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Engendered Death

Pennsylvania Women Who Kill

Joseph W. Laythe

Engendered Death: Pennsylvania Women Who Kill is an historical and interdisciplinary study of women who kill in Pennsylvania from the 18th century to the present. It is not an examination of what motivates women to kill, although the reader may deduce that from the case studies included. Instead, it is an examination of how society perceives women who kill and how the gender-lens is applied to them throughout the legal process in the media and in the courtroom. What makes this work particularly unique is its combination of both scholarly analysis and narrative case studies. As such, it will appeal to both the scholar and the reader of true-crime non-fiction.

If we are to recognize the complex variables at play in all criminal offenses, we will need to understand that the laws of a community, its social values, its politics, economics, and even geography play a factor in what laws are enforced and against whom they are enforced. The decision to define and label certain behaviors and certain people was based on social, political, and economic considerations of each community. Thus, the commission of murder by a woman in Arizona may have a variety of factors associated with it that are not present in the case of a woman who murdered her husband in Maine. This study, in part because of the volume of cases and in part to limit the variables affecting the cases, has limited its scope of women killers to the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the ideal state to study because of its long and stable legal and political traditions, its historically diverse population, and the large number of newspapers that will help us gauge the public's view of women and women who kill. By limiting our scope to one state, we know that the legal definitions are fairly consistent for all of the women during a certain period and we can more easily identify the shifts in social values regarding women and homicide.

University Press Copublishing Division / Lehigh University Press

Pages: 212 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-1-61146-092-6 • Hardback • December 2011 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-61146-093-3 • eBook • December 2011 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Criminology, Social Science / Sociology / Marriage & Family, Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory, Social Science / Women's Studies, Social Science / Gender Studies, Social Science / Regional Studies, Social Science / Violence in Society, True Crime / Murder / General, True Crime / Murder / Serial Killers

Engendered Death

Pennsylvania Women Who Kill

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Engendered Death: Pennsylvania Women Who Kill is an historical and interdisciplinary study of women who kill in Pennsylvania from the 18th century to the present. It is not an examination of what motivates women to kill, although the reader may deduce that from the case studies included. Instead, it is an examination of how society perceives women who kill and how the gender-lens is applied to them throughout the legal process in the media and in the courtroom. What makes this work particularly unique is its combination of both scholarly analysis and narrative case studies. As such, it will appeal to both the scholar and the reader of true-crime non-fiction.

If we are to recognize the complex variables at play in all criminal offenses, we will need to understand that the laws of a community, its social values, its politics, economics, and even geography play a factor in what laws are enforced and against whom they are enforced. The decision to define and label certain behaviors and certain people was based on social, political, and economic considerations of each community. Thus, the commission of murder by a woman in Arizona may have a variety of factors associated with it that are not present in the case of a woman who murdered her husband in Maine. This study, in part because of the volume of cases and in part to limit the variables affecting the cases, has limited its scope of women killers to the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the ideal state to study because of its long and stable legal and political traditions, its historically diverse population, and the large number of newspapers that will help us gauge the public's view of women and women who kill. By limiting our scope to one state, we know that the legal definitions are fairly consistent for all of the women during a certain period and we can more easily identify the shifts in social values regarding women and homicide.

Details

University Press Copublishing Division / Lehigh University Press

Pages: 212 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-1-61146-092-6 • Hardback • December 2011 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-61146-093-3 • eBook • December 2011 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Criminology, Social Science / Sociology / Marriage & Family, Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory, Social Science / Women's Studies, Social Science / Gender Studies, Social Science / Regional Studies, Social Science / Violence in Society, True Crime / Murder / General, True Crime / Murder / Serial Killers

Author

Joseph W. Laythe currently teaches courses on the American West, American violence, and American urban development at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. His other works include Crime and Punishment in Oregon, 1875-1915: A Study of Four Communities (2008).

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 2. THE WICKED STEPMOTHER? THE EDNA MUMBULO CASE
Edna’s Background
The Fire
The Hunt
The Trial
Conclusion

CHAPTER 3. GENDER ROLES IN AMERICAN SOCIETY
Historic Fabrications of Femininity
Engendered Violence: Women, Violence, and the
American Way of Life
Changing Theories
Biological Explanation
Situational Explanation
Combined Forces
The Statistical Profile

CHAPTER 4. MARITAL TERROR: HOMICIDE, WOMEN, AND
THE MEN THEY LOVED
No Escape: The Tragic Life and Death of Stella Kuzmicki
A Troubled Motherhood
The Escape
Their End
Aftermath
The Devils and the Diary: Mrs. Sample and Murder
Background
The Diary
The Murder and the Trial
Aftermath
CHAPTER 5. THE DARKER SIDE OF MOTHERHOOD
No Chance in Heaven: The Marie Noe Case
Background
Bassinet to Burial
Investigation, Fame, and SIDS
The Unraveling
“The Clock is Dismantled”: Tanya Dacri
Background
The Crime
The Trial
CHAPTER 6. THE DEMOTED DEPUTY HUSBAND
Iron Irene: The Life, Crimes, and Electrocution of a Mother
Background
The Butler Robbery and the Roadblock Killing
A Cross-Country Flight
The Trial of Iron Irene Schroeder
“It’ll All Come Out in the Wash’: The Millie Thomas Case
Background
The Murder
The Investigation and Trial
Conclusion
The Janice Graham Case
Background
The Murders
The Trials

CHAPTER 7. WITCHCRAFT AND WOMEN WHO KILL
Poisoned Kitchens
Arsenic and Homeland Traditions: Chalfa-Allas Case
Background
The Crime
The Trial
Witches, Poison, and Italian Women: The Philadelphia
Poison Ring of the 1930s
Arsenic and Death
Italian Philadelphia
The Black Widows of Philadelphia
The Investigation and Trial
CHAPTER 8. SERVICES NOT RENDERED: WOMEN WHO KILL
AND THE AGENCIES THAT FAILED THEM
Social Services History: A Cracked Community
Child Protective Services
Inseparable Companions: The Matricide Case
of Agnes West, 1940
212 Cuts and Bruises and One Big Black Eye:
The Lisa Iarussi Case
Brittany and Lisa
The Murder and Trial
The Black Eye of OCY
Child Welfare Breakdowns
Three Times a Lady: Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong
Background
Murder One
Murder Two
Murder Three

CHAPTER 9. RACE, HOMICIDE, AND WOMEN WHO KILL
Severed City, Severed Soul: Corinne Sykes Case
Racist Philadelphia, 1940s
Corinne and the Crime
Raymond Pace Alexander and the Trial of
Corinne Sykes
CHAPTER 10. CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Engendered Death

Pennsylvania Women Who Kill

Joseph W. Laythe

Engendered Death

Pennsylvania Women Who Kill

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