Belle Gunness (1896-1908) aka "Lady Bluebeard" was the first 20th Century Black Widow. She was never brought to justice. On a farm outside of Chicago, she killed 49 people, including multiple husbands, ranch workers, and children who were put up with her thru adoption agencies. Most of the people died from poisoning, diagnosed as acute colitis, although many others met with freak accidents on the farm. Toward the end, she collaborated in an arson cover-up with one of the ranch workers who was also set up as the patsy while she faked her own death via a headless female corpse on the grounds. Police found the head some years later, determined it was not her's, and conducted an unsuccessful manhunt until 1935. The patsy died in prison, innocent of any crime other than the arson he participated in.