Serial Killer Belle Soren Gunness - Term Paper Example

Serial Killer: Belle Soren Gunness Introduction Serial killing is the act of murdering many people over a space of time. The victims are usually murdered one by one. In criminology, this act has been associated with a number of factors considering that the serial killer normally targets specific kinds of people maybe in terms if age, gender, size or race. The serial killer is normally a very choosy person; the victims are chosen wisely and murdered by similar tactics, techniques, manner or style (Blundell, 2011). Most of the serial killers are psychotic individuals, while in some cases, they are just normal people with certain motives and requirements. This is the case with the Norwegian-American serial killer: Belle Soren Gunness. Belle Soren Gunness Belle Soren Gunness was born as Brynhid Paulsdatter Storseth in 1859, November 11th. She was a physically strong woman who weighed 200 pounds and standing at 183 centimeters (6 feet tall). She murdered many people; the number estimated to be between 25 and 40. She killed these people in a number of decades. She killed her victims in cold blood: boyfriends, suitors, husbands and two daughters, Lucy and Mytle. The authorities at that time wondered what reasons might have motivated her to commit the crimes but after investigations and follow ups, they established that her apparent motive of killing involved ripping people of their belongings such as collecting life insurance, cash and valuables (Segrave, 1992). The secondary motive for killing involved elimination of witnesses. She eventually disappeared in April 28, 1908. Biography Gunness’ character and nature of being are very strange throughout her biography. The place of her birth is not well established. In fact, her death has not been established as well. Her origins have been matters of debate. Most of her biographers have spoken and written contradicting stories with many claiming that she was born in 1859, November 11th in Norway near a lake called selbu. A stonemason named Paul Pedersen Storset fathered her and her mother was called Berit Olsdatter. Among her eight siblings, she was the youngest. They lived in a cotter’s farm 60 km southeast of a town called Trondheim, the largest city situated in central Norway. To matters that made her character change. According to Anne Berit Vestby, an Irish TV documentary journalist aired on September 4, 2006 that she had faced a very bad experience in her early life. In 1877, Gunness had attended a dance event when she was pregnant. While in the dance, she was attacked by a man, a stranger to her, who kicked her on the abdomen. This experience caused her miscarriage, and unfortunately, the man who hailed from a well off family, was never prosecuted (Schmid, 2005). Victims of the Serial Killer and Motives What followed were series of deaths and arsons, crime and frauds that escalated over time. In the 1884, she got married to Mads Albert Sorenson and they lived in Illinois. Shortly after the marriage, their home and storew burned down and the claimed the insurance money which they were granted. Sorenson then died of what was perceived as heart failure. Strangely, this occurred on the day when his two life insurance policies had overlapped. Neither follow-ups nor filling were made in spite of her husband’s family demanding an inquiry into the matter. Gunness was driven with greed that she even poisoned their two daughters at infancy for the insurance money (Blundell, Blundell, N. (2011)2011). Several other unexplained deaths followed that the woman caused investigators believed. A doctor had said that the cause of her husband’s death could be poisoning, but their family doctor had been treating Sorenson for an enlarged heart and concluded that he had suffered a heart attack. An autopsy was not carried out for the death was never considered suspicious. Incriminatingly, Gunness filed for the insurance money the day after her husbands funeral. The body was never exhumed to carry out forensics as the husbands family had demanded (Seltzer, 1998). She was an intelligent killer who conducted her operations precisely and calculatively. No one has ever come up with a story that can be perceived as true about her operations. Researchers assert that the Sorenson’s family had four children – some quote two. The four children were Alex, Caroline, Lucy and Myrtle. The children’s mysterious deaths were as follows: Caroline died of cramping, lower abdominal pain, diarrhea and fever; Alex suffered acute colitis and died. The symptoms of the children’s deaths can be closely related to poisoning in many forms. The 19oo United States census had counted the family and reported that the she was a mother of four children; two dead and that only Myrtle and Lucy were alive. Besides, she also had an adopted child called Morgan Couch who later became Jennie Olsen. She had murdered all these children in separate occasions for insurance money. The insurance company paid her $8,500, which was about $215,000 as compared to 2008-dollar value (Schmid, 2005). She used the money to buy a house in La Porte, in Indiana. Several unresolved deaths followed thereafter. Her infant daughter who she conceived with her new husband Peter Gunness mysteriously died. Shortly, Peter Gunness, a fellow Norwegian also died. Jennie, her adopted daughter’s body would later be found in her house. Gunness hired a hand-man, Ray Lamphere to help in the chores around her home. Lamphere apparently fell in love with her. He used to perform all duties to her when called upon; including the filthy gruesome ones. Later, she started dating wealthy men who frequently visited her in her home. Ray Lanphere was not pleased with this and later, he became disrespectful and verbally attacked her boyfriends. She eventually fired him and they had court fights. She lied that Lamphere was insane and incompetent to fulfill his duties, but attacking her visitors at the farm. When a team of experts was called upon to authenticate the truth of her story, Lamphere was found to be sane and was set free. Lamphere continued visiting the premises and they got into fight every now and then. Gunness suitors were her next victims. The wealthy men she met through lovelorn column would frequently come to her farm. Her suitors would then disappear after visiting her and leaving money. None of them was later found they disappeared forever: Henry Gurholdt, John Moo, Ole B. Budsburg, Olaf Svenherud, Olaf Lindbloom, and Andrew Hegelein just to name a few (Segrave, 1992). Her luck began running out when Henry Helegein’s brother became suspicious of these deaths. She again became brainy and immediately she realized this, her farmhouse burned down to the ground. The beginning of all the establishments or discoveries followed. First, the workers found four skeletons in the smoldering ruins. Three of these skeletons were identified as Gunness’ foster children, but the fourth was inexplicably missing the skull and was presumed to be hers. The victims were unearthed from their shallow graves. The story came out to the surprise of everyone and the remains of more than forty men and children were exhumed. Apparently, Gunness hired hand-man Ray Lamphere was arrested for arson and murder. After investigations, he was found not guilty of murder but was guilty of arson. His fate was sealed. He died in prison later but after spilling the beans to the authority about Belle Guinness. He exposed all the crimes that Gunness had committed including how she burnt down her own house (Kelleher & Kelleher, 1998). The body they had recovered and was presumed to be hers; was not really hers. She had planted the body and planned her escape from the town. Before she left, she withdrew all the money and the authorities have never confirmed her death neither have they established her true whereabouts. The murders, therefore, were never resolved. Conclusion After all these, amateur detectives, past acquaintances and friends, allegedly spotted Gunness for several decades in town and cities in the U.S. She was reportedly seen in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angels. As late as in the year 1934, Gunness was shockingly reported to be alive and living in a Mississippi town where she owned property in abundance and lived lavishly. She became a bluebird, folklore in the United States criminal scenario. The residents remained divided about the fate and whereabouts of Belle Gunness. Some said that she was killed and her house burned down by Ray Lamphere, while the rest say that she faked her own death and survived her crimes. A woman identified as Esther Carlson was arrested after poisoning her husband for money in Los Angels in 1931. Two people who knew her said that the arrested woman was Gunness and that they could identify her from the pictures. However, the identification was never approved and the woman later died while awaiting trial. In 2007 on 5thNovember, the descendants of Belle Gunness’ sister requested for permission to exhume the body buried as hers at Forest Home Forest for forensic investigations; graduate students from the University of Indianapolis carried that and forensic anthropologists in a bid to establish her true identify (Segrave, 1992). They had hoped that the envelope found on the victim’s farm would contain adequate DNA for comparisons. However, it did not and efforts were made to find enough DNA from known living relatives for comparison to that of the exhumed remains. References Blundell, N. (2011). Serial Killers. Havertown: Pen and Sword. Kelleher, M. D., & Kelleher, C. L. (1998). Murder most rare: the female serial killer. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. Schmid, D. (2005). Natural born celebrities: serial killers in American culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Segrave, K. (1992). Women serial and mass murderers: a worldwide reference, 1580 through 1990. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co.. Seltzer, M. (1998). Serial killers: death and life in America's wound culture. New York: Routledge. Read More