This week’s story brings us what is probably one of the most prolific serial killer of all time, yet, her case is barely talked about. Amelia Dyer, also know as the OGRESS OF READING, is believed to have committed 4 hundred murders.
And if that wasn’t enough to give you chills, maybe this will ; her victims were infants.
Amelia’s childhood was far from perfect. She was the youngest of 5 and her family settled in a small village near Bristol. As a kid, Amelia had to care for her mother, Sarah Hobley, who was plague by mental illness. Sarah had often violent fit, but young Amelia stayed by her side until her death in 1848.
Even through those struggled, Amelia turned out to be a smart kid. She learned to read and write, and discovered a passion of poetry. After the death of her mother, Amelia used her newly found free time to enter a apprenticeship. At the age of 24 years old, Amelia married George Thomas, who was 59 years old at the time.
It’s at this time that a shift a happens in her life. Amelie starts training as a nurse and that when she learns from one of the midwife that she could easily earn some extra money. Basically, the she would used her own home to offer lodging and shelters to women who had gotten pregnant outside of wedlock, which obviously, at the time, was badly viewed. Baby Farming was a normal custom at the time. A baby farmer would accept custody of a baby or a child in exchange of payment. Sadly, some of those farmers saw this as an easy money grab and didn’t give the children the care they needed. Those who were put under their care were often starved or drugged, some even going to the extend of murder in order to keep the money without the burden of an extra mouth to feed. Around 1867, a series of articles started to exposed the awful condition of baby farming, but it’s not until 1872 that the practice started to be regulate. This didn’t protect the children much, and it’s only when the CHILDREN ACT 1908 came around that things would actually change, citing that ” no infant could be kept in a home that was so unfit and so overcrowded as to endanger its health, and no infant could be kept by an unfit nurse who threatened, by neglect or abuse, its proper care and maintenance “
That would put the adoption system under the protection of the state, creating a more regulated process.
So, in 1869, after the death of George, Amelia was left alone with her daughter, Ellen, and baby farming seemed like a good way to get some money quickly. She’ll get married again a couple years lather to a man named William Dyer and had two more children. This marriage would not last and the couple would eventually separated.
She posted an add saying that she could help expecting mother and adopt the baby in exchange of a one-off payment. She would claim to be a respectable, married women ready to offer a perfect home to children in need. Amelia didn’t care about the children under her care. She first let them died of neglect or overdosing them with an opioid solution, but soon, she turned to murder, killing them quickly after they got under her care. For a long time, she was free to do her killings. It’s only in 1879 that she was finally arrested when a doctor got suspicious.
She was only sentence to 6 months of hard labor.
But from what I can find, this really hit her hard and her mental health got really bad. When she was release, she spent some times in mental institute and showed some suicidal tendencies. Amelia also started to abuse alcohol and drugs, which only made her situation worst.
She went back to her whole way and started baby farming again. And with that came more murder. Amelia would learn from her mistake and decided not to involve doctor to get death certificates, instead, she would disposed of the bodies herself. If a family asked to have their baby back, she would simply give them an other one in order to protect her murderous habit. Police were still very aware of her occupation, thanks to parents trying to contact their child, and Amelia starts using fake names and moving her own family around, hoping evade authorities. She would also check herself into asylum to hide when they got too close
In 1896, Amelia posted an add : “Wanted, respectable woman to take a young child.” She would received and replied from a young 25 years old women named Evelina Marmon. Evelina gave birth to a daughter that she named Doris. Her planed was to find a nice family, but to eventually reclaim her child. She wanted to pay a weekly fee, but obviously, Amelia asked for a one off payment. Amelia killed Doris almost immediately, wrapping tape around the baby’s neck The next day, an other baby arrived at the London home and she would used the same tape used on dories to kill little Harry. She threw the bodies in the river.
Amelia threw at least 6 bodies in the river and on March 30th of that same year, one of them was found. A baby girl named Helena Fry.
Evidence leaded the investigation to Amelia Dyer, and they decided to send a women as a decoy. When they enter her house, police where hit by the smell of human decomposition. They also found plenty of evidence in the London home including the tape used to kill the children, adoption papers and letters from families asking about their babies. She was arrested on April 4th and charged with murder. The river was searched and they found 6 bodies, including Dories and Harry. Evelina had to identified her daughter’s remains.
During lather interviews, Amelie would says : “I used to like to watch them with the tape around their neck, but it was soon all over with them.”
Amelia Dyer pleaded guilty to one of the murder, the one of Doris. Her defiance was insanity, putting forward her multiple visit to mental hospital throughout her life. But it only took minutes for the jury to fin her guilty. On June 10 1896, Amelia was hanged for her crime. Her finale words were ” I have nothing to say”
It is impossible to say how many children were killed by Amelia Dyer, but with everything found during the investigation, it is believe to be a very high number, some saying over 4 hundred adoption.
Only 3 of her victims were identified.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Dyer#Background
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_farming
https://allthatsinteresting.com/amelia-dyer
Sarah in Zombieland 
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