- 2 days ago
These cases prove that sometimes the most dangerous place to be is at home. Join us as we count down some of the most shocking and disturbing cases of wives who sent their husbands to an early grave. From black widows collecting insurance payouts to crimes fueled by jealousy and rage, these real-life cases are as chilling as any thriller. Which case do you find the most disturbing?
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00:00Police arrested Nancy, accusing her of killing Dan.
00:03We'd later learn of a 2011 essay Nancy penned titled, How to Murder Your Husband.
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking into the most shocking and disturbing cases of wives who sent their
00:14husbands to an early grave.
00:16You know, you think, oh, well, you know, his first wife died at three o'clock in the morning, and
00:21maybe that's going to happen to me.
00:25Karina Smith. Sometimes rage builds so quietly that by the time it erupts, it's catastrophic.
00:31In July 2020, 59-year-old Karina Smith of Neston, Cheshire, learned of allegations that her 81-year-old husband
00:38Michael Baines had committed sexual impropriety against minors.
00:42This claim included their son Craig, who passed away in 2007.
00:46Though unproven, Smith believed every word.
00:49She didn't seem to be happy about it.
00:50The following day, she filled a garden bucket with boiling water and mixed in three kilograms of sugar, creating a
00:57scalding adhesive liquid.
00:58As Baines lay asleep in bed, she poured it over him and walked out.
01:02Baines died five weeks later from his extensive burns.
01:05Following a trial at Chester Crown Court, Smith was found guilty and sentenced to life with a minimum of 12
01:11years.
01:12Kelly Cochran.
01:14Investigators initially thought they were dealing with a twisted love triangle.
01:17Instead, they uncovered a case that sounded disturbingly close to a crime thriller.
01:21Chief Frizzo says either of them had a motive for murder.
01:25After all, Chris was Kelly's secret lover.
01:29But the chief doesn't have the proof to make a murder charge stick.
01:33Kelly Cochran and her husband Jason reportedly had a pact.
01:36If either spouse cheated, the lover would die.
01:39Prosecutors say that is exactly what happened to Christopher Reagan in 2014.
01:43Kelly says as she and Chris were still in a sexual embrace at the top of the stairs, Jason was
01:51lying in wait.
01:53His .22 rifle aimed straight at Chris's head.
01:56Two years later, Jason himself was dead after Cochran injected him with a narcotic and strangled him inside their Indiana
02:02home.
02:03During questioning, Cochran made cryptic comments hinting there could be other victims, fueling suspicions she may have been a serial
02:10killer.
02:10There were times she listed like as many as 21 people.
02:13Do you believe that?
02:15No.
02:15More realistically, probably five.
02:18There could be five more people out there that she has killed.
02:21Yes.
02:22She eventually received a life sentence for Reagan's murder and another 65 years for killing her husband, Jason.
02:29Omaima Nelson
02:29This case became infamous because of how bizarre and deeply disturbing it was.
02:34Egyptian immigrant Omaima Nelson had only been with her husband, Bill Nelson, for a short time before their relationship spiraled
02:40into violence in 1991.
02:42To the outside world, if you look at her, she looks perfect.
02:47But inside is an inferno of rage.
02:51You feel beautiful tonight?
02:53An inferno of violence just waiting to erupt.
02:56Nelson later claimed Bill assaulted her during bondage activities, saying she fought back in self-defense.
03:01Prosecutors argued the attack went far beyond self-defense after evidence showed she dismembered his body and attempted to destroy
03:08evidence in horrifying ways.
03:10She went to one of her prior boyfriends.
03:12I need help getting rid of his body.
03:15And says, can you help me remove my husband's teeth?
03:19Rumors of cannibalism exploded across tabloids after statements Nelson allegedly made to a psychiatrist, though she later denied them.
03:27The sensational details turned the trial into a media obsession, but the jury ultimately convicted her of second-degree murder.
03:34She was sentenced to 27 years to life and repeatedly denied parole.
03:38She should not be paroled.
03:40She's a very much danger to society because she's actually now doing the same stuff, since she's been in prison,
03:47that she did in the outside world.
03:49Mariam Sanda
04:03Jealousy, betrayal, and fury converged on the night of November 9, 2017, in Abuja, Nigeria.
04:09Mariam Sanda accused her husband, Beliaminu Bello, of infidelity.
04:12A visitor had actually intervened earlier that very same day to stop Sanda from attacking Bello with a broken bottle.
04:19Hours later, with no one there to intervene, she stabbed him multiple times.
04:23The Nigerian police charged Ms. Sanda to court on two-count charge of culpable homicide.
04:29The police in the charge alleges the killing was premeditated, and as such, they will be seeking the death penalty.
04:36During the highly publicized trial, Sanda denied everything, claiming Bello fell onto a broken shisha pot during a struggle.
04:43The court didn't buy it.
04:44After years of delays and adjournments, she was sentenced to death on January 27, 2020.
04:50In 2025, the case returned to national headlines when Nigerian President Bola Tenubu commuted Sanda's sentence to 12 years.
04:58However, the Supreme Court swiftly reversed that decision.
05:01The Supreme Court held that it was wrong for the executive to seek to exercise his powers to grant pardon
05:07over a case of culpable homicide, in respect of which an appeal was pending.
05:12Robin Lee Rowe
05:13Robin Rowe's crimes shocked investigators not just because of the victims, but because of the pattern they believed they uncovered.
05:20In 1992, a suspicious apartment fire in Boise, Idaho, killed her estranged husband Randy and their two children, Joshua and
05:27Tabitha.
05:27Her friend, Joan McHugh, told police that Robin had fallen asleep at her house earlier that evening.
05:34Robin had awakened her just a short while earlier and wanted to return home.
05:39She had a premonition that something bad had happened to her family.
05:43Detectives quickly determined the blaze had been deliberately set using an accelerant, and that the smoke alarm had been disabled
05:49beforehand.
05:49As authorities dug deeper, they discovered another devastating fire from years earlier that had also killed one of Rowe's children,
05:56followed by a life insurance payout.
05:58For Idaho police, the similarities between the tragedies had to be more than coincidental.
06:06Robin Rowe was now emerging as the prime suspect in the deaths of her husband and two children.
06:12Financial motives soon became central to the prosecution's case, especially after investigators uncovered multiple insurance policies on her family members.
06:21Robin was listed as the sole beneficiary on all of the policies, and she stood to gain more than $275
06:28,000 from the three deaths.
06:33It was powerful circumstantial evidence of murder.
06:36Robin Rowe was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
06:41Della Dante Sutorius
06:43To many people, Della Dante Sutorius appeared glamorous and mysterious, but after the 1996 death of her husband, renowned Cincinnati
06:52heart surgeon Daryl Sutorius, investigators uncovered a much darker reality.
06:56Investigators learned that the lonely doctor had met his bride-to-be through a dating service, and had rushed to
07:02the altar only three months later, seduced by her lies.
07:06The honeymoon hadn't lasted long.
07:09Daryl was found dead in the basement of their Ohio home from a gunshot to the head, and suspicion quickly
07:15shifted towards his wife after forensic evidence linked her to the shooting.
07:18Investigators traced the serial number on the gun that killed the doctor.
07:22It's a .38 revolver.
07:23It was registered to Della Sutorius.
07:26Purchased shortly before the murder.
07:28As detectives investigated further, they discovered that much of Dante's carefully crafted backstory was fabricated.
07:35Former husbands and partners also described a pattern of threats, intimidation, and violent behavior.
07:40Prosecutors argued Daryl planned to divorce her after learning the truth about her past, which set her off.
07:45They were not married very long and under Ohio law.
07:49She was not really entitled to much by way of financial settlement.
07:52Dante was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison, where she died in 2010.
07:59Molly Martins Corbett
08:00So sometimes he would choke you in anger, and sometimes he would choke you during sex.
08:05Did that scare you?
08:06Everything always felt so real and so scary in the moment when it was happening.
08:12What began as a romance worthy of a movie ended in one of Ireland's most closely followed true crime cases.
08:18Jason Corbett fell in love with American au pair Molly Martins after she cared for his children following his first
08:23wife's death.
08:24They married in 2011 and moved to North Carolina.
08:27But by 2015, their marriage had reportedly become volatile.
08:31He would dictate what she should wear or what she should shop for or when she should be home or
08:37when she should or shouldn't leave or text her repeatedly or engage in just various forms of, you know, controlling
08:46behavior.
08:46On August 2nd, Jason died after being beaten with a baseball bat and brick inside the family home.
08:52Molly and her father, former FBI agent Thomas Martins, claimed they acted in self-defense after Jason attacked her.
08:59He wanted to shut me up, so he covered my mouth and then he started choking me.
09:04But at some point, when he stopped, I screamed.
09:06The next thing I remember is my dad standing in the doorway.
09:11Prosecutors argued the sheer severity of the assault told a different story.
09:15Though initially convicted of second-degree murder, both later accepted plea deals for voluntary manslaughter and were released in 2024.
09:23Molly and Tom make for a rare pair of murder defendants.
09:26She'd never broken the law while he'd made a career enforcing it, working for the FBI for 30-plus years.
09:34Amber Cummings.
09:35This case forces you to sit with a deeply uncomfortable question.
09:39What would you do to protect your child?
09:41Amber tried a couple of times to escape from James and always failed.
09:48And he got angry and the abuse escalated.
09:51In December 2009, 32-year-old Amber Cummings shot her husband James Cummings while he slept.
09:57She then fled with their daughter to a neighbor's house and called police.
10:00The FBI became involved when investigators discovered Nazi memorabilia, child exploitation content, radioactive materials, and instructions for building a dirty
10:09bomb inside the home.
10:11They were going to drive to Washington, D.C. for President Barack Obama's inauguration, and he was going to explode
10:16a dirty bomb down there.
10:17Cummings said she feared he would eventually harm their young daughter, believing his obsession with underage girls had become increasingly
10:24dangerous.
10:25Amber killed her husband.
10:26She is 100% responsible for his death.
10:30But there is no doubt in my mind, not only did Amber save her daughter from a horrible fate, but
10:37possibly the United States.
10:39Prosecutors reached a plea agreement capping any sentence at eight years with no more than one year of jail time.
10:45The judge ultimately suspended her sentence entirely.
10:49Nancy Crampton Brophy
10:50Sometimes reality writes a darker story than fiction ever could.
10:54Nancy Crampton Brophy was already known for writing romantic suspense novels, when her husband, Chef Daniel Brophy, was found shot
11:01to death at the Oregon Culinary Institute in 2018.
11:04As investigators began looking for suspects, attention naturally turned to Dan's wife, Nancy.
11:10Except, everyone said it was obvious Nancy and Dan loved one another.
11:15The case became international news after people discovered Crampton Brophy had once published an essay titled How to Murder Your
11:22Husband.
11:23Investigators later uncovered surveillance footage placing her near the school around the time of the killing, contradicting earlier statements she
11:29made to police.
11:30The state said Crampton Brophy lied about where she was the morning of the murder.
11:35Her van was caught on surveillance in the area of the Oregon Culinary Institute in southwest Portland around the time
11:42of the murder.
11:43Prosecutors argued financial problems and lucrative life insurance policies provided the motive.
11:47Crampton Brophy insisted she loved her husband and denied murdering him.
11:51Still, in 2022, a jury convicted her of second-degree murder, and she received a sentence of 25 years to
11:58life.
11:58I've had a struggle believing Nancy.
12:03She was our daughter-in-law for a long time.
12:07And when she was arrested, it was a great surprise to us.
12:10Brynn Hartman.
12:11Phil mentioned more than once that it became physical.
12:16He said that Brynn would lose control and physically attack him.
12:24And he would have to hold her arms down and restrain her.
12:29The death of beloved comedian and actor Phil Hartman devastated Hollywood.
12:33In May 1998, after an evening out with friends, his wife Brynn Hartman returned home and reportedly argued with her
12:39husband before he went to sleep.
12:41Hours later, she entered the bedroom and fatally shot him while he slept.
12:45Brynn Hartman gets her hand on a Smith & Wesson gun.
12:48Phil is lying with his legs crossed on the bed.
12:51And Brynn gets next to him on the bed and fires three shots into him.
12:57Friends later say Brynn had struggled with substance use disorder and emotional instability for years.
13:02After confessing the shooting to a friend, she returned home as police were contacted.
13:07By the time officers arrived, Brynn had barricaded herself inside the house before taking her own life.
13:12When we got to the last place where she could be, which was a master bedroom, we called to her
13:19and asked her to surrender and come out with her hands up.
13:23And this is the moment when the cops realize they're facing off against absolutely no one.
13:27Phil Hartman's sudden death at just 49 years old sent shockwaves through the comedy world,
13:32with fellow comedians and actors mourning the loss of one of television's greatest talents.
13:36The Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony was special because I felt like it brought Phil back to life.
13:43And then to see SNL castmates, it was good for my soul and I think it was good for the
13:48soul of just about everybody there.
13:50He finally got his just due.
13:52Clara Harris.
13:53It's not the same, Clara, I know.
13:55Something, I think something happened.
13:57I can't believe it.
13:58Even those with seemingly perfect lives can harbor dark thoughts and may even act out on them.
14:03With a good career and a loving family, Clara Harris seemed to have it all.
14:07That all changed when she suspected that her husband David was having an affair.
14:11She hired a personal detective who confirmed her suspicions on July 24th, 2002.
14:16That night, she went to a hotel where he and his mistress were meeting.
14:19When he came outside, she reportedly ran over him multiple times, killing him, while her stepdaughter helplessly watched on.
14:26There was a video tape, you know, when they tried to redevelop.
14:31Harris received a 20-year prison sentence for the act in 2003.
14:35She was freed in 2023 following the completion of her parole, but her infamous crime lives on to this day.
14:41The orthodontist was escorted to an SUV where she was given a long welcome home hug by a family friend.
14:48Pamela Smart.
14:49She tells police that Billy and Pam were lovers.
14:56Back when cameras were first allowed in courtrooms, this quickly became the trial of the decade.
15:01On trial was Pamela Smart, a woman accused of coercing her underage boyfriend and his friends into breaking into her
15:07home and slaying her spouse Greg.
15:09She tried to claim that she had nothing to do with the concoction of the violent plan.
15:12But testimonies from the boys involved and recordings of Smart's conversations led to her being convicted of several charges,
15:19including being an accomplice to murder in the first degree.
15:21I believe that while I was making my documentary, Teens Speak Out,
15:27James and Russell became acquainted with my husband without me knowing and got him addicted to drugs and became his
15:35main supplier.
15:37She received a life sentence in 1991 and maintained her innocence for decades,
15:41only finally accepting full responsibility in 2024 in an attempt to get her sentence reduced.
15:47You know, now that I am older and able to look back on things, I can see so many errors
15:54that I made and I can see how obscured my judgment was.
15:59Betty Broderick.
16:00Why would somebody from Betty's background act the way she did?
16:05We just wanted the jurors to ask the question.
16:07Up until 1982, Betty Broderick had a pretty picturesque life.
16:11The veneer cracked that year when her longtime husband Dan hired Linda Kolkina as his assistant.
16:16Betty began to suspect they were having an affair, and in 1985, her fears were validated when he moved out
16:22to be with her.
16:23A long divorce ensued, pushing her closer and closer to the brink.
16:27He kept telling me that I was sick and that I was crazy and that I needed help.
16:30And he told the children that I was sick.
16:33How did that affect you?
16:36It made me feel sick.
16:37Things boiled over in 1989 when she began acting erratically.
16:41Vandalism quickly escalated to murder when she broke into Dan's home on November 5th, 1989, and shot him and Linda
16:48multiple times in their bed.
16:49She was immediately jailed, and after two trials, she was handed two lengthy sentences, which she served until her death
16:56in prison in May 2026.
16:58Mrs. Broderick is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
17:02Mr. Carpenter, how does your client plead?
17:04We enter a plea of not guilty, Your Honor, and request a jury trial.
17:07Melanie McGuire.
17:08Melanie McGuire, once a married mother to two little boys and a fertility nurse, is today a 47-year-old
17:15inmate at the Edna Mann Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey.
17:19Some people commit acts so violent that they seem incomprehensible.
17:22That was the case for Melanie McGuire, who fatally shot her partner Bill in 2004.
17:27She then dissected his body and distributed the parts across three different suitcases before throwing them into the Chesapeake Bay.
17:33Their discovery sometime later would lead to her being dubbed the suitcase murderer, a title that follows her to this
17:39day.
17:40Virginia Beach detectives find out that Melanie McGuire had given most of Bill's belongings away to a friend's cousin.
17:47Eventually, they found out that most of Bill's clothing was still in black trash bags.
17:51She pled not guilty and still maintains her innocence many years into her life sentence.
17:56To this day, a confirmed motive still isn't known.
17:59No matter the reasoning, her horrific crime has ensured that she'll spend the rest of her days in prison, as
18:04she won't be eligible for parole until she's 101.
18:07The desecration that has been considered by this court has been a significant element that causes this court to consider
18:18the aggravating factors associated with the murder.
18:22Betty Newmar.
18:23You know, the news showed her walking along with bracelets on, and then she had that orange outfit on.
18:32I said, that woman always dressed neat.
18:36Some call her the Black Widow.
18:38Before finally being arrested in 2007, Betty Newmar appears to have claimed as many as five husbands.
18:44Most had been murdered in violent ways, though final husband John Newmar supposedly died naturally, although arsenic poisoning was suspected.
18:52It was Newmar's brother that heavily encouraged the police to investigate.
18:55They found that she allegedly hired hit men to do her dirty work for her, all to collect their life
19:00insurance payouts.
19:01They're nuts.
19:04I never said I want you to kill Harold.
19:07Who says that I did?
19:09I didn't approach anybody.
19:11Before she could go to trial, she herself died in 2011, so there was no chance for the evidence to
19:16be presented and her guilt or innocence established.
19:19It's hard not to wonder what the outcome would have been.
19:22Okay, the evidence is so strong that the community needs to hear it, and they need to decide whether or
19:29not that person is guilty of that crime.
19:31Susan Wright.
19:32They looked more than like a genuinely happy family.
19:36They looked like a veritable ad for any kind of product that you'd want to sell to middle America.
19:44After claiming to have suffered severe physical abuse at the hands of her husband Jeff, Susan Wright struck back.
19:49In January of 2003, she tied him to the bedposts and proceeded to stab him 193 times before burying his
19:57remains.
19:58When the case went to trial in 2004, there was an immediate divide.
20:01The defense claimed it had been done in self-defense, while the prosecution argued that she was weaponizing her emotions.
20:07The prosecution, using a co-worker, reenacted the night Susan Wright tied her husband Jeff to the bed with neckties.
20:14Reenacting the murder in court added fuel to the fire.
20:17When the smoke cleared, Wright was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years.
20:21A new witness coming forward in 2008 led to her punishment being slightly reduced, and she was eventually released on
20:27parole in 2020.
20:29What this means is that today, as the cliche goes, is the first day of the rest of Susan's life
20:34in the free world.
20:35Mary Elizabeth Wilson.
20:36I think Mary was acquiring a taste for murder and money.
20:42It was her sense of humor and nonchalant way of grieving her spouses that caused Mary Elizabeth Wilson's downfall.
20:47Her first husband died in 1955 following decades of marriage.
20:51Her second died in 1956 after just months.
20:54Both seemingly passed from natural causes.
20:56The pattern continued on twice more, with both men dying within a year.
21:01Each time, their money went to Wilson.
21:03She made copious jokes about them, leading to an investigation.
21:06The bodies of her last two revealed high amounts of phosphorus, and she was convicted of their deaths,
21:12with evidence later suggesting she killed her first two as well.
21:14She was condemned to death, but her age got it reduced to life in prison, where she died in 1962.
21:20You said he was in hospital.
21:23Did I? I don't remember saying that.
21:27Losing one husband is unfortunate.
21:30Losing two is careless.
21:32Chisako Kakehi.
21:33Police say an autopsy found cyanide in the stomach and blood of her 75-year-old fourth husband.
21:39He died in December, less than two months after their wedding.
21:42As Wilson and our next killer prove, age doesn't have to be a barrier when committing heinous crimes.
21:48Chisako Kakehi was in her 60s when she was arrested in 2014 after cyanide was found in her deceased second
21:54husband's system.
21:55Police may have a hard time proving Kakehi killed her previous partners.
21:59Autopsies are rare in Japan.
22:01During the extensive trial, it was found that her cruelty dated back to 2007,
22:05and that she'd killed three men in total, along with attempting to kill another.
22:09And there may have been other victims as well.
22:11After she killed them, she would collect the inheritance and find a new victim.
22:15In 2017, she was condemned to death by hanging,
22:19but died of natural causes in 2024 before her sentence could be carried out.
22:23The court heard how the accused amassed millions of euros worth of insurance payments and inheritance.
22:30Mary Aubrey.
22:31All the way back in the 1600s, French midwife Mary Aubrey lived with her husband Denis in London.
22:36Their marriage was perilous, as Denis was an abusive spouse with a substance use disorder.
22:41Having made unsuccessful attempts to exit the relationship, Aubrey demanded a change in his behavior, or else.
22:47When his awful mistreatment continued, she followed through on her threat to end his life.
22:56After having done so, she dismembered him in an attempt to discard any evidence of her crime.
23:01This plan was ineffective, and Aubrey was arrested about a month later.
23:04She pled guilty, and was sentenced to death by burning.
23:18Betty Lou Beats.
23:26Though she's believed to have killed and injured multiple husbands,
23:30Betty Lou Beats has managed to win over the hearts of countless supporters.
23:33They've both claimed that a majority of her marriages were abusive,
23:36and that she attacked back out of self-defense.
23:38In 1985, she was arrested for the 1983 slaying of her fifth partner, Dawn,
23:44whom she had shot and stuffed inside a well.
23:46Upon investigating her home, the remains of her fourth husband were also found.
23:50Though she initially tried to pawn the blame off onto her children,
23:53she was eventually found guilty and sentenced to death.
23:56She was executed in 2000 amid protests, putting a permanent end to her spree.
24:01Human rights groups took up her cause.
24:04The locals were not sympathetic to her plight.
24:07Her attempt to blame her own children showcases a very sick, evil person.
24:13She was accused of the while being the dead man.
24:17She thought she was the only one who doesn't have a baby on her hand.
24:17She extended over to her family of children.
24:17She said, you know, can she let her baby on the back.
24:18She said, you know, we're diaries to one of her patients.
24:19She doesn't have a baby on her glass.
24:19She said, you know, so you know, when you're going to play a baby on her face.
24:21You
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