Frances Elaine Newton
was only 21 years old when she committed three counts of capital
murder upon her husband and two children. Motivated by the
prospect of $150,000 in life insurance money, Newton
systematically murdered her family members using a .25 caliber
handgun that belonged to her boyfriend. The life insurance
policies on her 7-year-old son and 21-month-old daughter were
taken out in March of 1987, one month prior to the murders.
Newton had separated from her boyfriend at approximately the
same time. Newton admitted to carrying a gun to her husband�s
apartment the night the killings took place, but she claimed it
was for protection and that her family members had still been
alive when she left the apartment. Newton admits to being
involved with illegal drugs and drug sales, and that trouble
regarding these matters was the justification for her desire to
carry a weapon. When she attempted to file insurance claims
after the murders, Newton was arrested and charged with capital
murder. This sentence cut short a probation sentence stemming
from a previous forgery conviction from February 1986. Newton
was placed on the Texas Death Row roster. Despite her lawyers�
attempts to secure a 120-day reprieve of execution so that they
could more carefully investigate her case, Newton was executed
on September 14th, 2005. Newton declined to make any
last statement at the time of her execution.
Patricia
Blackmon
Patricia Blackmon was
29 years old when she committed the crime that landed her on
death row. May 1999, in Dothan Alabama, Patricia Blackmon
brutally murdered her two-year-old adopted daughter Dominique
Bryant. She subsequently was found guilty and sentenced to the
death penalty.
She recently appealed to the court on their decision, stating
that she was not deserving of the death penalty. Her argument
against her sentence included her idea that she possibly knocked
the child unconscious before the entire brutal beating took
place. Dominiqua suffered multiple skull fractures, broken
bones, and was beaten so badly a foot imprint was left on her
chest. I guess in her eyes if the child was unconscious she
didn�t feel the pain of the subsequent blows and therefore she
should receive a lesser sentence.
Well not in the eyes of the court, in a unanimous decision in
August 2005 the court denied her appeal, along with her request
for a retrial. Patricia Blackmon requested the retrial at the
same time of the appeal stating that she was unfairly tried
because the jury was persuaded by pretrial publicity.
Now age 35, Patricia Blackmon remains on death row in the state
of Alabama where she will eventually be executed if the courts
continue to ignore her requests.
Virginia
Lazelere
Virginia Lazelere had it all, a
palatial home, expensive cars, her own private plane and a
luxury yacht. But life married to a very respected dentist
wasn't enough for Virginia. Now she has the distinction of being
the only woman currently on Florida's death row, awaiting her
appointment with eternity. The Lazelere's life was just a little
too extravagant, even for a highly successful dentist. As it
turned out, Dr. Lazelere was showing some creative
entrepreneurship on the side selling illegal narcotics to some
of his patients. But it all came to an end with a shot gun blast
in the good doctor's office. As the investigation unfolded,
police uncovered a bizarre and shocking twist to the story.
Apparently Dr. Lazelere had bi-sexual tendencies and a long list
of gay partners. Could the murder have been the result of an
angry jilted lover? But the story then takes another shocking
turn. Evidence comes to light that Dr. Lazelere also willingly
arranged sexual liaisons for his wife, Virginia. It wasn't long
before Virginia found herself in the Florida police's sites.
Virginia was arrested and charged for the murder of Dr.
Lazelere, but even more shockingly, so was their teenage son,
Jason. As the sordid details came out, Jason revealed that
Virginia had seduced and manipulated him into killing his father
in order to get her hands on his mega million dollar life
insurance policy. Somehow, the Florida jury managed to find some
sympathy for poor misguided Jason and acquitted him of his
father's murder, but the would-be merry widow was convicted and
sentenced to death row.
Linda Lou Charbonneau
Fifty-seven year old Linda Lou Charbonneau sits on Delaware's
death row, convicted of killing two of her husbands; John
Charbonneau and William Sproates.
Linda had been married to Charbonneau for over 20 years when she
decided to leave him for his nephew Billy Sproates. The two
later married, but within a few years Linda had returned to
Charbonneau. Later on both Charbonneau and Sproates went missing
within weeks of each other. Eventually the Delaware police
focused their investigation on Linda, and based on clues found
on her property, they decided to start digging. Their
excavations turned up the corpse of Billy Sproates, buried
behind John Charbonneau's house where Linda had been living.
When arrested on suspicion of murder, Linda then implicated her
own daughter and the young woman's boyfriend. The boyfriend,
Willie Brown, eventually led Delaware police to where John
Charbonneau's corpse had been buried. Apparently, Linda Lou
Charbonneau had based her murderous scheme on a plan to collect
John Charbonneau's social security checks. When Billy Sproates
stumbled onto her misdeeds, he was murdered as a cover up. Linda
was convicted of murder and sentenced to death row on June 2,
2004 where she currently awaits her fate.
