Nannie Doss was an unusual serial killer in that all of her known and suspected victims were members of her family. Born Nancy Hazle in 1906 in Alabama, Doss’ adult life was punctuated by finding new husbands and eventually killing them. Yet everywhere Doss went, family members around her also seemed to die inexplicably. According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, besides four husbands, Doss is believed to have killed two of her children, a grandson, a nephew, two sisters, and her mother. 

She was finally caught in 1954 after her last husband, Samuel Doss, died in Oklahoma where the couple lived. Per Alabama Heritage, Samuel fell ill with “burning stomach pain” after eating some of her homemade prune cake and spent weeks in the hospital. When he got finally came home, Nannie wasted no time. She served him coffee laced with arsenic, and he died hours later. The doctor who’d treated Samuel got suspicious, and an autopsy was done. 

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reported that there was “enough poison in his remains to kill 20 men.” The findings led to Doss’ confessions to the murders of four of her five husbands — the last four — according to Alabama Heritage.

Those confessions motivated Oklahoma lawmakers to create a state medical examiner’s office. According to the The Oklahoman, before the Doss murders were discovered, the state operated under simple justice of the peace/coroner system, in which homicides were more likely to go undetected. 

Nannie Doss used arsenic to kill four of her husbands

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