Criminal. She received notoriety for being the first woman executed in the United States since 1962; for being convicted of the arsenic murder of her fiance, Stuart Taylor; and for being the subject of Jerry Bledsoe's 1998 book, “Death Penalty.” Later, it was discovered that she had also killed her own mother, Lillie Bullard. Although she was convicted of a single murder, she admitted to the murders of three people for whom she served as caretaker, John Henry Lee and Montgomery and Dollie Edwards. She also admitted to murdering her second husband, Jennings Barfield. All were murdered by arsenic poisoning . To finance a prescription drug habit related to chronic back pain, she had been stealing and forging checks and murdering her victims to prevent this crime from being discovered, hence the motive of the crime. Before she was executed in 1984, she confessed to her son, Ronnie, that she had killed his father and her first husband, Thomas Burke, by starting a fire in the bedroom where he was in bed in an alcoholic stupor. He died of smoke inhalation at the age of 38. The fire also killed the family pets: a Siamese cat, Sadie, and a poodle, Termite. Barfield was convicted and sentenced to death in 1978, but appeals and stays of execution delayed justice for six years. Her defense was “Multiple Personality Disorder.” She was finally executed on November 2, 1984 by lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was the first woman to be executed by the means of lethal injection. Her son buried his parents near each other, but her name is not on the marker. She murdered at least seven people.
Criminal. She received notoriety for being the first woman executed in the United States since 1962; for being convicted of the arsenic murder of her fiance, Stuart Taylor; and for being the subject of Jerry Bledsoe's 1998 book, “Death Penalty.” Later, it was discovered that she had also killed her own mother, Lillie Bullard. Although she was convicted of a single murder, she admitted to the murders of three people for whom she served as caretaker, John Henry Lee and Montgomery and Dollie Edwards. She also admitted to murdering her second husband, Jennings Barfield. All were murdered by arsenic poisoning . To finance a prescription drug habit related to chronic back pain, she had been stealing and forging checks and murdering her victims to prevent this crime from being discovered, hence the motive of the crime. Before she was executed in 1984, she confessed to her son, Ronnie, that she had killed his father and her first husband, Thomas Burke, by starting a fire in the bedroom where he was in bed in an alcoholic stupor. He died of smoke inhalation at the age of 38. The fire also killed the family pets: a Siamese cat, Sadie, and a poodle, Termite. Barfield was convicted and sentenced to death in 1978, but appeals and stays of execution delayed justice for six years. Her defense was “Multiple Personality Disorder.” She was finally executed on November 2, 1984 by lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was the first woman to be executed by the means of lethal injection. Her son buried his parents near each other, but her name is not on the marker. She murdered at least seven people.
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