"Black Widow" Grandmother Executed in Florida
April 5, 1998 - 0:0
MIAMI -- A 54-year-old grandmother nicknamed "The Black Widow" was executed on Florida's electric chair, officials at the Florida State Prison in the town of Starke reported. Judy Buenoano was executed at 7:13 a.m. (1213 GMT), March 30, prison officials told reporters gathered outside the prison. Buenano was sentenced to die for poisoning her husband with arsenic in 1971.
Buenoano was also sentenced to life in prison for drowning her 19-year-old handicapped son in 1980, and for trying to kill her fiancee in 1983 by putting a bomb in his car. Another man who lived with her after the death of her husband died under mysterious circumstances, and an autopsy revealed traces of arsenic. With each death, Buenoano received some $240,000 in life-insurance benefits.
Before her execution, Buenoano's surviving son, daughter, a cousin and a spiritual adviser spoke to television reporters outside the prison and pleaded for her life. "The state says we are the victims, and we say stop the killing now," Buenoano's daughter, Kimberly Hawkins, said in a written statement. (AFP)
Buenoano was also sentenced to life in prison for drowning her 19-year-old handicapped son in 1980, and for trying to kill her fiancee in 1983 by putting a bomb in his car. Another man who lived with her after the death of her husband died under mysterious circumstances, and an autopsy revealed traces of arsenic. With each death, Buenoano received some $240,000 in life-insurance benefits.
Before her execution, Buenoano's surviving son, daughter, a cousin and a spiritual adviser spoke to television reporters outside the prison and pleaded for her life. "The state says we are the victims, and we say stop the killing now," Buenoano's daughter, Kimberly Hawkins, said in a written statement. (AFP)