{{Short description|American serial killer}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox serial killer |name=Bertha Gifford |image= |caption= |birth_name=Bertha Alice Williams |other_names= |birth_date=30 October 1871 |birth_place=[[Morse Mill, Missouri]], U.S. |death_date={{Death date and given age|1951|8|20|79}} |death_place=Missouri State Hospital, #4, [[Missouri]], U.S. |victims=3–17 |country=United States |states=[[Missouri]] |beginyear=1900s |endyear=1928 |apprehended=1928 |penalty=Committed to mental facility }}
'''Bertha Alice Williams Graham Gifford''' (October 30, 1871 – August 20, 1951)<ref name="deathcert">{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1951/1951_00031245.PDF|title=Missouri Deaths|year=1910–1960 |location=Missouri|accessdate=March 6, 2011}}</ref> was a farmwife in rural [[Catawissa, Missouri]] during the early 1900s who was accused of murdering three members of the local community and suspected in 15 additional deaths.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TUtIDQAAQBAJ|title=Wicked Women of Missouri|last=Wood|first=Larry|date=2016-05-25|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781625857392|language=en}}</ref> Some consider her to be America's fifth solo female [[serial killer]], behind [[Belle Gunness]], [[Lydia Sherman]], [[Jane Toppan]], and [[Nannie Doss]].<ref name="tainted">{{cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=S. Kay |title=The Tainted Legacy of Bertha Gifford |publisher= CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|year=2008 |isbn=978-1530983483}}<!--|accessdate=March 6, 2011--></ref> [[Category:Medical serial killers]]
==Personal life== Bertha Alice Williams was born in [[Morse Mill, Missouri]],<ref name="deathcert"/> the daughter of William Poindexter Williams and his wife Matilda, née Lee.<ref name="ws19230824">{{cite web| title =Mrs. W.P. Williams|work=The Western Star ([probably] Coldwater, KS)|date=August 24, 1923|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kscomanc/williams_mc.html|accessdate=April 24, 2013}} Obituary of Bertha Gifford's mother, as quoted on Rootsweb</ref> She was one of 10 children. She was married to Henry Graham<ref name="m_lic">{{cite web|title=Jefferson County Missouri marriage licenses |accessdate=January 30, 2009 |url=http://jeffersoncountylibrary.org/genealogy/democrat_1907.shtml |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426141835/http://jeffersoncountylibrary.org/genealogy/democrat_1907.shtml |archivedate=April 26, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and this union produced one daughter, Lila. Following Graham's death,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jeffersoncountylibrary.org/genealogy/democrat_1906.shtml |title=Henry Graham obituary (Bertha Gifford's first husband and supposed first victim) |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426141830/http://www.jeffersoncountylibrary.org/genealogy/democrat_1906.shtml |archivedate=April 26, 2009 |accessdate=January 30, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> she married Eugene Gifford<ref name="m_lic"/> and they had one child, James.
==Crimes== Gifford was renowned in her community for her cooking skills and caring for sick neighbors and relatives. Despite this, five people died in her care, prompting a grand jury investigation.<ref name=":0" /> In 1928, Gifford was arrested at [[Eureka, Missouri]]<ref>St. Louis Post Dispatch</ref> and charged with three murders. Following the exhumation and [[post-mortem]] exams of Edward Brinley and Elmer and Lloyd Schamel, the bodies were found to contain large amounts of [[arsenic]].<ref>{{Cite news |year=1928 |orig-date=09 October 1928 |title=Story of Murders Verified by Poison: Exhumation Substantiates How Man and Boys in Missouri Died. |page=4 |work=The Washington Post(1923-1954) |location=Washington D.C.}}</ref> Gifford was put on trial for their murders in [[Union, Missouri]]. Following the three-day trial, she was found [[not guilty by reason of insanity]] and committed to the Missouri State Hospital #4, a psychiatric institution,<ref name="dj19870424">{{cite web|title=Reflections on Farmington State Hospital|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mostfran/hospitals/state_hospital_reflections.htm|date=April 24, 1987|work=The Daily Journal (Flat River, Missouri)|accessdate=April 24, 2013}} as quoted on Rootsweb</ref> where she remained until her death in 1951.<ref name=":0" />
Gifford acted as nurse for her sick neighbors, but 17 people died in her care. Suspicions were raised about an additional twelve deaths after the grand jury investigation of the five deaths.<ref name=":0" /> Given the high mortality rates and the unregulated use of arsenic for medical and other purposes at the time, it is not certain that she intentionally killed people who had been in her care.<ref name=":0" />
== See also == * [[List of serial killers in the United States]] * [[List of serial killers by number of victims]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.berthagifford.com Bertha Gifford website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Bertha}} [[Category:1871 births]] [[Category:1951 deaths]] [[Category:American female serial killers]] [[Category:20th-century American murderers]] [[Category:American people who died in prison custody]] [[Category:Criminals from Missouri]] [[Category:People acquitted by reason of insanity]] [[Category:People from Franklin County, Missouri]] [[Category:People from Jefferson County, Missouri]] [[Category:People from St. Louis County, Missouri]] [[Category:Poisoners]] [[Category:Prisoners who died in Missouri detention]] [[Category:Serial killers from Missouri]] [[Category:Serial killers who died in prison custody]]