4 New York Women Who Killed Their Lovers In Cold Blood

Not every woman wants chocolate and flowers for Valentine's Day; some want their lover or husband dead! These four women made their dream date with death happen. They have been found guilty of the murders of the men in their lives.

Aside from animation, my other favorite genre of television shows are true crime. I'll admit, I'm obsessed. I've watched every season of deadly women and snapped, which got me curious about "Black Widows" here in New York. I did some research and came across quite a few infamous murderous women. Here are the stories of four of them.

1. Rita Gluzman
Location: Pearl River, Town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York
Victim: Yakov Gluzman (her husband)

Also known as the "The Jewish Lizzie Borden," Rita chopped her husband into more than 65 pieces on April 6, 1996. Rita and Yakov escaped to America from the Soviet Union. They were both considered successful but in 1995 he filed for divorce so he could be with another woman. She and her cousin Vladimir Zelenin used axes and a hammer to end Yakov's life. They then, in a more grisly move, dismembered his body with a scalpel and the axes. Police arrested Vladimir as he was trying to dump trash bags with pieces of Yakov's body into the Passaic River in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Rita was sentenced to life in prison without parole on April 30, 1997. However, she has been released from prison on a "compassionate release."

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2. Stacey Castor
Location: Onondaga County, New York
Victims: Michael Wallace (her first husband), David W. Castor Sr. (her second husband), and Ashley Wallace (her daughter)

Michael, her first husband became sick in 1999. He was unsteady, swollen, and had a cough. Family members urged him to see a doctor, but he died in early 2000 before he could seek medical attention. His cause of death was listed as a heart attack, although his sister was skeptical about it. She asked for an autopsy, but Stacey wouldn't allow one to be conducted.

Having been married for only two years, Stacey's second husband David, was found dead in a bathroom in 2005. She concocted a story that they had a huge argument and he had locked himself in the bathroom. A bottle of anti-freeze and a glass half full of it were found near his dead body. The coroner's initially listed David's cause of death as suicide, but investigators found her fingerprint on the container and his DNA on a turkey baster.

Two years after David's death, in 2007, Stacey was still being investigated in his death. Her first husband's body was exhumed by investigators and anti-freeze was found in his system. When investigators questioned Ashley, who was at college at the time about her father's death not being a heart attack, she called her mom upset. That's when Stacey invited her daughter back home to talk. It was during this visit that Stacey also tried to poison Ashley by giving her a drink with painkillers. After drinking it, Ashley was found in a coma with a 'suicide not,' admitting to murder both Michal and David. Police believe she came up with a plan to frame her daughter Ashley

She was sentenced to 51 years to life in prison on March 5, 2009.

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3. Kelly Forbes
Location: Merrick, Nassau County, New York
Victim: Michael Forbes (her husband)

Kelly and Michael were only married two months before she murdered him with an extension cord. During the trial, she tried to portray him as a violent abuser, who tried to kill her first. However, she admitted that she didn't leave him because he was supporting her and her daughter financially. She was also cheating on him with a man named Jeremy Bryant, who she text after the murder. Her lover testified against her on behalf of the prosecution saying at the trial that she and Michael had an argument,

She said they had argued the night before and she blacked out. When she came to, he was gone.

Jeremy also testified, when asked if ever saw any bruises or injuries on Kelly's body,

No, I never saw any signs of physical abuse.

Kelly was sentenced to 21 years in prison on August 18, 2008.

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4. Cheryl Gasper
Location: Cattaraugus County, New York
Victim: Andie Gasper (her husband)

It took 16 years for Cheryl to finally face justice for killing her husband after police reopened the cold case. She conspired with her lover Randall Knight to kill Andie on July 3, 1994, but she was not arrested until May 18, 2010. Randall actually went to trial for the murder in 1995 but was acquitted. The motive for the murder was to use Andie's $100,000 life insurance payout to build a house together. Randall killed Andie behind an Ames store in Yorkshire, stabbing him once in the chest. While she didn't actually get her hands dirty, Cheryl is certainly still a "Black Widow."

Cheryl was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison on November 13, 2010.

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