Velma Barfield, the “Death Row Granny” with a Penchant for Poison

Velma began a relationship with Thomas Burke when she was 16 years old. Her father forbid her from dating until this age, yet it's said Murphy still disapproved of the relationship.

18-year old Thomas soon proposed to Velma, who worried about her father's reaction to the news. But this proposal was her chance to escape the family home for good.

To bypass her father's temper, the pair eloped on December 1st, 1949. Their marriage was initially kept a secret from her family, but Thomas is said to have pressured her to tell her parents.

Velma first broke the news to her mother, and even asked if she would tell her father for her, but her mother apparently refused. When Velma did confess to her father, he reacted violently before breaking down and crying.

Velma claims that, after this incident, the dynamic between her and her father changed.

Thomas found work at a Coca-Cola bottling factory and the couple were able to buy their own house. Before long, Velma fell pregnant with their first child.

Ronald Burke was born on December 15th, 1951. Their daughter, Kim, was born two years later on September 3rd, 1953.

Velma was described as a very over-protective mother. To make matters worse, she was eventually diagnosed with fibroid tumors on her uterus.

Due to the severity of her pain, Velma underwent a hysterectomy, and the operation came with its own set of problems. Velma developed back pain and hormonal issues.

Around the same time, Thomas was in a car accident and became reliant on alcohol to quell any pain he was experiencing. Subsequently, Velma became addicted to her pain medication.

Homelife for Velma, Thomas, and their two children developed into a destructive one. The children claimed they were unable to stop Velma from screaming, and Thomas was still drinking.

Thomas's alcoholism caused him to lose his job, and he was ushered into rehab on numerous occasions by Velma. Unfortunately, Velma never sought help for her own pain medication addiction.

The addiction developed further when Velma collapsed one day at home. She was taken to the hospital by her father-in-law, as her husband was too inebriated to drive, and she was told she had suffered a nervous breakdown.

For this, she was prescribed Librium. Librium is a psychotropic drug used to treat anxiety disorders, but it's extremely addictive.

Velma would frequent multiple doctors to gain multiple prescriptions for the drug so she could get tablets from various sources. At the same time, Thomas was also experiencing strange behaviour.

Thomas would take himself to the garage, sit in the car, and rev the engine. When his children tried to stop him, he would get physically and verbally abusive towards them.

One day, Velma had been on a shopping trip with her mother. When they returned home, they returned to a house filled with smoke.

Thomas had passed out on the bed with a cigarette in his hand. He died of smoke inhalation, along with their family dog and cat.

The life insurance policy from Thomas barely managed to cover the funeral. Velma had no choice but to work two jobs to support her family.

During this time, Velma met a woman named Pauline. The pair became close friends, along with Pauline’s husband, Jennings, who was disabled and had a myriad of health problems.

More tragedy would strike when Pauline died suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage. Through this grief, Velma and Jennings became more than just friends.

Velma was now on a cocktail of painkillers, and her son was drafted into the military at the time of the Vietnam War. This sent Velma into a severe depression, to which she placed the blame on Jennings and his health issues.

As the relationship began to falter, Jennings contacted a divorce lawyer. However, Velma would be the one to end the marriage on a more permanent basis.

Resentful of Jennings, Velma purchased a bottle of arsenic-based rat poison. On March 21st, she slipped the poison into one of his meals.

Jennings began to struggle to breathe and was taken to hospital. Sadly, he passed away due to heart complications 24 hours later. Jennings was 54 years old.

Velma, who lived off Jennings's life insurance for as long as she could, was forced to move back in with her parents. Her father, who had taken ill and was diagnosed with lung cancer, died a few months after being admitted to a hospice.

Velma managed to acquire a job, but the death of her father spurred her painkiller addiction, leading to her “accidentally” overdosing on two separate occasions. She had even resorted to stealing pills she found in her friends' and neighbors' houses.

Now living with her mother, more resentment began to grow. Lillian expected her to be a caretaker, cleaner, and sole income earner, and would often refer to her daughter's childhood as “the good old days,” which irked Velma even more.

A spot of happy news was that Velma’s daughter was to be married—but Velma knew she had no money to pay for her daughter's wedding. She decided to take a few loans out on her mother's house in her mother's name, which totaled around $2000.

Despite the wedding on the horizon, Velma used most of this money to fund her pill addiction. Worried that her mother would eventually find out about the loan, Velma reached for her poison again.

Lillian became sick for a few days, and on December 30th, 1974, Velma upped the dose. Lillian became violently ill, but despite her unfortunate condition, several medical professionals compared her symptoms to that of a stomach flu that was making the rounds.

After poisoning her mother, Velma convinced her older brother that something wasn’t right, and the pair called for an ambulance. Lillian died a few hours later.

After the death of her mother, Velma moved in with her daughter Kim and her husband, but her pill addiction was only getting worse. Kim would try her best to dispose of the pills, but Velma would hide pills in her bra, in the washer, and in toilet paper holders.

One day, Velma returned to her mother's house and found her husband's checkbook. She used it to forge checks to fund her growing addiction, though this was short-lived.

A few days after she began forging checks she was caught. At this point, she tried to overdose, but awoke in the hospital with a police officer by her side.

Velma was sent to North Carolina’s Correctional Center for Women and served only 4 months before being released. Kim was now pregnant with her first child and did not allow her mother to move back in with her.

To support herself and her pill addiction, Velma began to arrange in-home care jobs for herself where she would live with those who had paid for her to care for them.

The first elderly couple she worked for was 94-year-old Montgomery and his 84-year-old wife, Dolly. Dolly was a cancer survivor and Montgomery was blind and had lost his legs to diabetes.

Velma and Dolly would argue a lot. Velma claimed Dolly treated her just like her mother did, complaining about her work until she wanted to scream.

Montgomery fell ill and passed away on January 29th, 1977, but is said to have died of natural causes. it was then only a few months later in March that Dolly seemed to be showing the same signs of illness that Montgomery showed before he passed away.

Dolly experienced excruciating pain, diarrhea, and vomiting as Velma sat by and did nothing to help her. Dolly died the following day.

The next victims of Velma’s were Record Lee, who had broken her leg, and her husband, John Henry Lee. Velma found the couple irritating and had often fantasized about screaming and hitting the couple, but knew she couldn’t, as she needed her job to fund her pill addiction.

She soon resorted to using John’s checkbook to pay for her painkillers. The couple became aware of the money leaving their bank after seeing one of their bank statements, yet they did not believe their carer, a “God-fearing” woman would steal from them, and the mystery was not pursued.

John had been in good health, and had even been able to help around the house. When he became ill, he was taken to hospital with symptoms of stomach pains, diarrhea, and chest pains, and was sent home with a diagnosis of the stomach flu.

Velma continued to slowly poison John in order to make it look like he had become ill over time, setting it up so his death would not seem so out of the blue. After a month of recurring stomach problems and vomiting, John passed away on June 4th, 1977.

Velma’s final victim was Rowland Stuart Taylor, Dolly's nephew. Rowland, who went by Stuart, was not spoken highly of by Dolly, which is one of the reasons Velma disliked her, as she'd taken a romantic interest in Stuart.

Stuart had come to see Velma and check how she was doing after the death of John. It didn’t take long before Velma and Stuart struck up a relationship.

Velma continued to care for Record, but eventually quit this role and began a new one at a nursing home as a nurse's aide. This job offered her more money, and she was able to buy herself a trailer home.

The relationship between Velma and Stuart began to falter as Velma disliked his penchant to disappear for weeks at a time. Eventually, she found out Stuart had a drinking problem and would go on huge benders, but Velma had a new trick up her sleeve…

The police were called to Velma’s trailer after a friend found her bound with duct tape and tied to her bed with a towel secured over her head. The police were unable to find signs of forced entry, nor were there any signs of a struggle within the trailer nor any evidence that Velma had been assaulted.

Velma had claimed that as she entered her bathroom, a man had grabbed her from behind and had bound her to the bed. This story soon got back to Stuart, who instantly offered for her to stay with him, as he stated it wasn’t safe for her to live alone.

The fairytale was short-lived for the couple.

Velma began to steal checks from Stuart, but as he wasn’t elderly, ill, or in need of care, he quickly found out and threatened to inform the police if she didn’t stop. Velma, enraged by this, wanted to leave Stuart.

She attempted to move in with her son, Ronald, but he and his pregnant wife did not want Velma and her drug addiction to come into their home. Upset and angry, Velma returned to Stuart, and again, began to steal checks from him, assuming his earlier threats to go to the police were simply that—just threats.

However, when Stuart found out she was stealing from him again, he stood by his decision to go to the police. Except he never made it to the station.

At a church service, Stuart became incredibly ill and was taken to hospital. He's given the typical diagnosis of gastroenteritis and is sent home with medication. His sudden illness was chalked up to something he may have eaten.

This was true, of course. But the thing that irritated his stomach was the arsenic Velma put in his cereal that morning.

At first, Stuart recovered well. But ultimately his “mysterious” illness returned so severely he was admitted to the hospital.

He died an hour later on February 3rd, 1978.

Stuart's death confused his family, especially considering more of their family members died similarly. They requested an autopsy to be performed.

Around the same time, the police received a phone call stating that there had been several deaths marked as natural causes that are highly suspected to be murders. This phone call came from Velma’s sister.

With the combination of Stuart's autopsy and the tip-off by Velma’s sister, the medical examiners were able to look for poisoning. They found it was highly likely that the cause of death was arsenic, but more tests were needed.

A month later, Velma was taken in and questioned by Detective Benson Phillips, and, of course, Velma acted shocked and upset at the accusations.

However, once the remainder of the tests came back from Stuart's autopsy and confirmed the arsenic poisoning, Velma’s window of innocence was rapidly closing.

In light of this new information, the decision was made to exhume the bodies of the people who Velma had cared for before they died. Velma now knew she had no way to defend herself and confessed to the murders, one of which included her own mother.

Although she confessed to some of the killings, she denied murdering Jennings or her first husband, Thomas Burke. Nonetheless, Jennings was also exhumed and traces of arsenic were confirmed.

Despite the confessions, Velma was only officially charged with one count of first-degree murder for Stuart. The detectives knew she only had to be found guilty on one charge of murder for her to be sentenced to the death penalty, and Stuart's case had the most compelling evidence to sustain a guilty charge.

On May 5th, 1978, Velma did try to plead not guilty due to insanity. Her defense tried to argue her behavior was due to her traumatic childhood, and that the painkillers she was addicted to had in fact affected her mentally.

Velma stated that she only meant to use the poison to make them sick long enough to steal from them, and never intended to kill anyone. The jury deliberated for only an hour before announcing their verdict.

Velma was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Rowland Stuart Taylor, and this guilty charge secured the death penalty. Velma did not try to appeal her sentence or punishment and stated she was “ready to meet God.”

This sentence meant Velma would become the second woman ever to be sentenced to death in North Carolina after the death penalty was re-introduced a year earlier in 1977. She would be the first woman to be executed by lethal injection.

Velma Barfield, now known as “The Death Row Granny,” had her last meal of Cheetos and two bottles of Coke before being executed on November 2nd, 1984. She was buried by her first husband, Thomas Burke, in North Carolina.