Random "Little Old Ladies" Who Committed Murders (17 items)

(#9) Angela Bingham Suffocated Her Young Grandson

In 2016, Felton police arrested Angela Bingham after she confessed to killing her 3-year-old grandson. Bingham reportedly said she couldn't afford to have a kid around, so she held a towel over her grandson's mouth until he died from lack of oxygen. In order to mask the smell of his decomposing body, she "stuffed towels around the bedroom door and burned incense."
Bingham allegedly tried to kill herself after committing the murder. Delaware authorities sentenced her to 22 years in prison.
(#8) Nilda Sheffield Killed Her Daughter and Grandchildren to Save Them From 'Hell'

In 2015, Nilda Sheffield, 53, wrote in her diary that she wanted to kill her daughter and grandchildren to free them from "hell." She compared herself to Abraham, a biblical figure God called upon to sacrifice his own son.
The Florida grandmother then shot 31-year-old Elizabeth Flores and her children, ages 7 and 2, before turning the gun on herself. According to police reports, Sheffield killed her family with a shot to the back of the head while they slept. Sheffield reportedly believed the family would be reincarnated and meet again in their next lives.
(#13) Dorothea Puente
- Dec. at 82 (1929-2011)
At 64, Dorothea Puente stood trial for murdering nine people, including a former boyfriend. Monterey County convicted Puente after law enforcement found her victims' bodies buried under her unlicensed boarding home in Sacramento.
Puente murdered victims who police referred to as “shadow people,” or people without friends or family - the elderly, alcoholics, and the disabled. She gave her borders fatal doses of drugs and then cashed their Social Security checks. Authorities apprehended Puente in the early '90s, and she served her life sentence in Chowchilla prison, where she later died at the age of 82.
(#6) Gloria Marie Tensley Kept A Skeleton In Her Closet

In July 2016, 36-year-old Allen Trobaugh moved in with 65-year-old Gloria Marie Tensley and helped her take care of things around the house. In the closet of her home in Paragould, Arkansas, he found a human skeleton. He told Region 8 News:
I tried to open it and finally opened it and it was like this wind blew out and cobwebs everywhere, I just immediately looked down and said, 'Oh no, that can’t be real.'
Trobaugh said he lived with Tensley for about three months before finding the body. Reportedly, Tensley was cashing Social Security checks in the dead man's name after she stashed his body in the closet. Authorities charged her with abuse of a corpse and fraud.
(#15) Helen Golay
- 92
Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt, dubbed the “Black Widows,” set up an elaborate scheme where they would take in homeless men, apply for life insurance policies for these men valued in the thousands, and then crush them with their cars in staged hit-and-run accidents.
The ladies received $2.8 million in insurance payouts before Southern California authorities unearthed their plot. The Black Widows killed two men, but police discovered their crimes after the women failed a third murder attempt. The women tried to convince a homeless man named Jimmy Covington to apply for an $800,000 life insurance policy. He became suspicious and fled.
In 2008, law enforcement charged Golay and Rutterschmidt with two counts each of murder and conspiracy in the deaths of Kenneth McDavid and Paul Vados. Los Angeles courts sentenced the Black Widows to life in prison.
(#17) Sandra Layne Repeatedly Shot Her Teenage Grandson

In 2012, law enforcement arrested 74-year-old Sandra Layne after she shot her 17-year-old grandson multiple times. Reportedly, she shot him in the chest, back, and abdomen. At the trial, her lawyer argued self-defense, claiming that her grandson, Jonathan Hoffman, was a drug addict and Layne was afraid of him.
Michigan prosecutors alleged she was fed up with her grandson's juvenile delinquency and plotted to murder him. Hoffman had even called authorities during the shooting, further cementing Layne’s guilt to the jury. The courts sentenced Layne to 22 years in prison.