Female Criminals

In 1983, she was accused of shooting her three children in a twisted attempt to prove her love to her boyfriend. The Oregon district attorney feared that Diane Downs would walk free, due to a lack of evidence. All his hopes rested on a star witness: 8-year-old Christie Downs, Diane's oldest daughter. Parcasters - To learn about an iconic event in American history, check out our our new episode on John McCain on HOSTAGE, wherever you get your shows. Listen now at parcast.com/hostage Sponsors! BetterHelp - Go to BetterHelp.com/Criminals to get 10% off your first month with discount code CRIMINALS.  Native - For 20% off your first purchase, visit NativeDeodorant.com and use promo code CRIMINALS during checkout! SugarBearHair - Go to SugarBearHair.com/CRIMINALS for amazing hair and a healthier you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She was a mother from Oregon who felt like she never received the love she deserved. In 1983, when Diane Downs finally met a man who gave her the attention she craved, she was willing to sacrifice anything to keep them together. Including her own children. Sponsors!  SugarBearHair - Go to SugarBearHair.com/CRIMINALS for amazing hair and a healthier you! Swap.com - Get free shipping on your first purchase when you go to Swap.com/Criminals! Upstart - Hurry to Upstart.com/CRIMINALS to find out HOW LOW your Upstart rate is! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Known for stealing from the rich, and giving to the poor, newspapers called her "The Bandit Queen." But was Wild West anti-hero Belle Starr actually guilty of being a thief, or was she simply married to one? In 1889, her notorious reputation would result in a bloody ending only reserved for an American outlaw.  Parcasters - Love may have brought Belle Starr to her grave, but she isn’t alone! Learn about more criminal couples on our new podcast CRIMES OF PASSION. Listen today at parcast.com/passion Sponsors! Shudder - To try Shudder free for 30 days, go to Shudder.com and use promo code CRIMINALS. SugarBearHair - Go to SugarBearHair.com/CRIMINALS for amazing hair and a healthier you. Swap.com - Go to Swap.com/Criminals and sign up to get free shipping on your first purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She grew up during the Civil War and supported the Confederacy. When Belle Starr married her first husband, a notorious horse thief, she was plunged into a world of outlaws in the postwar era of the 1870s and 80s. Was she a bystander to her husband's crimes? Or complicit in his reign of terror in the Wild West? Sponsors! BetterHelp - Female Criminals listeners get 10% off your first month with discount code CRIMINALS when you go to BetterHelp.com/Criminals. Proven Innocent - Proven Innocent Premieres Friday, February 15th at 9/8c, only on Fox. Torrid - Go to Torrid.com and use Promo Code CRIMINALS15 for $15 off every $50 you spend! That means you can get up to $150 off a $500 order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After months of torment and abuse in the summer of 1965, Sylvia Likens stopped fighting back. No one would find out what was happening in Gertrude Baniszweski's house of horrors until it was far too late. By the time it’s over, Baniszweski wouldn’t be the only person convicted of manslaughter and murder.  Sponsors! BetterHelp - Female Criminals listeners get 10% off the first month with discount code CRIMINALS. Proven Innocent - Proven Innocent Premieres Friday, February 15th at 9/8c, only on Fox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the summer of 1965 in Indiana, teenagers Sylvia and Jenny Likens were invited to stay in the home of their friend's mother, Gertrude Baniszewski. Only one of them would leave the house alive. Parcasters - After this episode of Female Criminals, go check out our new show Extraterrestrial and learn about the abduction of Barney and Betty Hill. Listen at parcast.com/extraterrestrial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was perhaps the only man Virginia Hill ever loved. He also brought her closer than ever to a bloody downfall at the hands of the Mafia. Shortly before Bugsy’s assassination in 1947, Hill fled to Paris, leading to questions about her knowledge of his impending death. Sponsors! Upstart - Hurry to Upstart.com/CRIMINALS to find out HOW LOW your Upstart rate is! Checking your rate only takes 2 minutes—and won’t affect your credit! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A trusted operative, she ascended to the highest ranks of the Chicago Outfit in the 1930s and made millions of the dollars for the mob, and herself. By the time Virginia Hill was 30, her cutthroat mentality would land her at the top of the FBI’s Most Wanted list.  Sponsors! Torrid - Go to Torrid.com and use Promo Code CRIMINALS15 for $15 off every $50 you spend! That means you can get up to $150 off a $500 order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After one fateful day in 1976, the New York City Queenpin lost her faith in the mob and turned her back on them forever. Brickman was able to bring the mob to its knees and take down kingpins as a police informant from the inside. Sponsors! Candid - Head to CandidCo.com/CRIMINALS to save 25% on your modeling kit. Sun Basket - Go to SunBasket.com/CRIMINALS today to learn more and get $35 off your first order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Associated with some of New York City’s most infamous criminals, Brickman was involved in the drug empire from the mid-1950s until the 1980s.  She served as a courier, sold drugs, and ran her own bookmaking operation. Brickman not only used her family's mob connections, but also climbed the mob hierarchy, searching for the next powerful man she could seduce.  Sponsors! Sun Basket - Go to SunBasket.com/CRIMINALS today to learn more and get $35 off your first order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, Lizzie Borden's name is forever associated with the brutal axe murder of her parents. But when she stood trial in 1892, she was known only as a polite, educated society woman. Even with all the evidence pointing towards Lizzie, convincing a jury that a well-mannered woman was a murderer was going to be a difficult task. Sponsors! Caffé Monster - Available in Mocha, Vanilla, and Salted Caramel. Caffé Monster: Chill it down, Shake it up, Enjoy! Candid - Save 25% on your modeling kit when you go to CandidCo.com/CRIMINALS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andrew and Abby Borden were found gruesomely slaughtered with a hatchet in their Massachusetts home in 1892. The main suspect was Lizzie Borden, a reserved Sunday school teacher who had been nothing but a loving daughter. Which begs the question - was she capable of killing her father and stepmother?  Sponsors! Audible - Get 3 months of Audible for just $6.95 a month by going to Audible.com/CRIMINALS or text CRIMINALS to 500 500. Caffe Monster - Caffé Monster - Available in Mocha, Vanilla and Salted Caramel. Caffé Monster: Chill it down, Shake it up, Enjoy! Kopari - Go to KopariBeauty.com/CRIMINALS to save $5 off your first order when you subscribe!  Living Proof - Visit LivingProof.com/CRIMINALS and use promo code CRIMINALS to get a free sample of their award-winning dry shampoo with your purchase.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Between 1960 and 1964, numerous children began disappearing across Manchester, England. The sadistic rapist and torture duo behind the murders? Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. After getting away with murdering four children they wanted to push the limit. They decided they wanted to murder their next victim in front of a live audience. The trial would prove Myra Hindley to be “the most evil woman in Britain.” Sponsors! StoryWorth - For $20 off, visit StoryWorth.com/CRIMINALS when you subscribe! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Myra Hindley would do anything for her boyfriend, Ian Brady. She would even go as far as to murder someone for him. Both from troubled homes in Manchester, England, Hindley and Brady had abusive alcoholic parents. Their relationship would eventually cause Hindley to brutally murder five children between July 1963 and October 1965.  Sponsors! Candid - Go to CandidCo.com/CRIMINALS to save 25% on your modeling kit.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After her husband’s murder in the late 1980’s, she became head of a drug operation transporting cocaine and heroin from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Known for her extravagant fur coats, Thelma Wright used her drug money to keep up with appearances.  Sponsors! Caffé Monster - Now available in Mocha, Vanilla, and Salted Caramel. Caffé Monster: Chill it down, Shake it up, Enjoy! Kopari - Go to KopariBeauty.com/CRIMINALS to save $5 off your first order when you subscribe! Living Proof - Visit LivingProof.com/CRIMINALS and use promo code CRIMINALS to get a free sample of their award-winning dry shampoo with your purchase! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The leader of the Barker-Karpis Gang is responsible for increasingly violent bank robberies and kidnappings in the 1930s. In an attempt to take down the gang, the FBI engages in a shootout that lasts more than four hours. Does Ma Barker make it out unscathed? Sponsors! Caffé Monster - Available in Mocha, Vanilla, and Salted Caramel. Chill it down, Shake it up, Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She frequently traveled with her gang of sons during the Public Enemy Era. But did the “mother of criminals” actually commit any crimes? Sponsors! Candid Co - Go to CandidCo.com/CRIMINALS to save 25% on your modeling kit. Kopari - Go to KopariBeauty.com/CRIMINALS to save $5 off your first order when you subscribe! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first woman executed by the US federal government. Her crime? Engaging in a conspiracy to kill Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States.  Subscribe now to our new podcast HOSTAGE, featuring the riveting story of Patty Hearst's abduction by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Sponsors!  Kopari -  Go to KopariBeauty.com/CRIMINALS to save $5 off your first order when you subscribe! Living Proof - Visit LivingProof.com/CRIMINALS and use promo code CRIMINALS to get a free sample of their award-winning dry shampoo with your purchase! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Could you kill a president on your own? John Wilkes Booth used a network of conspirators to execute his plan of assassinating President Abraham Lincoln. The Surratt tavern was a well known hideaway from Confederate spies, was Mary involved in their ultimate act of vengeance? Subscribe to our new show - Hostage - today! Sponsors! Parcast - Sign up for the Parcast Monthly Newsletter at Parcast.com! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After getting caught by authorities her partner dies and Kim expects to be tortured, but ends up surprised at what happens next. Sponsors! Caffé Monster - Available in Vanilla, Mocha, and Salted Caramel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices