The Black Widow

Hello hello True Crime Club and welcome back to the blog. I want to remind you that these are sensitive topics being discussed, and they may not be suitable for all readers. We don't have a lot of information in the case due to it being so long ago. But the information we do have, is shocking, so prepare for the story of: Lyda Southard, The Black Widow.

Lyda was born Lyda Anna Mae Southard on October 16th, 1892. She grew up in Keytesville, Missouri located just northeast of Kansas City. Between the years of 1915 to 1920, Lyda committed 6 murders over the span of 5 years, but we will get into that.

A young Lyda had fallen in love with a man by the name of Robert Dooley so much so that when Lyda had moved to Twin Falls, Idaho, Robert was not far behind her. On March 17th, 1912 the two wed and began settling down on a ranch in Twin Falls, with Robert’s brother Edward. As two people do after marriage, Robert had arranged for his brother Edward, to set up a life insurance policy on Robert. In the event of Robert’s death, Lyda would receive $4,500 (I know it doesn’t seem like a lot now but in 1912, that was a fairly significant number. For example: in 1912 you could purchase a medium-priced home for $2,750). There was also a life insurance policy with both of their names on it, which in the event of death, the opposing one was to receive $2,000. In 1914, the couple brought a daughter into the world by the name of Lorraine Dooley.

On August 9th, 1915 Lyda’s brother in law Edward had fallen violently ill with typhoid and he passed on a few days after. And on October 12, 1915, typhoid had also taken her husband Robert, and in 1915, the healthy 2 year old child that was a product of the marriage, 6 weeks after the child had allegedly ‘drank out of a contaminated well’ Lorraine had passed away too.

In 1917, Lyda had realized that she was too young to become a widow and in June, Lyda Dooley had become Lyda McHaffle. She had married William G McHaffle who was native to Montana. However after a year, and almost 3 years to the day from Robert’s death, William G McHaffle had passed away from ‘complications of influenza’ and ‘diphtheria’. Lyda received $500 In Montana, she then met a man named Harlan Lewis and wed him in 1919, her third marriage. It was short-lived due to the untimely and sudden death of Harlan Lewis, 3 months after they were wed. Harlan’s death certificate stated that he passed from ‘gastro-enteritis’. Lyda received $5,000 for his death. Lyda somehow, after the death of her daughter and 3 of her husbands, carried on. Lyda moved back to Idaho but not to her same location, she moved to Pocatella where she very quickly met Edward F. Meyer, who quickly fell for Lyda and asked for her hand in marriage. Just like that, for the 4th time, Lyda was a married woman now by the name Lyda Meyer. However, a month after they wed, he was pronounced deceased due to typhoid when she had received $10,000 for his death with her being the sole recipient.

Now a 4th time widow, law enforcement are beginning to investigate the deaths of Lyda’s husband. The bodies of the men, including her brother in law and Lyda’s daughter were exhumed and there were high levels of arsenic in the systems of the bodies. Earl Dooley who was a chemist who resides in Idaho, was the chemist who tested for arsenic. Arsenic can be found in drinking water from ground sources, such as well water. It is also found in foods such as rice and fish. Arsenic attacks the skin, nervous system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, liver, kidney, bladder, prostate, immune system, endocrine system, and developmental processes. It is highly associated with skin, lung, bladder, kidney and liver cancer. Most cases of arsenic poisoning occur from accidental ingestion of pesticides, any amount in the system under 5 mg, effects only last around 12 hours and no treatment is necessary. However a larger amount, can be used in a less commonly used tactic for suicide. Until the middle of the 20th century, arsenic was used to treat syphilis and is currently used to treat promyelocytic leukaemia. The effects of an arsenic related death are similar to those of typhoid and gastrointestinal issues. The levels of arsenic in the home were found through the sand outside the home of The Meyers on his last visit to Edward. But by the time that Earl had informed police of what the legitimate cause of death was, Lyda had fled to California and married Paul Southard, Like the rest of her husbands, Lyda had attempted to get Paul to take out a larger life insurance policy but due to his ties with the military, Paul had refused. Soon Paul was transferred to Hawaii, in which Lyda would tag along. But what Lyda did not know was that law enforcement had been waiting for her and as soon as she had landed, police had obtained Lyda in their custody.

Lyda had other plans than being in police custody because before long, Lyda had escaped the prison and met Harry Whitlock, who would be Lyda’s 6th and final husband. Luckily enough for Harry, Lyda was captured again, before she killed him as well.

Lyda returned to Twin Falls for her trial which was described as technical and drug out, and Lyda’s defense? The death certificate that stated ‘typhoid’ as the cause of death. She was found guilty of second-degree murder after a jury deliberation of 23 hours on November 4th, 1921. 10 years to Boise State Penitentiary.

Oh did you think we were done? HA. On May 4th, 1931 Lyda had pried a bar from her window in her cell, climbed a ladder and escaped right over the wall f the prison. But how did Lyda accomplish this on her own? She didn’t. For a period of time, inmate David Minton had been throwing love notes to Lyda over the wall of the prison. David Minton had been paroled from prison 3 weeks prior to Lyda’s escape and had visited Lyda 2 days before she had escaped. Law enforcement began a national search for the two. However Minton wasn’t hiding. They had located David and began to question Lyda's whereabouts. He had given them an exact city, on the grounds that Lyda had used him to escape and then left him. Lyda was found in Topeka, Kansas she had dyed Black hair and her two front teeth were now gold. But Lyda didn’t live by herself, she wasn’t living outside or finding her own way in life, no. Lyda was now known as Lyda Whitlock, that’s correct, she married yet again for a 6th time, much like her 5th husband, he refuted the idea of him taking out a life insurance policy and Lyda had failed to mention that her 5 preceding husbands had died due to her negligence. Lyda went back to prison and seemed like a sure-fire way to end a manipulating murderer’s career.

But friends, that’s where you’d be wrong. Lyda had manipulated prison guards into favors reported in a 1933 expose of prison conditions. Lyda had been able to be unsupervised for 5 hours during a meeting with her sick mother. That same day she was permitted all-day outings, she had automobile rides and she was also able to go to the theater before her return to the prison. When this had caught wind of the media, the current Warden, George Rudd had resigned and said that while she was given these liberties, she never betrayed the trust he had placed.

From 19 to the end of her career, Lyda knew how to get men wrapped around her finger. Lyda wed 7 men, 5 BEFORE she was caught offing her husbands and family with flystrips. And when she knew there was no way out of being in jail, she manipulated a guard into having freedom, when many people including her judge and a jury, decided that she was not fit to those freedoms. When Lyda was caught after marrying Harry Whitlock, she had spent the rest of her sentence in prison. In 1943 Lyda received a full pardon, it is believed the same year of her release she married a man named Hal Shaw.

After her release from prison and her marriage to Hal, Lyda went by Anna Shaw. On February 5th of 1958 Anna Shaw died of a heart attack in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Photographs of The Black Widow's victims: