Did she kill her husbands or was she unlucky in life and love, a victim and an overzealous prosecutor? We will probably never know the answers to these questions, as Betty Neumar died of complications from cancer at the age of 79.
Five husbands, five funerals. “She was a caring, loving mother who had bad luck in her life”
She was born Betty Johnson in 1931 in Ohio. She graduated from high school in 1949 and only a year later, in 1950, she married her first husband, Clarence Malone. She was 18 at the time, and her chosen one was a year older. She told friends that she wanted to leave in search of a better life. On March 13, 1952, their son Gary was born. It is not known when their marriage, which lasted just over a year, broke up. Eighteen years later in 1970, a man was killed by a shotgun blast to the head in Brunswick Hills Township outside his own auto repair shop. His death was ruled a homicide.
The circumstances and time when Betty and her husband number two, James Flynn, met are unknown. Neumar’s next fiancé died in 1955, about a year after the birth of their daughter, Peggy. Betty told investigators that she “died on a pier” near New York City. Ten years later, Betty’s third husband, Richard Sills, was shot to death in the bedroom of their Florida trailer. The woman’s daughter, who was 11 at the time, was in the next room. She heard her mother and stepfather arguing, then a single shot.
He was on the bed and he started snorting and rolled off the bed and I asked the paramedic if he was dead and they said to get me out of there – that’s all I remember.
Betty Neumar told police that they were alone in the room at the time of the incident, arguing and at one point the man pulled out a gun and shot himself. Authorities at the time considered it a suicide. In 1968, Betty married her fourth husband, Harold Gentry. They were together for 18 years before her fiancé was murdered. After Harold’s death, Betty moved to the city of Augusta, Georgia. In 1991, she married John Neumar. Sixteen years later, a 76-year-old man died of natural causes, but the symptoms were also consistent with arsenic poisoning. Neumar’s son, John Neumar Jr., later revealed to the press that he had not been informed of his father’s death until he had read about it in the newspaper. quotes his words:
I’m at work. I found out he was dead when I saw his obituary. By the time I went to check on him, she had already cremated him. I mean, it’s just weird, why are you doing this? I don’t think my father ever said he wanted to be cremated.
“Black Widow” linked to the deaths of five husbands. Could she be a serial killer?
Betty Neumar was a storm of gray hair and on a daily basis she ran a chain of cosmetics stores, went to church and collected money for charity. No one even had reason to ask any questions when her last husband died. In 2007, Betty was arrested and authorities discovered that she had been married five times and that each marriage ended in the husband’s death. The American media suggested that Betty was behind each of their deaths and began calling her “Black Widow”. North Carolina investigators reopened a 25-year-old murder case in 2008, and dark secrets of her past began to emerge. They discovered, among others Navy medical examiner’s papers showed that Richard Sills may have been shot twice, not once, Neumar told police.
The 79-year-old died while awaiting trial. “She took all these secrets to her grave”
She was eventually charged in 2008 with solicitation to commit first-degree murder and attempting to hire three different people to kill Harold. Al Gentry, brother of Neumar’s fourth husband, also began to suspect his sister-in-law of involvement in the murder of Harold Gentry. Several factors contributed to this, including her cold, steely demeanor after Harold’s death. Gentry also implied that his brother was killed because he knew too much about Neumar’s nefarious activities. In addition, he believed that the woman wanted to take the insurance money before Harold divorced her, and certain words spoken by the man just before his death aroused some suspicion in Gentry. W said:
Never trust this woman. She is not who she claims to be.
In the further stages of the investigation, surprising facts from the life of the “black widow” came to light, e.g. she had many driving licenses issued in many states in the USA, several passports, credit cards issued in the names of other people. It was also concerning that the woman had two bank accounts opened in Germany. Any hope of answering the burning questions about her husbands’ deaths or missing parts of her life vanished on Monday in 2011 when the 79-year-old died of the disease in a hospital in Louisiana. Al Gentry, who for 25 years unsuccessfully pressured North Carolina authorities to re-investigate the death of his brother, Harold Gentry, Neumar’s fourth husband, said:
She took all these secrets to her grave.
Betty’s two daughters, Peggy and Kelly, are both mothers.
She was a caring, loving mother and is a loving, caring grandmother. I think she was unlucky in life.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
