The Story Of Twin Falls “Lady Bluebeard” Serial Killer 100 Years Ago

The story of Lyda Southard, Twin Falls very own serial killer, is one that still fascinates me to this day. Her nickname was Lady Bluebeard, assuming because Bluebeard himself had seven wives and she is suspected of killing many of her husbands.

She was living in Twin Falls when she was 21 years old and married her first husband in 1912. His name was Robert Dooley. They had a daughter and lived with his brother. A few months after Robert got a hefty life insurance policy out for himself, he mysteriously died along with their daughter and his brother. She collected life insurance money on all of them. She claimed her daughter died from drinking dirty well water.

But that's not all:

Two years later she ended up marrying another man and they moved to Montana together. Her second husband, William, died in Montana under very similar strange circumstances. She collected life insurance money on him as well

Wait, there's more:

Lyda returned to Twin Falls, found another husband, Ed. She met him at the cafe she worked at where everyone in Twin Falls loved her. Shortly after Ed and Lyda got married, he got sick and died even though he never seemed to have any other health issues. And you guessed it, tried to get insurance money. However, after 3 dead husbands police started getting suspicious. When they exhumed Ed's body they found arsenic in his system.

Arsenic was the key:

They ended up finding arsenic in her other husbands bodies as well once they were exhumed. Lyda ended up fleeing from Twin Falls when she started to realize that they were suspicious of her. She was arrested in Hawaii after she married another man. They used to move really fast back in the day I guess.

Prison time:

Lyda Southard was caught, sentenced to 10 years to life in prison at the Idaho State Penitentiary in Boise. However, this crazy story definitely doesn't end here because she befriended another man named David.

THERE'S STILL MORE:

David helped Lyda escape from prison in 1931 but their relationship didn't last. Lyda ended up in Denver, marrying ANOTHER man until she was recaptured.

And the kicker:

Lyda stayed in prison until 1941 but was pardoned in 1942. Once she got out of prison she got married FOR THE 7th TIME to another man whom she did not kill, and died of a heart attack in 1958. She is buried in Sunset Memorial Park here in Twin Falls.

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