Belle Sorenson­Gunness was born on November 11 in 1859 and was born in Norwegia, she was the youngest of her 8 siblings. Her parents were Paul Pedersen Størset and Berit
Olsdatter. In 1877 she had attended a country dance in her town and was pregnant at the time (no one knows who the father was) At the dance a rich man kicked her in the abdomen causing the child to be a miscarriage. The man came from a very wealthy background so he was never prosecuted by the Norwegian authorities. He died shortly afterwards due to stomach cancerSince
Gunness grew up in poverty she worked on a wealthy farm the year following the incident. She worked there for a total of 3 years so she could afford a trip across the AtlanticInspired by her sister Nellie Larson, Gunness moved to the United States …show more content…
They used the insurance to pay for another home. Investigators found that the couple had 4 children; Caroline, Axel, Myrtle, and Lucy. Though Caroline and Axel died during infancy supposedly due to acute colitis. The symptoms of acute colitis are nausea, fever, diarrhea, and lower abdominal pain and cramping which are also symptoms of many forms of poisoning. Both children where insured and the insurance company did supply the couple with insurance money.
The other children later died of unknown causes. Sorenson died on July 30, 1900, coincidentally the only day on which two life insurance policies on him had overlapped. While the first doctor to see him thought he was suffering from some type of poisoning the family doctor had diagnosed him with an enlarged heart and declared the death heart failure. No one performed an autopsy of his body as the authorities didn’t suspect there was foul play involved. Although
Sorenson’s family accused Gunness of poisoning both her husband and her children. Gunness denied all accusations saying that she was trying her best to help her ill family, even going as