Judy Buenoano - Crimes

Crimes

In 1971, she was married to James Goodyear (1934–1971), a sergeant in the United States Air Force. According to prosecutors, she was motivated by insurance money when she poisoned him with lethal doses of arsenic. However, his death was initially believed to be due to natural causes.

In 1973, she moved in with Bobby Joe Morris (?-1978); in January 1978, he succumbed to arsenic poisoning. Later that year, she legally changed her name to "Buenoano" (corrupted Spanish for "good year," from "buen año").

Buenoano's son Michael Goodyear (1961–1980) became severely ill in 1979, his symptoms including paraplegia; post-mortem examination indicated that he had been the victim of severe arsenic poisoning, which caused his disability. In 1980, Buenoano took Michael out in a canoe; the canoe rolled, and Michael, weighed down by his arm and leg braces, drowned.

In 1983, Buenoano was engaged to John Gentry. Gentry was severely injured when his car exploded. While he was recovering from his injuries, police began to find several discrepancies in Buenoano's background; further investigation revealed that, in November 1982, she had begun telling her friends that Gentry was suffering from a terminal illness. Upon learning this, Gentry provided police with the "vitamin pills" which Buenoano had been giving him; these were found to contain arsenic and formaldehyde. This led to the exhumations of Michael Goodyear, James Goodyear, and Bobby Joe Morris, and to the discovery that each man had been the victim of arsenic poisoning.

In 1984, Buenoano was convicted for the murders of Michael and James Goodyear, and in 1985 she was convicted for the attempted murder of John Gentry. She received a twelve-year sentence for the Gentry case, a life sentence for the Michael Goodyear case, and a death sentence for the James Goodyear case. She was convicted of multiple counts of grand theft (for insurance fraud), and is thought to have committed multiple acts of arson (again, for purposes of insurance fraud).