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Quick Facts
Nicknames or Aliases: Lyda Anna Mae Trueblood, "The Black Widow"
Offender Status: Deceased
MO: poisoning, familicide, money fraud
Timespan of Crimes: 1915–1920
Date of Incarceration: June 11, 1921
Sentence: second-degree murder and sentenced to ten years to life imprisonment. Ultimately received a pardon and died outside of prison.
Case Status: Closed
Number of Victims: 6
Victims: Robert Dooley, Ed Dooley, William McHaffle, Harlan Lewis, Ed Meyer, Lyda's 4-year-old daughter
Location of Crimes: Idaho and Montana
Summary of Lyda Southard’s Crimes
Lyda Southard murdered her 4 husbands, her 4-year-old daughter, and a brother and law with arsenic poisoning from flypaper to collect their insurance money. She was sentenced to ten years to life in 1921.
Southard escaped prison on May 4, 1931, moved to Colorado and married her fifth husband, Harry Whitlock. She was arrested again in 1932 and returned to the Idaho penitentiary that year. She was ultimately released on probation in 1941 and received a final pardon in 1942.
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