The button above will take you to a short video clip on Jolly Jane from the show Deadly Women, an episode called “The Insane Boston Poisoner"
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About Jolly Jane Infamous serial killer and nurse, Jane Toppan, was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1857. Her name at the time of birth was Honora Kelley. Jane was orphaned and had a troubled childhood as her mother died when she was young and her father was said to be an alcoholic and deemed insane. Eventually, Jane was adopted by Ann Toppan and that is when she was given her new name.
When Jane was old enough, she moved out on her own and started her career as a nurse. She was fascinated with autopsies and had other bizarre behaviors and obsessions. She also suffered from suicidal thoughts. She soon began experimenting with her patients' drugs and quickly realized she could easily get away with murder. No one suspected that “Jolly Jane," who seemed dedicated to her job and spent a lot of time caring for her patients, could be capable of such heinous crimes. In 1901, after autopsies were done on the Davis family, four of her patients, police began to suspect foul play and Toppan quickly fled from Boston. By the time she was apprehended, Jane had already claimed another victim, killing her foster sister. After being caught, Toppan confessed to killing 31 people by morphine injections, although she was suspected of killing many more. It is said that Jane would often get into bed with her patients and sexually assault them, bring them close to death, leave them unconscious, and then revive them. Toppan was proven not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the rest of her life in an insane asylum where she died in 1938. Jane Toppan is a great example of a female nurse who used her profession as a means to kill. |
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Savannah Ojeda