mary ann cotton
DESCRIPTION
Mary Ann Cotton. By Emily Casey. What Makes a Serial Killer. Adolescent life Dysfunctional backgrounds involving sexual or physical abuse Bipolar mood disorder Feeling of resentment towards society Isolation Absence of love or nurture Unstable home life Mental illness Most not psychotic - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Mary Ann Cotton
By Emily Casey
What Makes a Serial Killer
Adolescent lifeo Dysfunctional backgrounds
involving sexual or physical abuse
o Bipolar mood disordero Feeling of resentment towards
societyo Isolationo Absence of love or nurtureo Unstable home life
Mental illnesso Most not psychotico Psychopathso Perceives themselves as Godso Become addicted t killing
Early Life Born in October 1832 in Low
Moorsely, County Durham Near poverty and abuse as a
child Feared her father Age 8, family moved
o Year after father fell down a mine shaft to his death
Mom remarried Hated stepfather, but had to
stay to keep money coming in for the family
Married early to get away from her stepfather
Interpretation of a young Mary Ann Cotton
First Marriage Married William
Mowbray 20 years old Had 5 children
o 4 died from gastric fever
Husband later died of intestinal disorder in January of 1865
Cotton then collect insurance when Mowbray died
Second Marriage George Ward in 1865 3 ½ year old
daughter diedo Daughter Isabelle lived
with grandmother Ward died due to
intestinal problems Cotton collect
insurance as soon as he died
During marriage her mother died on June 9th 1867 of stomach pains
Third Marriage Married to James
Robinson Isabelle had stomach
pains and diedo Robinson’s two other
children died of the same reason
Their child, Mary Isabelle, died after birth due to stomach pain
Robinson threw Cotton out
1800’s arsenic container
Fourth Marriage Cotton was living on the streets Married Fredrick Cotton Had sons Robert and Charles Edward Fredrick died from gastric fever in December
1871 Mary didn’t collect insurance
Medical Certificate of Fredrick
Cotton
Charles Edward Cotton After Fredrick died, Charles Edward was only Cotton boy still alive Mary believed he was in the way of her She told parish official, Thomas Riley, Charles was “sickly” and she
“won’t be troubled long. He’ll go like all the rest of the Cottons.” Five days later, July 12th 1872, Charles was dead Riley was suspicious, so he told the doctor not to write a death
certificate yet Mary first call after death of Charles was to insurance office
o She was told that she
Death Certificat
e of Charles Edward Cotton
Media Attention Local newspaper found
out about Mary Ann and her suspicion in killing Charles Edward
They found out she lost 3 husbands, a lover, 2 other family members, and a dozen of children.o All of them died of
“stomach fevers”
Trial Trial began March
5th 1873 Found that Mary
Ann killed victims using arsenic poisoning
Only took 90 minutes to find her guilty.
She was hanged on March 24 1873 at Durham County Gaol by William Calcraft
Death Sentence for Mary Ann Cotton
Type of Killer Serial Murderer
o Killing of 3 or more victims over an extended period of time
o Mary Ann Cotton killed about 20 people over a period of 10 years
Fit the demographics of a serial killer
Motiveo Collect insurance money after
death Type
o Hedonistic• Kill for pleasure• Just for fun or for profit
Good or Evil? Mary Ann Cotton is evil
o Killed her family members to get money out of it
o Killed by means of arsenic poisoning Type
o Moral evil- harms perpetrated by some agent
Characteristics of an evil person that Mary Ann haso Deceives otherso High level of respectability to victimso Projects sins/evils onto very specific
group Mary Ann does not say if what she
did was evil or noto If she did she probably wouldn’t
because she repeatedly killed family members by arsenic poisoning
Psychoanalysis Descriptors
o Age- killings during her twenties and thirties
o Sex- femaleo Race- Caucasiano Residency- Murton in
Durham Countyo Proximity-o Social skills- very good, she
had 4 husbands and 2 loverso Work history- worked in a
factoryo Educational level- fairly
smart, but no college or other legitimate schooling
Works Cited http://
heroinesofhistory.wikispaces.com/Mary+Ann+Cotton
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/cotton/1.html
http://murderrevisited.blogspot.com/2009/05/mary-ann-cotton.html
http://www.maryanncotton.co.uk/