The simple answer to why Belle Gunness killed was that she could make a killing from killing. Gunness, born Brynhild Paulsdatter Størset in1859 in Selbu, Norway, came to America seeking wealth and soon discovered one way of acquiring it (per Biography). Her two infants that she murdered were insured, as was her first husband, who worked on the railroad and didn’t make all that much in life. But dead, thanks to two life insurance policies, he made Gunness a fistful of cash — the equivalent of more than $286,000 today, per the La Porte County Library.
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Insurance scams paid well. Besides murder, arson was among her other go-to money-making schemes. She burned down two of her businesses and one home over the years, according to the New York Post. A stepchild and another husband, Peter Gunness, were her next victims. But her biggest payoff was yet to come. A string of suitors started arriving at her farm and were never heard from again.
