Bertha Alice Williams Gifford

Serial Killer

The Schamel Brothers

The Death of Edward Brinley

Investigation and the Discovery of Arsenic

Victims and Suspected Victims

• Lloyd George Schamel — Died August 11, 1925, in the Catawissa/Franklin County, Missouri area. He was seven years old. His body was later exhumed, and arsenic was reported in his remains. His death became one of the three cases for which Gifford was charged.
• Elmer John Schamel — Died September 22, 1925, in the Catawissa/Franklin County, Missouri area. He was five years old and Lloyd's younger brother. His body was also exhumed, with arsenic reported in the remains. Gifford was charged in connection with his death.
• Edward Phillip Brinley — Died May 16, 1927, in Franklin County, Missouri, at age 49. His remains were exhumed and found to contain arsenic. His death became the case actually presented to a jury at Gifford's trial.
• Henry A. Graham — Died November 30, 1906, at age 34. Graham was Bertha's first husband. His death was later included among the suspicious deaths associated with her, although she was never prosecuted for it.
• Emilie Claire Gifford — Died January 24, 1912, at age 55. She was Bertha's mother-in-law and was later identified as a possible victim. The death was associated with the Gifford family in Missouri but was never a charged murder.
• James Arthur Gifford — Died May 8, 1913, at age 12. He was Bertha's young brother-in-law. His death was subsequently considered suspicious because of the illness surrounding it and Bertha's role as caregiver.
• Bernard Stuhlfelder — Died February 26, 1915, at approximately one year old, in the Franklin County area. Bernard was one of several members of the Stuhlfelder family whose deaths were later associated with Gifford's nursing.
• Sherman J. Pounds — Died February 20, 1917, at age 48. His death in the Catawissa-area community was later included among the cases investigators and historians considered suspicious.
• James L. "Jim" Ogle — Died November 20, 1917, at age 66. Ogle was another Missouri-area death subsequently placed on lists of Gifford's possible victims.
• Beulah Ardella Pounds — Died April 19, 1918, at age eight. She belonged to the Pounds family, which suffered more than one death later associated with Gifford.
• Mary Minerva Brown — Died February 6, 1920, at age seven. Historical accounts connected her fatal illness with Bertha's caregiving, although no criminal charge was brought in Mary's death.
• Margaret Stuhlfelder — Died February 28, 1921, at age two. She was another young member of the Stuhlfelder family whose death was later examined as part of the suspected pattern.
• Beulah Pounds — Died December 27, 1922, at age three. She was named after her relative Beulah Ardella Pounds, who had died in 1918. Her death was later included among the suspected Gifford cases.
• Irene Stuhlfelder — Died March 10, 1923, at age seven. She was the third Stuhlfelder child commonly identified among Gifford's suspected victims. Accounts described members of this family developing serious stomach illnesses while Bertha was involved in their care.
• Leona L. Schamel Slocum — Died in October 1925, at age 37, in the Franklin County area. Most compiled records give October 13, 1925, although some historical retellings give October 12. Because the exact day is inconsistent between surviving accounts, the death is best described as occurring in mid-October 1925.
• Mary Catherine Stuhlfelder — Died January 10, 1926, at age 73. Her death was later placed among the suspicious deaths connected to Bertha's caregiving.
• Bertha "Birdie" Unnerstall — Died February 9, 1926, at age 72, in the Pacific/Calvey Township area of Franklin County, Missouri. Her death was another of the older cases later associated with the investigation of Gifford.

The Trial in Union, Missouri

How Many People Did She Kill?

Final Years and Death