Rhonda Belle Martin

Rhonda Belle Martin (née Thomley; November 4, 1906 – October 11, 1957) was an American serial killer who was executed by the state of Alabama for the murder of Claude Carroll Martin, her fourth husband, in 1951. Martin's method of murder was rat poison; she was also accused of poisoning and murdering her own mother, as well as five of her seven children, all of whom were below the age of 12 at their deaths. Only one of her victims, her former stepson and fifth husband, Ronald Martin, was known to have survived. Although she initially confessed to all the murders she was accused of committing, she later recanted her confession in the murders of two of her children.

Martin's execution made her the third and final woman to be electrocuted in Alabama before the Furman v. Georgia ruling, as well as the last woman put to death in the state until 2002, when Lynda Lyon Block was executed.

Life before murders Rhonda Belle Thomley was born in 1906 in Alabama. Before her arrest, she worked as a waitress.

Prosecutors said collecting insurance proceeds prompted her killing spree, although this is unlikely since she collected only enough to cover burial costs, and she never admitted this was the case.

Martin was arrested in March 1956.

Death row and execution Because Martin had a heart condition, prison officials usually withheld information from her regarding her scheduled execution dates until the dates were very near.

Execution On October 11, 1957, Martin was led to Alabama's electric chair while she held a Bible in her hand. Martin was reportedly calm but quietly weeping at her execution as she recited the 23rd Psalm alongside the prison chaplain. She received the first shock at 12:10 am, and she was pronounced dead at 12:16 am and removed from the death chamber at 12:25 am. She declined to make a final statement.

Martin's execution featured a slight mishap before the time she received the first shock, as her executioners threw the switch activating the electricity before the electrodes were ready for use. Martin had to wait several minutes until the electric cycle was finished before the authorities could complete her execution.

In 1956, Martin had expressed a desire for her body to be sent to an unspecified "scientific institution" for autopsy, so scientists could analyze her and find out why she committed her crimes. After her execution, prison officials found a note expressing a similar sentiment. Martin's note read, in part, that she wanted physicians "to find out why I committed the crimes I committed. I can't understand it, for I had no reason whatsoever. There's definitely something wrong." Instead, after her execution, some family members received her body in a funeral home in Montgomery.

Martin was the last woman executed in Alabama until 2002, when Lynda Lyon Block was executed for the murder of a policeman.