The cosmetic killer

The line between true crime and legend can be a blurry one, and in a time when toxicology tests and forensic pathology did not existed, stories of mysterious poisons with chameleon-like properties prospered. Here is one such legendary serial killing with a magical poison recipe.

Grab on your popcorn bag and a bottle of cola. You will be sitting on the edge of your seat while reading this story of a prolific women serial killer.

The curtain opens,

   The 17th century the period following the Renaissance was an era, when women were the weaker gender, forced into arranged marriages by their families. Men ill-treated their wives without facing any punishments. Women were trapped in loveless and abusive marriages with no financial and social power and divorce was not a choice. The only way out of an unhappy union was death. No wonder some women wanted to be widows. Aqua Tofana provided a quick, discrete solution.

So now meet the woman who poisoned makeup to help over 600 women murder their husbands!! With concoction known as Aqua Tofana, Giulia Tofana found a creative solution for Renaissance women in need of a divorce. She created an empire, selling this deadly potion and that also for 50 long years without being caught. Yes you heard it right 50 years of killing which led to the demise of 600 men. She was the most successful serial killer whose name you’ve never heard. She justified her actions as she believed she was helping troubled married women, looking to be single again.

What’s her history?  

Giulia Tofana, an exceptionally beautiful lady was said to be born in Sicily. Her mother, an apothecary who made and sold perfumes, cosmetics, herbal medicines, and other concoctions, was executed in Palermo on July 12th, 1633, after she was convicted of murdering her husband , Francis d’ Adamo. From here, Tofana overtook the business, in which she exhibited an interest since an early age.  She was also a widow at an early age, had a daughter named, Girolama Spara.

 What led to her serial killing?

 Giulia Tofana officially sold cosmetics in the middle of the 17th century in southern Italy – first in Salerno, then in Naples and finally Rome. But her real innovation was the deadly poison Aqua Tofana. As she mingled more with ladies, who may be sharing their life with her, she pitied them. She took this as a noble cause of freeing the women clutches of brutal husbands.

With help of her daughter and a group of reliable women, Tofana gained a reputation as a friend to troubled women. Her group of poisoners also recruited a local Roman priest, Father Girolamo to secretly take part in their criminal network, involving a priest would avoid suspicion. How smart!!

Now let’s see her special killer recipe: Aqua Tofana  

Her poison had unique features. The liquid she made was a blend of arsenic, lead, and belladonna which were used externally for beautification of eyes or skin but once you intake them, it’s an invitation to death. All the three colorless, tasteless, and odorless like water thus named Aqua and therefore easily mixed with water or wine to be served during meals. It could supposedly kill with exceptional precision: doses could be calculated to kill immediately, in week, a month, or years later, for the poisoner who wanted the authority of deciding the period slow decline. Aqua Tofana proved to be a non-detectable slow poison. There were no acute symptoms shown by the person who unknowingly took this poison. The victims simply fell into a sleepiness from which they never recovered. The poison left no traces in the bloodstream and organs even if an autopsy would take place. The women usually fed their husbands with the poison in small doses and it would be usually in third or fourth dose, the man would meet his fate.

Soon Giulia got hundreds of loyal admirers who appreciated her service and she became the messiah for women who wanted an away out from domestic violence.

How she marketed her poison without been caught in spite of so many killings:

Tofana camouflaged the poisonous mixture by filling it into inconspicuous containers. She took utter care while selling her delicate product. Her brilliance was also visible in the packaging, from outside the poison looked like a cosmetic powder or skin lotion which would easily blend inside woman’s vanity box with her other beauty products. Most deviously of all, Aqua Tofana was sold as the “manna” with the image of St. Nicholas of Bari, a special healing ointment that looked like a devotional object. This is how the poison was sent across Europe, because the customs and authorities did not want to open the sacred miracle bottles. Personally also Giulia maintained a low profile, she was not a very social person. As we don’t have any of her images in history.

She was caught finally  

Giulia carried her killings along with others smoothly for around 50 years until in a shocking twist, a bowl of soup led her downfall. In the year 1650, one of her client who decided to dose her husband with this concoction, had suddenly had change of heart. The woman served her husband a bowl of soup laced with a drop of Aqua Tofana feeling horribly guilty about it. Before her husband could take a spoonful, she begged him not to eat it. This raised the man’s suspicions and he abused his wife until she confessed to poisoning the food. During the wife’s interrogation with higher authorities she finally pointed her fingers to Giulia and her poison.

Giulia was warned of her impending arrest, and she fled to a church, asking for a sanctuary. It was granted, but when a rumour spread through Rome that Giulia had poisoned the water supply in the city. The church was stormed, and she was handed over to Papal authorities, who tortured her where she confessed her crime.

It was said she was publicly executed for her killings, alongside with her daughter and three of her employees in Campo de’ Fiori, a popular site of execution. Her corpse was thrown over the wall into the church which gave her sanctuary. Some of Tofana’s clients and other accomplices were also executed.

Tofana remained as a legacy even after she was gone. She and her poison was still a hot topic of discussion till many years. In 1791, over 100 years after Tofana died, the composer Amadeus Mozart fell gravely ill and he claimed that he was poisoned by Aqua Tofana and someone who wanted him dead calculated his time of death. Though it was said he died of rheumatic fever and other symptoms .Such was the impact of Giulia deadly concoction which was taken in to account when anyone would have a suspicious death.

To end, luckily today most of the women have a choice of life partners for a happy union or a choice of divorce to terminate the deal legally.

Where did I find this story :

Ancient pages-Giulia Tofana Poisoned 600 men ; Beautiful Sicilian Woman and Her Deadly Mission

Medium.com – Meet the Woman who Poisoned Makeup to Help Over 600 Women Murder Their Husbands

Ranker – Life of Giulia Tofana

Vintage News- The Most Prolific Female Assassin in History.