#12

Death Row Granny

aka Margie Velma Barfield

Velma Barfield is an American serial killer who committed her crimes from 1971-1978 in the State of North Carolina. She claimed the lives of 6 victims.

Margie Velma Bullard was born on October 29, 1932 in rural South Carolina. She was born to an abusive father and a mother who failed to protect her from her father's abuse. Her family was poor and worked as farmers in the Fayetteville, NC area. She was the oldest female and the second child of nine children. Velma would later claim that her father raped her and her younger sisters but allegations have never been proven.
In 1949, she marries Thomas Burke in order to escape her father's abuse. The two reportedly had a happy marriage and had 2 children together--daughter Kim and son Ron. All was well until Velma had several health issues & developed a drug addiction as well as a total personality change. Thomas was also injured in a car crash and suffered several head injuries, making him unable to work. Because of this, Thomas began to drink and the couple had frequent arguments. Velma soon became the breadwinner of the home and struggled to make ends meet for the family. She has Thomas admitted to Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, NC for alcoholism. Thomas becomes bitter towards Velma and feels like she has betrayed him. He returns home from the hospital but the relationship is more strained than ever before.



On April 4, 1969, Thomas Burke is at home and passes out after drinking.
According to Velma, she had taken the children and left when Thomas began drinking. When they returned to the house later, they find that the house has burned with Thomas in it. The death is ruled as accidental; a tragic end to a careless cigarette.
Coincidentally (or not), the house burns down completely a few months later & Velma receives a chunk of change in insurance money.

In 1970, Velma re-marries. Her new husband was Jennings Barfield, a local widower. About 6 months into their marriage, Jennings Barfield suddenly becomes ill & dies from heart complications. The death is ruled as natural causes.

By this time, Velma is fully addicted to prescription painkillers. She begins carelessly mixing medications, which lands her in the hospital for overdoses about 4 times.
But she maintains her public image by being a faithful member of her church and even teaches Sunday School.

Velma soon has a mountain of medical bills due to her multiple hospital visits. She writes several checks that bounce and is taken to Court for worthless checks. Lucky for her, nothing serious happens and she goes about her business. She still has the outstanding medical bills to worry about, so she starts applying for loans in her mother's name. She soon realizes that this is a terrible idea--her mother is still alive and doesn't know about what has been going on. She doesn't want the bank to contact her mother and inquire about "her" recent loan application.

So in 1974, Velma begins feeding her mother, Lillian Bullard, high doses of insecticide.
Lillian is taken to the hospital complaining of intense vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea. She is treated and released, thinking nothing more than food poisoning. 
But then in December 1974, Lillian is again taken to the hospital for the same symptoms and dies at the hospital on December 30, 1974. The death is (once again) ruled as natural causes.

Flash forward to 1976. Velma is working as a live-in housekeeper for Montgomery and Dollie Edwards, an elderly couple. Velma also begins dating Dollie's nephew, Stuart Taylor.
Montgomery Edwards falls ill and passes away on January 29, 1977. His death really did seem to be from natural causes.
But then Dollie Edwards begins experiencing severe diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea about a month after Montgomery's death...sound familiar? Dollie passes away on March 1, 1977 and her death is attributed to acute gastroenteritis.

Velma takes another caretaker/housekeeper job for John Henry Lee and his wife Record.
She's soon up to her old tricks and forges a $50 check in John's name. She tries to cover up her tracks and poisons John Henry Lee. She starts the poisoning around April 1977 and John Henry quickly loses 65 pounds due to having no appetite. On June 4, 1977, John Henry Lee dies after experiencing chest and stomach pains as well as vomiting and diarrhea. Velma continues to care for Record Lee and starts feeding her the poison as well so that she can have a clean break. She stops working for the Lee family in October 1977, leaving Record Lee alive but weakened.

In late 1977, Velma begins work at a nursing home in Lumberton, NC. She is continuing to date Stuart Taylor and life is going pretty well for her, considering that she's MURDERED 5 PEOPLE. But anyway.

Velma begins forging Stuart's checks and he's not too happy about it. He catches her on 2 separate occasions but they continue their relationship. On January 31, 1978, Stuart catches her forging one of his checks for a third time. They have a huge argument and Velma resorts back to her roots.
She spikes Stuart's beer with arsenic and he dies on February 3, 1978 while Velma is "nursing" him back to health aka feeding him more arsenic. His cause of death is also reported as acute gastroenteritis.

Stuart Taylor's family finds it hard to believe that Dollie and Stuart both died from the same ailment after being in contact with the same woman. They demand an autopsy of Stuart's body. It is discovered at the autopsy that Stuart has high, lethal levels of arsenic in his system.

In 1978, Jennings Barfield is exhumed and an autopsy is performed. It is discovered at that time that he died from high levels of arsenic in his bloodstream. 

Velma is arrested and questioned about her activities. She admits to poisoning Stuart Taylor, Lillian Bullard, Dollie Edwards, Jennings Barfield, and John Henry Lee.
She stated that all of the murders were "accidents" as a result of her trying to cover up her theft.
The only murder without a motive was Dollie Edwards, from whom she had not stolen.

Now, Velma had seemed like the least likely person to murder 5 people. She had grandchildren. She loved to crochet. She had a soft, Southern accent and a kind countenance. She attended each victim's funeral and genuinely mourned each of them.
But you can't judge a book by it's cover. Especially when this book is a self-confessed murderer.

Margie Velma Bullard Barfield was tried and convicted for the murder of Stuart Taylor in 1978. The jury took less than an hour reaching their verdict. It probably didn't help that Velma had several angry outbursts during the trial and showed her rear end (metaphorically, not literally). The Court denied her plea of insanity and sentenced her to death. The death sentence had only recently been re-instated in the State of North Carolina and at the time, she was the State's only female death row inmate. During her time on death row, she found Jesus again (surprise, doesn't everybody?) and spent her last days ministering to fellow inmates. Billy Graham heard about her ministry and publicly acknowledged her work. Velma expressed remorse for her actions & apologized to her victim's families. She denied killing her first husband, Thomas Burke.
An appeal was filed based on her ministry and the opinion of a psychiatrist who had diagnosed Velma with multiple personality disorder. The appeal was denied in federal Court and Velma instructed her attorneys to not file further appeals on the State level.

Governor Jim Hunt denied Velma's request for clemency, which landed him in hot water with the voters during his next political campaign.



So on November 2, 1984, Barfield had her last meal of Cheetos and Coca-Cola while wearing pink pajamas. She was executed by lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh, NC.
Protestors of lethal injection gathered outside of the prison but their protests fell on deaf ears.
Velma was buried in a rural North Carolina cemetery next to her first husband, Thomas Burke.

Velma Barfield was the first American woman executed since 1962. She was also the first woman to ever be executed by lethal injection.

You can see an interview conducted with her on death row here.