A woman known as the "Black Widow" who poisoned her husband, drowned her paralysed son and tried to blow up her fiance has been executed in the electric chair.

The BBC's Simon Whelan reports (1'17')

Judy Buenoano, 54, was the first woman put to death in Florida since 1848 and the third woman executed in the United States since the death penalty was re-instated in 1976 by the Supreme Court.

Prison officials said the routine of her execution would be the same as for the 41 men who have already died sitting in Old Sparky, the nickname for Florida's electric chair.

"Coldest killer"

After being jailed, Buenoano taught Bible studies to other inmates and claims to be a born-again Christian.

The Black Widow prepares for her execution

But Detective Ted Chamberlain of Pensacola police, Florida, said: "She was the coldest killer I ever knew."

In 1971, Buenoano welcomed her husband Air Force Sergeant James Goodyear home from Vietnam and fed him a steady diet of arsenic until he died. She collected $85,000 (�50,500) insurance money.

Nine years later she pushed her handicapped son out of a canoe and watched him drown. She collected $125,000 (�74,000) from insurance policies.

Buenoano was convicted of the murders in 1985. By then she was already in jail for trying to blow up a boyfriend in 1983.

Past catching up

She had changed her name from Goodyear to Buenoano to distance herself from the first murders before meeting her new boyfriend John Gentry.

Gentry: Survived the Black Widow

In 1983 Mr Gentry's car was blown up. He survived the attack but it was the beginning of the end for the Black Widow.

Mr Gentry told detectives about the vitamin pills Buenoano had given him. Forensic tests showed they contained arsenic.

She was convicted of attempted murder in 1983 but detectives digging into her past discovered the deaths of her husband and son.

Like Velma Barfield and Karla Faye Tucker, the two other women executed in the United States since 1976, Buenoano says she has found religion and counts many evangelicals among her friends.

Tucker was executed by lethal injection in Texas earlier this year and Barfield died in North Carolina, also by lethal injection, in 1984.

Buenoano also maintained her innocence, although the courts have rejected her appeals.

Detective Chamberlain said: "Judy just went one murder too far. If she'd just let that last boyfriend alone, she probably could have walked away from the other murders."
�

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	�