Velma Barfield

Margie Velma Barfield (née Bullard; October 29, 1932 – November 2, 1984) also known as Death Row Granny was an American serial killer who was convicted of one murder but was linked to seven murders in total. She became the first woman in the United States to be executed after the resumption of capital punishment in 1976, She was also the first woman to be executed by lethal injection.

Life and murders Velma Barfield was born Margie Velma Bullard on October 29, 1932, in Eastover, North Carolina, but was raised near Fayetteville. Her father was reportedly physically abusive and her mother did not intervene. Velma escaped her tumultuous household by marrying Thomas Burke in 1949. The couple had two children and were reportedly happy until Velma had a hysterectomy and developed back pain. In 1970, Velma Bullard married a widower, Jennings Barfield, but the union lasted less than a year, as Jennings died of heart complications on March 22, 1971.

In 1974, Lillian Bullard, Velma's mother, showed symptoms of intense diarrhea, vomiting and nausea, only to fully recover a few days later. Later that year, during a Christmas visit, Bullard fell ill again with the same symptoms but died after being hospitalized on December 30. Although she subsequently confessed to the murders of Bullard, Dollie, and John Henry Lee, she was tried and convicted only for the murder of Taylor.

Imprisonment and execution Barfield was imprisoned at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, in an area for escape-prone and mentally ill prisoners, as there was no designated area for women under death sentences at the time of her incarceration. She was the state's only female death row inmate. A death row unit for female inmates in North Carolina was subsequently established at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women.

During her stay on death row, Barfield became a devout Christian. Her last few years were spent ministering to prisoners, for which she received praise from evangelist Billy Graham.

Barfield's involvement in Christian ministry was extensive enough that an effort was made to obtain a commutation to life imprisonment.

After Barfield's appeal was denied in federal court, she instructed her attorneys to abandon a further appeal to the United States Supreme Court, having accepted her upcoming execution and wanting to "die with dignity." at Central Prison. She released a statement before the execution: "I know that everybody has gone through a lot of pain, all the families connected, and I am sorry, and I want to thank everybody who have been supporting me all these six years."