- 6/21/2025
From calculated insurance schemes to crimes of passion, these cases of mariticide shocked the world. Join us as we explore some of history's most notorious cases where wives took deadly action against their husbands. Warning: This video contains disturbing content and descriptions of real crimes.
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00:00I didn't kill him, she said. I don't know how to kill.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most violent cases of mereticide by wives against their husbands or ex-husbands.
00:10I had informed my attorneys of the purchase of the gun, and they said, well, you know, if they ask, don't lie.
00:20Clara Harris.
00:21It's not the same, Clara, I know. Something, I think something happened. I can't believe it.
00:26Even those with seemingly perfect lives can harbor dark thoughts, and may even act out on them.
00:31With a good career and a loving family, Clara Harris seemed to have it all.
00:35That all changed when she suspected that her husband David was having an affair.
00:38She hired a personal detective, who confirmed her suspicions on July 24, 2002.
00:43That night, she went to a hotel where he and his mistress were meeting.
00:47When he came outside, she reportedly ran over him multiple times, killing him, while her stepdaughter helplessly watched on.
00:56Harris received a 20-year prison sentence for the act in 2003.
01:03She was freed in 2023 following the completion of her parole, but her infamous crime lives on to this day.
01:09The orthodontist was escorted to an SUV where she was given a long welcome home hug by a family friend.
01:15Pamela Smart.
01:16She tells police that Billy and Pam were lovers.
01:20They were friends, and they were having an affair.
01:24Back when cameras were first allowed in courtrooms, this quickly became the trial of the decade.
01:29On trial was Pamela Smart, a woman accused of coercing her underage boyfriend and his friends into breaking into her home and slaying her spouse Greg.
01:37She tried to claim that she had nothing to do with the concoction of the violent plan.
01:40But testimonies from the boys involved and recordings of Smart's conversations led to her being convicted of several charges,
01:46including being an accomplice to murder in the first degree.
01:49I believe that while I was making my documentary, Teen Speak Out, James and Russell became acquainted with my husband without me knowing and got him addicted to drugs and became his main supplier.
02:04She received a life sentence in 1991 and maintained her innocence for decades, only finally accepting full responsibility in 2024 in an attempt to get her sentence reduced.
02:15You know, now that I am older and able to look back on things, I can see so many errors that I made, and I can see how obscured my judgment was.
02:27Betty Broderick.
02:28Why would somebody from Betty's background act the way she did?
02:32We just wanted the jurors to ask the question.
02:35Up until 1982, Betty Broderick had a pretty picturesque life.
02:39The veneer cracked that year when her longtime husband Dan hired Linda Kolkina as his assistant.
02:43Betty began to suspect they were having an affair, and in 1985, her fears were validated when he moved out to be with her.
02:50A long divorce ensued, pushing her closer and closer to the brink.
02:54He kept telling me that I was sick and that I was crazy and that I needed help, and he told the children that I was sick.
03:01How did that affect you?
03:03It made me feel sick.
03:04Things boiled over in 1989 when she began acting erratically.
03:08Vandalism quickly escalated to murder when she broke into Dan's home on November 5th, 1989, and shot him and Linda multiple times in their bed.
03:17She was immediately jailed, and after two trials, she was handed two lengthy sentences, which she's still serving today.
03:24Mrs. Broderick is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
03:28Mr. Carpenter, how does your client plead?
03:29We enter a plea of not guilty, Your Honor, and request a jury trial.
03:32Melanie McGuire, once a married mother to two little boys and a fertility nurse, is today a 47-year-old inmate at the Edna Mann Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey.
03:44Some people commit acts so violent that they seem incomprehensible.
03:48That was the case for Melanie McGuire, who fatally shot her partner Bill in 2004.
03:52She then dissected his body and distributed the parts across three different suitcases before throwing them into the Chesapeake Bay.
03:59Their discovery sometime later would lead to her being dubbed the suitcase murderer, a title that follows her to this day.
04:05Virginia Beach detectives find out that Melanie McGuire had given most of Bill's belongings away to a friend's cousin.
04:12Eventually, they found out that most of Bill's clothing was still in black trash bags.
04:16She pled not guilty, and still maintains her innocence many years into her life sentence.
04:21To this day, a confirmed motive still isn't known.
04:24No matter the reasoning, her horrific crime has ensured that she'll spend the rest of her days in prison, as she won't be eligible for parole until she's 101.
04:33The desecration that has been considered by this court has been a significant element that causes this court to consider the aggravating factors associated with the murder.
04:47Betty Newmar.
04:48You know, the news showed her walking along with bracelets on, and then she had that orange outfit on.
04:58I said, that woman always dressed neat.
05:01Some call her the Black Widow.
05:03Before finally being arrested in 2007, Betty Newmar appears to have claimed as many as five husbands.
05:09Most had been murdered in violent ways, though final husband John Newmar supposedly died naturally, although arsenic poisoning was suspected.
05:17It was Newmar's brother that heavily encouraged the police to investigate.
05:21They found that she allegedly hired hit men to do her dirty work for her, all to collect their life insurance payouts.
05:27They're nuts.
05:29I never said I want you to kill Harold.
05:33Who says that I did?
05:35I didn't approach anybody.
05:36Before she could go to trial, she herself died in 2011, so there was no chance for the evidence to be presented and her guilt or innocence established.
05:44It's hard not to wonder what the outcome would have been.
05:47Okay, the evidence is so strong that the community needs to hear it, and they need to decide whether or not that person is guilty of that crime.
05:56Susan Wright.
05:57They looked more than like a genuinely happy family.
06:02They looked like a veritable ad for any kind of product that you'd want to sell to middle America.
06:09After claiming to have suffered severe physical abuse at the hands of her husband Jeff, Susan Wright struck back.
06:15In January of 2003, she tied him to the bedposts and proceeded to stab him 193 times before burying his remains.
06:23When the case went to trial in 2004, there was an immediate divide.
06:27The defense claimed it had been done in self-defense, while the prosecution argued that she was weaponizing her emotions.
06:32The prosecution, using a co-worker, reenacted the night Susan Wright tied her husband Jeff to the bed with neckties.
06:40Reenacting the murder in court added fuel to the fire.
06:42When the smoke cleared, Wright was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years.
06:47A new witness coming forward in 2008 led to her punishment being slightly reduced, and she was eventually released on parole in 2020.
06:54What this means is that today, as the cliche goes, is the first day of the rest of Susan's life in the free world.
07:00Mary Elizabeth Wilson.
07:01I think Mary was acquiring a taste for murder and money.
07:07It was her sense of humor and nonchalant way of grieving her spouses that caused Mary Elizabeth Wilson's downfall.
07:12Her first husband died in 1955 following decades of marriage.
07:16Her second died in 1956 after just months.
07:19Both seemingly passed from natural causes.
07:22The pattern continued on twice more, with both men dying within a year.
07:26Each time, their money went to Wilson.
07:28She made copious jokes about them, leading to an investigation.
07:32The bodies of her last two revealed high amounts of phosphorus, and she was convicted of their deaths,
07:37with evidence later suggesting she killed her first two as well.
07:40She was condemned to death, but her age got it reduced to life in prison, where she died in 1962.
07:45You said he was in hospital.
07:48Did I? I don't remember saying that.
07:52Losing one husband is unfortunate.
07:55Losing two is careless.
07:57Chisako Kakehi.
07:58Police say an autopsy found cyanide in the stomach and blood of her 75-year-old fourth husband.
08:04He died in December, less than two months after their wedding.
08:08As Wilson and our next killer prove, age doesn't have to be a barrier when committing heinous crimes.
08:13Chisako Kakehi was in her 60s when she was arrested in 2014 after cyanide was found in her deceased second husband's system.
08:20Police may have a hard time proving Kakehi killed her previous partners.
08:24Autopsies are rare in Japan.
08:26During the extensive trial, it was found that her cruelty dated back to 2007,
08:30and that she'd killed three men in total, along with attempting to kill another,
08:35and there may have been other victims as well.
08:37After she killed them, she would collect the inheritance and find a new victim.
08:41In 2017, she was condemned to death by hanging,
08:44but died of natural causes in 2024 before her sentence could be carried out.
08:48The court heard how the accused amassed millions of euros worth of insurance payments and inheritance.
08:55Mary Aubrey.
08:56All the way back in the 1600s, French midwife Mary Aubrey
09:00lived with her husband Denis in London.
09:02Their marriage was perilous, as Denis was an abusive spouse with a substance use disorder.
09:06Having made unsuccessful attempts to exit the relationship,
09:09Aubrey demanded a change in his behavior, or else.
09:12When his awful mistreatment continued, she followed through on her threat to end his life.
09:21After having done so, she dismembered him in an attempt to discard any evidence of her crime.
09:26This plan was ineffective, and Aubrey was arrested about a month later.
09:30However, she pled guilty and was sentenced to death by burning.
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09:58Though she's believed to have killed and injured multiple husbands,
10:11Betty Lou Beats has managed to win over the hearts of countless supporters.
10:14They've both claimed that a majority of her marriages were abusive,
10:17and that she attacked back out of self-defense.
10:20In 1985, she was arrested for the 1983 slaying of her fifth partner, Dawn,
10:25whom she had shot and stuffed inside a well.
10:27Upon investigating her home, the remains of her fourth husband were also found.
10:31Though she initially tried to pawn the blame off onto her children,
10:35she was eventually found guilty and sentenced to death.
10:37She was executed in 2000 amid protests, putting a permanent end to her spree.
10:42Human rights groups took up her cause.
10:45The locals were not sympathetic to her plaint.
10:48Her attempt to blame her own children showcases a very sick, evil person.
10:54Which of these Black Widow killers do you find the most brutal?
10:57Let us know in the comments below.
10:59I think it was Betty.
11:00I think she was nudging him on.
11:02I think she was agony moan.
11:03I think she was agony moan.
11:12I think she was agony moan.
11:13She was agony moan.
11:14She was agony moan.
11:15She was agony moan.
11:16She was agony moan.
11:17She was agony moan.
11:18She was agony moan.
11:19She was agony moan.
11:20She was agony moan.
11:21She was agony moan.
11:22She was agony moan.
11:23She was agony moan.
11:24She was agony moan.
11:25She was agony moan.
11:26She was agony moan.
11:27She was agony moan.
11:28She was agony moan.
11:29She was agony moan.
11:30She was agony moan.
11:31She was agony moan.
11:32She was agony moan.
11:33She was agony moan.
11:34She was agony moan.
11:35She was agony moan.
11:36She was agony moan.
11:37She was agony moan.
11:38She was agony moan.
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