Nannie Doss

Case name

Nannie Doss

Status

Nannie Doss pleaded guilty on May 17, 1955, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. She died of leukemia in the hospital ward of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on June 2, 1965.

Background

Nannie Doss was also known as Nancy Hazle and as “Nannie.” She was the daughter of Dixie and was born in 1905. She was later described as being molested by a string of local men before she reached her middle teens.

Her childhood included a train accident when she was around seven years old in which she hit her head on the metal bar on the seat in front of her when the train stopped suddenly. For years after, she suffered severe headaches, blackouts, and depression, and she blamed these and her mental instability on that accident.

Nannie was described as having erratic education and being a poor student who never learned to read well. Her education was described as erratic because her father forced her children to work on the family farm instead of attending school.

It was stated that her childhood restricted the Hazle sisters’ teenage years; her father forbade makeup and attractive clothing, forbade them to go to dances and other social events, and forbade going to dances and other social events. It was also stated that the reason was to prevent them from being molested by men, which happened on several occasions.

Nannie’s favorite hobby in childhood was reading her mother’s romance magazines and dreaming of her own romantic future; later, her favorite part was the lonely hearts column.

The offence

Nannie Doss poisoned multiple people with arsenic. Her first husband, George Frazer, arrived home one day in 1920 and found the children lying on the kitchen floor dead. Nannie claimed it had been an accidental poisoning.

Relatives and husbands continued to die of “stomach problems” and other such ailments until her fifth husband, Samuel Doss, died after an autopsy showed massive doses of arsenic. The source stated that the autopsy and testing found that Nannie’s two infant children, four of her husbands, two of her sisters, her mother, and a nephew had been killed by arsenic poisoning.

For the Tulsa case tied to Samuel Doss, the source stated that the prosecution centered its case on Samuel Doss, and that she was found mentally fit for trial. It also stated that she was not charged with the other deaths.

The source also included repeated statements that her motive involved financial gain and that she sought romance through her reading. It stated that “money played no significant role in her crimes” in her insistence, and also that she used insurance money, and that her dream was described in her favorite “True Romance” magazines.

Investigation

A doctor did not accept Nannie’s account and ordered an autopsy after Samuel Doss died. The autopsy revealed massive doses of arsenic in Samuel Doss’s system.

After the evidence of arsenic was confirmed, police convinced Nannie to confess. The source described that she issued confessions spanning three decades and at least ten murders, and that the Tulsa case resulted in a life imprisonment sentence.

The source also described that after investigators obtained information and confronted her with evidence, she confessed to poisoning Samuel Doss and other deaths. It stated that she initially refused to acknowledge her role, giggled, and denied poisoning him, before eventually admitting she poisoned him.

The source included the statement attributed to Nannie during police interaction:

“my conscience is clear”

It also included statements attributed to Nannie:

“I was searching for the perfect mate, the real romance of life.”

It included another statement:

“That’s about it,”

Arrest

The source described that Nannie was promptly arrested after the autopsy revealed arsenic in Samuel Doss’s system.

It also stated that she was arrested after investigators had enough evidence to arrest her and questioned her over the course of the night and into early morning.

A quote attributed to Nannie during questioning was included:

Confessions

Nannie Doss confessed to killing multiple people in the course of the investigation. The source stated that she confessed to killing four of her husbands, her mother, her sister Dovie, her grandson Robert, and her mother-in-law (Arlie Lanning’s mother).

The state of Oklahoma centered its case only on Samuel Doss.

Trial

Nannie Doss pleaded guilty on May 17, 1955. The source stated that she had been mentally fit for trial and that the state did not pursue the death penalty due to her gender. She was never charged with the other deaths.

The source attributed statements to Nannie during the process:

“I married these men because I loved them.”

It also included a quote attributed to Nannie:

“I have never poisoned anyone.”

Another quote attributed to Nannie during interrogation included:

“I’m sure I’ll find my perfect mate yet”

Sentencing

Nannie Doss was sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty on May 17, 1955.

The source included a quote attributed to Nannie to her daughter as she was taken away to prison:

“Take it easy,”

It also included the continuation:

“Don’t worry. I’m not.”

The source stated that her sentence barred the electric chair because of her sex.

Appeals

No appeals were described in the provided material.

Outcome

Nannie Doss died of leukemia in the hospital ward of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in 1965. The source also stated the specific death date as June 2, 1965.

Timeline

• May 17, 1955 — Pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
• June 2, 1965 — Died of leukemia in the hospital ward of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

Other details

Known names and identifiers

Nannie Doss was also described as being called Nancy Hazle and as “Nannie.” The source also included popular monikers “The Giggling Grandma” and “Arsenic Annie,” and “Oklahoma’s Jolly Widow.”

Multiple marriages and related deaths described

The source described:

• Her first husband, George Frazer, arriving home in 1920 to find the children dead.
• Her second husband, Frank Harrelson, who was described as dying after an illness following a corn whiskey jar that was buried and then topped with rat poison; it also stated that the doctor ruled the death natural at first with “acute alcoholism,” before it was later connected to poisoning.
• Her third husband, Arlie Lanning, who was described as being an alcoholic and dying after being reported as heart failure; it also stated that the house burned and insurance money went to Nannie.
• Her fourth husband, Richard Morton of Emporia, Kansas, who was described as being poisoned after a timeline that included her poisoning of her mother, Louisa, on January 1953.
• Her fifth husband, Samuel Doss of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was described as being admitted to the hospital with flu-like symptoms, released, and then killed that evening after an autopsy revealed arsenic.
• It also stated that Nannie married Samuel Doss in Tulsa in July 1954 and he died by October 1954.

Insurance and financial gain

The source stated that insurance money was used at various points, including that after Robert Lee’s death she collected $500 life insurance and that she used insurance money to buy ten acres of land and build a small house for herself outside Jacksonville.

It also stated that she collected life insurance payments on Richard Morton worth $1,400 (and described an inflation-adjusted amount).

Prison correspondence and last illness

The source stated that before her death, she was corresponding with a farmer in North Carolina and that she and baked a cake and mailed it.

It described that she served ten years before succumbing to leukemia in 1965.

Quotations about the “perfect mate” motif

The source included additional quotations attributed to Nannie:

“Ive been a Christian man all my life and you’re going to be a Christian woman. You don’t need a radio and television.”

“I’m not near or far sighted,”

“I’ve had terrible headaches all my life, or rather from the time I was seven. That was when the train hit the buggy I was riding in and I was thrown out”.

“I’ve never poisoned anyone”.

“I don’t know why you think I did,”

“All right, all right…”

“Now my conscience is clear”.

Additional statements attributed to investigators

The source included a quote attributed to police questioning:

“Which one are you going to tell us about next, Nannie?”

Additional personal details

Nannie’s relative and family name details were included in the source. It described her as having a brother and three sisters, and that she was one of five children.

It also described that she had children including Florine and multiple daughters with Charles Braggs. It described grandchildren including Robert Lee Haynes, a grandchild who died after being in her care.

The source also described that baby Lee survived three days in her care, dying after an initial suspicion of rat poison.

Judge mentioned

The source mentioned Judge Elmer Adams as the judge who sentenced Nannie to life imprisonment after her guilty plea.