True Crime Friday: Judy Buenoano, the Black Widow Serial Killer

Judy Buenoano was born Anna Lou Welty but used many aliases such as Judias Goodyear and Judias Morris. In fact, Buenoano is Spanish for Goodyear. She was born April 4, 1943, in the State of Texas. Buenoano was convicted of attempted murder of boyfriend and the murder of two boyfriends. She murdered her husband and her disabled son. Judy Buenoana was executed in a Florida prison for the crimes she committed. She was the first woman executed in Florida since 1848. She was the first woman in the United States to be electrocuted since 1976.

The Early Childhood of Judy Buenoano

Judy’s mother died when she was four. She was raised by her grandparents. She was raised with three other siblings and her father remarried with a woman who had two sons of her own. They moved the blended family to New Mexico. Buenoano was abused by her father and stepmother. She was starved and was said to be treated as a slave by her parents. When she was fourteen, she spent two months in prison for attacking her stepmother. After she was released from prison she was sent to reform school. She graduated in 1960 and became a nursing assistant. She eventually had a son a in 1980. She resented her son Michael because he was born out of wedlock. When Michael became disabled, Buenoano took him out of a canoe in a wheelchair in Florida and he drowned. Following his death, Buenoano opened a beauty salon using the proceeds from his life insurance.

Following the death of Bobby Joe Morris, she dated Gerald Dossett.  Dossett died a few months later from a mysterious death. His body was later exhumed for arsenic testing, though no formal charges were ever filed against Buenoano.

The Victims of Judy Buenoano

• James Goodyear
• Michael Buenoano
• Bobby Joe Morris
• Gerald Dossett

The Attempted Murder of Judy Buenoano Boyfriend

• John Gentry

Judy Buenoano married James Goodyear, and he died suddenly on September 16, 1971. His death was ruled to be of natural causes. About two years later she moved in with Bobby Joe Morris who lived in Colorado, he died of mysterious circumstances few years later. Following his death, she legally changed her name to Buenoano. Judy Buenoano moved back to Florida and was in a relationship with a wallpaper businessman named John Gentry in 1983. Gentry was leaving a restaurant when his car exploded in the parking lot. He was severely injured by the explosion. During the investigation authorities found several discrepancies in Buenoano's background. The police investigation revealed that in November 1982, she began telling her friends that Gentry suffered from a terminal illness. She had been giving Gentry arsenic disguised as vitamins. Upon this discovery police exhumed the bodies of Michael Buenoano, James Goodyear and Bobby Joe Morris who they discovered were all given arsenic. Buenoano received substantial life insurance payouts after each death. She was arrested in 1983 on multiple counts.

Lady Justice

Judy Buenoano was convicted of the murder of her son Michael and the attempted murder of her boyfriend Gentry. She received a 12-year sentence for the Gentry case, and a life sentence for the Michael Buenoano case. In 1985 she was convicted of the murder of her first husband James Goodyear and was sentence to death. She was on death row at the Florida Department of Corrections Broward Correctional Institution. On March 30, 1998, Buenoano was executed in the electric chair. She received a last meal of steamed broccoli, asparagus, strawberries, and hot tea. When asked if she had any last words, Judy Buenoano, said no sir before the lever was pulled.

References

• The Black Widow
• She Took Her Paralyzed Son Out in a Canoe and Flipped It — and That Was Just One of Her Family Murders
• Judias Buenoano: Florida’s Black Widow
• Wikipedia - Judy Buenoano