Mary Clement

Marie "Mary" Clement (February 16, 1863 – July 9, 1944), also known under several aliases, was a Luxembourgish-born American serial killer who poisoned her parents and two of her sisters at their home in Dubuque, Iowa. Although never charged in their deaths, she was later convicted of attempting to poison her sister's family in Rose Hill, Illinois and sentenced to a year in the Joliet Prison. Biography Mary was born in the little village of Harlange in Luxembourg to parents Michel and Margarite (née Deville) Clément, the second of five daughters. In 1871, the whole family immigrated to the United States, settling in Dubuque, where three years later, the last daughter, Annie, would be born. Mary was frequently described as slender, rather pretty and prepossessing in manner, but due to a defect in her spinal column, had only partial control over her legs and feet. Murders Beginning in 1880, the little sister Annie was suddenly seized with convulsions and died shortly after, her death later being attributed to eating too much before going to bed. During the following years, her parents and sister Lena died in similar circumstances, all them passing away from convulsions or heart failure after suffering through an unidentifiable illness: Annie (6), on August 1, 1880 Margarite (54), on July 24, 1884 Lena (13), on August 9, 1884 Michel (49), on March 28, 1885 Freres poisonings Two months following the burial of her father in Dubuque, Mary moved in with her sister Catherine, her husband Michel "Michael" Freres and their two children in Rose Hill. On several occasions, she cooked meals for the family, and each time, they would be overtaken by violent vomiting and spasms. Michael eventually grew suspicious of Mary, as she always refused to eat any of the soup she served.