E275: MURDER - Lizzie Halliday (part V)

Fresh Hell Podcast

freshhellpodcast

True Crime

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

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Summary

In this fifth and final part of the Lizzie Halliday story, Lizzie escapes the electric chair—but not justice. She continues to lash out, nearly killing the sheriff’s wife, and ultimately stabbing a beloved young nurse more than 200 times in what would become the first recorded line-of-duty death of a female law enforcement officer in the U.S.

Along the way, Lizzie makes a claim to her murdered husband’s pension, attempts to set multiple fires, and spins wild tales of murderous gangs and poisoned whiskey. We also hear from journalist Nellie Bly, who sits face-to-face with Lizzie—and walks away unconvinced by her claims of madness.

How many people did Lizzie really kill? We may never know. But it’s clear that, even behind bars, she was never finished causing harm.

Lizzie Halliday, female serial killer, true crime, historical crime, 19th-century crime, Matteawan Asylum, Nellie Bly, Paul Halliday, Sarah Jane McQuillan, Margaret McQuillan, Nelly Wickes, first woman electric chair, American history, murder trial, criminally insane, Fresh Hell Podcast

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the Fresh Hell podcast.
0:14.6	Fresh Hell contains stories of a disturbing and often graphic nature and is intended for a mature audience.
0:20.6	Please don't let your kids listen to this, or they might turn out like us.
0:29.7	Hi, I'm Annie in New England.
0:32.5	And I'm Johanna in Old Austria, and you're listening to your favorite international podcast. The podcast hosted by two women who've never met in New Austria, and you're listening to your favorite international podcast.
0:38.7	The podcast hosted by two women who've never met in real life, but would absolutely help each other hide a body, metaphorically speaking, of course.
0:48.4	Before we start, we'd love to give a quick shout out to our newest Patreon supporters.
1:00.8	They are Gypsy Lady, J.S., Rhonda, and Simone Reed. I love the name Simone. Thank you, everyone, so much. We really, really appreciate it.
1:06.5	And thank you to all of our listeners. We're so glad you found the time to listen to our little
1:11.9	podcast here. If you want to know more about Patreon, what perks we offer, and other ways you can
1:17.8	support us, that will only cost you a few moments of your time, please listen to the end.
1:23.8	That's when we'll get into all of that, because right now, it's time to dive into the fifth
1:29.3	and final, I promise, part of Lizzie Halliday. If you haven't listened to the previous
1:37.1	four parts of this convoluted nightmare of a story, please go back and just keep in mind that
1:43.3	these episodes discuss just about every content
1:46.6	warning sort of possible. Uh, so just keep that in mind. It's a terrible story. It's not
1:52.6	suitable for children. Okay. Lizzie and her family immigrated from Northern Ireland,
2:10.1	and when she was 15, she married her first husband, Charles Hopkins, with whom she has her only child, Charles Jr.
2:18.9	Another love interest of Charles Sr. is possibly her first murder. She spends a few years at Eastern State Penitentiary after burning down her Philadelphia apartment for an insurance scam.
2:23.9	It's also around this time that she loses custody of her son,
2:27.9	which is a good thing because she's been abusing him.
2:31.3	Lizzie would go on to have six husbands.
	...

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