Gunness's Story: A Brief Summary

Gunness’s work and the story starts at the death of Mads Sorenson. Sorenson’s death was listed as a cerebral hemorrhage but his symptoms matched that of strychnine poisoning. Unfortunately, these suspicious symptoms were never fully investigated and Gunness was about to get away with the first of her many crimes. Sorenson’s death could not have come at a more convenient time. “He died on the day that two of his life insurance policies overlapped. This meant that only in the event of his death on that day would Belle be able to collect on both policies, which she promptly did” (Marimen, Willis, Taylor, Moran, Sceurman, 2008, p. 95). Following the Sorenson death, Gunness moved to a farm in La Porte, Indiana. Belle Gunness’s next victim would be a man named Peter

A woman named Esther Carlson was arrested for the murder of an elder man for his money after poisoning him. “According to one press report, investigators examining a trunk in her room found, lying at the bottom, a picture of Belle Gunness with three of her children. Ms. Carlson died in jail before she could stand trial, and before any connection between her and Belle Gunness could be confirmed. However, two former LaPorte residents, then living in Los Angeles, were allowed to view her body at the morgue and are said to have come away convinced that the body they saw there was that of Belle Gunness” (Marimen et al., 2008, p. 97). Nobody really knows what happened to Belle Gunness. Did she really die in the fire? Did she escape and continue down the same murderous path? The answer to those questions are still being debated to this very day. The most infamous and notorious murder investigation in Indiana history has no conclusive answer. “Belle’s life, crimes, and eventual fate are as much open to speculation as they were that dark morning when flames engulfed the farmhouse on the outskirts of LaPorte” (Marimen et al., 2008,