Ann Bilansky

Murderer

1known / alleged victims

Similar offenders

Lydia Sherman Murderer · USA · 1864 Lydia Sherman was also known as “The Derby Poisoner.” She was born in 1824 in B… 10 victims

MA Mary Jane Jackson Murderer · USA · 1856 Mary Jane Jackson was known as “Bricktop.” She worked as a prostitute in New Or… 4 victims

CH Charlotte Jones Murderer · USA · 1857 Charlotte Jones was executed by hanging in Pittsburgh on February 12, 1858. She… 2 victims

JA Jane Williams Murderer · USA · 1852 Jane Williams was a Black slave who lived in the Winston household in Richmond,… 2 victims

Martha Grinder Murderer · USA · 1864 Martha Grinder was convicted of murder in the first degree for poisoning Mary C… 2 victims

Bridget Durgan Murderer · USA · 1867 Bridget Durgan was an Irish domestic who was hanged on August 30, 1867. She was… 1 victim

Random profiles

Graham Stafford Murderer? · Australia · 1991 Graham Stuart Stafford was convicted in 1992 of the murder of twelve-year-old L… 1 victim

Gary Richard Whitton Murderer · USA · 1990 Gary Richard Whitton was born on 02/04/59. He was tried in the First Judicial C… 1 victim

Lawrence Libberton Murderer · USA · 1981 Lawrence Libberton Juan Maya (Hispanic) On November 16, 1981, Juan Maya picked… 1 victim

Freddie Lee Wright Murderer · USA · 1977 Freddie Lee Wright was convicted of armed robbery and of the murders of Warren… 2 victims

Elizabeth Duncan Murderer · USA · 1958 Elizabeth Ann Duncan hired two men to kill her pregnant daughter-in-law, Olga K… 1 victim

Clarence Curtis Jordan Murderer · USA · 1977 Clarence Curtis Jordan was sentenced to death on September 12, 1978. 1 victim

Case Facts

Gender: female
Country: USA
Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Date of birth: 1820
Age at first offence: 39
Characteristics: parricide, poisoner
Victim profile: Stanislaus Bilansky, 52 (her husband)
Method of murder: Poisoning (arsenic)
Date(s) of murder: March 11, 1859
Years active: 1859
Date of arrest: 4 days after
Status: Executed
Executed by hanging on March 23, 1860

Case Summary

Overview

Ann Bilansky was executed by hanging in Minnesota on March 23, 1860 for the arsenic poisoning of her husband, Stanislaus Bilansky.

Background

Ann Bilansky was identified as Mary Ann Evards Wright. She was white and aged 34. She was born around 1820 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and she died in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on March 23, 1860. The case involved her relationship with her husband, Stanislaus Bilansky, and her love for her nephew, John Walker.

The offence

Ann Bilansky administered arsenic to her husband, Stanislaus Bilansky, by putting arsenic in Stanislaus’s soup. Stanislaus Bilansky died within a few days after the poisoning.

Investigation

Ann Bilansky told her friend, Lucinda Kilpatrick, that Ann had probably killed her husband. Lucinda Kilpatrick then mentioned this to Stanislaus Bilansky. Mr. Kilpatrick went to the police, who dug up the corpse and found arsenic in the body.

Arrest and trial

Ann Bilansky was arrested. She was sentenced to hang.

Sentencing

Ann Bilansky was sentenced to hang.

Execution

Ann Bilansky was executed on March 23, 1860. The hanging was carried out in nominal privacy, although people got onto every vantage point to see the proceedings. Contemporary reports said Ann died with “hardly a struggle”.

Other details

Ann Bilansky was described as the only female executed in Minnesota. She was described as the only woman ever to be executed in Minnesota state history. Further reading listed included:

Trenerry, Walter N. (1962). Murder in Minnesota: A Collection of True Cases. Minnesota Historical Society. pp. 25–41.
Bessler, John D., Legacy of Violence: Lynch Mobs and Executions in Minnesota, University of Minnesota Press, 2003. Chapter 3: “The Execution of Ann Bilansky.”
Reference Look For the Woman by Jay Robert Nash. M. Evans and Company, Inc. ISBN 0871313367.
Wikipedia.org home last updates contact

Spotted an error, or have more information about this case?