Belle Gunness-A Female Serial Killer - Research Paper Example

Little is known of the early life of Gunness, and reports that do exist are conflicted. Some report that Belle Gunness was born Bella Poulsdatter in Trondhjeim, Norway (Geringer). Other reports have Belle Gunness born as Brynhild Poulsdatter Storset in Selbu, Norway (Gibson 36). Most biographers, according to author Dirk Cameron Gibson, agree that her date of birth was November 11, 1859, in or around Lake Selbu, Norway, as well as the fact that she was raised without much money (36). It is also agreed that Belle, then Bella, emigrated from Norway to the United States between 1881 and 1884 by courtesy of her elder sister, who sent her money for passage as well as offered her houseroom upon her arrival in Illinois (36).

It does appear that the first few years in America were happy ones. She Americanized her name to Belle and married her first husband, Mads Sorenson, along with bearing him four children, with only two living past infancy (Jones 157). The couple owned a candy store, but the popular saying goes that “it only turned a profit after it burned to the ground” (Jones 158). In addition, two of the houses the couple owned also burned (Geringer). All carried insurance policies, which the couple collected, as the insurance companies were never able to find exactly what started the fires (Jones 158).

They were also unable to prove that the fires had been started intentionally (Jones 158). Gunness once again had reason to collect insurance in 1900. Mads Sorenson suddenly died on July 30, 1900 in a “convulsive agony” (Schechter 177). When he was examined by the coroner, he was found to have an enlarged heart, which was noted as his cause of death (Jones 158). Before the cash was finished being counted into her hands, Belle took the insurance money of $8,500 and moved to La Porte, Indiana, with her three children (Geringer).

Once in La Porte, it was not long before love, or at least another husband, found