The Blackest Widows

Dark-hearted wives are the subject here as we look in depth at the crimes of Tracey Grissom and Annie Monahan. Annie Monahan was arguably the most successful "black widow" of the early twentieth century when you factor in the time it took for authorities to finally catch up with her. She had killed three husbands and her own niece, garnering sizable payouts from life insurance companies as she acted as a beneficiary in all of the cases. She performed these acts of murder in the sleepy town of New Haven, Connecticut, dealing with police who always seem to be one step behind her. Monahan grew bolder with each murder, increasing payout amounts in each case and even marrying the younger brother of a man she had killed. Claiming to be a victim of rape and other abuses, a distraught Tracey Grissom would travel to her ex-husband Hunter's workplace and shoot him six times in the back, receiving a twenty-five-year life sentence for his murder. Her defense attorney would argue that Tracey was motivated by post-traumatic stress disorder caused by her Hunter's constant abuse and sexual assaults. One jury member had even asked the judge to be lenient in her sentencing as they were not allowed to hear details of her Hunter's alleged abuses (beatings, rape, sodomy). But what really happened in the years that led up to May 15th, 2012? Was she in fact the victim of years of abuse by a psychotic husband? Or did she want to cash in on his $100,000 life insurance policy?