Jane Toppen was a portly Irish woman who was an active serial killer in the United States from 1887 to 1901. She confessed to killing over 31 people in her 14 active years, using primarily morphine and atropine. She is one of the few female serial killers who obtained a sexual thrill from her kills. It is unknown whether or not she had intercourse with them, but she is reported to have gotten in bed with them and stroked them as they died. Jane Toppen was born Honora Kelley around 1857. There are few surviving records of Honora’s early life, and therefore there is debate over her birth date being between 1854 and 1857. In 1863, when she was about six-years-old, Honora’s father left her at the Boston Female Asylum. In 1864, the asylum placed her as an indentured servant in the home of Ann Toppan. There, she was abused by Ann while becoming extremely jealous of Ann’s daughter, Elizabeth. Although she was never adopted, Honora changed her name to Jane Toppen. After her servitude ended in 1874, she remained with the family until 1885, when Elizabeth married Oramel Brigham. She had an uneventful life until 1887, when she began to train as a nurse at the Cambridge Hospital in Boston. At first, when she liked a patient, she interfered only in small ways to insure they remained with her, but soon she began experimenting on patients with morphine and atropine. During her stay at Cambridge she is thought to have killed over a dozen patients. One noteworthy patient is a Mrs. Amelia Phinney, she is one of the only survivors of Jane Toppen’s poisonings. Amelia claimed that after her operation Jane gave her an unpleasant tasting drug that was supposedly to help with her discomfort. As she was falling asleep Amelia realized that Jane had crept i... ... middle of paper ... ...n her confession Jane claimed to have desired the psychiatrist panel to find her insane, she felt very superior when she discovered that she had outwitted a group of specialists. She described the thrill and gratification she got from her kills and stated that she felt no regret for her actions. She tried to claim that if she had only been married then she would have been too busy being a mom and housewife to be a murderer. Her trial on June 23 took less than eight hours to complete, and after only twenty minutes of deliberation, the jury pronounced her not guilty by reason of insanity. She was sentenced to stay at the Taunton Insane Hospital for life. Jane was delivered to the hospital on June 24, where she stayed for three and a half decades. As her mind slowly deteriorated, she remained in the hospital until her death on August 17, 1938; she was in her eighties.
Jane was born Jane Wilkinson on July 23, 1798, in Charles County, Maryland.She was the tenth child of Captain William Mackall and Anne Herbert Wilkinson. When Jane was less than a year old her father died. In 1811 her mother moved them to Mississippi Territory. The following year her mother died and she became an orphan at the age of 14. She moved in with her older sister,Barbara,and her husband,Alexander, on their plantation near Natchez. She met her soon to be husband James Long while she was there. They ended up married to each other on May 14, 1815.For the next four years they lived in vicinity and soon became a merchant in Natchez, In 1816, when Jane was 18, she gave birth to her first child Ann on November 26. Later she had another daughter, Rebecca, on June 16, 1819. Twelve days after Rebecca was born Jane wanted to join her husband in Nacogdoches, so she left with her two children and slave, Kian.She left them at the Calvit’s. Jane became ill, but she kept on with the trip and didn’t reach Nacogdoches till August.After a short amount of time she was staying there she had to move with other families to the Sabine to run away from the Spanish troops from San Antonio. She later returned to the Calvit’s to find out that her youngest daughter,Rebecca, had died. James and her
The serial killer that I have chosen to research is Mark goudeau, also known as the “Baseline Killer”. Mark was born on September 6th 1964, he was an american serial killer and rapist. He was involved in one of the two simultaneously occurring serial killer cases going on in South Phoenix, Arizona at that time. Mark’s was born in Phoenix, and was the second youngest of 13 siblings in which six were felons, and four have done prison time. Mark’s mother was a maid working at all different hours of the day, while his father Willie was a lot attendant for different car dealers. They were lower working class which didn’t help with thirteen children to take care of. His father had a drug and alcohol problem, which ran in the family. He later cheated
Jane’s life at Moor house was the depiction of stability. During her time there she created a name for herself. First, she worked as a respectable teacher, helping develop the minds of young children. Then, she crafted friendships for the first time with
Jane's treatment leads her to insanity. When this story was written, there was neither the medicine nor the treatment methods that we have today. If Jane was in today's
After the death of Jane’s parents, her uncle Mr. Reed has taken her in with his family to a mansion called Gateshead Hall. Nine years after Jane uncle has past she has been trapped in Gateshead Hall while suffering the bitter treatment of her aunt Mrs. Reed. Mrs. Reed was resentful of her husband’s favoritism toward Jane and takes every opportunity to neglect and punish her. When Jane is punished by Mrs. Reed she would be sent to the red room by two of Mrs. Reed servants, Bessie and Miss Abbot. The red-room was “a spare chamber, it was one of the largest and stateliest chambers in the mansion” and in this every same chamber is where Jane uncle past (8). Not only did Mrs. Reed treat disrespectfully but her own son, Jane’s older cousin John Reed. John Reed would abuse and punish Jane several times a day, in the words of Jane; “every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh on my bones shranked when he came near”(4). Everyone would ignore Jane’s plea for help especially Mrs. Reed who would act be blind and deaf on the subject. No one except for Mr. Reed show any love and care for Jane during her childhood in Gateshead Hall. Jane said “I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalage” (10). Jane continued by saying that they did not love her not if as little she loved them. Although the family mistreats her, Jane still wished for the atte...
she treated Jane as if she were her own daughter. We realize now that Jane
From an early age Jane is aware she is at a disadvantage, yet she learns how to break free from her entrapment by following her heart. Jane appears as not only the main character in the text, but also a female narrator. Being a female narrator suggests a strong independent woman, but Jane does not seem quite that.
Psychologists have tried to understand the mind of criminals for as long as time. The mind of a criminal is a very difficult thing to comprehend because each criminal is different. Their minds think in different ways, they have different motives and they all have different backgrounds. No two cases are the same. Often times psychologist also have a challenging time figuring out why a person committed a crime, such as murder, is because the criminal will not be able to help them comprehend why they did the things they did. In the wrongdoers mind it seems completely rational but to a sane person it does not. One serial killer that many psychologists have found fascinating, is Theodore Bundy. Psychologist have studied the motives
Jane in her younger years was practically shunned by everyone and was shown very little love and compassion, from this throughout her life she searches for these qualities through those around her. Due to Jane’s mother’s disinheritance she was disowned by Mrs. Reed and her children, and was treated like a servant consistently reminded that she lacked position and wealth.
Before we can discuss what serial killers do, we must first define what a serial killer is. Some people might place serial killers into the same group as mass murderers. This would be incorrect because they are two totally different types of killers. While both of these individuals may kill many people, the difference lies in the reason they kill and the period over which they kill their victims. An event or a build up of circumstance triggers mass murderers and causes them to act.
Serial killers are one of the most fascinating and morbid groups of people to study. A
The stereotype that exists for individuals who commit serial murder is one that mainly includes males of a specific race. However, it is now known that white males are not the only individuals who commit serial murder. Men and women from all racial and ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic statuses have been found to be serial murderers. Although this information has been presented to society, the cultural schema of the white male serial killer is still prevalent. The assumptions that involve serial murderers often include two aspects, the serial murderer is male and the serial murder is a type of “lust murder”, often involving sexual crimes by a sadist (Keeney and Heide, 1995). Keeney and Heide (1994) define serial murder to be the premeditated murder of three or more victims committed over time, in separate incidents, in a civilian context, with the murder being chosen by the offender.
Which allows there killing spree to go on for years even decades without being caught unlike males who get caught within years of committing serial murders. Their victims are usually people they know or have known, and the killing style is not as messy and overdone as a male. They either use poison, or any other non-detectable and not aggressive means. The poisoning method may take a long time and the killer has to be a witness to the victim slowly dying from the small amounts of poison given. The motifs associated with female killers are revenge, control, power, and gained assets. These motifs and the victim types are all emotion triggered. An example is a woman marrying or dating multiple men to just kill him for the assets he owns, this is called the black widow type. The female killers also sometimes do not have a criminal record or even have the stigma of someone troubled or harmful. But they can also be dealing with childhood abuse and/or rape. Causing a psychiatric break adding to why they became serial killers. This is not always the case for everyone who deals with this type of trauma. Just certain people use the traumatizing events to become serial
We learn that Jane is a young girl who is a victim of emotional and
Serial killers differ from other types of murderers. The number of serial killers in the U.S. is staggering. Differences are clear between serial killing and conventional murders. Serial killing can be classified as either motive based or organizational and social based. The Holmes Typology helps to understand the motivations behind serial killing. Serial killers may be even motivated by fame as part of their motivation for killing. John Wayne Gacy could be seen as evil due to his repeated violent acts. Jeffrey Dahmer was also evil by committing his acts of serial murders. Both Gacy and Dahmer had police records prior to their arrests for serial murders. Serial killers are poor candidates for rehabilitation. Their acts are evil.