Killer Babes - A Bevy of Real, Honest-to-Goodness Femmes Fatales

So, last time, we did the dudes. This time, the ladies!

Now, I do have to break it to you that there aren’t any serial killers in this one. Turns out girls just aren’t into that kind of stuff.

I can, however, promise plenty of jealousy, insurance schemes, infanticide, and lots of dead husbands and boyfriends.

Another difference between male and female killers seems to be the almost total lack of movies based on the women’s crimes. Lots of documentaries, but very few hot starlets standing in for our murderesses.

NOTE:  I already covered Karla Homolka under the boys, so won’t repeat her here (though she definitely qualifies).


#18 – Mindy Saghera

This one’s got a nice little international vibe to it. First of all, we’ve got our venue – Manchester, England. Next, we’ve got our murderess, a cute little Sikh (whose given name was Harmohinder). Finally, we’ve got our victim, a 17-year-old pregnant Muslim newlywed. Turns out the former was having an affair with the latter’s husband. End result: major overkill (40 stab wounds with a kitchen knife).

#17 – Linda Calvey

And here's a traditional English rose. Ladies and lads, may I introduce Linda Calvey.

Linda started out pretty much as a gun moll. She later moved up to driving getaway cars and even wielding a gun herself. 

She would then wield a gun on her boyfriend of the time, one Ronald Cook. Turns out she had hired someone else to do the job, but the bloke got cold feet, so she finished the job herself. Oh, by the way, that gun was a shotgun.

After 28 years in prison, Linda got out and immediately got hitched:

Sadly, her hubby passed away just the other week ago.


#16 – Darlene Gentry  *

The bubbly and beautiful Darlene Gentry was a real-live Texas homecoming queen. After high school, she became a dental assistant and married a hunky local boy who was good with his hands. 

Then she shot him. It was staged as a robbery, but the cops were suspicious from the get-go. Strains in the marriage and almost a million in insurance money didn’t make her look any more innocent. Darlene sealed the deal, however, when she was taped trying to retrieve move the murder weapon.

Unlike most female killers, Darlene was portrayed on screen, in the TV show Deadly Women, and by the beautiful actress Jacqui Story:

If you’d like to correspond with Darlene, you can do so right here.


#15 – Estibaliz Carranza

Estibaliz Carranza owned an ice cream shop in Vienna, Austria, in the basement of which were the bits and pieces of 2 former lovers. Seems she shot them, dismembered them with a chainsaw, then dumped the results in some buckets which she then filled up with concrete.

The gruesome remains were discovered by some unlucky contractors. Carranza would then go on the lam, getting captured soon after in Italy. Two months pregnant at the time, she would later give birth to the baby in prison, then marry the father there as well.
The “Ice Cream Killer” will be spending the rest of her days in a mental hospital.


#14 – Molly Jane Roe

Eww, this one is not pleasant. The lovely lady above just so happened to go to prison for raping and murdering an infant, the child of the man she was dating. I guess it was some kind of evil stepmother sort of thing. 

There’s actually a fair amount of stuff out there that says that infanticide and abuse of stepchildren is not that uncommon. There’s also an explanation for that from the field of evolutionary psychology. Called the “Cinderella Effect,” this theory posits that, because stepchildren do not share any genetic material, they are not worth investing any effort in (from an evolutionary standpoint at least) and might even kind of get in the way.

All this happened in a small town in Tennessee, back in 2011. Rowe is currently serving a life term.


#13 – Isabella Yun-Mi Guzman

Speaking of crazies …  Would you believe this lovely young lady stabbed her mother over 150 times then beat her with a baseball bat? Isabella Yun-Mi Guzman was all of 18 at the time. Though notoriously difficult and rebellious, she also seemed to be a pretty normal teenager.

It would be pretty obvious at her trial, however, that things weren’t quite right. Isabella would talk to herself, laugh inappropriately, and generally act crazy. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, she is currently locked away for good in a Colorado state hospital. 


#12 –  Rachel Marie Wade

Just your basic teenage love triangle. It’s an old story … Girl meets boy.  Girl loses boy.  Boy meets other girl. First girl stabs other girl. You know how it goes … All this fun stuff happened in Florida, about 10 years ago. All involved were teenagers. 

Mix in a little social media, a Stand Your Ground defense, confrontations at Applebee’s, and a 27-year sentence, and you’ve got yourself a pretty good story. No major motion pictures yet, but the drama has been featured on Oxygen, HLN, E!, Discovery, and even NBC.

#11 – Tracey Grissom  *

When you look this good in your mug shot … 

Well, there’s really no doubt she did it. Tracey Grissom fired 6 shots into her ex’s back when she just so happened to see him at a local boat landing (and in front of witnesses).

The real question is why. Grissom claimed that he had raped and assaulted her. She had the bruises and scars to prove it, and went to the police immediately after the incident. They were unable to charge him however, and Tracey would get 25 years.


#10 – Nasim Aghdam

Women simply don’t do mass murders. Jealousy? Sure. Insurance schemes? No problem. Like serial murder, though, mass murders are really just a guy thing.

Nasim Aghdam is our exception to the rule. Remember her? She went psycho at the YouTube campus in Mountain View, CA. Though she actually ended up not killing anyone (though she did wound 3), she did take her own life.

She also seemed to be bat-shit crazy. Aghdam seemed to live mainly for her social media, which was devoted primarily to bodybuilding, animal rights, veganism, and rants against modern culture. She also seemed to have some paranoid ideas about YouTube’s censoring her and keeping money that was due her. Put it all together …

The only movies Nasim was ever in were the crazy stuff she posted on YouTube:

#9 – Amber Hilberling  *

Here’s another one that is actually a little sad. Amber Hilberling would push her husband out of a 25-story window. 

Her side of the story was that she was defending herself (and her unborn child). His story (well, actually his family’s story) was that she was a druggie, he wanted a divorce, and he was walking out on her when it all went down. 19 years old at the time of the murder, Amber would be given a sentence of 25 years. 

The sad part here is that Amber would commit suicide in jail only 5 years later, at age 25.


#8 – Megan Martzen

This one’s a little complicated. Megan was the babysitter of a 4-year old who ended up dying. Megan said the kid fell, but doctors thought otherwise. Her subsequent trial resulted in a hung jury, with Martzen pleading guilty of manslaughter and being put on probation. There’s a chance that she may not have even done it, with the child’s family actually supporting her. All of this happened about 10 years ago, in California.

#7 – Kristin Rossum  *

Kristin Rossum’s background is one of privilege. The daughter of a college president, she attended a swanky girls prep school. Every picture taken of her seems to show a blonde society type who would look best in pearls or around some horses.

At the same time, she also had a nasty meth habit, had an affair with her boss, then killed her husband so he wouldn’t rat her out. A toxicologist, she gave her hubby an overdose of fentanyl then staged a suicide scene.

She’s now serving a life sentence in state prison, where she supposedly still uses meth and has also had a lesbian affair.

Like Mechele Linehan, Rossum would also be inspired by a movie:

#6 – Casey Anthony

More infanticide. And, yes, I know she got off somehow. But I think we all know she did it.
This one’s been covered ad nauseum – the missing month, the car that smelled like a corpse, the mysterious nanny, the online boyfriend, the non-existent job at Universal Studios, the Google searches …  

Hard to believe it was all 10 years ago. I understand Casey is living in West Palm Beach now, works for a private detective on her former defense team, and is dating. According to this article, she is also weighing the pros and cons of posing in the nude.  

Anthony has been played by actress Holly Devaux, among others.

#5 – Jodi Arias

Crazy girlfriend alert! Crazy girlfriend alert!

A true-life fatal attraction story, Jodi Arias couldn’t stand that her ex-lover was ditching her. So, she stabbed him two dozen times, shot him in the head, and nearly decapitated him. The crime scene photos were particularly horrific.

Though Arias was suspected from the outset, her constantly changing stories – from no knowledge or involvement, to mysterious attackers, to self-defense – didn’t really help things any.

As with Casey Anthony’s, Jodi’s trial would turn into a real media circus. She’s currently serving life. You can buy her art at jodiarias.com.

Jodi has been portrayed by the extremely hot Tania Raymonde in the made-for-TV movie Casey Anthony: Dirty Little Secret:

#4 – Mechele Linehan  *

Well, heck, the girl was a stripper. So, not only is she going to be hot and sexy, but the story's going to be extra lurid as well.

Turns out Mechele was dating two men at one time, and got the one to help her kill the other (the one she had a $1M insurance policy on, that is). She would not be fingered, though, until 10 years later. In the meantime, she would move from Alaska (where the murder happened and where Mechele was employed by the Great Alaskan Bush Company) to the lower 48, meet and marry a doctor, and have a family. I’ll bet she had some explaining to do.

Though convicted, she was later set free after that judgement was overturned on appeal. Sounds pretty clear that she did it though.

In a twist on how these things typically go, Mechele may have been inspired by a movie, The Last Seduction, and not the other way around:

#3 – Amanda Knox

Boy, this one had it all.  An ingenue abroad. A fresh-faced, preppy, girl-next-door with a dark side. Sexual innuendo. Drugs. A heavy-handed investigation. A sensational, circus-like trial. Blatant anti-Americanism and something bordering closely on an international incident. 

Knox would be convicted and sentenced to 25 years. After 3 years in prison, she would be acquitted and released. She would later pen a book about the whole thing, Waiting To Be Heard , mostly to pay for legal fees. She is currently a journalist and activist in her hometown of Seattle.   

Amanda would be portrayed by the very hot and also somewhat well-known (unlike the other actresses here) Hayden Panettiere:

#2 – Bambi Bembenek  *

I’m pretty sure Bambi Bembenek is the only former Playboy bunny to have been convicted of murder. 

What’s really interesting about Bembenek, though, is that she was also a former police officer. With a penchant for smoking pot and dancing at the local strip club, though, she would eventually be kicked off the force.

Marrying a cop, she would then use his service revolver to get rid of his ex (supposedly, to save him the alimony payments). Though there was some doubt whether she actually did it, Bembenek would be convicted and given a life sentence.

She would later escape and live on the run for several months, becoming something of a folk hero in the process. She would be released from prison after 10 years, but her life would go quickly downhill – alcoholism, drugs, depression, hep C, an amputated leg … She would die at 52 from kidney and liver failure. 

Bambi would be portrayed by Lindsay Frost in the immortal TV movie Calendar Girl, Cop, Killer? The Bambi Bembenek Story.

#1 – Vera Renczi

Vera who? Yup, this is an old one, happening almost 100 years ago.

Known as the Black Widow and the Chatelaine of Berkerekul, Vera Renczi poisoned 35 husbands and lovers in Romania and Hungary in the 1920s and ‘30s. Insanely jealous, she would do away with her latest paramour after only a short while, saying that they all had abandoned her. She would instead keep their bodies in caskets in her basement. Her teenage son, who had discovered the coffins, would die as collateral damage.

Great stuff, huh? Unfortunately, it may not actually be true. There is a distinct lack of documentary evidence, though some claim that it was destroyed in World War II. We may never know …


* -  author read the book / watched the doc 


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Hot Serial: Who Hot’s and Who’s Not – Serial Killer Edition

So, Ted Bundy seems to be a thing on the Internet these days. One, he’s being played by hottie Zac Efron in a new movie. There’s also a Netflix series out there about him – with the first episode called “Handsome Devil.” In fact, the idea that “Ted is hot” is something of a meme right now.

And, you know, it’s not just Ted. There are people out there who think Jeffrey Dahmer is hot as well … and Andrew Cunanan, and Robert Chambers (the Preppy Killer), and the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, and many more.

Of course, it probably all has something to do with just plain, simple, old-fashioned sociopathy. I mean, these guys are supposed to be charmers, right? Now, if they’re going to be a bit successful, it certainly wouldn’t hurt if they weren’t also good looking.

So, that’s part of the appeal. But, I mean, these guys have tortured and killed dozens of people. What’s could possibly being going on here? 

Well, you know, serial killers are kind of edgy and transgressive. I mean, people love their forbidden fruit – as long as that fruit is safely out of reach, of course. I guess you could say, too, that, when it come to bad boys, these guys have to be the ultimate.

Now, I’m sure you’re familiar with the women who send fan mail and even love letters to these dudes (and sometimes even marry them). But did you know, there’s actually a medical term for that? It’s called hybristophilia, and is also known as Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome.

Alright, as an old true crime fan, I can play with it. So, here we go …


#12  Paul Bernardo  *

This guy probably wouldn’t have it made onto this list if it weren’t for his hot wife, Karla Homolka:

And, yes, they were partners in crime. Though he was quite capable of raping and killing on his own, he would later be helped by the lovely Karla, who would lure and drug young girls so that Bernardo could have his way with them (including Homolka’s own sister, Tammy). 

Known as the Ken and Barbie killers, the Canadian couple were responsible for 4 deaths. Bernardo’s still in prison, though Homolka got out in 2013.

Have they gotten their own glamorous Hollywood treatment? Why of course:

 

The movie (the 2nd one) is from Netflix, is called Karla, and features Laura Prepon (from That 70s Show) and Misha Collins.


#11  Kenneth Bianchi

You know, it’s kind of a 1970s, Italian guy, fireman/cop kind of look. He actually reminds me a lot of a hot baseball player from that era, Keith Hernandez:

  
Bianchi was part of another dynaminc duo – this time with a cousin, one Angelo Buono. The two would become known as the Hillside Stranglers. Operating out of the LA area, they would rape, torture, and murder 10 women in the late 70s. Their typical MO was to use fake badges and pretend they were cops. Their nickname came from where they dumped the bodies.

Bianchi is currently residing in Washington State Prison, in Walla Walla (he had committed 2 crimes in that state after fleeing California). Buono was doing the same down in California before succumbing to a heart attack in 2002.

The two have been immortalized twice, with pix coming out in 1989 and 2004. In those, Bianchi was played by, respectively, hotties Billy Zane and C. Thomas Howell.

 

#10  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

  
I think this guy plays for The Strokes, right? You know, the tousled look, kinda foreign, sketchy beard, looks like he’s been up all night …? Heck, he could be Fab Morretti’s younger brother:

Of course, Dzhokhar’s real-life older brother was actually evil mastermind Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Together, the pair would plan and carry out the Boston Marathon bombing, killing 3 and injuring 280. Born in Khyrgyzstan, the two Muslims had been radicalized on the Internet. Actually, it was probably more Tamerlan, who seems to have been something of a Svengali figure, with lots of power over the more hapless Dzhokhar.

The bombing would get Dzhokhar on the proverbial “cover of the Rolling Stone” … who would then be roundly criticized for glamorizing the act. 

 
Tameraln would die in a shootout after the bombing, but Dzhokhar would survive. He’s currently awaiting a death sentence.

Of course there was a movie.  Dzhokhar would be played by former child star Alex Wolff, with his brother being played by super hottie Themo Melikidze:

#9 Jeffrey Dahmer  *

 

So, this is the dude with the heads in his refrigerator? How could “hot” ever be used in the same sentence? That said, the Internet does give me plenty of hits like these when I type in “jeffrey dahmer hot”:

• 9 Hot Serial Killers Who We Would Want To Slice Us Open
• Oh my GOD, Jeffrey Dahmer's soooooo hot | Jeffrey dahmer | Pinterest ...
• Jeffrey Dahmer Is My Sex Bomb
• 10 of the Most Charming Serial Killers Ever

I don’t wanna go into the details (necrophilia, cannibalism …), but it was all rather gross. Overall, Dahmer was responsible for the rape, death, and dismemberment of 17 young men, over a period of 12 years, mostly in Milwaukee.

Though sentenced to life imprisonment, he would be beaten to death by another inmate after only 2 years in prison, at the age of 34.

And did Hollywood come calling? You betcha! In fact, I could find no fewer than 4 non-documentary Dahmer flix – The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer (1993), Dahmer (2002), Raising Jeffrey Dahmer (2003), and My Friend Dahmer (2017). Here are some of the hotties who have taken on this particularly meaty role (in order, Carl Crew, Jeremy Renner, and Ross Lynch):

 

#8  Peter Sutcliffe  *

  
And here’s one from across the pond. You may actually know Peter Sutcliffe better by his moniker of the “Yorkshire Ripper.” Like his namesake, Sutcliffe preyed on prostitutes and particularly enjoyed slicing them open. He was also a bit like the Beatles’ Maxwell Edison, typically first rendering his victims senseless with a hammer.

Overall, Sutcliffe committed 13 murders, and kept England on edge for most of the ‘70s. His case may be most famous, however, for the sheer ineptitude of the police, who interviewed Sutcliffe no less than 9 times before finally figuring out he might actually be the guy.
Imprisoned in 1981, he’s been there ever since, and is now 72 years old.

Sutcliffe was played by Craig Cheetham in a British TV mini-series. The resemblance is a little scary:

#7  Charles Manson  *

Soulful puppy eyes!  Who could resist?

Well, he certainly had a way with the ladies, didn’t he?  In fact, he never killed anyone himself, but got his “girls” to do it for him. You know, Squeaky, Sadie, Gypsy …

 

In order, that’s the girls who went to trial, those who didn’t, and the 27-year-old who wanted to marry him in prison.

I probably don’t need to say any more about this guy. I’ll bet, though, that you didn’t know that some poor actor has tried to portray him in no less than 3 movies. Though none of them were famous, a couple were somewhat hot:

#6  Ted Bundy  *

Here’s our man. The twinkle in the eye, the fashionable scruff, the curls, the strong chin, that soulful look … It’s the complete sociopath, and everyone’s favorite serial killer – ladies and gentlemen, may I present Mr. Ted Bundy!

The story’s probably pretty familiar by now. The ex law student, the political ambitions, the friendship with true crime author Ann Rule, the multiple prison escapes, the sorority house rampage, the 30 murders in 7 states …

Was he hot? Well, as one journalist wrote, “Ted lured females the way a lifeless silk flower can dupe a honey bee.” And no less a source than The New York Times called him “Kennedyesque.”

Has he been shamelessly glamorized by Hollywood? Well, would 6 movies and being portrayed by Mark Harmon, Corin Nemec, and Zac Efron count?

  
#5  Charles Schmid  *

And here we have the suave and deboniar host of a talk or news show at, say … oh, I don’t know, Unavision?

Charles Schmid is not as famous as some of the other killers here. Known as the “Pied Piper of Tucson,” he only racked up 3 kills, back in the ‘60s. The moniker came from his charming personality, especially around teenaged girls. 

Schmid was, however, quite the cause celebre at the time. He was written up in LIFE and Playboy, and was the basis of a short story by Joyce Carol Oates. There are a number of movies “based on the story,” but none where Schmid is actually named. 

Like Dahmer, Schmid would be killed in prison by some of his inmate friends.


#4  Paul John Knowles  *

Too bad it wasn’t John Paul – or even better, Jean-Paul. I mean, can’t you see this guy sitting at a café on the Left Bank, maybe with Godard or Belmondo?

Turns out Paul John Knowles was just a low-life petty thief who went on a killing spree after escaping from prison on his latest charge. He would criss-cross the country through 1974, killing 20 to 30 pretty random people in a number of pretty random ways. 

He was called the “Casanova Killer,” really just for his good looks. A British journalist who unknowingly slept with him termed him a “dreamboat” and a “cross between Robert Redford and Ryan O'Neal.”

Knowles would be captured at the end of a wild manhunt through the Florida woods by an irate farmer with a shotgun. He would then die at the hands of some Georgia police after a struggle in a car they were using to transport him. 

I’m kind of shocked he’s never been the subject of a movie – made for TV or otherwise.


#3  Andrew Cunanan  *

   
Something of a gay gigolo, Andrew Cunanan lived largely off the largesse of one wealthy older boyfriend after another. A pathological liar with delusions of grandeur, he would also become heavily involved in drugs – using and dealing.

While visiting a friend in Minnesota, Cunanan somehow snapped, beginning a new career as a spree killer. He murdered the friend, then 4 more – all in less than 3 months and all across the country. The last one would, of course, be the biggie – fashion designer Gianni Versace.

After Versace’s murder, Cunanan would somehow manage to avoid one of the biggest manhunts in history for over a week, never leaving the area and finding himself a hideout in some rich guy’s vacant houseboat. When police did finally approach him, he made sure the last victim would be himself. 

With the handsome perp and famous victim, it’s not too surprising that we ended up with no less than 3 flicks for this one. Unfortunately, none of the actors who portrayed Cunanan were very well known or particularly hot.


#2  Richard Ramirez  *

Man, would you just look at the those cheekbones. Richard Ramirez’s slightly androgenous appearance makes him look like the lead singer for some rock band from the ‘70s or ‘80s. In fact, just add some sunglasses, and the guy could be a Ramone:

Ramirez also has a nickname that’s pretty rock-and-roll as well – the “Night Stalker” (from his MO of noctural home invasions). He was active in California for about a year during the mid ‘80s and killed at least 14 people. 

An avowed Satanist, Ramirez would begin his murder trial by shouting out, “Hail Satan!” Given 5 sentences of death, he would beat the hangman by dying of lymphoma, aggravated by hep C, at age 53.

Ramirez was very popular with the prison groupies. In fact, he would actually marry one of his admirers while in prison.

The Night Stalker would inspire 3 movies, all of which make great use of that killer nickname. Lou Diamond Phillips was the only big name in any of them, though this guy – one Bret Roberts – was definitely a looker:
  

#1  Tiago Henrique Gomes da Rocha

 

Another Latino hottie, Tiago Rocha was actually from Brazil. Of his 39 victims, he had some definite categories, as well as a different a MO for each one:

• Gay men – choking
• Homeless men – shooting
• Prostitutes – stabbing
• Pretty young women – shooting them in the chest from a motorbike

That last bit would earn him the nickname “The Motorcycle Killer.” 

This was all fairly recent, dating back to only 2014. Maybe that – and his being from Brazil – is what’s behind the complete lack of Hollywood interest in his story. 

He also, though, seems to lack the proper personality – seeing himself as a victim and also pleading for forgiveness. I am not making up the following quotes:

• “In a way I'm a victim here, too.”
• “I was rejected a lot in the past, so I directed part of my anger towards women.”
• “My mind went blank, but I would cry later.”

The former security guard had lived with his mum.

* -  author read the book / watched the doc 

Next time, killer babes!

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