Till Death Do We Part...Literally

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/16/cold.cases.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview -----------------------


When one thinks of a serial murderer, the term has literally become synonymous with Hannibal Lecter, Ed Gein, and other characters based in reality that become the monsters portrayed in scary/horror movies. You don't quite imagine that a woman old enough to be your grandmother is a cold blooded killer or a serial murderer for that matter. Scholars have debated as to what constitutes a serial murderer, but most conclude that the killer must murder at least 3-4 victims with a cooling off period between each murder. So by that definition alone, Betty Neumar is a serial murderer, a black widow in particular. She is someone who killed 5 men meticulously moving from state to state after each death and targeting military men to marry. She eluded police for more than 20 years (her last victim known to date-- deceased spouse, Harold Gentry in 1986).

This case in particular is sad indeed that those running the investigation in the past seemed to have been lax in solving the crime by not investigating the wife. In most murder investigations usually the culprit is someone who is close to you. As taught in criminal justice and criminal profiling classes, to commit murder the culprit usually feels some kind of deep emotion-- such as anger or hatred. Even those that are not close to the victim sometimes project their hatred on another who may look similar, etc. But I digress...

What stood out about the case is that it lacked no finesse. It honestly made no sense why she "got away" for so long. She used the same modus operandi, even if she did not use the same methods of killing her victims. Reporters suggest that Betty Neumar (AKA "Killer Granny" as I've dubbed her) got away for so long because she moved from state to state. And unfortunately, the U.S. government runs on a decentralized system which means that each state can run things differently and the federal government is not controlling the state's policing system. In a way this is a good thing because it lessens the federal government's power which is what America's forefathers were after when they established their system of government.

However, there are loopholes. Moving from state to state lessens the chances of getting apprehended for crimes committed which is why this Killer Granny ended up being captured now instead of 20 years ago. Luckily, police officers are coming up with new systems to strengthen the decentralized system and tighten the loopholes that were created. More states are using computers and similar databases. This way officers can run license tags, driver's licenses and see if there are any warrants in different states for those they have reasonable suspicion of.

If present technology was available in the past maybe Mrs. Neumar would have been captured before husband #4 would have succumbed to death at the hands of his seemingly loving wife. It's unfortunate that some people take marriage so seriously. Divorces might be costly but at least prison won't be an option to weigh when making that ultimate decision.