In true crime parlance, a black widow is a woman who baits unsuspecting men into her web before bleeding them dry and leaving them for dead. Some black widows go so far as to actually kill their mates. History is full of deadly women, but it perhaps takes a special kind of deviance to marry, mate, and kill ad infiniti.
Allegedly, Renczi killed as many as 35 men (via The Lineup). She collected the bodies of the men she lured in and murdered, stashing the corpses in zinc-lined coffins in her basement. Of the men she allegedly claimed, 32 of them were lovers that she had seduced and done away with. Two of the victims were men that were unfortunate enough to marry the femme fatale. And one victim was reported to be her own son (per an August 1925 article in The Pittsburgh Press).
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Renczi couldn’t keep her killings secret forever. She was said to have been discovered in 1925 and brought to trial. For her vicious crimes, she was sentenced to life in prison where she lived the rest of her days (per The Unexplained Mysteries). With 35 confirmed kills, it would seem like Renczi would be a finalist for the top female serial killer, right? But the problem is that this storied murderess might not have killed any men at all. And what’s more, she may not even have existed in the first place.
