17 June 2026 :
June 14, 2026 - USA. The 47 Women on Death Row in the U.S.
Netflix Show on Taylor Parker Renews Interest
Here’s the list of the women who are currently on death row in the United States.
“As of October 7, 2025, the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide reports there are 47 women on death rows across the United States,” reports the Death Penalty Information Center. “Actual execution of female offenders is quite rare, with only 576 documented instances as of December 31, 2022, beginning with the 1st in 1632. These executions constitute about 3.6% of the total of 16,047 confirmed executions in the United States (including the colonies) between 1608 and 2022.”
Parker’s case is featured in a new trending Netflix documentary called Maternal Instinct. Parker was convicted in 2022 in Texas of murdering a pregnant woman and her baby after faking a pregnancy to keep her boyfriend, Wade Griffin. She is serving time on death row in Texas, although an execution date has not been set.
Here are the inmates listed as women on death row in the U.S. The Death Penalty Information Center noted that 5 of the inmates are transgender: Taci Vixen (sentenced as Timothy Hoffner), Skylar DeLeon (sentenced as Skylar Julius DeLeon), Jessica Marie Hann (sentenced as Jason Michael Hann), Jenna Rodgers (sentenced as Jeremiah Rodgers), and Victoria Drain (sentenced as Joel Drain).
In fact, of the 47 women listed below, at least two should not be included: Kerry Dalton’s sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment without parole, and Melissa Lucio is awaiting confirmation of her acquittal, which has already been upheld by a court of first instance.
- Antoinette Frank
Louisiana
Former New Orleans Police Officer Convicted of 3 Murders
Frank is a former New Orleans police officer “who was found guilty of 3 counts of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to death in one of the city’s most notorious crimes.
Frank and accomplice Rogers LaCaze “were found guilty in the March 1995 murders of her fellow NOPD officer Ronald Williams II and siblings Ha Vu and Cuong Vu, during a botched robbery of the Kim Ahn Noodle House in New Orleans, where Williams was working a security detail.” Supporters have claimed that she was raised in a childhood full of abuse.
- Belinda Magana
California
Magana was accused of “killing her 2-year old son, Malachi,” who had been reported missing. She blamed an allegedly abusive boyfriend. Police said the 2 suspects killed the boy in their Corona home, most likely on Saturday, then buried his body in a shallow grave in a remote part of Lytle Creek.”
- Blanche T. Moore
North Carolina
‘Black Widow” Convicted in Arsenic Poisoning.
According to court records, “In May of 1989, defendant’s then husband, the Reverend Dwight D. Moore, while being treated at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill, was diagnosed with arsenic poisoning.”
The records add, “An investigation was begun which led to the eventual exhumation of the bodies of P.D. Kiser, Sr., defendant’s father; James N. Taylor, defendant’s first husband; and Reid, a previous boyfriend. All of the bodies tested positively for the presence of arsenic.” Reid “initially became ill on 1 January 1986. After having spent New Year’s Eve with defendant and having eaten some of her homemade potato soup, Reid began experiencing severe symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.” She also brought him milkshakes in the hospital.
Moore was the daughter of a preacher, she went to church, had children and grandchildren and worked for many years at Kroger in Burlington. Her mother-in-law’s body was also exhumed and tested for the presence of arsenic but not in lethal amounts.
- Brenda Andrew
Oklahoma
Andrew is “a former Sunday school teacher and the only woman on death row in Oklahoma. She was convicted “for conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Rob Andrew, in 2001.”. Her husband had purchased a life insurance policy from another man accused of being involved in the plot. Supporters have argued that irrelevant details were allowed into the trial.
- Brittany Holberg
Texas
“In 1998, Brittany Holberg, 52, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for the 1996 killing of 80-year-old A.B. Towery, Sr., in his Amarillo apartment.”
- Brooke Rottiers
California
Rottiers is a “former prostitute who killed 2 men during the commission of a robbery.” The victims were Marvin Gabriel, 22, and Milton Chavez, 28. The crimes “included beating, hitting, stomping, hog-tying and asphyxiation.”
“The victims had panties and other cloth items stuffed in their mouths,” the judge said. “Their mouths and noses were covered and taped over. They were hog-tied with cords around their necks to their hands, which were behind their backs and to their ankles. They asked for mercy. Instead of mercy, she let them suffocate to death while she and her co-defendants ingested drugs.”
- Carlette Parker
North Carolina
According to court records, “On 12 May 1998, defendant kidnapped and drowned Alice Covington (the victim). At the time of her death, the victim was eighty-six years old, stood five feet one and one-half inches tall, and weighed eighty-eight pounds.” The records added: From December 1996 to March 1997, defendant served as the home health-care worker for Charles Holtz, a close friend of the victim. The victim and Holtz were both residents at Springmoor Retirement Village in Raleigh.
- Cathie Sarinana
California
Sarinana and her husband were accused of murder. 11-year-old Ricky Morales was found dead in a bedroom closet at the Sarinanas’ home in Corona on Christmas Day 2005. Investigators have said the boy was beaten for not eating his breakfast.
“Authorities in Washington state believe the Sarinanas also killed Ricky’s 13-year-old brother, Conrad, when they lived in Randle, Wash., before moving to California. Conrad’s body was found encased in concrete in a trash bin in the carport of the couple’s Riverside County home.
- Cherlie Rhoades
California
In 2014, deposed tribal chair Cherie Rhoades brought 2 pistols to the tribal offices of Cedarville Rancheria in Modoc County, California, and killed four people and wounded two.
- Christa Pike
Tennessee
Pike was convicted of the torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville back in 1995. Prosecutors said Pike tortured and killed Slemmer on the University of Tennessee Agriculture campus after she thought Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend.
The prison system says, “On August 24, 2001, while incarcerated, Pike was convicted of attempted 1st degree murder in the assault on inmate Patricia Jones.”
- Christie Michelle Scott
Alabama
According to court records, “Christie Michelle Scott, was indicted for 3 counts of capital murder in connection with a fire at her house that resulted in the death of her six-year-old son Mason.”
The death occurred in 2008.
- Cynthia Coffman
California
According to History.com, Cynthia Coffman and James Marlow were “sentenced to death in San Bernardino, California, for the 1986 murder of Corinna Novis… On November 7, 1986, in Redlands, California, Corinna Novis disappeared from an ATM. Just five days later, Lynel Murray was kidnapped from outside the dry cleaners where she worked in Orange County.” They were also convicted of Murray’s murder.
- Darlie Routier
Texas
“On June 6, 1996, Routier stabbed to death her 5-year-old and 6-year-old sons,” the Texas prison system says.
“30 years ago, authorities converged on Darlie Routier’s home to find an appalling scene,” A&E reported. “The Texas mother’s throat was slashed, her 6-year-old son, Devon, lay dead from stab wounds, and her 5-year son, Damon, struggled to breathe after being knifed in the back.” She blamed an intruder and continues to deny wrongdoing.
- Donna Roberts
Ohio
Roberts was convicted of “the 2001 slaying of her former husband Robert Fingerhut in Howland Township,” according to a statement from Trumbull County. “She was convicted of plotting and assisting her lover Nathaniel Jackson with the murder of her former husband Robert Fingerhut at his Fonderlac Drive home in December 2001 and collect his more than $500,000 life insurance proceeds.”
- Erica Sheppard
Texas
“On June 30, 1993, Sheppard and a co-defendant murdered a 43-year-old woman in her home in order to rob her of her car,” the Texas prison system says.
- Heather Keaton
Alabama
Leavell-Keaton was convicted of murder in the death of 3-year-old Chase DeBlase and manslaughter in the death of his sister, 4-year-old Natalie DeBlase. Prosecutors said she poisoned the children with antifreeze. There was also evidence the children’s father, John DeBlase, strangled them. The children’s remains were found in the woods in Alabama and Mississippi.
The children were her stepkids. DeBlase allowed Leavell-Keaton to bind the girl’s hands and feet with duct tape, put a sock in her mouth and stuff her in a suitcase in a closet for about 14 hours.
The warrants also detail how Leavell-Keaton duct-taped the young boy’s hands to the side of his legs, strapped a broom handle to his back and shoved a sock in his mouth. The boy was then forced to stand in a corner all night while the adults went to bed.
- Janeen Snyder
California
Snyder was convicted with Michael Thornton, 45, “in the rape and torture slaying of Western High School student Michelle Curran, who was reported missing…Michelle Curran was found dead Sunday, shot in the head and hidden in a horse trailer on a ranch in Rubidoux.”
- Jenna Rodgers (Sentenced as Jeremiah Rodgers)
Florida
Rodgers, sentenced as Jeremiah Rodgers, got Jennifer Robinson drunk, shot her in the back of the head, then cut out her calf muscle.
Court records say, “Jeremiah Martel Rodgers was the coperpetrator of the May 7, 1998, murder of Jennifer Robinson. The other coperpetrator and the codefendant in Rodgers’ trial for the Robinson murder was Jonathan Huey Lawrence. Rodgers and Lawrence had become acquainted when both were being held at a state mental hospital in Chattahoochee. They had been released from confinement around the same time.”
The records note, “On May 10, 1998, Rodgers told Lake County law enforcement officers that he took Robinson on a date, accompanied by Lawrence. Rodgers stated that they took her to a wooded area, and Lawrence shot Robinson, mutilated her body, and took Polaroid pictures of what he had done. Rodgers claimed that he did not participate in the murder or mutilation and stated that he had considered shooting Lawrence because he was so angered by Lawrence’s actions.”
- Jessica Marie Hann (Sentenced as Jason Hann)
California
Daughter was Discovered Dead in a Tupperware Container
According to KESQ, on Feb. 21, 2014, an Indio judge “sentenced then 40 year old Jason Hann to death for killing his 10 month old daughter, named Montana, in 2001. At the time, Hann and Montana’s mother, Krissy Lynn Werntz, now 39, were living in Desert Hot Springs.”
“Montana’s body was found in a Tupperware container wrapped in a plastic trash bag in an abandoned storage trailer the couple had left in Arkansas. The couple was arrested in Portland, Maine, where they were living with another son, who was suffering from life threatening injuries. That son was taken into foster care and later adopted,” the television station reported.
- Kerry Dalton
California
According to Murderpedia, “The victim was beaten, stabbed, injected with battery acid and tortured with electric shocks… Dalton thought the victim had stolen her jewelry – The victim’s body was never found.”
Court records say: “On June 26, 1988, Dalton, her boyfriend Mark ‘TK’ Tompkins, and Sheryl Ann “John Boy” Baker murdered 23-year-old Irene Melanie May in Joanne Fedor’s trailer located in the Live Oak Springs Trailer Park in Boulevard, California.”
However, Kerry Dalton’s death sentence was quashed in 2019 by the California Supreme Court, which upheld his conviction but set aside the death penalty on technical and evidential grounds. She is now serving a LWOP sentence.
- Kimberly Cargill
Texas
“Subject did not want the victim to testify against her in a child protective case. Subject told the victim she would come and get her and hide her so she would not be required to testify because of the subpoena,” the Texas Department of Criminal Justice reports.
“Subject claims the victim had a seizure and quit breathing while they were driving. She drove her to a county road, doused the victim with lighter fluid and set her clothes on fire. Subject then left the scene.” Her victim was named Cherry Walker.
- Linda Carty
Texas
According to the Texas prison system, “On May 16, 2001, Carty and 3 co-defendants invaded a home and kidnapped a 25-year-old female and her newborn son. The victim subsequently died of suffocation, but the baby was found unharmed.”
- Lisa Chamberlin
Mississippi
Chamberlin was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2004 murder of two people in Hattiesburg.
She and co-defendant and former partner Roger Gillett were arrested in Kansas on a tip that they stole a car and were manufacturing drugs at his family’s farm. As authorities searched the farm, they found a freezer taped shut containing the dismembered bodies of the victims: Vernon Hulett, who was Gillett’s cousin, and Linda Heintzelman, who was Hulett’s girlfriend. Chamblerlin and Gillett had lived with the victims in Hattiesburg.
- Lisa Graham
Alabama
According to the Alabama Attorney General, Graham “was convicted in Russell County Circuit Court in March 2015 for the murder-for-hire contract killing of her daughter, Stephanie ‘Shea’ Graham.”
Court records say: “Lisa Graham hired Kenneth Walton to murder her daughter, and Walton accomplished his task…Walton confessed to meeting with Graham to discuss her daughter’s murder, retrieving the murder weapon from Graham’s vehicle, and ultimately shooting the victim multiple times.”
According to the records, “In Graham’s view, her daughter had ruined Graham’s life. Shea was using cocaine and stripping, and she was recently arrested for her involvement in a drive-by shooting.”
- Lorraine Hunter
California
Hunter fatally shot her 56-year-old husband to collect more than $1 million in life insurance proceeds. Lorraine Hunter pulled a small-caliber handgun she’d stolen from a member of her church and shot the victim point-blank in the back of the head twice, then shot him twice in the upper back as he knelt in the compartment.
- Manling Williams
California
Williams was convicted of killing her family. It was in August 2007 when the Rowland Heights mother used a samurai sword to stab her husband more than 90 times. She used a pillow to suffocate her sons, Devon, 7, and younger brother Ian. 3. All three were asleep when they were killed. Williams wanted to be with another man.
- Maria Alfaro
California
Court records say: “A jury convicted defendant Maria Del Rosio Alfaro of the 1st degree murder of Autumn Wallace…A jury found that defendant murdered 9-year-old Autumn Wallace on June 15, 1990 in the course of committing a burglary and a robbery at the Wallace home. Autumn’s body was discovered in the bathroom of the home, stabbed more than 50 times. Defendant was a high school friend of the victim’s sister, April Wallace, and resided approximately three blocks from the Wallace residence.”
- Maureen McDermott
California
According to Murderpedia, “Maureen McDermott, a former nurse, hired an orderly at the hospital where she worked to kill her male roommate so she could collect mortgage insurance on a house they co-owned.”
- Melissa Lucio
Texas
The Texas prison system says, “On February 17, 2007, paramedics were dispatched to a residence where they found an unresponsive 2-year-old child who subsequently died. Evidence of abuse led to the arrest and conviction of Lucio, the child’s mother.”
Actually, in 2024 Melissa Lucio was declared “Actually Innocent”. Texas death-sentenced prisoner Melissa Lucio is “actually innocent; she did not kill her daughter,” explained Judge Arturo Nelson in his October 16t, 2024 decision, which was made public on November 14, 2024. On April 24, 2026 (see HoC) Lucio was still waiting for the sentence to be validated by the Court of Appeal.
- Michelle Michaud
California
Court records say: “Over the course of several months in 1997, petitioner, Michelle Michaud, and James Daveggio together planned and committed sexual assaults targeting 6 young female victims. Their sexually predatory activities culminated in the kidnapping, rape by instrument, and murder of Vanessa Samson.”
The records add, “On the morning of December 2, 1997, Michaud and Daveggio kidnapped
Vanessa Samson in Pleasanton while she was walking to work. Daveggio grabbed Samson from the street and forced her into their van which was driven by Michaud. Over the course of the next day, Samson was gagged, raped with curling irons, and strangled to death. Michaud and Daveggio ultimately dumped Samson’s body.”
- Patricia Blackmon
Alabama
According to court records, Blackmon “was convicted of capital murder in the beating death of her 28–month–old daughter, Dominiqua.”
“The State’s evidence tended to show that on May 29, 1999, Blackmon telephoned emergency 911 to summon paramedics to her mobile home in Dothan. She told the 911 operator that her child was not breathing,” the court decision says.
“Eddie Smith, a paramedic in Dothan, testified that he arrived at Blackmon’s mobile home at around 9:30 p.m. and that he found Dominiqua lying on the floor of the master bedroom—she was wearing only a diaper and blood-soaked socks, was covered in vomit, and was not breathing. There was a hematoma on her forehead and blood on her chest. After the paramedics attempted to revive her, she was transported to Flowers Hospital Emergency Room.”
- Robin Row
Idaho
Row “was convicted of arson of her rented duplex and 1st degree murder of her husband, Randy Row and her 2 children, Joshua Cornellier and Tabatha Cornellier, all of whom died in the fire,” court records say. “Testifying experts agree that Row has longstanding and likely congenital cerebellar atrophy, as well as cerebral cortical atrophy.”
That’s not all. “However, the experts disagree whether Row’s extraordinarily poor judgment and repetitive criminal behavior can be attributed to her brain abnormalities, which would tip the scales away from the death penalty. The worst of Row’s life history shows that it is very likely she killed her 1-year-old daughter Kristina in 1977 to unburden herself; it is also very likely she killed her 6-year-old son Keith in 1980 to unburden herself and obtain over $20,000 in life insurance proceeds; and it is clear that she killed Joshua, Tabatha, and Randy in 1992 to unburden herself and obtain over ten times the amount of life insurance proceeds she received for Keith’s death.”
- Sammantha Allen
Arizona
In 2017, the Maricopa County Attorney wrote that Sammantha Allen “has received the sentence of death for the murder of her cousin 10-year-old Ame Deal.”
The attorney wrote: “On July 12, 2011 police were called to a south Phoenix home after Ame was found dead inside a plastic storage box, a place the 4 adults who lived with Ame claimed she liked to hide. They told investigators the young girl must have fallen asleep inside the box night before.”
The attorney added, “Later it was determined Sammantha and her husband John Allen forced Ame into a small plastic box almost ½ her height, as punishment and left her overnight where she died from suffocation. Investigators discovered Ame was often subject to painful punishments and poor living conditions by the adults in the home, who included her father, grandmother and her cousins.”
- Shawna Forde
Arizona
Shawna Forde, a border vigilante, was sentenced to death today for the murders of a 9-year-old Arivaca girl and her father in a home invasion she orchestrated to rob the family.
Raul “Junior” Flores, 29, and his young daughter were gunned down in their own home while Flores’ wife, pretending to be dead, watched.
- Skylar DeLeon [sentenced as Skylar Julius DeLeon]
California
DeLeon was convicted of murdering Thomas and Jackie Hawks, with several accomplices, after he posed as a potential buyer for their yacht. He was also convicted in the 2003 murder of John Jarvi. Deleon reportedly baited Jarvi into traveling to Mexico with him to complete an easy-money business deal, but instead, slit the 45-year-old’s throat, robbed him of $50,000 and left the body near a Mexican highway.
He was convicted of chaining an Arizona couple to the anchor of their yacht and throwing them overboard to their deaths.
- Socorro Caro
California
“In April 2002, Socorro Susan Caro was sentenced to death for killing 3 of her 4 children,” court records say.
“Caro and her husband, Dr. Xavier Caro, had four children: Xavier (known as ‘Joey’), Michael, Christopher, and G.C. On November 22, 1999, Joey, Michael, and Christopher were shot to death in the family home in Camarillo. Joey was 11, Michael was 8, Christopher was 5.”
A 4th infant son (G.C., 1) was unharmed. She then shot herself in the head but survived.
The couple was having marital issues and had argued.
- Taci Vixen [Sentenced as Timothy Hoffner]
Ohio
Vixen is listed as Timothy Hoffner on the Ohio prison system’s website. According to court records, on September 22, 1993, Archie Dixon and Timothy Hoffner “arrived at the Toledo home of Kirsten Wilkerson. Christopher Hammer was staying at Wilkerson’s house. Upon arriving at Wilkerson’s house, Dixon and Hoffner beat up Hammer, tied him to a bed, and robbed him. After restraining Hammer, Dixon and Hoffner proceeded to kill Hammer by burying him alive.”
- Tanya Nelson
California
According to the Orange County District Attorney, “A North Carolina woman was convicted … of murdering an Orange County fortune teller and her daughter with the intention of robbing the victim, including stealing her expensive jewelry. Tanya Jaime Nelson, 45, was found guilty by a jury of two felony counts of special circumstances murder…Victim Ha Smith, 52, was a fortune teller who worked from her home in Westminster.”
- Taylor Parker
Texas
Parker concocted an elaborate scheme to convince her boyfriend, Wade Griffin, that she was pregnant and then murdered another woman to take her baby. The baby died.
- Tierra Capri Gobble
Alabama
Court records say Gobble “was convicted of intentionally murdering her 4-month-old son, Phoenix Parrish… The offense was committed upon a small child (4 months old) by striking his head against a hard surface causing trauma and internal injuries.”
- Tiffany Moss
Georgia
Moss was convicted in 2019 of numerous charges, including murder, in the death of her 10-year-old stepdaughter, Emani Moss. Authorities said the child starved to death before her body was burned and stuffed in a trash bag in November 2013.
- Tina Brown
Florida
Tina Brown was convicted of 1st-degree murder in the brutal March 2010 murder of 19-year-old Audreanna Zimmerman, a mother of 2 who was stunned with a taser, beaten, and set on fire. Zimmerman managed to walk nearly 1/3 of a mile to seek help but died 2 weeks later from her injuries.
- Valerie Dee Martin
California
Martin, in connection with her son Ronald Kupsch (age 17), Bradley Zoda (age 15) and ex-convict Christopher Kennedy (age 28), was charged with the murder of William Whiteside (age 61). Whiteside’s body was found in the trunk of his burned car. Martin is also an ex-convict with a state prison record for a drug conviction. Martin was convicted in 1999 for possession of a controlled substance and spent three months in prison.
- Veronica Gonzales
California
Veronica Utilia Gonzales was convicted of murdering her Niece Genny Rojas. Genny and her siblings were removed from the custody of defendant’s sister Mary Rojas, after Mary went into a drug rehabilitation program and her husband was arrested for child molestation.
The child had bare patches and open wounds on her scalp, signs of trauma on her face, and a ligature mark under her throat and many other injuries.
- Victoria Drain [Sentenced as Joel Drain]
Ohio
Drain “murdered a fellow inmate at the Warren Correctional Institution in 2019,” according to Court News Ohio. Drain “killed Richardson by beating, stabbing and strangling him,” CBS News reported, adding, “At the time of the slaying, Drain was serving a 38-year sentence for stabbing and strangling a man to death in Hancock County in 2016.” The Ohio prison system lists Drain as Joel Drain. Drain is transgender.
- Virginia Caudill
Kentucky
She was convicted with a man in the death of 73-year-old Lonetta White in 1998. On March 15, 1998, Jonathon Goforth and Caudill went into the home of White, beat her to death, and burglarized her home. The 2 then placed her body in the trunk of her vehicle, drove to a rural area in Fayette County, and set the car on fire.
- Wendi Andriano
Arizona
According to an Arizona Supreme Court case study, “A jury found that Wendi Andriano murdered her terminally ill husband, Joseph Andriano, on October 8, 2000, by first poisoning him with sodium azide that she had acquired under an assumed name, then striking him at least 23 times in the back of the head with a bar stool and slitting his throat.”
For a study on women sentenced to death, see also HoC 13 February 2026.
