Experts say that poison is the weapon of choice for female killers. Arsenic poisoning was so prevalent in Britain in the 1800s that the British government tried to ban the sale of arsenic to women.

Poison was not the weapon of choice for these five women, though. Although several women have made the news as female killers, many kill as part of relationships with men. Rose West and Myra Hindley are two of the more notorious. 

These five women, though, were the main perpetrators of their crimes.

Elizabeth Diane Downs

Downs was a mother who attempted to murder her children, blaming the tragedy on a robbery gone wrong.