Episode 012: Belle Sorenson Gunness, Part 1

on January 14, 2011 in Podcast Episodes, Serial Killers by Brian Combs

Tags: Belle Sorenson Gunness, Hedonistic Comfort

George Anderson of Tarkio, Missouri had been conversing with Belle for a few weeks. He had seen her matrimonial ad in a local newspaper, and was very intrigued by the Norwegian widow who lived on a farm in La Porte, Indiana.

She seemed rather fixated on money, but he really couldn’t blame her. Belle was a woman of some means trying to manage a farm and raise children. Naturally, she was worried that any man she met would try to take advantage of her, perhaps stealing her money.

Anderson decided to visit Belle in La Porte to see if she was sincere. He only brought 300 dollars, rather than the one thousand dollars she had requested he bring.

While the two of them clearly hit it off, Belle said that before the they could wed, she needed to pay off her mortgage, and asked him to go back home, sell his farm, and come back with the money.

Later that night in a guest bedroom, Anderson awoke to find Belle standing over him, with a candle in her hand and a strange, sinister expression on her face. Startled, he yelled out. Without saying a word, she fled from the room. Anderson did the same from the house, returning to Missouri on the first available train.

Most of the gentleman callers of Belle Sorenson Gunness were not so fortunate.

Throughout this episode, I’ll refer to Belle Sorenson Gunness as “Belle” to avoid confusion, with her changing first and last names.

Also, given the number of Norwegian names in this episode, you can bet I’m going to mispronounce some of them.

You can also download the episode directly.

And feel free to use the comments below for episode discussion.