Killer Wives: 8 Most Infamous Black Widow Murderers

Kelly Cochran helped her husband kill her boyfriend – and then she turned around and killed her husband, too. At least that’s what the Michigan prosecutors allege, and Cochran now sits in a jail cell awaiting trial. And while her crimes may sound shocking, they actually fit into a pattern of female killers, who, unlike men, usually murder the people closest to them. These black widows – named after the desert spiders whose deadly female often eats their partner after sex – act out their anger, sociopathic tendencies, or desire for financial gain by killing their husbands and boyfriends, or in Cochran’s case, both. While serial killers are rare – and female serial killers even more so – there are many examples of black widows who have exacted revenge on abusive husbands, made a profit from their brutal crimes, or committed cold-blooded killings for their own sick reasons. Here, the eight most notorious black widow killers.