Jane 'Jolly Jane' Toppan
Jane Toppan was an American serial killer from Massachusetts. She is thought to have had over 31 victims between the years 1895-1901. Toppan is considered an 'Angel of Death,' a type of serial killer who takes on a caring role and murders the vulnerable and dependent.
Jane Toppan's childhood was troubled; her mother died when she was very young and her father was known to be an abusive alcoholic. When Jane was around 6 years old she was left in an orphanage by her father.
In 1885, Toppan began training to be a nurse, she was well-liked and friendly quickly gaining the nickname 'Jolly Jane.' She began experimenting with patient's medication doses out of curiosity about what would happen to them, hiding what she was doing by forging their charts. Toppan was fired from a job for recklessly administering opiates and found work in the private sector.
In 1895, Toppan began her spree of murders by poisoning her landlord and his wife. In 1899 she killer her foster sister. In 1901, Toppan moved in with an elderly male called Alden Davis to take care of him following the death of his wife (who she had also murdered), within weeks him, his sister and two of his daughters were dead. The surviving members of the Davis family called for a toxicology result which found the family had been poisoned. On 29th October 1901, Jane Toppan was arrested, by 1902 she had confessed to 31 murders.
Toppan insisted she was sane and that she knew what she was doing at the time of her crimes, reiterating that she knew her murders were wrong. She stated that she got a sexual thrill from patients being close to death, coming back to life and then dying again, she also stated she had strong orders to poison, even poisoning herself at times to evoke sympathy. A jury, however, found her insane and she was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed for life to a mental hospital.
