The Black Widow Killer Of Pottery City

In January 1912, police we're called to the home of Rev. William Christy. Upon arrival they found him deceased. His cause of death was determined to be poisoning. Little did police know, they just stumbled upon the latest victim of a serial killer. This left many questions. Who would murder such a respected member of the community and why? Soon the investigation led them to his Christy's newly wed wife of 3 weeks, Laura. Upon her arrest, Laura admitted that she murdered William because he was mean to her. She claimed that she gave him the poison inside of a capsule. He took it thinking it was medicine for his indigestion. She then withdrew $200 from William's bank account. Laura then admitted to also murdering her 7th husband, John Ebert of Newell, WV by the same manner the year before. Further investigation revealed that Laura had been married 8 times, 3 of which were within 2 years. Investigators also uncovered a disturbing pattern, 6 of her 8
husband's died of mysterious causes, but she would only admit to the last two. Laura appeared in Columbiana County Court and was declared insane. She was sent to the Lima Hospital For The Criminally Insane. National media ran with the story of the Black Widow Killer drawing the attention of the nephew of Laura's 6th husband, Issac Randles. He saw her picture in the newspaper and told his uncle. Randles came forward claiming that he was still married to Laura, who told him her name was Elsie May Harmon. Apparently Laura and Randles were married on March 30th 1925 and moved to Leyland, Ohio. 3 weeks after their wedding, Laura told Randles that she was going to New York to check about some furniture. She never returned. A few weeks later, Randles received a letter from Laura said she had returned to East Liverpool to find work and
would not be coming back. Randles filed for and was granted a divorce. Despite the fact that many East Liverpool residents are completely unaware this dark side of the areas history, the story of Laura Christy continues to gain national attention, even recently coming in at #3 on Investigation Discovery's 5 Famous Black Widows.
(Sources:
The Nevada Daily Mail
Not Your Average Black Widow)

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