March 12, 1888 - Alfred Leonard Cline
His method was deliberate and patient: marry, inherit, and eliminate — then ensure the evidence never survived him. Operating without arousing sufficient suspicion for a murder conviction, Cline accumulated the equivalent of over a million dollars in today's money across eight marriages, each ending in a death certified as natural causes. The practice of cremating later victims reflected a calculated evolution in concealment, and it ultimately kept him beyond the reach of homicide charges entirely.
From Wikipedia
Alfred Leonard Cline (March 12, 1888 – August 5, 1948), known as The Buttermilk Bluebeard, was an alleged American serial killer responsible for murdering at least nine people.
Biography
Cline was born on March 12, 1888, in Frederick, Kansas. He was never convicted of murders, as no supporting evidence was found. He married women of status, convinced them to will their possessions to his name, and persuaded them to drink a glass of poisoned buttermilk that contained powerful sedatives. After a fatal dose of drugs, a local doctor would issue a death certificate citing the cause of death to be heart failure.
Cline cremated his later wives to hide any evidence of murder. He acquired over $82,000 in possessions from eight of his wives. Cline was prosecuted for a murder charge, but jailed for forgery. He was sentenced to 126 years in Folsom Prison, California. Cline died of a heart attack in the prison on August 5, 1948.
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