Five Myths About Female Serial Killers

I have a special interest in women who kill, especially the ones who take the time to carefully plan out their murders. This, of course, applies to all female serial killers. One of the questions I am often asked about this group is how many there have been. We don’t know for sure; according to Mike Aamodt, an impressive serial killer statistician out of Radford University, there have been 514 female serial killers since 1910. Of course, we only know about the ones who are caught. Given the sneaky ways most female serial killers operate, I’m sure this is an underestimate.

Even so, 500+ is not a small number. However, because female serial killers tend to fly under the radar, most of us don’t know a lot about them. And what we do know is often wrong. Here are the five most common myths I hear about female serial killers — and the reality of women who kill and kill and kill again. And yet, while we’ve all heard of Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy, few of us know anything about Kristen Gilbert and Marybeth Tinning.

Myth #1: She doesn’t exist. It’s understandable that the average person isn’t up to speed on female serial killers. However, those who should know better often don’t. However, as late as 1998, for example, a well-known FBI profiler stated, “There are no female serial killers.” He was wrong.