The Russian mass murderer
Alexe Katharina Popov, alias Madame Popova, killed over 300 men between 1879 and 1909, not for financial gain, but to free married women from their tyrannical husbands. Madame Popova, from the Russian city of Samara, was an advocate of women’s liberation, as she herself was stuck in an unhappy marriage marked by physical and psychological abuse. She offered women her deadly remedy, arsenic, so that they could get rid of their abusive husbands. Madame Popova only demanded a small down payment from the abused women, with the remaining amount payable only after the victim had been killed. She carried out the murders according to the following modus operandi. She was first introduced to the husbands she was supposed to kill. Then she mixed arsenic into their food and drink. For over 30 years, she had built and run a veritable murder empire until a remorseful wife informed the police about Madame Popova’s activities. Madame Popova was then arrested at her home, where a mob had already gathered because word of her series of murders had spread like wildfire. Since the mob wanted to lynch Madame Popova and burn her at the stake, she had to be transported to prison under the escort of the Tsar’s soldiers. There, Madame Popova confessed to over 300 murders without remorse. She justified her actions by saying that she had only killed men who had abused their wives. The deaths of these men had thus spared their wives further suffering. However, this argument did not help Madame Popova, who was shot by the Tsar’s soldiers. This ended the life of the historical serial killer Madame Popova, but she lives on in films and books to this day.
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