The Story Of The Serial Killer Bertha Gifford

The serial killer I researched was Bertha Gifford. She is most famous for her way of killing people. She didn’t use a common way, she would use rat poisoning (arsenic). She killed more then seventeen people, mostly children. Gifford was born in October 1872 in Grubville, Missouri. She was one of ten children to William Poindexter Williams and Matilda nèe Lee. Gifford was a white female. People say that Gifford was one of the best children around and was absolutely beautiful. No one ever thought she would be responsible for the death of seventeen plus people. Bertha married a man named Hennery Graham and had a daughter, when Graham passed away she ended up remarrying to Eugene Gifford and they had a son James. After she married Eugene they moved to Castaway, Missouri. All of their neighbors said that

She also loved to cook for sick neighbors and relatives. So she put the two things she loved together. She would go to the store and buy a bunch of arsenic for the “rat infestation” in her barn. Then she would wait till she heard of a sick child in a twenty-mile radius and would go to their house. She preferred children because they would swallow anything and not question it as long as it didn’t taste too bad. After she would gain the parents trust all afternoon she would tell them to go get some rest while she watched over their child for the night. The parents were exhausted and trusted her so they would go to bed. That’s when Bertha did her work; she didn’t have any witnesses and was all alone with the helpless child. She planned this out very well because the scene very controlled and the death was quiet and clean. She would mix the arsenic in food or a drink and give it to the child. When morning came Bertha would scream for the parents and call a doctor. By this time it was too late for the child and Berthas work was done. She would cry and mourn with the parents so they wouldn’t suspect