Deadly Women

Last updated

Deadly Women
Deadly Women logo.jpg
Genre Documentary
Starring Candice DeLong (host)
Narrated byMarsha Crenshaw (mini-series)
Lynnanne Zager (TV series)
Country of originUnited Kingdom’s
Original languageNapal
No. of seasons14
No. of episodes191 + TV Movie pilot (List of episodes)
Original release
Network Discovery Channel (mini-series)
Investigation Discovery Channel (TV series)
ReleaseFebruary 8, 2005 (2005-02-08) 
September 9, 2021 (2021-09-09)

Deadly Women is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group [1] and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network. [2]

Contents

The series focuses on murders committed by women. It is hosted by former FBI criminal profiler Candice DeLong and narrated by Lynnanne Zager.

Deadly Women was first broadcast in 2005 as a three-part miniseries under the subtitles: “Obsession”, “Greed”, and “Revenge”. It was revived as a regularly scheduled series and began airing on December 24, 2008. Two major changes were made: Lynnanne Zager replaced original narrator Marsha Crenshaw, [3] and the number of cases in each episode was reduced from four to three. The episodes were also recorded and presented in a widescreen format. The series ended in 2021, after 14 seasons.

Dubbed versions are also produced. A Spanish-language version aired on Discovery en Español under the title Las Verdaderas Mujeres Asesinas (True Killer Women); an Italian language version airs on Real Time Italy under the title Donne mortali (a literal translation of the English title).

Format

Each episode has a unifying theme such as jealousy, financial gain, mental illness, or crimes committed by teenagers or the elderly. The titles of the episodes reflect the theme. The stories are told through re-enactments and interviews.

Episodes also feature contributors in relevant fields (e.g. law enforcement, the law, the media, forensic medicine and medicine). Diane Fanning, M. William Phelps, Gregg Olsen, Wensley Clarkson, Joan Renner, and Dr. Janis Amatuzio have made multiple appearances. Occasionally, family or friends of the subject or their victims appear to add context and/or perspective.

At the end of each segment, the actress playing the subject (and those playing her male and female coconspirators, if any) break the fourth wall and look directly at the camera as their fates are revealed. Beginning in the ninth season, photos of the actual subjects are also shown (usually mugshots taken following their arrests, or artist renditions of said subjects if they lived before the days of modern photography).

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally released
First releasedLast releasedNetwork
Pilot October 21, 2003 (2003-10-21) Discovery Channel
1 3February 8, 2005 (2005-02-08)February 22, 2005 (2005-02-22)
2 6December 24, 2008 (2008-12-24)April 1, 2009 (2009-04-01) Investigation Discovery
3 13September 21, 2009 (2009-09-21)February 1, 2010 (2010-02-01)
4 16August 12, 2010 (2010-08-12)December 23, 2010 (2010-12-23)
5 21July 22, 2011 (2011-07-22)January 27, 2012 (2012-01-27)
6 20August 17, 2012 (2012-08-17)January 25, 2013 (2013-01-25)
7 20July 19, 2013 (2013-07-19)November 29, 2013 (2013-11-29)
8 20August 1, 2014 (2014-08-01)December 5, 2014 (2014-12-05)
9 13August 7, 2015 (2015-08-07)November 6, 2015 (2015-11-06)
10 13August 27, 2016 (2016-08-27)November 26, 2016 (2016-11-26)
11 13September 1, 2017 (2017-09-01)November 24, 2017 (2017-11-24)
12 10September 3, 2018 (2018-09-03)November 23, 2018 (2018-11-23)
13 10August 22, 2019 (2019-08-22)October 24, 2019 (2019-10-24)
14 13June 17, 2021 (2021-06-17)September 9, 2021 (2021-09-09)

Episodes

Pilot (2003)

A 52-minute-long TV film narrated by Marsha Crenshaw served as the basic pilot to Deadly Women. It covered four cases of women throughout history who committed murders using poison.

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00"Poisonous Women"Chris ThorburnUnknownOctober 21, 2003

Between 1927 and 1954, Nannie Doss fatally poisoned four of her husbands, two of her kids, her mother, one of her mothers-in-law, and two of her grandsons. She received the nickname "The Giggling Granny" because she seemed to giggle when she confessed to the murders. Avoiding the death penalty because of her gender, she was sentenced to life in prison on May 17, 1955, and remained in prison until she died 10 years later, in 1965.

In the United Kingdom during the early 1870s, Mary Ann Cotton murdered 21 people by poison, including three of her husbands, her mother, a lover, a friend, and 12 children, 11 of whom were her own. She was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on March 24, 1873.

In 1996, at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northampton, Massachusetts, nurse Kristen Gilbert injected poison into six of her patients, killing four of them. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole on March 27, 2001, and served her sentence at Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.

In Australia, Annmarie Hughes attempted to murder her husband using poison she made from her potted plant. Remorseful, she turned herself into the police but was eventually acquitted because her husband did not die.

Season 1 (2005)

Each of the three original episodes covered cases of various groups of women who were united by the episode's central theme. These three episodes were narrated by Marsha Crenshaw.

  1. The case inspired the song "I Don't Like Mondays" by Irish punk rock group The Boomtown Rats.
  2. The Canadian Juvenile Law prohibits the use of a juvenile offender's real name in print. Subsequent articles, including some linked here, do reveal their full names. Each of the juvenile perpetrators in this story received the maximum sentences allowed under Canadian Law: 10 years.

See also

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References

  1. "Beyond | Deadly Women". Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  2. Show page on ID website
  3. Marsha Crenshaw - IMDb
  4. "Teens plead guilty to stabbing". CBS News. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  5. "The Nome nugget. (Nome, Alaska) 1935-08-12". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  6. "Piper Rountree Impersonates Her Sister To Kill Ex-Husband". Oxygen. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  7. "Parole denied for former Pelham cop who murdered wife's ex-husband and his new wife in Hoover". June 29, 2017.
  8. "Woman sent to prison for life". Los Angeles Daily News . January 26, 2007.
  9. "'She Was a Conniving Woman': Colorado Wife Conspired to Have 2 Husbands Killed for Life Insurance". October 9, 2022.
  10. "Sentence tossed for last woman on Pennsylvania's death row". Fox News. September 18, 2024. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
  11. "Paula Sims, who admitted to killing her newborn babies in the 1980s, granted parole". October 28, 2021.
  12. "Judge orders Jane Dorotik to stand trial again on her husband's murder 22 years ago". March 11, 2022.
  13. "Murder charges against Jane Dorotik dropped in San Diego County case due to insufficient evidence. "It's finally over."". CBS News . May 24, 2022.
  14. ""Torso Murderer" Valerie Pape Released From Arizona Prison, Will Be Deported to France". Phoenix Times. February 26, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  15. "Deadly Women: Season 6, Episode 3 "Insatiable Greed"". Amazon. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  16. "'Deadly Woman': Mother Manipulated Sons Into Killing Their Family Members (VIDEO)". Huffington Post. November 28, 2011.
  17. Lyons, Arthur; Funk, Stuart (illustration). "The Black Widow of Rancho Mirage". Palm Springs Life. Archived from the original on April 30, 2014.
  18. The story is also written about in Saroyan, Aram (1993). Rancho Mirage: An American Tragedy of Manners, Madness, and Murder. Barricade. ISBN   978-0942637953.
  19. "Husband, Former Mistress Get Life in Wife's Slaying". Los Angeles Times . April 16, 1997.
  20. "Family waits for answer on new trial for Darlene Gentry". Waco Tribune-Herald. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  21. "Mother jailed for life for boys' murders". BBC News. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  22. "Killer's sanity is issue in retrial". The Gazette. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  23. "Fairfield Woman Sentenced For Murdering Her Mother". Essex County Prosecutor's Office. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  24. "Woman convicted in boyfriend's slaying". Gadsden Times. April 16, 2004. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  25. "Serviceman killed by wife, her son receives insurance payout". Elder Law Firm. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  26. "48 Hours: Michele Williams trial - Temptation in Texas". CBS News. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  27. "Army sergeant's death uncovers secret affair, murder plot". ABC News. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
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