The powerful 48-year-old woman would then carry the body to the basement, where she most often dissected it, bundled the remains, and then buried them in the hog pen. This letter was later found at the Helgelien farm. The 100-Year Mystery Of "Lady Bluebeard". In the span of two days, investigators found a total of 11 burlap sacks, which contained arms hacked from the shoulders down [and] masses of human bone wrapped in loose flesh that dripped like jelly.. But no one at the time chalked it up to anything but a tragic coincidence. I fear one of these nights he will burn my house to the ground.. After murdering her two husbands, the Norwegian-American woman posted ads in the paper looking for men to invest in her farm. Strangely, tragedy seemed to return to Belle Gunness doorstep yet again. On November 5, 2007, with the permission of descendants of Belles sister, the headless body was exhumed from the grave by a team of forensic anthropologists and graduate students from the University of Indianapolis to learn her true identity. Brynhild P. Strseth was born in Norway in 1859 to a stone-mason and his wife. Authorities couldnt identify all the bodies. You wish to know where your brother keeps himself, Gunness wrote to Asle. Not long afterward, their home and the store mysteriously burned down. Thomas Lindboe had left Chicago and had gone to work as a hired man for Gunness three years earlier. On the morning of April 27, 1908, the farmhand on a lonely property outside La Porte, Indiana, woke to the smell of smoke. [citation needed] In 2008, DNA tests were performed on the headless corpse in an attempt to compare the DNA in the corpse against a sample from a letter Gunness had sent to one of her victims, but due to its age the sample was not able to be properly tested. Best Known For: Serial killer Belle Gunness is reported to have murdered more than 40 people between 1884 and 1908 before disappearing without a trace. The essential fact, however, was that the murderess was not alive as a fugitive. I know that you are now to come to me and be my own. We will be all alone with each other. Another report in 1931 suggested that she may have been a woman known as Esther Carlson, who was arrested in Los Angeles, California, for poisoning August Lindstrom, a Norwegian-American man, on February 9, 1931, for his money. The district coroner reviewed the case, unequivocally announced that he had been murdered, and convened a coroners jury to look into the matter. Two people who had known Gunness claimed to recognize her from photographs in her possession, but the identification was never proved. He searched the property on his own and shouted to the men to start digging in the rubbish hole in Belles hog pen. On-site was County Sheriff Albert Smutzer, who had heard about Lampheres alleged threats. She killed most of her suitors Belle Gunness, the twice-widowed Norwegian American who placed the ad, was a murderer for profit. Belle Gunness, birth name Brynhild Paulsdatter Strset, was born in Selbu, Sr-Trndelag, Norway, on November 11, 1859. Stephanie Brooks. According to Harold Schechter, a true-crime author who wrote Hells Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men, Gunness knew exactly how to lure her victims onto her farm. In 1884 Belle Gunness married Mads Albert Sorenson. We fixed him for keeps.. Most famous serial killers are men, but Belle was a woman. Norwegian born Belle Gunness immigrated to the U.S. in 1881. Lamphere also cleared up the mysterious question of the headless female corpse found in the smoking ruins of Gunness home. She changed her name to Belle in 1881 when she came to the United States. [9] In November 1908, Lamphere was convicted of arson in connection with the fire at Gunness' house. In June 1908, his widow was able to identify his remains from La Portes Paupers cemetery by the contour of his skull and three missing teeth. Hoping to find a clue related to his brothers disappearance, Helgelien and the farmhand began to dig up a pile of soft dirt in the hog pen. Belle Gunness: How Many Victims Did The Serial Killer Actually Have. She also chloroformed her children, smothered them to death, and carried them to the basement. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth on November 11, 1859 in Selbu, Norway. Frank Riedinger, a farmer of Waukesha, Wisconsin, came to Indiana in 1907 to marry and never returned. Though her husbands family demanded an inquiry, claiming Belle had poisoned her husband to collect on the insurance, no charges were filed. Well this is just what I would like to know but it almost seems impossible for me to give a definite answer.. She dumped the corpse into a hog-scalding vat at other times and then covered the remains with quicklime. Meanwhile, a man whose brother had been in contact with Gunness believed he'd been murdered and had begun asking questions. An unnamed man from Montana told people at a resort he was going to sell Gunness his horse and buggy, which were found with several other horses and buggies at the farm. Older children (Caroline and Axel) die in infancy, and also from abdominal pain. Gunness and Sorenson opened a candy store, but it soon burned down. [citation needed][14] However, a separate newspaper published a story with speculation regarding the second Lamphere confession. Despite the arrest, Lamphere returned again and again to see her, but she drove him away. [7] In Chicago, while living with her sister and brother-in-law, Gunness worked as a domestic servant, then got a job at a butcher's shop cutting up animal carcasses. Born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storseth on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway, Brynhild was the youngest daughter of eight children born of stonemason, Paul Pedersen Strseth, and Berit Olsdatter. The story of Indiana's first documented serial killer, Belle Gunness. But, for one reason or another, Gunness decided to emigrate from Selbu to Chicago in 1881. Source: The Indianapolis News, 8 May 1908. Three years later she would find her first victim, a man named Mads Sorenson. . Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway. One man who helped her move in later claimed that he saw her lift a 300-pound piano all by herself. A watch corresponding to one belonging to Gurholdt was found with a body. In May 1908, after fire destroyed a LaPorte farmhouse, police made a gruesome discovery. At this time, Belle started to have problems with her farmhand, Ray Lamphere. Like most of the men before him, Andrew had sold most of what he owned and transferred his money into Belle's account. Lords, 52, found her early claim-to-farm in the adult film. [30] It was published in the UK with the title Triflers need not apply [31]. Sheriff Smutzer then took a dozen men back to the farm and began to dig, and on May 3, 1908, the diggers unearthed the body of Jennie Olson, who had vanished in December 1906. These were lonely Norwegian bachelors, many completely cut off from their families. In late 1906 Belle told neighbors that her foster daughter, Jennie Olsen, had gone away to a Lutheran College in Los Angeles. On July 30, 1900,[10] both policies were active at the same time, as one would expire that day and the other would enter into force. However, she never went to the police to tell them about Lampheres allegedly life-threatening statements. What followed were a series of insurance frauds and crimes, escalating in size and danger. An unknown man and woman are alleged to have disappeared in September 1906, the same night Jennie Olson went missing. Lamphere was to wait for her at a designated place on the road after the fire was set. She was one of America's first woman serial killers convicted and put on death row. I can tell from your letters that you are the man I want. She immigrated to the United States, where she lured her victims to her remote farm in Indiana. Apparently, he had fallen victim to a sausage grinder that fell on his head from a wobbly shelf. 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. There, she set about starting her new life. Little is known about her early life. [1] Edgar Award Finalist: The true story of the female Norwegian immigrant who led a secret life as a serial killer in the early twentieth-century Midwest. 1908) left her native Norway in 1881, at the age of 21, to travel to Chicago. The April 28, 1908, fire at Gunness' farm seems to have shut the book on the Norwegian immigrant's murder spree, inasmuch as she was never heard from again and was, initially at least, presumed dead. Or perhaps she simply wanted to be free to kill again. Mrs. She was also known as Hell's Belle, the . Over the next several years, more men, sometimes accompanied by their children, would show up, their checks would be deposited, and they'd never be heard from again. Somehow, she convinced local authorities to hold a sanity hearing, but Lamphere was pronounced sane and released. Belle Gunness. 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) To lure her last victim, Gunness wrote: My heart beats in wild rapture for you, My Andrew, I love you. [1] According to Lamphere, this impending visit motivated Gunness to destroy her house, fake her own death, and flee. What was most likely the reason for these crimes? This is what is known, and what is suspected, about the number of victims serial killer Belle Gunness had. Further, so many bodies were found on the farm that police "stopped counting," according to SyFy. However, there was a rather glaring problem with their conclusion: the body of the adult was headless not something that generally happens in a fire. He was jealous of the many men who arrived at court his employer and had endured most of these attentive strangers up to this time. [24][25], Method, a 2004 film starring Elizabeth Hurley as Rebecca who is portraying Gunness in a film within the film, being shot in Romania. Maybe Belle Gunness needed money. Not long after Gunness married Mads Albert Sorenson in 1884, their store and home mysteriously burned down. In addition to three . If you're curious to learn more about her, read on to discover the . In 1906, Belle Gunness connected with her final victim. Initially, authorities found the remains of an adult woman and three children and quickly concluded that they belonged to the homeowner, a Norwegian immigrant known as Belle Gunness and her three foster children. She changed her name to Bella Petersen and worked for a time as a servant girl before getting . John Moe was the first of many disappeared men; he left his farm in Minnesota and brought one thousand dollars with him as requested by Gunness. Belle had anywhere from 13 to 42 victims. [7], Belle married Peter Gunness on April 1, 1902. Christie Hilkven of Dovre, Wisconsin, sold his farm and came to La Porte in 1906. She changed her name to Belle Petersen and moved in with her sister Nellie and her husband, who had immigrated a few years before Belle did. . General Information Sex Female Race White Number of victims 16 further plus 12 possible equals 28 Neighbors described the 200-pound Gunness as a rugged woman who was also incredibly strong. She is responsible for so many deaths that detectives have ceased counting the number of bodies discovered on her premises. True-crime author Harold Schechter first ran across the name Belle Gunness more than 10 years ago while researching a different book, but he could never get out of his mind the lurid details of her crimespoisoning and chopping up a succession of victimsbefore possibly disappearing. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,.css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}contact us! (Eerily, the symptoms of this disease were quite similar to poisoning.). The Truth about Belle Gunness (MysteriousPress.com/Open Road), This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 01:28. [6] When Lamphere was arrested, he was wearing John Moe's overcoat and Henry Gurholt's watch.[7]. There, Gunness met her first known victim: her husband, Mads Ditlev Anton Sorenson, whom she married in 1884. The following week, while Peter was out of the house, his infant daughter died of unknown causes in Belle's care. Within a week, he had disappeared. Gunness, a butcher by profession, and Belle were married in LaPorte on April 1, 1902. Meanwhile, neighbors noted that Gunness had begun to spend an unusual amount of time at her hog pen at night. Gunness, according to Lamphere, had drugged the woman, then bashed in her head. Lamphere ended up in prison because of his connection to Gunness and the fire on her farm. They then found the small bodies of two unidentified children. 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. Budsbergs sons had no idea their father had gone off to visit Gunness. Lamphere later confessed that Gunness had placed advertisements seeking male companionship, only to murder and rob the men who responded and subsequently visited her on the farm. Little is known about her early life. Belle Gunness had asked him to level dozens of soft depressions in the ground, which supposedly covered trash. Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of fugitives from justice who disappeared, List of serial killers in the United States, List of serial killers by number of victims, "Kirkebker: SAT, Ministerialprotokoller, klokkerbker og fdselsregistre - Sr-Trndelag, 695/L1147: Ministerialbok nr. One man, George Anderson, managed to escape with his life when he realized Gunness had murder on her mind. A year later, Peters brother, Gust, took Peters older daughter, Swanhild, to Wisconsin. These are famous words by the convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos who was put to death by lethal injection on October 9, 2002. Had Belle Gunness committed . Belle Gunness. While there, she was attacked by a man who kicked her in the abdomen, causing her to miscarry. Her actual fate is unconfirmed. A well-built woman with six feet height and over 90 90 kg, Belle immigrated to the US in 1881. Her parents had eight children; she was the youngest. Then, on July 30, 1900, tragedy struck again. [9] The couple owned a candy store which later burned to the ground. 2. On November 26, 1908, he was sentenced to two to 21 years in the State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana. She then went to work as a servant on a wealthy farm for the next several years. 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.'. The will was completed, leaving her estate to her children. Suspicious, Asle started asking questions around town and then came the fire. As she was preparing to move from Chicago to LaPorte, she became re-acquainted with a recent widower named Peter Gunness, also from Norway. The investigators began to sift through the debris, and a piece of bridgework was found; the dentist identified it as work done for Gunness. At the age of 22, she immigrated to Chicago, Illinois in 1881.She murdered over 40 people including two of her husbands and about 4 of her children. What is certain is that she murdered most of her boyfriends and her two daughters, Myrtle and Lucy. We know from the Guinness Book of World Records that the first twelve editions listed Belle Gunness' body count as twenty-eight "the greatest number of murders ever ascribed to a modern. Among the known facts about Belle Gunness is that she was an imposing woman, very tall and 250 pounds and that only one child - her second husband's daughter Swanhild - survived her clutches. The number murdered was estimated to be as many as 40. Though her husband's family demanded an inquiry, no charges were filed. How many are known? She got away without a trace and it's still a mystery as to where she went today. So far, Belle Gunness had been able to largely escape detection or suspicion. Although no one ever saw Moe again, a carpenter who did occasional work for Gunness observed that Moe's trunk remained in her house, along with more than a dozen others. The family of one of Belle's victims gave Nawrocki and his team an envelope sent from the LaPorte . Concurrently, Gunness had begun to develop problems with a farmhand named Ray Lamphere. Belle Gunness. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway. La Porte County Historical Society MuseumInvestigators search for more bodies on Belle Gunnesss farm after the initial discoveries in 1908. In the end, Ray Lamphere was charged with arson but not murder. Workers sifting through the debris discovered four bodies in the basement later in the day. [citation needed][17][18] The Bechly narrative, entitled "Lanphere's Confession" [sic], contains this summary from Bechly: In the confession, Lanphere [sic] said that he had killed Mrs. Gunness and children with an ax, sprinkled the bodies with kerosene and set fire to them and the house. Ray was deeply in love with Gunness and performed any chore for her, no matter how gruesome. Curiously, the corpse itself seemed to be much too small to be hers. When drinking, Lamphere often boasted of sleeping with his employer, which came as a surprise to those who only saw Belle as the burly woman who liked to dress in mens overalls and do her own hog butchering. American newspapers labeled Belle Gunness the Black Widow, Hells Belle, the Indiana Ogress, and the Mistress of the Castle of Death.. Standing six feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds, she was a physically strong woman. Belle Gunness may or may not be one of America's most prolific serial killers. 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. Gunness deflected. [6] When she was processed by immigration at Castle Garden, she changed her first name to Belle, then travelled to Chicago to join her sister, Nellie, who had immigrated several years earlier. When authorities dug around the hog pens and other places on the farm, they found the mutilated remains of several more men and children. John Moe of Elbow Lake, Minnesota. He raced to town to get help, but by the time it arrived, the house was already in smoking ruins. There, Gunness met her first known victim her husband, Mads Ditlev Anton Sorenson, whom she married in 1884. This Norwegian-American had insured her first husband and two of her children before. Gunness caught Bruce's attention as a young girl who grew up just north of Selbu. She was never tracked down and her death has never been confirmed. 3) What groups of people were Gunness' victims? Story by Thomas Duke, 1910 . Belles husbands death netted her another $3,000 (about $81,000 today). 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