Clara Green Carl

Clara Elenore Carl (née Green; May 7, 1876 – March 3, 1962) was an American writer and suspected serial killer. In 1922, she was convicted of poisoning her second husband, Frank Emmerson Carl, and his father, Alonzo Carl. She was sentenced to life imprisonment but paroled after 15 years. During her time in prison she escaped once and evaded recapture for a week. It is suspected that she also killed her first husband, Robert Gibson. She was "considered one of the most daring woman criminals in the country," earning the nickname "feminine Bluebeard." On January 2, 1897, she married her childhood sweetheart, Robert Matthew Gibson, in Ohio. However they married again on March 14, 1908, at Covington, Kentucky.

They moved to Cleveland, where he worked as a teacher while she became a writer for a newspaper. The couple came up with a get-rich-quick scheme where they travelled from town to town, writing and selling books of local historic areas. Their plan failed. While in Huntsville, Missouri, Gibson became ill with what was assumed to be influenza. He died March 18, 1920, leaving Clara a widow and the sole beneficiary of a $3,000 life insurance policy . The day after her husband's funeral, Clara asked Herman to meet with her to discuss obtaining Alonzo's property from Dr. Iles. Evidence of arsenic in her second husband and father-in-law revealed this to be true. An investigation into her first husband's death revealed the same results. She died at a nursing home in Canton, Ohio, aged 85.