Lyda Ambrose
Serial killer
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- Gender
- female
- Country
- USA
- Location
- Missouri/Idaho, USA
- Date of birth
- 1891
- Age at first offence
- 26
- Characteristics
- attempt to collect insurance money
- Victim profile
- Husbands and lovers
- Method of murder
- Poisoning (arsenic)
- Date(s) of murder
- 1917 - 1920
- Years active
- 1917–1920
- Date of arrest
- December 1920
- Status
-
Life imprisonment
Sentenced to life imprisonment
Case record: Lyda Ambrose (Lyda Catherine Ambrose)
Background
Lyda Catherine Ambrose was born in 1891 in Missouri. Little was known about her early life until 1917.
Ambrose was a “Black Widow” whose motive involved insurance policy payoffs.
The offence
Ambrose used arsenic to poison five men, who were either her husbands or her boyfriends. Her killing sequence began in 1917 and continued with multiple deaths connected to life insurance policies.
Investigation
Police initially were unaware of Ambrose’s pattern with her husbands. Once her cottage was searched, authorities found a large amount of old-fashioned arsenic-laced flypaper. Toxicology tests on her late husbands revealed heavy doses of the poison in their remains.
Arrest
Police arrested Ambrose in Oakland, California and returned her to Idaho.
Trial
Ambrose was convicted of first degree murder and was given life imprisonment.
Sentencing
Ambrose was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Appeals
No appeals information was provided.
Outcome
Ambrose escaped from Idaho state prison on May 4, 1931.
She was recaptured in Kansas City in 1932 while she was searching for a new husband.
Ambrose died in jail of old age.
Aftermath
Ambrose’s death ended her prison escape and recapture sequence, after she had been serving a life sentence.
Timeline
- 1917 — Ambrose killed her first fiancee in Keytesville, Missouri.
- June 10, 1918 — Ambrose married the owner of a restaurant where she worked as a waitress in Twin Falls, Idaho.
- October 1920 — Ambrose married husband number four.
- May 4, 1931 — Ambrose escaped from Idaho state prison.
- 1932 — Ambrose was recaptured in Kansas City while searching for a new husband.
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