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Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.

The dozens of women on death row across the country have been sentenced for anything from hiring hitmen to brutally torturing their victims. Click through to see women awaiting the death penalty.

  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    The dozens of women on death row across the country have been sentenced for anything from hiring hitmen to brutally torturing their victims. Click through to see women awaiting the death penalty.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Patricia Blackmon, Alabama
    Sentenced 7/19/2002
    Murder -- Sentenced for beating her adopted 2-year-old child to death.

     

  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Tierra Capri Gobble, Alabama
    Sentenced 10/25/2005
    Murder -- Sentenced for the beating death of her 4-month-old son.

     

  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Christie Michelle Scott, Alabama
    Sentenced 8/5/2009
    Murder -- Sentenced for killing her 6-year-old son.

     

  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Heather Leavell Keaton, Alabama
    Sentenced 8/20/2015
    Murder -- Sentenced for the murders of her boyfriend's two young children. He was also sentenced to death in the case.

     

  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Lisa Carpenter Graham, Alabama
    Sentenced 11/18/2015
    Murder -- Sentenced for hiring a hitman to gun down her daughter.

     

  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Wendi Andriano, Arizona
    Sentenced 12/22/2004
    Murder – Was sentenced for beating and stabbing her husband multiple times. Andriano struck her husband at least 20 times with a barstool before stabbing him in the neck.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Shawna Forde, Arizona
    Sentenced 2/22/2011
    Murder (x2)

     

  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Maria del Rosio Alfaro, California
    Sentenced 7/14/1992
    Murder – Sentenced for stabbing 9-year-old to death during robbery of a home.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Kerry Dalton, California
    Sentenced 5/23/1995
    Murder – Sentenced for torturing and beating a woman to death because she thought the victim had stolen her jewelry. The victim was beaten, stabbed, and injected with battery acid.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Dora Buenrostro, California
    Sentenced 10/2/1998
    Murder (x3) – Sentenced for killing her three children.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Susan Eubanks, California
    Sentenced 10/13/1999
    Murder (x4) – Sentenced for fatally shooting her four young children.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Socorro Caro, California
    Sentenced 4/5/2002
    Murder (x3) – Sentenced for fatally shooting three of her four young sons.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Veronica Gonzales, California
    Sentenced 7/20/1998
    Murder – Sentenced for torture and scalding death of her young niece. Her husband was also sentenced to death in the case.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Celeste Carrington, California
    Sentenced 11/23/1994
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for killing two workers during a series of robberies.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Belinda Magana, California
    Sentenced 5/1/2015
    Murder – Sentence for beating and scalding her 2-year-old son to death.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Cynthia Coffman, California
    Sentenced 8/31/1989
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for strangling and dumping the body of a woman. Days later, she and a co-defendant assaulted and killed a second woman.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Valerie Martin, California
    Sentenced 3/26/2010
    Murder – Sentenced for beating a man to death, putting his body in the trunk of his car, and setting the vehicle on fire.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Maureen McDermott, California
    Sentenced 6/8/1990
    Murder – Sentenced for hiring three men to kill her roommate.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Mary Samuels, California
    Sentenced 9/16/1994
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for hiring a man to kill her husband, then arranging the murder of the man she hired to kill her husband.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Michelle Michaud, California
    Sentenced 9/25/2002
    Murder – Sentenced for sexually assaulting and torturing a woman, then dumping her body. Her boyfriend was also sentenced to death in the case.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Cathy Sarinana, California
    Sentenced 6/26/2009
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for beating her two young nephews to death. Her husband was also sentenced to death in the case.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Tanya Nelson, California
    Sentenced 4/23/2010
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for murdering her fortune teller and the woman’s daughter.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Janeen Snyder, California
    Sentenced 9/7/2006
    Murder – Sentenced for torturing, sexually assaulting, and killing a 16-year-old girl. Her boyfriend was also sentenced to death in the case.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Sandi Nieves, California
    Sentenced 10/6/2000
    Murder (x4) – Sentenced for setting fire to her home, killing her four daughters.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Brooke Rottiers, California
    Sentenced 10/22/2010
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for murdering two men she lured to a motel room and robbed.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Angelina Rodriguez, California
    Sentenced 1/12/2004
    Murder – Sentenced for poisoning her husband with antifreeze.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Catherine Thompson, California
    Sentenced 6/10/1993
    Murder – Sentenced for hiring a man to kill her husband.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Manling Williams, California
    Sentenced 1/29/2012
    Murder (x3) – Sentenced for killing her husband and two young sons.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Tiffany Ann Cole, Florida
    Sentenced 3/6/2008
    Murder (x2) – Was sentenced for her role in the double murder of a Jacksonville couple who were buried alive.

     

    Photo by: R367AEZ
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Emilia Carr, Florida
    Sentenced 2/22/2011
    Murder – Was sentenced for the kidnapping and murder of her co-defendant’s ex-wife, Heather Strong. The co-defendants, who were dating at the time of the murder and have a child together, are accused of having lured Strong into a storage trailer behind Carr's mother's home, duct-taping her to a chair, putting a plastic bag over her head and suffocating her. The victim’s body was found a month later in a shallow grave.

     

    Photo by: R367AEZ
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Margaret Allen, Florida
    Sentenced 5/19/2011
    Murder – Was sentenced to death for torturing and killing her housekeeper, Wenda Wright, whom she thought had stolen money from her purse. She also got a life sentence for kidnapping. Prosecutors said the torture went on for hours before Wright was strangled with a belt. Allen's roommate, James Martin, and nephew, Quinton Allen, were both convicted for their part in helping her try to bury the body in a shallow grave.

     

    Photo by: R367AEZ
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Tina Brown, Florida
    Sentenced 9/28/2012
    Murder – Was sentenced for the brutal death of Audreanna Zimmerman. Brown beat her victim with a stun gun, hit her with a crow bar, and set her on fire. The victim died two weeks later from her injuries.

     

    Photo by: R367AEZ
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Robin Row, Idaho
    Sentenced 12/1993
    Murder (x3) – Was sentenced for the arson deaths of her husband, son and daughter.

     

  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Debra Denise Brown, Indiana (held in Ohio on separate charge)
    Sentenced 6/23/1986
    Murder

     

    Photo by: Fisher, Katie
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Virginia Caudill, Kentucky
    Sentenced 3/24/2000
    Murder – Was sentenced for beating 73-year-old woman to death. She then burglarized the victim’s home, placed her body in the trunk of her own vehicle, drove to a rural area and set the car on fire.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Antoinette Frank, Louisiana
    Sentenced 10/20/1995
    Murder (x3) – Sentenced for killing three people during an armed robbery.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Angela McAnulty, Oregon
    Sentenced 2/24/2011
    Murder – Sentenced for beating and starving her teen daughter to death.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Michelle Tharp, Pennsylvania
    Sentenced 11/14/2000
    Murder – Sentenced for starving her daughter to death.    Photo by: Fisher, Katie
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Christa Pike, Tennessee
    Sentenced 3/30/1996
    Murder – Sentenced for beating and killing Colleen Slemmer in a remote area of the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Kimberly Cargill, Texas
    Sentenced 6/7/2012
    Murder – Subject did not want the victim to testify against her in a child protective case. Subject told the victim she would come and get her and hide her so she would not be required to testify because of the subpoena. Subject claims the victim had a seizure and quit breathing while they were driving. She drove her to a county road, doused the victim with lighter fluid and set her clothes on fire. Subject then left the scene.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Melissa Lucio, Texas
    Sentenced 8/12/2008
    Murder – EMT found subject’s 2-year-old daughter not breathing and with no vital signs. While EMT personnel attempted to care for the child, they cut off the victim's shirt and found purple and green bruises on her entire torso, head, face and right shoulder. The subject was arrested and transported to the Cameron County Jail.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Linda Carty, Texas
    Sentenced 3/7/2002
    Murder – Carty and three co-defendants invaded the home of a 25-year-old woman. The victim and her 3-day-old baby were kidnapped and two other victims were beaten, duct taped, and left in the residence. The 25-year-old victim was hog-tied with duct tape, a bag was taped over her head, and she was placed in the trunk of a car. This victim died from suffocation.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Brittany Holberg, Texas
    Sentenced 3/27/1998
    Murder – Subject robbed and murdered an 80-year-old man in his home. The victim was struck with a hammer and stabbed nearly 60 times. The weapons used were: a paring knife, a butcher knife, a grapefruit knife, and a fork. A lamp pole had been shoved more than 5 inches down the victim's throat.
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Darlie Routier, Texas
    Sentenced 2/5/1997
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for stabbing her 5- and 6-year-old sons to death. Subject suffered stab wounds that police claimed were self-inflicted. Prosecutors argued subject killed her children because they interfered with the lifestyle she wanted to live.    Photo by: Fisher, Katie
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Erica Sheppard, Texas
    Sentenced 4/25/1995
    Murder – Subject and co-defendant tackled woman inside her apartment because they wanted to steal her vehicle. While the victim begged for her life, the pair tackled her and slashed her throat with a knife. They then wrapped her head in a plastic bag and struck her in the head with a 10-pound statue. The pair then fled in the victim’s vehicle.    Photo by: Fisher, Katie
  • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    Lisa Montgomery, Kansas (being held in federal custody in Texas)
    Sentenced 4/4/2008
    Murder -- Sentenced for killing a woman, then removing and kidnapping her unborn baby.    Photo by: Getty Images

    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.

    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.
    • Women on death row: Female death row inmates in the U.S.

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    The dozens of women on death row across the country have been sentenced for anything from hiring hitmen to brutally torturing their victims. Click through to see women awaiting the death penalty.
    Patricia Blackmon, Alabama
    Sentenced 7/19/2002
    Murder -- Sentenced for beating her adopted 2-year-old child to death.

     

    Tierra Capri Gobble, Alabama
    Sentenced 10/25/2005
    Murder -- Sentenced for the beating death of her 4-month-old son.

     

    Christie Michelle Scott, Alabama
    Sentenced 8/5/2009
    Murder -- Sentenced for killing her 6-year-old son.

     

    Heather Leavell Keaton, Alabama
    Sentenced 8/20/2015
    Murder -- Sentenced for the murders of her boyfriend's two young children. He was also sentenced to death in the case.

     

    Lisa Carpenter Graham, Alabama
    Sentenced 11/18/2015
    Murder -- Sentenced for hiring a hitman to gun down her daughter.

     

    Wendi Andriano, Arizona
    Sentenced 12/22/2004
    Murder – Was sentenced for beating and stabbing her husband multiple times. Andriano struck her husband at least 20 times with a barstool before stabbing him in the neck.
    Shawna Forde, Arizona
    Sentenced 2/22/2011
    Murder (x2)

     

    Maria del Rosio Alfaro, California
    Sentenced 7/14/1992
    Murder – Sentenced for stabbing 9-year-old to death during robbery of a home.
    Kerry Dalton, California
    Sentenced 5/23/1995
    Murder – Sentenced for torturing and beating a woman to death because she thought the victim had stolen her jewelry. The victim was beaten, stabbed, and injected with battery acid.
    Dora Buenrostro, California
    Sentenced 10/2/1998
    Murder (x3) – Sentenced for killing her three children.
    Susan Eubanks, California
    Sentenced 10/13/1999
    Murder (x4) – Sentenced for fatally shooting her four young children.
    Socorro Caro, California
    Sentenced 4/5/2002
    Murder (x3) – Sentenced for fatally shooting three of her four young sons.
    Veronica Gonzales, California
    Sentenced 7/20/1998
    Murder – Sentenced for torture and scalding death of her young niece. Her husband was also sentenced to death in the case.
    Celeste Carrington, California
    Sentenced 11/23/1994
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for killing two workers during a series of robberies.
    Belinda Magana, California
    Sentenced 5/1/2015
    Murder – Sentence for beating and scalding her 2-year-old son to death.
    Cynthia Coffman, California
    Sentenced 8/31/1989
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for strangling and dumping the body of a woman. Days later, she and a co-defendant assaulted and killed a second woman.
    Valerie Martin, California
    Sentenced 3/26/2010
    Murder – Sentenced for beating a man to death, putting his body in the trunk of his car, and setting the vehicle on fire.
    Maureen McDermott, California
    Sentenced 6/8/1990
    Murder – Sentenced for hiring three men to kill her roommate.
    Mary Samuels, California
    Sentenced 9/16/1994
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for hiring a man to kill her husband, then arranging the murder of the man she hired to kill her husband.
    Michelle Michaud, California
    Sentenced 9/25/2002
    Murder – Sentenced for sexually assaulting and torturing a woman, then dumping her body. Her boyfriend was also sentenced to death in the case.
    Cathy Sarinana, California
    Sentenced 6/26/2009
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for beating her two young nephews to death. Her husband was also sentenced to death in the case.
    Tanya Nelson, California
    Sentenced 4/23/2010
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for murdering her fortune teller and the woman’s daughter.
    Janeen Snyder, California
    Sentenced 9/7/2006
    Murder – Sentenced for torturing, sexually assaulting, and killing a 16-year-old girl. Her boyfriend was also sentenced to death in the case.
    Sandi Nieves, California
    Sentenced 10/6/2000
    Murder (x4) – Sentenced for setting fire to her home, killing her four daughters.
    Brooke Rottiers, California
    Sentenced 10/22/2010
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for murdering two men she lured to a motel room and robbed.
    Angelina Rodriguez, California
    Sentenced 1/12/2004
    Murder – Sentenced for poisoning her husband with antifreeze.
    Catherine Thompson, California
    Sentenced 6/10/1993
    Murder – Sentenced for hiring a man to kill her husband.
    Manling Williams, California
    Sentenced 1/29/2012
    Murder (x3) – Sentenced for killing her husband and two young sons.
    Tiffany Ann Cole, Florida
    Sentenced 3/6/2008
    Murder (x2) – Was sentenced for her role in the double murder of a Jacksonville couple who were buried alive.

     

    R367AEZ
    Emilia Carr, Florida
    Sentenced 2/22/2011
    Murder – Was sentenced for the kidnapping and murder of her co-defendant’s ex-wife, Heather Strong. The co-defendants, who were dating at the time of the murder and have a child together, are accused of having lured Strong into a storage trailer behind Carr's mother's home, duct-taping her to a chair, putting a plastic bag over her head and suffocating her. The victim’s body was found a month later in a shallow grave.

     

    R367AEZ
    Margaret Allen, Florida
    Sentenced 5/19/2011
    Murder – Was sentenced to death for torturing and killing her housekeeper, Wenda Wright, whom she thought had stolen money from her purse. She also got a life sentence for kidnapping. Prosecutors said the torture went on for hours before Wright was strangled with a belt. Allen's roommate, James Martin, and nephew, Quinton Allen, were both convicted for their part in helping her try to bury the body in a shallow grave.

     

    R367AEZ
    Tina Brown, Florida
    Sentenced 9/28/2012
    Murder – Was sentenced for the brutal death of Audreanna Zimmerman. Brown beat her victim with a stun gun, hit her with a crow bar, and set her on fire. The victim died two weeks later from her injuries.

     

    R367AEZ
    Robin Row, Idaho
    Sentenced 12/1993
    Murder (x3) – Was sentenced for the arson deaths of her husband, son and daughter.

     

    Debra Denise Brown, Indiana (held in Ohio on separate charge)
    Sentenced 6/23/1986
    Murder

     

    Fisher, Katie
    Virginia Caudill, Kentucky
    Sentenced 3/24/2000
    Murder – Was sentenced for beating 73-year-old woman to death. She then burglarized the victim’s home, placed her body in the trunk of her own vehicle, drove to a rural area and set the car on fire.
    Antoinette Frank, Louisiana
    Sentenced 10/20/1995
    Murder (x3) – Sentenced for killing three people during an armed robbery.
    Angela McAnulty, Oregon
    Sentenced 2/24/2011
    Murder – Sentenced for beating and starving her teen daughter to death.
    Michelle Tharp, Pennsylvania
    Sentenced 11/14/2000
    Murder – Sentenced for starving her daughter to death.    Fisher, Katie
    Christa Pike, Tennessee
    Sentenced 3/30/1996
    Murder – Sentenced for beating and killing Colleen Slemmer in a remote area of the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus.
    Kimberly Cargill, Texas
    Sentenced 6/7/2012
    Murder – Subject did not want the victim to testify against her in a child protective case. Subject told the victim she would come and get her and hide her so she would not be required to testify because of the subpoena. Subject claims the victim had a seizure and quit breathing while they were driving. She drove her to a county road, doused the victim with lighter fluid and set her clothes on fire. Subject then left the scene.
    Melissa Lucio, Texas
    Sentenced 8/12/2008
    Murder – EMT found subject’s 2-year-old daughter not breathing and with no vital signs. While EMT personnel attempted to care for the child, they cut off the victim's shirt and found purple and green bruises on her entire torso, head, face and right shoulder. The subject was arrested and transported to the Cameron County Jail.
    Linda Carty, Texas
    Sentenced 3/7/2002
    Murder – Carty and three co-defendants invaded the home of a 25-year-old woman. The victim and her 3-day-old baby were kidnapped and two other victims were beaten, duct taped, and left in the residence. The 25-year-old victim was hog-tied with duct tape, a bag was taped over her head, and she was placed in the trunk of a car. This victim died from suffocation.
    Brittany Holberg, Texas
    Sentenced 3/27/1998
    Murder – Subject robbed and murdered an 80-year-old man in his home. The victim was struck with a hammer and stabbed nearly 60 times. The weapons used were: a paring knife, a butcher knife, a grapefruit knife, and a fork. A lamp pole had been shoved more than 5 inches down the victim's throat.
    Darlie Routier, Texas
    Sentenced 2/5/1997
    Murder (x2) – Sentenced for stabbing her 5- and 6-year-old sons to death. Subject suffered stab wounds that police claimed were self-inflicted. Prosecutors argued subject killed her children because they interfered with the lifestyle she wanted to live.    Fisher, Katie
    Erica Sheppard, Texas
    Sentenced 4/25/1995
    Murder – Subject and co-defendant tackled woman inside her apartment because they wanted to steal her vehicle. While the victim begged for her life, the pair tackled her and slashed her throat with a knife. They then wrapped her head in a plastic bag and struck her in the head with a 10-pound statue. The pair then fled in the victim’s vehicle.    Fisher, Katie
    Lisa Montgomery, Kansas (being held in federal custody in Texas)
    Sentenced 4/4/2008
    Murder -- Sentenced for killing a woman, then removing and kidnapping her unborn baby.    Getty Images
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