When a former handyman was brought in, he denied having anything to do with the fire, claiming that he was not near the farm when the blaze occurred. One of Robinson's surviving victims led to his eventual arrest. Then, Sorensen died, not at all suspiciously on the day that one life insurance policy was set to expire and another had just come into effect. When authorities dug around the hog pens and other places on the farm, they found the mutilated remains of several more men and children. What is certain is that she murdered most of her boyfriends and her two daughters, Myrtle and Lucy. And some estimate that she may have killed as many as 40 victims. She was also known as Hell's Belle, the . She was never tracked down and her death has never been confirmed. To outsiders, Belle Gunness might have looked like a lonely widow who lived in the American Midwest during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Several middle-aged men of means responded to Gunness ads, and within no time, Belle was often seen going for carriage rides with strangers on Sunday afternoons. As days progressed and the gruesome work continued, one body after another was discovered in Gunness hog pen. How did Belle Gunness Kill Her Victims? She adopted an American name and found work as a servant. We shall be so happy when you once get here, Gunness purred in one letter. I was not satisfied, Helgelien recalled, and I went back to the cellar and asked [one of Gunness farmhands] whether he knew of any hole or dirt having been dug up there about the place in spring.. Abraham Phillips, a railwayman of Burlington. He had brought more than $1,000 with him to pay off her mortgage, or so he told neighbors, to whom Gunness introduced him as her cousin. Eerily, in 1931, a woman named Esther Carlson was arrested in Los Angeles for poisoning a Norwegian-American man and attempting to steal his money. On the morning of April 27, 1908, the farmhand on a lonely property outside La Porte, Indiana, woke to the smell of smoke. Soon enough, the shop burned down, and the couple collected a nice insurance payment. The farmhouse had belonged to Belle Gunness, at the time simply believed to be a widowed Norwegian immigrant but now infamous for being one of the most prolific female serial killers in the United States. She contended that he posed a threat to her family and had Lamphere arrested for trespassing. Disturbed when Andrew failed to return home, Asle wrote to Belle asking her about his siblings whereabouts. Sure, I worked for Mrs. Gunness for a time, but I didnt see her kill anybody, and I didnt know she had killed anybody., But on his deathbed, Lamphere changed his tune. Early clues pointing to an accomplice assisting Belle in her murderous schemes first surfaced when one Julius G. Truelson, Jr., the son of an upstate New York piano manufacturer, told Ralph N. Smith, LaPorte prosecuting attorney from the 2nd Judicial District, that he had arranged for Belle to kill his new bride. He confided to a neighboring farmer on one occasion: Helgelien wont bother me no more. Years after Gunness supposed demise, rumors surfaced that she may have faked her own death to escape potential capture. The family of one of Belle's victims gave Nawrocki and his team an envelope sent from the LaPorte . Chares Neiburg, a 28-year-old Scandinavian immigrant living in Philadelphia, told friends that he would visit Gunness in June 1906 and never returned he had been working for a saloon keeper and took $500 with him. She was raised on a small farm in Innbygda, Norway, and grew up to be a physically very strong woman, standing 5 9 tall and weighing over 200 pounds. The night he visited Belle's farm was the last he would have. ", "Female Indiana serial killer, the 'comely' Belle Gunness, loved her suitors to death", "Day Trip: Step into Historic LaPorte, Indiana; Visit 19th Century Courthouse, Museum, Miniature Horse Farm", "Potempa: Murderess Belle Gunness film starting production in LaPorte", "a book review by C. C. Harrison: In the Garden of Spite: A Novel of the Black Widow of La Porte", https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/317016/triflers-need-not-apply-by-bruce-camilla/9781405945455, Belle Gunness, the Lady Bluebeard: Narrative Use of a Deviant Woman, Only Belle: Bare Belle - En seriemorder fra Selbu, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belle_Gunness&oldid=1141635952, Articles lacking reliable references from July 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2019, Articles with incomplete citations from July 2019, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from July 2019, Pages using infobox criminal with motive parameter, Articles needing additional references from July 2019, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Lillian de la Torre (1955). Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway. DESCRIPTION: "Belle Gunness was a lady fair In Indiana State, She weighed about 300 pounds, And that is quite some weight." "Her favorite occupation Was a-butchering of men." "Now some say Belle killed only ten, And some say 42." At last she vanishes with the cash AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt-AmericanMurderBallads) Hells Belle Gunness was Americas most degenerate female serial killer in history, who likely killed both her husbands and all of her children. She immigrated to the United States, where she lured her victims to her remote farm in Indiana. In what may be a rather cruel bit of irony, some of her letters invited the men to "come prepared to stay forever," according to SyFy. [7], Peter died eight months later due to a skull injury. Helgelien, like other victims before him, decided to take a chance on love. [26], In 2017, true crime podcast My Favorite Murder performed and later released a live episode detailing Gunness' crimes. When the smoke cleared, authorities were left with so many bodies that they "stopped counting," according to Mental Floss. By the time her crimes were discovered at her burnt-out pig farm in 1908, her tally of victims had risen to at least 12, and possibly as high as 40. These filled-in holes, Gunness had told Maxson, contained rubbish. . Curiously, the corpse itself seemed to be much too small to be hers. The couple claimed the insurance money for both. One read: Personal comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in La Porte County, Indiana, desires to make the acquaintance of a gentleman equally well provided, with view of joining fortunes. To their horror, they ended up finding Andrew Helgeliens head, hands, and feet, stuffed into an oozing gunny sack. Then, in 1881, following her sisters example, who had emigrated to America earlier, Brynhild moved to the United States, where she assumed a more American-style name. The Truth about Belle Gunness (MysteriousPress.com/Open Road), This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 01:28. Standing six feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds, she was a physically strong woman. Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2022. [6], After the fire at the Gunness homestead led to the discovery of bodies believed to be Gunness and her children, La Porte police authorities were contacted by Asle Helgelien, who had found correspondence between his brother, Andrew Helgelien, and Gunness; the letters included petitions for him to relocate to La Porte, to bring money, and to keep the move a secret. When they finally discovered his destination, they wrote to her, and she promptly responded, saying she had never seen their father. Belle Gunness, born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storseth, was not the typical Norwegian immigrant who came to the United States. She would spike their coffee, bash their heads in, cut up their bodies, and put them in sacks, he explained. Concurrently, Gunness had begun to develop problems with a farmhand named Ray Lamphere. However, she never went to the police to tell them about Lampheres allegedly life-threatening statements. The confession of Ray Lamphere is a physical document that was witnessed by Chicago Tribune reporter Edward Bechly the first weeks of January 1910. This letter was later found at the Helgelien farm. But as was the case with the candy store, Gunness and Sorenson were able to pocket the insurance money. [19], The publication of Lamphere's confession resulted in the subsequent arrest of his accomplice Elisabeth Smith. Just one week after the ceremony, Peters infant daughter died of uncertain causes while alone in the house with Belle. However the fourth, believed to be Gunness, was inexplicably missing its skull. But did Lamphere actually cause the fire? Standing six feet tall (183 cm) and weighing over 200 pounds (91 kg), she was a physically strong woman. Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset immigrated from Norway to the United States at the age of 21, according to SyFy, in search of a better life. Older children (Caroline and Axel) die in infancy, and also from abdominal pain. Also unclear is how many victims Gunness had killed. In 1881, when she was 21 years old, Belle Gunness moved to Chicago. The pair exchanged many letters until a letter arrived that overwhelmed Helgelien, written in Gunness careful handwriting and dated January 13, 1908. Standing six feet tall (183cm) and weighing over 200 pounds (91kg), she was a physically strong woman. Not long afterward, their home and the store mysteriously burned down. Further digging yielded more grisly discoveries. On June 13, 1900, Gunness and her family were counted on the United States Census in Chicago, recording her as the mother of four children, of whom only two were living: Myrtle A. and Lucy B. Apparently, he had fallen victim to a sausage grinder that fell on his head from a wobbly shelf. But Asle Helgelien didnt seem to be falling for it. Director Duncan Roy Writers Katie L. Fetting (screenplay) Duncan Roy (story) Stars Elizabeth Hurley Jeremy Sisto Oliver Tobias Belle Gunness was born as Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth in Selbu, Sr-Trndelag, Norway on November 11, 1859. Well this is just what I would like to know but it almost seems impossible for me to give a definite answer.. My mama killed my papa, Olsen allegedly told her schoolmates. Her family lived as tenants on a small farm owned by the Storseth family. Authorities eventually found the remains of over 40 victims on her property, but Belle disappeared without a trace. Although he almost left, Helgelien became convinced that he couldnt do so without looking harder for Andrew. As The New York Post noted, she's been tied to at least 11 murders, and possibly dozens more, although the exact number of her victims may likely never be known. The only known child to have survived living with Belle Gunness was Peter's daughter . Belle Gunness was born Brynild Paulsdatter Strseth on November 11, 1859 near Selbu, Norway. Lamphere was arrested and charged with murder, with his cries of innocence falling on deaf ears. He slammed the door and then, in his underwear, leaped from the second-story window, barely surviving the fire that was closing in around him. Astrological Sign: Sagittarius, Death Year: 1930, Article Title: Belle Gunness Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/belle-gunness, Publisher: A&E Television Networks, Last Updated: March 18, 2021, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. All of them told of lonesome brothers, uncles, and cousins answering Belles matrimonial ads and traveling hopefully to La Porte with their life savings stuffed in their pockets. She killed most of her suitors Hunting Humans: The Rise of Modern Multiple Murder examined the _____ _____ of serial murders. This photo dates to about 1904. In May 1908, after fire destroyed a LaPorte farmhouse, police made a gruesome discovery. Gunness, according to Lamphere, had drugged the woman, then bashed in her head. At 5'8" ft tall and over 200 lb (91 kg), she was a physically strong woman. But no one at the time chalked it up to anything but a tragic coincidence. Then, the farm became something of a tourist attraction, with thousands of gawkers turning up and in some cases, taking souvenirs, according to The New York Post. Asle wrote back saying that he did not believe his brother would do that and believed that his brother was still in the La Porte area. By 1886, she was married to a man named Mads Sorensen, had somehow wound up with an unknown number of children (although whether they were the couple's natural children or foster children remains unclear), and the family was running a failing candy shop. The first doctor to see him thought he had suffered from strychnine poisoning. The daughter of a stonemason, Gunness immigrated to the United States in 1881 in search of wealth. But the men who came to her farm would not have a life to enjoy for very long. [1] Lamphere also asserted that the body thought to be Gunness's was in fact a murder victim, chosen and planted to mislead investigators. Belle Gunness. She introduced them as cousins from Kansas, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and from Chicago She was always careful to make the children stay away from her cousins.'. And did Gunness really die in the farmhouse disaster? An unknown man and woman are alleged to have disappeared in September 1906, the same night Jennie Olson went missing. Belle Gunness probably murdered between 11 and 42 people. [7] She moved to the United States in 1881. He had with him a check for $2,900, his savings, which he had drawn from his local bank. That tale is even more frightening. [9] In November 1908, Lamphere was convicted of arson in connection with the fire at Gunness' house. She told them Gurholt had gone off with horse traders to Chicago. Belle Gunness: How Many Victims Did The Serial Killer Actually Have. [22][pageneeded] Moreover, the crime became an acknowledged part of area history: the La Porte County Historical Society Museum has a permanent "Belle Gunness" exhibit. She died of tuberculosis while awaiting trial. Gunness married her first husband shortly after moving to America, but he died under suspicious circumstances, leaving behind a sizable life insurance policy. She then made her way to Chicago, Illinois, where she again worked as a servant for a time. Brynhild P. Strseth was born in Norway in 1859 to a stone-mason and his wife. [15][16] Described as worried as to the peace of the families of the victims, Schell offered the confession to Bechly, which was later published. Meanwhile, authorities struggled to determine whether the headless corpse theyd found in the burned farmhouse belonged to Gunness. Next, Belle presented herself to a lawyer in La Porte named M.E. Neighbors described the 200-pound Gunness as a rugged woman who was also incredibly strong. YouTubeRay Lamphere, the ex-handyman of Belle Gunness. Another victim of the widow . I can tell from your letters that you are the man I want. Little is known about her early life. 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