ABSTRACT
Poisoning is often portrayed as the work of evil, cunning, secretive, and physically weak women. The evil, cunning, secretive, and physically weak men are generally assigned more violent tools for killing, such as guns, knives, or strangulation. The case studies presented were chosen to represent a spectrum of women poisoners with various levels of intelligence and education, and provide examples of poisoning in a variety of social situations. Poisons may be included in food or beverages at varying intervals and in varying amounts. Chronic poisoning may be intentional to create the appearance of a lingering illness rather than an unexpected sudden death. Food items can also be used for poisoning victims outside the home through common practices such as taking food to institutionalized individuals, or gifting specialty food items. The police investigation of the poisonings uncovered the couple's long affair, which had included two abortions during their years together.
