William Archerd: a serial matrimonialist killer
Authors: Vincent Marks, Caroline Richmond
Journal: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2008)

William Dale Archerd, also known as James LynnArden and by other pseudonyms, was foundguilty on 15 March 1968 of murdering his nephewand two of his seven wives. These were probablynot the only killings he committed. He was then55 years old and had a varied past as salesman,erstwhile mental hospital attendant and serialmatrimonialist. His wives had a habit of dying,and William had chosen insulin as the weapon tokill two, and possibly three, of them as well as hisother victims. He presumably stole it, as for muchof the time he was unemployed, but he could alsohaveboughtitoverthecounterasinsulinwasnotaprescription-only drug and was freely available.Although his murderous career really began in1947, it was only 20 years later, when he wasarraigned for murder, that his earlier crimes cameto light.William had, it seemed, always wanted to be adoctor but, not having the opportunity or – poss-ibly the ability – to pursue this career, spent sometime during the early 1940s working as an orderlyinastatementalhospital–andthenext25yearsina life of crime.In 1950 some of his earlier misdemeanourscaught up with him and he was sentenced to fiveyears’ probation after pleading guilty to illegalpossession of morphine. The probation wasrevokedafterhecommittedaseconddrugoffence.He was sent to a minimum-security prison, fromwhich he escaped in 1951.Afterrecapturehewassenttothehigh-security,andhighlynotorious,SanQuentinjail,fromwhichhewasreleasedonparolein1953.SanQuentinhadbeen established in 1852 at Point Quentin, anislandoffMarinCountyinSanFranciscobay,asananswertotherampantlawlessnessinCaliforniaatthattime.California’sonlygaschamberanddeathrow for all condemned male inmates were locatedat San Quentin and it was possibly there thatWilliam was launched into serious crime.The story begins when William contacted thepolice on 24 July 1956 to report an alleged robberyat his home in Los Angeles. He said that tworobbers had come to his home, armed with gunsand hypodermic syringes, which they had used toinject both him and his current (third) wife, Zella,in the buttocks. They made off with $500 but noneof Zella’s jewellery, which was on full view in herbedroom. At the scene of the crime the policeinitially found two puncture wounds in Zella’sbuttocks (later amended to four after examinationof photographs taken of her after death), but nonein William’s.Zella was dizzy but not comatose when thepolice arrived, and she corroborated her hus-band’s statement about the robbers, although shenever saw them, as they put a pillowcase over herhead.Afterthepoliceleftshegraduallylapsedintocoma and had convulsions, from which she diednext day without regaining consciousness. Duringa search of the house and surroundings the policefound a hypodermic needle in a bathroom drawerand a half-used vial of long-acting insulin in anearby field.The investigating police officer in Los Angeles,Sergeant Harry Andre, drew the coroner’s atten-tion to the insulin vial. However, because no poi-sonous substances were found in Zella’s body andnomethodofmeasuringinsulinwasreadilyavail-able except in research laboratories, he had noevidencethatshehaddiedfrominsulinpoisoning.Zella’s death was officially attributed to broncho-pneumonia, but suspicion remained, at least inSergeant Andre’s mind, that she might have beenmurdered.TheseconddeathtocometotheattentionoftheauthoritieswasthatofJuanita,William’sfifthwife.She and William lived in Las Vegas, Nevada,where William had gone to live soon afterZella’s death. Juanita was discovered in a comaon 12 March 1958, only two days after she and