Velma Barfield was born on October 23, 1932, on a small farm in rural South Carolina. Velma was one of nine children and was raised in a strict Christian household. At the age of 17, Barfield dropped out of school and moved to Parkton, North Carolina, marrying her love, Thomas Burke, and eventually raising two children together.
Around 1965, Thomas was involved in a serious vehicle crash and began using alcohol and drugs to deal with his severe pain. Sometime in 1969, while Velma was out running errands, the home caught fire, with Thomas inside. Thomas Burke would die from smoke inhalation in the incident, but just a few months afterwards, another fire would engulf the house again, burning it to the ground.
Velma would soon begin dating a widower named Jennings Barfield, eventually marrying in August 1970. The marriage only lasted a few months, until Jennings passed away on March 21, 1971, from heart failure. Velma decided to pack her bags after the death of her second husband and moved in with her parents near Fayetteville.
Barfield would experience another heartbreak when her father died from lung cancer, and in 1974, her mother started complaining of severe stomach pains. In August 1974, a man that Velma was dating perished in a car accident, and by December of 1974, Barfield’s mother was again rushed to the hospital for a severe stomach illness. Shortly after being admitted to the hospital, Barfield’s mother died from the mysterious disease.
Local law enforcement arrested Velma in 1975 for writing bad checks, and she served six months for the crime. After being released, Velma secured a new profession as a home health nurse, caring for an elderly couple. Both of her patients soon died in 1977. Dollie Edwards, the wife, met her demise from the same mysterious stomach virus.
Later in 1977, Barfield was assigned to care for a new elderly couple, John Henry and Record Lee. John Henry Lee died in June 1977 from a severe stomach virus.
Velma soon found love again when she moved in with her new boyfriend, Stuart Taylor. One day, while the couple attended church together, Stuart began complaining of severe stomach pain. Taylor went to the hospital, dying within a few days of his arrival.
An Autopsy was ordered on Taylor, and before the autopsy was returned, Lumberton police received a call from Barfield’s sister saying that Velma had poisoned them.
Barfield was arrested and later confessed to poisoning them with arsenic to cover up that she had stolen money to support her drug use.
Velma died at age 52, becoming the first woman to die by lethal injection in the United States on November 2, 1984, at Central Prison in Raleigh.
Velma Barfield was convicted of the first-degree murder of Stuart Taylor in December 1978. The trial jury found “aggravating circumstances” and recommended that she be sentenced to death.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.