1. In 1911, Hazzard was found guilty of manslaughter in the state of Washington and was sentenced to 2 to 20 years of hard labor for killing at least 15 people for financial gain at a sanitarium she operated near Seattle in the early 20th century.
16 Facts About Linda Hazzard
1. 2.
Linda Hazzard was released on parole after only serving two years and later, on the condition that she move to New Zealand, received a full pardon from Governor Ernest Lister in 1916.
3.
Linda Hazzard died at 70 after subjecting herself to her treatment methods.
4.
Linda Laura Hazzard was born Lynda Laura Burfield in Carver, Minnesota, oldest of 7 children of Susanna Neil and Montgomery Burfield.
5.
Linda Hazzard had no medical degree, but was licensed to practice medicine in the state of Washington through a loophole that grandfathered in some practitioners of alternative medicine without degrees.
6.
Linda Hazzard developed a fasting method that she claimed was a panacea for all manner of illnesses, ridding the body of toxins that caused imbalances in the body.
7.
Linda Hazzard established a "sanitarium" called Wilderness Heights, located in Olalla, Washington, where inpatients fasted for days, weeks, or months on a diet consisting of small amounts of tomato, asparagus juice, and occasionally orange juice.
8.
Linda Hazzard claimed that the deceased had succumbed to undisclosed or hitherto undiagnosed illnesses such as cancer or cirrhosis.
9.
Linda Hazzard's opponents claimed that they all died of starvation; local residents in Olalla referred to the sanitarium as "Starvation Heights".
10.
In 1912, Linda Hazzard was convicted of manslaughter for the death of Claire Williamson, a wealthy British woman, who weighed less than fifty pounds at the time of her death.
11.
At the trial, it was proven that Linda Hazzard had forged Williamson's will and stolen most of her valuables.
12.
Linda Hazzard was sentenced to 2 to 20 years in prison, which she served in the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
13.
Linda Hazzard was released on parole on December 26,1915, after serving two years, and the following year Governor Ernest Lister gave her a full pardon.
14.
In 1917, a Whanganui newspaper reported that Linda Hazzard held a practicing certificate from the Washington state medical board.
15.
Linda Hazzard died of starvation in 1938 while attempting a fasting cure.
16.
Linda Hazzard died that afternoon, just before his coworker was to transfuse blood.