1. Margie Velma Barfield was an American serial killer who was convicted of one murder but eventually confessed to six murders in total.
14 Facts About Velma Barfield
1. 2.
Velma Barfield was the first woman to be executed by lethal injection.
3.
Velma Barfield was born in Eastover, North Carolina, but was raised near Fayetteville.
4.
The couple had two children and were reportedly happy until Velma Barfield had a hysterectomy and developed back pain.
5.
Burke began to drink and Velma Barfield's complaints turned into bitter arguments.
6.
In 1974, Lillian Bullard, Velma Barfield's mother, showed symptoms of intense diarrhea, vomiting and nausea, only to fully recover a few days later.
7.
In 1975, Velma Barfield was convicted of seven counts of writing bad checks and sentenced to six months in prison.
8.
In 1976, Velma Barfield began caring for the elderly, working for Montgomery and Dollie Edwards in Lumberton, North Carolina.
9.
Velma Barfield died soon afterward and Barfield later confessed to his murder.
10.
Taylor died on February 3,1978, while Velma Barfield was "trying to nurse him back to health"; an autopsy found arsenic in Taylor's system.
11.
Velma Barfield was imprisoned at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, in an area for escape-prone prisoners and mentally ill prisoners, as there was no designated area for women under death sentences at the time and she was the state's only female death row inmate.
12.
Velma Barfield was executed on November 2,1984, at Central Prison.
13.
Velma Barfield was buried in a small, rural North Carolina cemetery near her first husband, Thomas Burke.
14.
Velma Barfield's execution raised some political controversies when Governor Jim Hunt, who was challenging incumbent Jesse Helms for his US Senate seat, rejected Velma Barfield's request for clemency.