⚡Publicly Buzzed⚡

On This Day in True Crime History — November 2, 1984 42 years ago today, Velma Barfield (52), the North Carolina serial killer nicknamed “Death Row Granny,” made history for two reasons nobody would want to be remembered for. She became the first woman executed in the United States in 22 years and the first woman in the country executed by lethal injection. Her method of murder was poisoning. And her victims were people who trusted her. Velma struggled with an addiction to prescription drugs. To support her habit and pay her bills, she began stealing money, forging checks, and even taking out a loan in her mother’s name. When she feared someone would discover what she’d done, she poisoned them. But here’s what I find so disturbing about her explanation. Velma claimed she never intended to kill anyone. She said she only wanted to make them sick long enough to replace the stolen money before anyone found out. Then they died. And she kept doing it. Her victims included her own mother, Lillie Bullard, two elderly people she had cared for, Dolly Edwards and John Henry Lee, and her boyfriend, Stuart Taylor. Taylor had already discovered she was forging checks on his account and threatened to report her to authorities. She forged another check anyway. Then she bought ant poison and put it in his tea and beer. He died, too. Velma eventually confessed to four fatal poisonings, but she was convicted and sentenced to death for Taylor’s murder. And there were two other deaths that raised serious questions. Her first husband, Thomas Burke, died in a house fire in 1969. Her second husband, Jennings Barfield, died in 1971 after becoming violently ill. Velma denied killing either of them. But after her arrest, investigators exhumed Jennings’ body. Testing revealed arsenic in his remains, and a medical examiner concluded that he had died from arsenic poisoning. Velma never admitted to killing him. During her years on death row, she became deeply religious and spoke openly about her addiction, her crimes, and her remorse. I’ve been watching an old prison interview with her, and I’ll admit something. She wasn’t quite what I expected. She’s soft-spoken, almost grandmotherly. It’s difficult to reconcile the woman speaking in that interview with someone who repeatedly poisoned people who trusted her. Was her remorse genuine? Did she really change? Or was she still trying to explain away what she’d done? I have my own thoughts, but I’d rather you watch her speak and decide for yourself. On November 2, 1984, Velma Barfield was executed wearing pink pajamas. Watch the interview. I’m curious what you think. 👀