Serial Killer Amelia Dyer Who Killed 400 Babies

We are not talking about an ordinary murderer. Because the person we’re talking about is A woman who killed more than 400 ‘babies’ over 30 years. Yes, he was just killing babies and getting paid in return.

the person we’re talking about Amelia Dyer, but everyone knows him as the ‘baby farmer’. The reason why he is remembered like this is that he raises children for money as if he were growing crops, and then kills them one by one without even looking at their tears. If this woman wasn’t crazy, why could she have done such a criminal thing?

We will take the calendar pages back to the past, to the Victorian Era.

Amelia Dyer, He was born in 1837 in Bristol, England. Although there is little information about the early years of his life, it is known that he came from a respectable family. Dyer’s life, who had a happy family, entered a dark period after he lost his parents.

his mother, was mentally ill as a result of typhus and would frequently have violent seizures. Until 1848, Amelia was forced to care for her sick mother, and during this time she also lost her two younger sisters to disease. His father, a shoemaker, died in 1849. After the loss of her mother, she was now completely alone.

The woman, whose family was dispersed, found the solution to start her own family and married George Thomas, who was 35 years older than her.

The turning point in her life was when she met Thomas. He met his wife in Bristol, where he moved after the loss of his family. george thomas During her relationship with , she began studying nursing and developed her profession in the process. When Dyer’s husband, who also had a child from this marriage, died unexpectedly, she had to struggle to make ends meet.

It was during this period that he met Ellen Dane A midwife named opened the doors to a dark period in Amelia’s life. Dane introduced Amelia to the concept of raising babies, which is where she began her path to becoming a serial killer.

So how did he find all these children?

At the time, living in England as a single mother presented an extremely bleak and problematic picture. Unmarried women with children were not welcomed in society. This makes it difficult for single mothers to find honest employment, and institutions such as many workhouses also employ these mothers. “with immorality” He didn’t accept it because they accused him.

These women were in a difficult struggle to survive in order to care for their children. They usually had only two options: prostitution -which brought with it many dangers- or getting rid of the child.

In Victorian England, adoption and care services were subject to almost no state control.

This situation, “baby farmers” caused it to emerge. The use of the expression farmer is actually linked to farming. Just as farmers today grow crops and sell them for money, those who did the same for babies were called ‘baby farmers’, and this pattern emerged with Dyer. These people would offer to take the baby away from mothers in difficult situations. While taking money from the mother, they would promise that the child would live a happy life.

But in reality, children often faced a future where they would starve to death along with their mothers. Baby farming is just It could be profitable if mothers who wanted to dispose of their children found a desperate way out. This was a method that Amelia Dyer masterfully applied.

Dyer promised single mothers that she would breastfeed and adopt the baby in return for a large one-time payment.

This was a show-off situation, of course. Fees in the currency of that period It ranged from £10-£80. He demanded higher wages for those from wealthy families who wanted to escape their shameful situation.

Amelia is a nurse and she convinces her clients that she is married. He managed to instill confidence. But these mothers had no way of knowing that their babies were facing a terrible fate.

Initially, Amelia was treating her clients as promised before coming up with a plan to kill the children. But at some point, by not feeding the children, He realized that it was more profitable to reduce costs. This caused children to die from general neglect and starvation.

In 1879, Amelia Dyer was captured for the first time.

A doctor who contacted him, Becomes suspicious of multiple child deaths confirmed by Amelia and reported the situation to the authorities.

But at the time, the idea of ​​a woman’s ability to commit mass infanticide was so foreign that no one even took it seriously. Dyer, just found guilty of gross negligence and was sentenced to 6 months of hard labor camp.

This experience also wore him out mentally. When he got out of prison, he was even more broken than when he entered prison. Later tried to go back to nursing, but it was clear that he could not be sustainable in a normal job due to his use of alcohol and opium. He was involved in illegal activities several times and was sent to a mental hospital each time.

Dyer was thought to be feigning insanity. She had learned all about insanity from her mother and knew how to get the best out of a mental institution. Dyer again after a while turned to baby farming. It was obvious that he had more professional plans this time.

The increase in the number of missing children in the region began to attract the attention of the police after they started throwing the bodies into rivers.

Wrapping the bodies in cloth and then burying themthrowing it into the river or hiding it in different parts of the city… Amelia Dyer left her mark on a dark period that lasted for years with this terrifying practice.

They kill babies, especially by strangling them, and then kill the corpses. throwing into the River Thames making it difficult to identify babies.

As the number of dead babies gradually increased, local police launched an investigation into the matter. But to catch Dyer find solid evidence It wasn’t easy at all.

Dyer, to keep his identity secret often He moved to different cities and moved around constantly using pseudonyms. Years of heavy alcohol consumption also caused his face to change drastically.

This killer killed an estimated more than 400 babies.

Increasing protests and public outcry led the police to seriously examine the issue. On the River Thames in March 1896A baby’s body was found wrapped in wrapping paper.

“Miss Thomas” was written in faded script on the corner of the packaging, and an address was also listed. The police followed this address and reached Dyer’s house. The police who entered his house immediately took Dyer to the police station when they smelled the smell of rotting human flesh.

The murderer admitted that he threw the babies he killed into the River Thames. He also stated that he wrapped a white band around the necks of the babies he threw away. Police investigating the river found a man matching Dyer’s description. He found 6 baby bodies.

He was executed by court order on June 10, 1896. The exact number of babies killed by Dyer is unknown, but according to the testimonies of mothers who used his services, 400 babies may have been killed It is estimated.

After the execution of this murderous woman, adoption laws and inspections has become more stringent.

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