LIVE also purchased a "key man" personal policy for Jose's family that was valued at $5 million. ..... The brothers shopping sprees were funded by Jose's personal life insurance policy of $650,000.
Ronald Mikos convicted for Killing a witness who was going to testify against him in a Medicare fraud investigation January 27, 2002 Chicago, Illinois, USA The same jury had on May 5, 2005 convicted Ronald Mikos of defrauding Medicare out of $1.2 Million by billing the Health and Human Services program from surgeries he never performed.
Donna Yaklich hired someone to kill her police officer husband December 12, 1985 Arapahoe County, Colorado, USA Her attorneys argued she was a battered woman and the murder was her last desperate attempt to end the abuse. It was a controversial legal move, claiming that she hired the hit men in self-defense. After her husband's death, Yaklich received payment under his three life insurance policies, and she admitted that she paid the Greenwells $4,200 in several installments for murdering her husband. Consequently, she was brought to trial on a charge of first degree murder and conspiracy to murder under a theory that she had been motivated to arrange her husband's death in order to obtain the insurance money.
Anjette Donovan Lyles killed four 1952 - 1958 Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, USA Their background search had turned up other family skeletons, including Anjette's last two husbands and one of her mothers-in-law. On exhumation, all three victims tested positive for arsenic, and Lyles was shown to have received insurance benefits upon the death of each. .... With the money she received from Gabbert's life insurance, Lyles bought a new car and a house. She also sparked disapproving gossip when, only a few months after her husband's death, she began dating another Capitol Airways pilot.
Cameron Todd Willingham convicted of killing three December 23, 1991 Navarro County, Texas, USA The proceeds of an insurance policy on the girls were later used to buy a pickup truck. Willingham argued that his ex-wife's boyfriend started the blaze, but the jury in his 1992 trial delivered a guilty verdict and the death penalty.
Innocence Project claims he was wrongfully convicted and executed
Masumi Hayashi is a Japanese woman convicted of putting poison in a pot of curry being served at a 1998 summer festival in the Sonobe district of Wakayama, Wakayama, Japan. July 25, 1998 After her arrest, she and her husband were indicted on a number of insurance fraud charges as well. Her husband was subsequently convicted and imprisoned for insurance fraud. Prior to the murders, Masumi had been an insurance saleswoman. .... In February 1997, she fed her husband, Kenji, with food laced with arsenic in a failed attempt to claim payouts of life insurance policies taken out on him, the court ruled. Seven months later, Hayashi served a poisoned dish to a lodger who fell ill and was hospitalized. She pocketed some 5 million yen insurance companies paid for the lodger to cover his medical costs.
Betty Lou Beets killed two To collect insurance money 1981 / 1983 Tx. The insurance payout which she claimed almost as soon as he disappeared also helped her to come to terms with her loss.
Jack Barron killed 3 or 4 1992 - 1995 California He also wanted out of his marriage and to collect $170,000 in insurance. .... If Barron hadn't been arrested, he would have been the sole beneficiary of the estate, including two life insurance policies, Nord testified. ... He presented evidence that Barron, a supermarket stocker, obtained $15,000 in insurance from his wife's demise and $13,000 each from the deaths of the two children, along with Social Security benefits. .... Butler also told Moreno that she was concerned about her son's frittering away the insurance money he had received, Moreno said. In fact, Moreno said, Butler had decided to "confront" her son and ask him to move out. The mother had planned the confrontation for Feb. 27, 1995, the day she turned up dead, Moreno said.
Sandra Marie Jessee killed one August 13, 1998 California She wanted to avoid paying for his cancer treatment and to collect his insurance and other benefits .... Prosecutors said she wanted to avoid paying for his cancer treatment and to collect his insurance and other benefits. Jessee, now 61, and her son Thomas Aehlert hired a hit man to commit the killing then received more than $650,000 from the sale of the couple's Placentia home along with 401(k) death benefits and insurance, prosecutors said.
Jesse James Hollywood Sentenced to life in prison on July 14, 2009 for murder to cover up insurance scheme August 8, 2000 (Murder was not for Life Insurance, but to cover up another insurance scam which he collected on.) Benjamin Markowitz was a frequent customer of his, accumulating an unpaid debt of around $1,200. Perhaps more importantly, Markowitz threatened to reveal a $36,000 insurance scam Hollywood was involved it. He sold a sport car for parts and reported it stolen in an attempt to defraud his insurance agency. .... Jesse James started a successful auto insurance-scam where he would report one of the many cars that were registered to him stolen and collect the money.
Donna June Enright drugged her stepfather and set the blaze to collect insurance money October 17, 1996 Stanford, Judith Basin County, Montana, USA In order to prove motive, common scheme, and a nonaccidental cause of this fire, the State sought to introduce evidence that on seven previous occasions Enright had been involved in home or automobile fires for the purpose of making fraudulent insurance claims. Enright filed a motion in limine to exclude, among other things, all evidence of previous fires and insurance claims. After a hearing, the District Court granted in part and denied in part Enright's motion. It held that all of the previous fires and the respective insurance claims were too remote in time and/or too dissimilar factually to be admitted, with the exception of the 1995 Great Falls trailer fire. The court held that evidence of the 1995 fire could be admitted. ... In an effort to prove that the trailer fire was intentionally started and that Enright's actions in that regard were part of a common scheme, the State sought to introduce evidence of previous fires and of the insurance proceeds that were paid to Enright or other individuals close to her after those fires.
Barbara Stager (born October 30, 1948) is an American woman who was convicted in 1989 of murdering her husband, Russell Stager, in 1988. Stager is also suspected of the earlier murder of her first husband, Larry Ford, who died in nearly identical circumstances. February 1, 1988 Durham, Monroe County, North Carolina, USA The defendant also indicated that after she got insurance payments from the National Guard and the school where the victim had worked, she would be able to make the house payment. Representatives from two insurance companies testified that the defendant received in excess of $46,000 in insurance proceeds as a result of Larry Ford's death. .... the defendant benefited from life insurance proceeds resulting from both deaths. In each case, the defendant had procured insurance on the life of the victim, the victim died of poisoning, and the defendant attempted to collect the insurance immediately upon the victim's death.
Misty Keller Witherspoon Convicted Of Murder In Husband's Death September 13, 2005 Mooresville, Iredell County, North Carolina, USA The State also presented evidence that after Quinn's death, his survivors received $82,102.27 in government death benefits; $91,000.00 in life insurance; and $24,138.68 from a 401(k). In total, defendant received $197,240.95 as a result of Quinn's death.
Shawna Nelson Found Guilty In Love-Triangle Slaying of Heather Lynn Garraus January 23, 2007 Greeley, Weld County, Colorado, USA Garraus was the wife of a Greeley police officer Ignacio Garraus, who had an affair and fathered a child with Nelson, a former Weld County dispatcher. Ignacio Garraus broke off the three-year affair a month before the shooting. .... Under redirect, Ignacio said he did not know his wife had a life insurance policy on herself. He said she had told him he was heavily insured. .... Ignacio has been unemployed since resigning from the Greeley Police Dept. He says he's concentrating on taking care of Victoria. When initially asked about a $200,000 life insurance policy, Ignacio said he has not received that settlement. Later, he said it came out to be $168,000.
Cynthia Sommer cleared after serving over two years in jail February 18, 2002 San Diego, California, USA Convicted of murdering her husband with arsenic so she could cash in on his $250,000 life insurance policy, some of which she used to have her breasts enlarged Investigators believed that Cynthia Sommer, Todd’s wife, had poisoned him in order to collect more than $250,000 in insurance benefits and $1,900 per month in survivor benefits.
Kang Ho-sun 10 victims 2006 - 2008 South Korea The blaze broke out a week after Kang bought several insurance policies for his wife. He escaped the deadly fire at his home and received 480 million won ($505,000) from insurers. During the 22 months before his Gunpo murder last November, Kang received 480 million won ($ 347,826) from the insurance of his fourth wife, who died in a fire in October 2005 and bought himself an expensive car in a secondhand store. He also is suspected of setting fire to his home in Ansan three years ago—a blaze that killed his fourth wife and her mother—and collecting insurance payouts afterward. (Total amount collected at least $852,826 possibly more from other claims)
Charles Stuart October 23, 1989 Boston, Massachusetts, USA He did confirm that a life-insurance policy valued at $82,000 or $83,000, held by Carol Stuart and naming her husband as beneficiary, had been cashed. A spokesman for the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, Richard P. Bevilacqua, said the company had paid out $82,000 in insurance to Mr. Stuart in December for a policy that his wife held at the publishing company where she worked as a lawyer. The payout was made with unusual speed at the request of Mrs. Stuart's employer, the Cahners Publishing Company, he said, and the amount was twice her salary, because her death was considered accidental.
Thomas York 2 victims 1978 / 1981 Chicago, Illinois, USA No one had contested York's claim to the insurance proceeds York collected three years before, after his first wife, Maureen Jurkiewicz, was murdered. York was the beneficiary of Jurkiewicz's life insurance policy when she was killed. That policy was with the Allstate Insurance Company, for $50,000, and included a double-indemnity clause. Police found the body of York's wife decomposing in a small creek some two weeks after she disappeared in May 1978. Jurkiewicz had disappeared one day after she wrote the following note to York:
Belle Sorenson Gunnes November 11, 1859 Illinois/Indiana, USA A series of suspicious fires and deaths (mostly resulting in insurance awards) followed. Not long after Gunness married Mads Albert Sorenson in 1884, their store and home mysteriously burned down. The couple claimed the insurance money for both. Soon after, Sorenson died of heart failure on the one day his two life insurance policies overlapped. Though her husband's family demanded an inquiry, no charges were filed. It is believed the couple produced two children whom Gunness poisoned in infancy for the insurance money. Both (children) Caroline's and Axel's lives were reportedly insured, and the insurance company paid out. The insurance companies awarded her $8,500 (about $217,000 in 2008 dollars), with which she bought a farm on the outskirts of La Porte, Indiana.
Rev. Walter Dworecki August 7, 1939 Camden, New Jersey, USA Collecting on insurance was nothing new to Iron Mike. A year before Wanda died, the minister’s wife collapsed and died at the breakfast table. The attending physician put her cause of death as lobar pneumonia. Dworecki collected $2,500 in life insurance ($36,000 in 2007).
Stella Nickell June 5/11, 1986 Auburn, King County, Washington, USA By late summer, the agents began digging into the Nickells' life-insurance records. Bruce's policy from the state paid Stella $31,000. But if his death was "accidental," she would collect an extra $105,000. Further, Stella had taken out two additional $20,000 policies on his life in the year before he died.
David Lee Fisher November 21, 1983 Bedford County, Virginia, USA Confronted with this inconsistency, Fisher became less demanding and showed himself amenable to settlement. He eagerly accepted a check from the attorney for $25,000 in exchange for a release of his claim against the company. Later, he paid $7,000 of this to Mulligan.
Debra Hartmann, John Scott Korabik, 34, and Kenneth Kaenel, 62, were convicted in December of multiple mail and wire fraud charges for conspiring to kill Werner Hartmann and cheat life insurance companies out of $800,000 in insurance benefits. No one has ever been charged with murder, a state offense. June 8, 1982 Northbrook, Cook County, Illinois, USA Debra Hartmann collected $589,000 in a settlement with the insurance companies in November 1984. In addition to the prison term, Judge Moran ordered that Debra Hartmann pay whatever restitution was possible.
Marie Noe 8 victims 1949 - 1968 arrested 1998 Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA Neither the police nor the District Attorney would speculate on a motive for the killings, though they confirmed that the parents had taken out insurance policies on six children. Of the seven Noe children who had actually come home from the hospital, there was evidence at least six had been insured — the first few for only $100, but from baby number four on, for over $1,000. The company that paid out claims on Arthur Jr., Constance and Mary Lee had rejected the Noes’ application for a $1,000 policy on Cathy the previous March. But Mr. Noe, who worked on the side as a ward committeeman in North Philadelphia, was apparently able to use political connections to find another company to write a $1,500 policy. Since it was unclear if the Noes or the salesman had fudged the application, a lawyer helped them get a settlement of $500. (for Cathy)
Nanny Hazel Doss 8 to 11 victims 1920s - 1954 Alabama/North Carolina/Kansas/Oklahoma, USA Small insurance payments eased the pain, but Braggs became increasingly suspicious of his wife. ... Three months later, Frank Harrelson fell suddenly ill and died within the week. Nanny used the insurance money to buy ten acres of land and build a small house for herself outside Jacksonville. .... The cause of the death was diagnosed as asphyxia from unknown causes, and two months later she collected the $500 life insurance she had taken out on Robert. .... Nannie collected five life insurance policies on Morton, worth $1,400 (approximately $10,600 adjusted for inflation over 52 years).
Judith Hawkey November 3, 2003 Mark Center, Defiance County, Ohio, USA Investigators later learned that Hawkey – the boy’s adoptive mother who had been abusive to him – forced him to shoot his father. Hawkey, who was indicted on the charges earlier this year, collected nearly $500,000 in life insurance.
Audrey Marie Hilley May 25, 1975 Anniston, Calhoun County, Alabama, USA Frank Hilley’s autopsy report stated that he’d died of natural causes, so Marie had no trouble collecting on the life insurance he’d bought through Standard Foundry. The total of Frank’s policies was around $31,000, not enough to make a woman wealthy, but still a nice windfall. Meanwhile, Marie had been buying insurance. There were several policies, including fire insurance, cancer coverage, and life insurance coverage on herself. But Marie also insured the lives of her children—Mike was insured for $25,000, while Carol, through two policies, was insured for $39,000. Coincidentally, she was arrested for passing bad checks — they were written to the insurance company that insured Carol’s life, causing that policy to lapse.
Miyoko Sumida 6 murders 2003 - 2011 Japan One of the victims was Sumida's husband, who was part of a group of nine people having their photo taken on top of a cliff when he fell. The family received 90 million yen (S$1.3 million) in insurance and had a property mortgage written off. Miyoko's younger sister Mieko Sumida reportedly received a total of ¥90 million in life-insurance payouts from two companies following the accidental death of her husband, Hisayoshi, in 2005.
Timothy Shaun Stemple was convicted of killing one October 24, 1996 Tulsa County, Oklahoma, USA Timothy Stemple might have collected on a $950,000 life insurance policy, but his teen-age accomplice testified against him in exchange for a life prison term, court testimony showed. (Phrasing isn't quite clear that he definitively collected on insurance, however it's strongly implied if not stated, and it was originally investigated as an accident with time for him to collect which he probably did.) .... Stemple first argues that the evidence of his past insurance claims was inadmissible. The evidence was relevant to show motive and knowledge. First, the insurance claims were relevant to show that Stemple was familiar with the insurance claim process, whether or not the claims were valid. Second, the insurance claims, which may have been dubious, were relevant to corroborate the testimony of jail inmates, who testified that Stemple told them about past insurance scams.
Feds to seize $5 million in life insurance proceeds linked to murder of housekeeper in Colleyville Dec. 2016 (Policy wasn't paid but may have been illegally issued contributing to the motive for the murder) Charlies Mercier, an insurance agent in North Augusta, wrote five life insurance policies for Anita Fox totaling $5 million in 2007 and 2008, the affidavit said.
Daughter of Mother Whose Baby Was Killed Says Mom May Have Killed Him for Life Insurance Money 03/29/2013 "The night her little brother Antonio was killed, Glassey says West was already asking her about collecting life insurance money, and that her story has changed."
De’Marquise Kareem Elkins convicted of killing a baby in a stroller March 21, 2013 Earlier, the man who tipped Brunswick police to 18-year-old De’Marquise “Marky” Elkins and co-defendant Dominique Lang, 15, as suspects, testified that his conscience led him to act, not the reward.
“I didn’t do this for the reward money. Can I say this? Whoever had the guns to shoot a baby... I’m doing this for my conscience,” Argie Brooks said.
He has collected $2,000 and will get another $8,000 if Elkins and Lang are convicted. Lang, who testified that he saw Elkins shoot Antonio and his mother, will be tried separately.
Sharee Miller was convicted of killing her husband November 8, 1999 Flint, Genesee County, Michigan, USA After her husband's murder, Sharee Miller received the junkyard, which she subsequently sold, about $16,000 in the couple's bank accounts, a little stock and $80,000 in insurance, according to probate court records and investigators.
Mrs. Sarah Whiteling convicted of killing three March 20/April 25/May 26, 1888 and executed Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA The doctors in attendance gave certificates of death respectively for “inflammation of the bowels,” “gastric fever,” and “congestion of the bowels.” There was an insurance on the lives of each, ranging from $200 down to $50. The coroner accidentally hearing on the case, and having his suspicions aroused bad the bodies exhumed and a chemical analysis made of the intestines, and found arsenic in all. The crime for which Mrs. Whiteling was tried was one of a series of three with which she is charged, the allegation being that she not only murdered her daughter. Bertha, but also her husband, John Whiteling, aged thirty-eight, and their baby boy, William Whiteling, aged two years, and collected insurances on the lives of her victims amounting in the aggregate to over $350.
Robert Hansen Flew 17-21 victims into the Alaskan wilderness and hunted them down like wild game 1973 - 1983 In January 1981, he opened a bakery at 9th and Ingra, using $13,000 from the insurance settlement of a faked burglary of his home.
Kurt Erich Tetzner convicted of killing one November 25, 1929 Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany In an earlier insurance fraud, Tetzner convinced his motherinlaw to postpone an operation for cancer so that he could insure her life. She subsequently underwent an operation and died. Successful in his first effort, he and his wife decided to find another victim. After failing once to entrap a victim, on Nov. 25, 1929, he picked up a hitchhiker, murdered him, crashed his car into a tree, and then set it on fire with the victim at the wheel.
Maria Catherina Swanenburg convicted of killing at least twenty-seven people possibly as much as ninty 1880 - 1883 Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands Swanenburg's motive was the money she would receive either through the victims' insurance or their inheritance. She had secured most of the insurance policies herself. Her first victim was her own mother in 1880; shortly after this, she killed her father too.
Gabriel Arturo Garza Hoth 3 victims in Mexico April 17, 1991 / October 3, 1992 / May 11, 1997 He collected life insurance payments on his wife and lovers, gaining a total of 500,000 dollars.
Rhonda Bell Martin killed six 1937 - 1951 Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama, USA Prosecutors said collecting insurance proceeds prompted her serial killing spree, although this is unlikely, since she only collected enough to cover burial costs, and she never admitted this was the case. Under questioning, Rhonda was vague on her motive for the string of killings, but detectives learned that she collected insurance money on each of the victims in turn. Mrs. Martin was vague about a motive for the killings, the solicitor said, but she told of having insurance on all six victims who died. The amount was not disclosed, but Thetford said she recalled receiving between of Claude Martin. Solicitor William F, Thetford introduced evidence that Mrs. Martin collected $2,750 on three insurance policies upon alter her husband’s death.
Sukhwinder Singh Dhillon 2 to 5 victims February 3, 1995 - June 23, 1996 Canada / India Dhillon murdered his wife, Parvesh Kaur Dhillon, in Hamilton in January 1995, and his friend and business associate Ranjit Singh Khela in June 1996. The motive in each homicide was insurance money. .... Dhillon appeared to be getting away with all of these crimes until a veteran insurance claims investigator named Cliff Elliot was assigned to follow up on death claims for both Parvesh Dhillon and Ranjit Khela. Dhillon was the beneficiary of both policies. ... After her death, he reportedly collected $215,000 in insurance payments as well as $65,000 to pay off a mortgage and an $18,000 line of credit protected against the death of a spouse.
Colonel George Marecek, a highly decorated U. S. Army Green Beret veteran, was convicted of murdering his wife, Viparet Marecek. June 3, 1991 Fort Fisher, North Carolina, USA Sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2001. Paroled on August 11, 2003 Another piece of the puzzle: Col. Marecek had purchased a $300,000 life insurance policy for his wife, Viparet six months before her death. ... While they were driving from the funeral home to the police station, defendant told Kirk about the life insurance policy he had on Viparet, that he would collect $300,000 due to the accidental death clause, and that he intended to spend it on various family members. .... I was being pretty forceful with him, and every time I would tell him, you know, hey, you know, you're buying a new car, this is stupid, your insurance money, redoing your blacktop driveway, this is starting to stink. “Ah, they've got nothing on me. They can't catch me.” (Almost certainly collected on policy)
Daniel Anthony Basile was convicted of killing 28 year old Elizabeth DeCaro in a murder-for-hire plot by her husband, Richard DeCaro, who had taken a $100,000 life insurance policy on his wife. March 6, 1992 St. Charles County, Missouri, USA Ten days later, DeCaro purchased a $100,000 life insurance policy on behalf of his wife, Elizabeth, listing himself as the primary beneficiary. On January 26, 1992, Richard DeCaro struck Elizabeth with their van knocking her through the garage wall in the kitchen. She sustained severe bruising. The insurance company paid DeCaro over $30,000 as a result of the incident.
Randolph G. Roth convicted of killing one suspected of killing at least one more July 23, 1991 Lake Sammamish, King County, Washington, USA Roth was never charged with his second wife's death, and collected $115,000 in insurance payments from it. ..... Roth collected $365,000 from two insurance policies on Cynthia and $100,000 worth of insurance on Janis, according to court documents.
Dr Edward William Pritchard convicted of killing two possibly more February 28/March 18, 1865 Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom In 1863, when he was 38, a fire broke out in the room of the servant girl in his house; she was found dead, and it seemed clear that she had made no attempt to leave her bed during the fire. Pritchard was widely suspected, but he nevertheless won a claim from an insurance company.
Robert James alias Raymond Lisemba convicted of killing three 1932 - 1935 Colorado/California, USA James collected a $14,000 insurance settlement and headed back to Alabama to marry wife number four. When she learned he wanted to take out life insurance on her, she said, “People you insure always die of something strange,” and divorced him. ... A $5,000 insurance policy with double indemnity would help assuague his pain. James next called up his accident-prone nephew, Cornelius Wright. He took out an insurance policy on the youngster’s life, invited him to a visit while on leave from the US Navy, and gave him the use of his car. Wright promptly drove off a cliff, killing himself. .... The apparent motive for this was $20,000 in life insurance coverage on Mary.
Lyda Catherine Ambrose 5 victims 1917 - 1920 Missouri/Idaho, USA On November 20 the man died and she collected a $12,000 insurance payment that had been purchased on october 6. ... Within three months he was dead too, leaving Ambrose with another life insurance worth $2,500. This time though his insurance policy was signed and Ambrose collected approximately $10,000 for her husbands untimely death. She married husband number four on October 16 in 1920. He passed away about a month later and left Lyda Catherine Ambrose $12,000.
Pierre Corneille Faculys Basson 8 or 9 victims 1903 - 1906 South Africa The body was never found. The insurance company at first opposed Basson’s claim, but was ordered by the courts to pay the full amount of the policy. Basson believed that there was money to be made by offering loans on easy terms on the security of the cession of an insurance policy on the debtor’s life. Several of Basson’s friends (and debtors) were found dead, shot or drowned, and he was paid their insurance cover. In no case could it be proved that he was responsible for their sudden deaths.
Deborah Fornuto aka Deborah Anne Booe Narbone Gedzius allegedly killed six or seven mostly her kids plus her husband never charged 1972 - 1989 Chicago/Burbank/Alsip, Cook County, Illinois, USA WMAQ-TV has reported that the Gedziuses, who were living apart, had met over dinner to discuss how to divide their property. The station also said Deborah Gedzius collected on a $100,000 life insurance policy on her husband.
Colin Howell convicted of double murder May 19, 1991 Coleraine, Co Londonderry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom Insurance against Lesley's death paid out 120,000 and he received 54,635 from an endowment policy.
Lynn Turner killed two people March 3, 1995 / January 22, 2001 Her husband, police officer Maurice Glenn Turner, 31 / Her boyfriend, firefighter Randy Thompson, 32 She collected around $153,000 in death benefits for her husband's death and $36,000 in her boyfriend's death. ..... Witnesses from Turner's first trial testified that she had collected more than $140,000 in insurance benefits and $700 per month from her husband's police pension after he died. ..... Soon after Glenn's funeral, Turner collected nearly a quarter of a million dollars from Glenn's estate and from insurance proceeds and death benefits as the primary beneficiary under Glenn's insurance policies. ..... Turner, who had been incurring substantial debt prior to Thompson's death, collected over $30,000 as the beneficiary under Thompson's life insurance policy.
A Taiwanese woman named Lin Yuru, successively murdered her own mother, mother in law and husband in order to use their insurance money to pay off her gambling debts. 2008 - 2009 Madam Hou died at the scene and Lin subsequently received NT$5.06 million in insurance claims. ... That month, Lin also bought life insurance for her four-year-old son. .... Lin called for help after finding her mother-in-law dead in bed. She later received NT$7.43 million from insurers. .... Mr Liu died and Lin later claimed NT$4.75 million from insurers.
Martin Sauceda Vega killed one July 27, 1985 Texas Linda had received over $235,000 from her husband’s life insurance. “The insurance company did refuse to pay Linda for her husband’s death for over a year because she was a suspect in his murder. Linda sued the company to make them pay, and they finally paid her off because she was never charged,” defense
attorney William “Bill” Rugeley said. Mims' murder went unsolved for 2 years before Vega walked into the police department in Luling, about 50 miles east of San Antonio, and confessed to plotting the slaying for a $30,000 portion of Mims' $150,000 life insurance policy. He also led authorities to the gun.
Dorothy Glaser killed one October 31, 1985 Houston County, Georgia, USA Dorothy Glaser should have stopped while she was ahead. In 1985, she managed to get away with killing her husband, but she collected $250,000 in life insurance and even won a $40,000 malpractice settlement against a psychologist who was treating her husband for imaginary mental illness prompted by an earlier attempt on his life. Glaser then turned to her sister, Nell Matkin, about repeating the crime with Matkin’s husband, Andy, as the target. Nell agreed and Glaser contacted her nephew, Bobby Spargo, hoping that Bobby would do the killing.
Velma Ogden-Whitehead killed one March 18, 2005 Des Moines, King County, Washington, USA She sold two properties that were part of her husband's estate for a profit of $460,000 and collected life insurance and benefits from his employer that totaled more than $650,000, according to King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng. She took trips to Las Vegas, bought new cars and was planning to move to Arkansas, Maleng said.
Elicia Hughes killed one June 3, 2004 Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, USA The investigation dragged on for nine months; in the meantime, Elicia collected $250,000 in life insurance, and made plans to sell her home and move with her children to Florida. But, in March of 2005, her plans were derailed when police arrested her for Brian's murder. ..... She doesn't seem to be motivated by money. You know, she was working at an insurance company. She gave up the job, came back and went to teach school.
'Diabolical lovers' killed spouses for insurance 09/26/2001 Aurore Martin, 32, was given a 15-year sentence while her lover Peter Uwe Schmitt, 31, got 20 years for the role he played in the murder of Martin's husband, Marc Van Beers, in 1995. In each case the motivation was the same: to do away with the spouse and cash in life insurance policies that earned the couple almost £700,000. They used the money to live lavishly in Florida from where they were extradited to Belgium in 1998.
Timothy Boczkowski killed two To collect insurance money November 4, 1990 / November 7, 1994 North Carolina/Pennsylvania, USA Probably collected on first murder
Catherine Flannagan and Margaret Higgins aka "Black Widows of Liverpool" killed at least one probably more October 2, 1883 The sisters were also suspected of poisoning Mrs. Higgins’s 10-year-old stepdaughter Mary and one of Mrs. Flannagan’s sons, John, 22. Each time there was a death they collected on the insurance money. .... That December the previously healthy 22-year-old died. His mother collected an insurance payout of £71 and John was buried with minimum fuss or effort.
Mrs. Anna Cunningham killed five 1918 - 1922 She collected the $1,000 insurance and the family moved to Gary. A year later a daughter, Isabelle, 28, died. She had been insured for $1,000 just five weeks before her death.
Martha Needle killed five 1885-94 Although Martha collected substantial sums of insurance money this was not the motive for her own family which was never determined ..... Martha later collected 100 pounds (2010:$40,000) life insurance on Mabel's death.
Herman Webster Mudgett aka "Dr. H. H. Holmes," killed more than twenty-seven people from 1885-1894 Disfiguring the corpses and claiming that the people had been accidentally killed, Mudgett collected insurance money from policies which he had taken out on each one. .... Within days, attorney Jeptha Howe filed a claim with the insurance company on behalf of Carrie Pietzel and collected the money. He kept $2,500 and Holmes took the remainder. ..... The fire destroyed the top floor. As usual, he had insured the building with several companies for a total of $25,000. An astute investigator noted the fire started in several places. After investigating Holmes, his report that Holmes tried to defraud the insurance companies did not pan out. Holmes was not charged and was free to go. However, he did not collect the insurance.
Albert Edward Horsley (born March 18, 1866 – died April 13, 1954), best-known by the pseudonym Harry Orchard, was a miner convicted of the 1905 political assassination of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. didn't kill for insuracne but did collect for other insurance scam and committed murder in separate incident. Seeking to run away with another woman, Horsley burned his cheese factory and collected the insurance money, thereby settling his debts.
Josephine Gray, known as “The Black Widow,” killed two or three people March 3, 1974 / November 9, 1990 / June 21, 1996 Despite being a suspect in this murder, Josephine Gray collected over $54,000 from Mr. Gray’s life insurance policies. ..... She collected $165,000 after deaths of 3 men .... After escaping prosecution for more than two decades by using threats of voodoo against potential witnesses, a woman who authorities said had a hand in the deaths of three lovers was convicted yesterday of fraudulently collecting the victims' life insurance benefits. .... Prosecutors said she collected $165,000 in insurance money after two husbands were shot to death in Montgomery County and a young boyfriend was found dead in Baltimore. ... She later killed Robert Gray in order to eliminate the only witness to the Stribbling murder and to collect even more insurance proceeds.
Martha Lowenstein Marek killed four from 1932-7 in Vienna, Austria Emil Marek had conspired with his wife Martha to defraud his insurers by getting Martha to chop off his leg in order that they could collect $30,000 in accident insurance he had taken out. Martha, however, was not very good at wielding the axe and it took 3 blows to sever the leg. The insurer's doctors were not convinced that it was an accident that had occurred while cutting down a tree as the Mareks claimed and therefore rejected their claim. .... A few weeks later, Martha’s 7-year-old daughter, Ingeborg, died of a mysterious ailment and Martha collected money on the child’s small life insurance policy.
Mary Ann Cotton killed at least one perhaps over twenty-one people between 1857-72 William's life was insured by the British and Prudential Insurance office and Mary Ann collected a payout of £35 on his death, equivalent to about half a year's wages for a manual labourer at the time. .... Once again, Mary Ann collected insurance money from her husband's death.
Betty Neumar killed at least one possibly more July 14, 1986 in NC Not arrested until 2008 She collected at least $20,000 in 1986 when Harold Gentry was shot to death in his home. A year earlier, she had collected $10,000 in life insurance when her son died.
Judy Ann Buenoano killed at least two or three people between 1971-83 in Florida, Colorado and Alabama PDF Following Goodyear's death in 1971, Buenoano collected the benefits from various life insurance policies on her husband's life totalling approximately $33,000. She also received $62,000 in dependency indemnity compensation from the Veterans Administration. When Bobby Joe Morris died, Buenoano
again received insurance money from three separate policies on Morris' life totaling approximately $23,000. The house mortgage was also paid off. Buenoano owned life insurance on Gentry's life totalling $510,000 in benefits, and she was a 50% beneficiary under his will.
Wikipedia: Judy Buenoano
Mary Ellen Samuels killed two in California December 8, 1988 / June 27, 1989 At trial, the prosecution introduced evidence showing defendant collected on several insurance policies after Robert Samuels's death. The total amount of these policies was in excess of $240,000. .... Thus, here the prosecution was entitled to introduce evidence that defendant collected life insurance benefits and inherited property on the death of her estranged husband, because it is reasonable to infer that she knew she would be entitled to them when her husband died.
Mary Beth Harshbarger killed one September 14, 2006 Buchans Junction, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada There are reports that Mary Beth had increased her husband Mark’s life insurance not long before the hunting trip. Mary Beth collected on life insurance policies worth $550,000 (US). Mark Harshbarger’s family noted that despite collecting on the policies, Mary Beth failed to post her $200,000 bail.
Velma Ogden-Whitehead killed one June 23, 2006 Des Moines, King County, Washington, USA She sold two properties that were part of her husband's estate for a profit of $460,000 and collected life insurance and benefits from his employer that totaled more than $650,000, according to King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng.
Dr. Glennon Engleman killed seven or more from 1954-80 St. Louis, Missouri, USA Glennon Engleman (1963-1980) was a St. Louis dentist who killed 7 people for their life insurance and unpaid dentist bills. He used a variety of means, including car bombs and shooting. He collected the insurance by killing his former male patients and then wooing their widowed wives to give him money to invest for business purposes. Former female patients who didn't pay their bills were just killed. ..... After Halm's death, Miranda collected approximately $75,000 in insurance proceeds. In March 1977, Nicholas Miranda, Carmen Miranda's brother, paid Engleman $10,000 in cash as payment for his part in the scheme. ..... The government also produced as witnesses representatives of two insurance companies who testified that Frey's widow had collected on insurance policies after his death.
Sharon Elizabeth Kinne killed three from 1960-4 Missouri, USA / Mexico City, Mexico Kinne was convicted in October 1965 of the Mexican crimes and sentenced to ten years in prison. Escaped from the Mexican prison on December 7, 1969. Despite extensive manhunts, her whereabouts are unknown. ..... With the investigation into his death closed, James Kinne was buried and his wife collected on his life insurance policies, valued at about $29,000. ..... As soon as Sharon collected the insurance money from James' death, she raced out and bought a brand new blue Ford Thunderbird.
Anne Gates convicted of killing one possibly two October 7, 1987 Arabi, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, USA A set of fireplace tools was missing from the murder scene, and officers believed they'd found their motive in the form of an insurance policy, scheduled to pay Anne Gates $82,000 in the event of her aging husband's death. Deputies said Mrs. Gates, who had been living with her parents in Picayune, Miss., was the beneficiary of her husband’s $82,000 life insurance policy. Mrs. Gates’ first husband, David Plue, was found dead on a rural highway in Indiana in 1978 with two bullets in his head, Clevenger said. Clevenger, then a sheriff’s investigator, said the 29-year-old autoworker had a $100,000 life insurance policy, and his wife collected the money.
Anna Marie Hahn killed five or more 1932-7 in Colorado and Ohio "While the fire caused minimal damage, Anna still managed to collect $300 from the insurance company. The other two fires both took place at the Hahn residence -- the first on June 2, 1935 and the second on May 20, 1936. Anna collected just over $2000 for both fires."
Marie Alexandrine Becker convicted of killing ten or more people including husband with life insurance which she collected 1932 - 1936 Liege, Belgium She gave him a lethal dose of Digitalis, collected on his life insurance and used the cash to open a smart dress shop. Later on, in November 1934 - by which time he had presumably ceased to thrill her - she poisoned Bayer with the same lethal drug.
Johann Otto Hoch killed fifteen or more 1890-1905 in Chicago Ill "Huff" cleaned out her $900 bank account, sold their house, collected $2500 in life insurance benefits -- and vanished. ..... He then collected on Caroline's life insurance, sold her house, cleaned out her bank accounts and disappeared. ..... Immediately after his release Hoch journeyed to Argos, Indiana, where he introduced himself to a brand-new widow, Mrs. Mary Schultz, as Albert Buschberg, a millionaire Chicago druggist. He married the widow, collected the $2,000 insurance policy on her late husband’s life, and prevailed upon the widow and her fifteen-year-old daughter, Nettie, to go back with him to Chicago where both mother and daughter disappeared, along with $1,500 in savings.
Sandra Camille (Powers) Bridewell suspected of killing two or more people but not convicted June 16, 1982 / December 11, 1985 Texas/Oklahoma, USA She collected the insurance on her husband's life, sold his practice, and began dating other wealthy men.
Stacey Castor killed one possibly two husbands and attempted to kill her daughter 2000/ August 20, 2005 NY
Stacey Castor killed two husbands, tried to murder own daughter and frame her for the deaths 03/19/2016 Widow Wallace calmly collected $50,000 in life insurance and moved on.
Blanche Taylor Moore convicted of killing one suspected of another three 1968 - 1986 Alamance County, North Carolina, USA Blanche collected a little fire insurance, investing the cash in a new mobile home. When fire razed the trailer a month later, she blamed that pervert again and collected another insurance check. ..... Before she finished with the family, Reids sons kicked in another $45,797 from their fathers life insurance, persuaded that Raymond would have wanted Blanche to have the cash. .... Steve Reid, 27, one of Raymond Reid's two sons, said that after his father's death Moore received $45,000 in life insurance and an additional $18,000 to $20,000 from Reid's estate.
Robin Lee Row killed three February 10, 1992 in Idaho He says Robin Row collected $28,000 in life insurance from Keith's death.
Sante Kimes killed three with her son and collected on unrelated insurance scams In Sacramento she sets fire to her first house to collect insurance. She only destroyed the kitchen and received $10,000. Sante burns down Honolulu house, to collect insurance money. The firemen
could tell it was arson but insurance still paid.
Steven David Catlin killed three 1976 / 1984 California/Nevada, USA Prosecutors presented evidence that Catlin had financial motives for killing the women—he was the beneficiary of life insurance policies on his wives and the sole beneficiary of his mother’s estate. Catlin, meanwhile, had acquired another fiancee, encountered on a visit to the hospital. His grief was tempered by her love -- and by the $57,000 he received from life insurance payments.
Morris Bolber, Herman and Paul Petrillo killed 30-50 people 1932 - 1939 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA The gang embraced insurance agents and made highly successful use of the period's widespread cheap insurance policies, often taken out without medical examination (not required for policies under $500) or the knowledge of the principal concerned, who would subsequently meet an agonising death by arsenic, engineered by the spouse, possibly with intent, possibly in superstitious ignorance of their actions. This went on from 1932 until 1938, when the death in hospital of Ferdinando Alfonsi brought matters into the open, something that was bound to happen sooner or later, as the gang's activities proliferated.
Lyda Trueblood killed at least one possibly as much as six people 1915 - 1920 in Montana/Idaho, USA All 4 of Lyda's husbands had held a life insurance policy where they listed her as the beneficiary. Lyda Trueblood was able to collect over $7,000 over the years from the deaths of her first three husbands.
Robert Girts killed his wife To collect insurance money September 2, 1992 Ohio
Separately, Girts had a possible financial
motive, as he collected life insurance money and was
then able to invest in another funeral home PDF
Robert Girts: The Husband From Hell 12/26/2017 Upon Diane's death he had received $50,000 in life insurance proceeds. ..... On December 18, 2015, in a Cleveland court room, Robert Girts, in connection with the death of Diane Girts, pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and insurance fraud. The judge sentenced him to 12 years but gave him credit for time already served. That meant that Mr. Girts would remain a free man. Case closed.
Amy A. Gilligan at least 5 victims possibly as many as forty-eight or more 1908 - 1916 James Archer died in 1910 of apparently natural causes. The official cause of death was Bright's disease, a generic term for kidney diseases. Amy had taken out an insurance policy on him a few weeks before his death, so she was able to continue running the Archer Home.
Killer Wives: 8 Most Infamous Black Widow Murderers 08/25/2016 Between 1911 and 1916, at least 48 people died while in Archer-Gilligan’s care – including Archer-Gilligan’s husband. .... police also discovered that she had taken out “sizable insurance policies” on her husband.
Man sued over $500K life insurance payout after murder-suicide 05/02/2016 A lawsuit claims a Baton Rouge man improperly collected a $500,000 payout from his business partner's life insurance policy after the partner gunned down his estranged wife and shot and killed himself in Connecticut last year.
The following are additional related cases including reports on Michael Cohen, a couple rare studies on the subject that are only reported in low profile locations and more murders for insurance although they din't successfully collect:
Wikipedia: List of United States insurance companies
Insurance Fraud Hall Of Shame
Better Call Cohen: The Shady Cases of a Trump Lawyer's Personal Injury Practice 05/01/2018 The president's personal attorney represented multiple clients in New York who allegedly staged car crashes to cheat insurance companies
The Company Michael Cohen Kept — “Trump, Inc.” Podcast 04/18/2018
Murder for Life Insurance Money: Protecting the
Children 2017 PDF
The Ten Worst Insurance Companies In America How They Raise Premiums, Deny Claims, and Refuse Insurance to Those Who Need It Most
Dead husband of La. woman suspected of poisoning another man made her sole beneficiary of $750K life insurance policy 06/01/2018 Questions remain about how Hale accepted a $10,000 payout from Skipper's life insurance policy or how she became his legal next of kin.
DA: Holyoke Mass. man died in intentional crash orchestrated by 2 people to get insurance money for car 11/03/2017
Elkin Mom Charged with Insurance Fraud in House Fire That Killed Autistic Son 04/05/2018
Judge: Man who killed wife cannot collect life insurance 12/19/2017 The judge has determined that the money should instead go to the couple's two teenage daughters. Police say Joseph Fitzpatrick III had searched the internet for information on life insurance policies five days before he killed his wife, Annemarie Fitzpatrick.
Prosecutor: Flint woman killed mother in 1991 for insurance 08/04/2017
Authorities: Oklahoma Man Killed Father in Insurance Scheme 03/21/2018
Osaka man held in alleged drowning of wife for insurance money 04/20/2018
Jury rejects death sentence for Fla. woman who killed roommate for insurance money 11/03/2017
Bellflower Ca. woman arrested in scheme to kill boyfriend for insurance money, authorities say 12/15/2017
Canadian Ex-lovers get life sentences for murdering ‘gentle and decent man’ 07/07/2018 The pair were after a $2-million life insurance policy.
Tx. Teen accused of using hitman to kill his father for life insurance money 05/30/2018
Police: Wife, lover killed security guard for $1M insurance policy 04/03/2018
Wife of slain Cleveland firefighter convicted of murder-for-hire plot 07/07/2017
Man who ‘killed’ wife took control of life-insurance payout for kids 12/29/2011
The following are previous articles about insurance incentives to commit fraud or other more important contributing factors of escalating violence:
Ignored evidence linking corporal punishment, poverty and crime grows
Does lack of education increase violent crime? Religion?
How much does Income Inequality Affects Crime Rates?
The tragedy of gambling politics in United States
How does gambling and gun control impact violent crime?
Politicians increase crime; Grass roots efforts reduce crime; Politicians steal the credit
Life Insurance and media companies are encouraging lots of murders
Killing Kids For Insurance Is Semi-Routine
For-Profit Insurance is Government Authorized Crime Syndicate
For profit insurance has an incentive to betray people after disasters!
