Lyda Southard

Lyda Southard (October 16, 1892 – February 5, 1958), also known as Lyda Anna Mae Trueblood, was an American female suspected serial killer. It was suspected that she had killed four of her husbands, a brother-in-law, and her daughter by using arsenic poisoning derived from flypaper[1] in order to obtain life insurance money.[2][3]

Lyda Trueblood
Born(1892-10-16)October 16, 1892
Keytesville, Missouri, U.S.
DiedFebruary 5, 1958(1958-02-05) (aged 65)
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Other names
  • Lyda Anna Mae Trueblood
  • "Flypaper Lyda"[1]
  • "The Black Widow"
Criminal statusDeceased
MotiveLife insurance
Conviction(s)Second degree murder
Criminal penalty10 years to life in prison
Details
Victims1–6
Span of crimes
1915–1920
CountryUnited States
State(s)Idaho, Montana
WeaponArsenic poisoning
Date apprehended
May 1921

Early life

Lyda Keller was born on October 16, 1892, in Keytesville, Missouri, 60 miles northeast of Kansas City and in the central flatlands of Missouri.[1]

Marriages

Keller married Robert Dooley on March 17, 1912. The couple settled with his brother Ed Dooley on a ranch in Twin Falls, Idaho, and had a daughter, Lorraine, in 1913. Lorraine died unexpectedly in 1915, Keller claimed, as a result of drinking water from a dirty well.[4] Edward Dooley died soon afterward in August 1915; the cause of death was ruled ptomaine poisoning. Robert Dooley subsequently fell ill and died of typhoid fever on October 12, 1915, leaving Keller as the sole survivor in the family. Keller collected on the life insurance policies of each person shortly after their death.

Two years after Robert Dooley's death, Keller married William G. McHaffle.[5] Shortly afterward, Keller's three-year-old daughter fell ill and died, prompting the McHaffles to move to Montana.[6] A year later, McHaffle suddenly fell ill of what was thought to be influenza and died in Montana on October 1, 1918. The death certificate stated the cause of death as influenza and diphtheria.

In March 1919, she married Harlen C. Lewis, an automobile salesman from Billings, Montana.[1] Within four months of their marriage, Lewis fell ill and died from complications of gastroenteritis.

Keller married for a fourth time in Pocatello, Idaho, to Edward F. Meyer, a ranch foreman, in August 1920. He mysteriously fell ill of typhoid and died on September 7, 1920.[5][7]

List of marriages
  1. Robert Dooley (March 17, 1912 – October 12, 1915)
  2. William G. McHaffle (June 1917-October 1, 1918)
  3. Harlen C. Lewis (March 1919-July 1919)
  4. Edward F. Meyer (August 1920-September 7, 1920)
  5. Paul V. Southard (?, divorced)
  6. Harry Whitlock (March 1932-?, divorced)
  7. Hal Shaw (possibly divorced)

Murders

Twin Falls chemist Earl Dooley, a relative of Keller's first husband, began to study the deaths surrounding her. Along with a physician and another chemist, he soon discovered that Ed and Bob Dooley were murdered by arsenic poisoning. Twin Falls County Prosecutor Frank Stephan began an investigation and had the bodies of three of Lyda Keller's husbands, her four-year-old daughter, and her brother-in-law exhumed.[5]

Stephan discovered that some of the bodies contained traces of arsenic, while others were suspected of arsenic poisoning by how well the bodies were preserved, and found her motive in the records of the Idaho State Life Insurance company of Boise.[5] All four of Keller's husbands had held a life insurance policy where they listed her as the beneficiary. Keller was able to collect over $7,000 over the years from the deaths of her first three husbands.[5]

She was found by law enforcement in Honolulu, married for the fifth time to Navy petty officer Paul Southard. Following extradition to Idaho, she was arraigned on June 11, 1921.[8]

Prison

Southard was returned to Idaho to face murder charges on Meyer.[9] She pleaded not guilty in court, but was convicted of using arsenic to murder her husbands and taking the money from their life insurance policies. It was determined that her motive for murder was money, since she had taken out, and collected on, life insurance policies for each of her dead husbands.

Following a six-week trial, Southard was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to ten years to life in the Old Idaho State Penitentiary.[9] She escaped from prison on May 4, 1931[10] and took up residence in Denver, Colorado, as a housekeeper for Harry Whitlock, whom she married in March 1932, but who ultimately assisted in her arrest in Topeka, Kansas, on July 31, 1932.[11] Southard returned to the penitentiary in August 1932. She was released on probation in October 1941,[1] and received a final pardon.[12]

Death

Lyda Southard died of a heart attack on February 5, 1958, in Salt Lake City, Utah.[13] Her body was interred at Sunset Memorial Park in Twin Falls, Idaho.

See also

References
  1. "Flypaper Lyda". Time. 13 October 1941. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010.
  2. "Charge Poisoning of Four Husbands" (PDF). New York Times. 13 May 1921. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  3. Newton, Michael (1990). Hunting Humans: An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers. Loompanics Unlimited.
  4. "Lydia Trueblood". CrimeMuseum.org. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  5. Cipriani, Frank (1939-01-29). "Mrs. Bluebeard-She Always Got Her Man". Retrieved 12 November 2008.
  6. Ronayne, D. (9 July 2002). "'Married 'Em And Buried 'Em'". The Idaho Statesman. Boise, ID. p. 3, Life section – via America: NewsBank database.
  7. Flowers, R. Barri; Flowers, H. Loraine (1 January 2004). Murders in the United States: Crimes, Killers and Victims of the Twentieth Century. McFarland. ISBN 9780786420759 – via Google Books.
  8. "Mrs. Southard Arraigned; Reaches Idaho From Hawaii to Answer for Murdering Fourth Husband". New York Times. 12 June 1921.
  9. "Mrs. Southard Gets Long Prison Term; Idaho Court Sentences Her to From Ten Years to Life for Slaying Husband". New York Times. 1921-11-08.
  10. "Prison Escape Clew Pursued". Los Angeles Times. 6 May 1931. p. 2.
  11. "Escaped Woman Slayer Seized". Los Angeles Times. 31 May 1932. p. 2.
  12. "Justice Story: Merry widow used illnesses as cover for string of poisoned husbands". New York Daily News. 12 April 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  13. "Black Widows: Veiled in Their Own Web of Darkness - the Crime library". Archived from the original on 3 March 2006. Retrieved 3 March 2006.

Further reading and other media
  • Anderson, William C. (1994). Lady Bluebeard: The True Story of Love and Marriage, Death and Flypaper. Fred Pruett Books.
  • Episode of the podcast Murderous Roots discussing the murders and Southard's family tree.
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