In 1861, Amelia was 24 years old and just started her nursing career when she was introduced to the concept of “baby farming”, hosting women pregnant with illegitimate children and keeping the baby after to foster or adopt to other families. After her first husband passed in 1967, Amelia was desperate for an income and took a dark turn in an attempt to make more money. Instead of finding families to adopt the babies left behind, she began strangling them and disposing of the bodies herself. It’s estimated that she had killed up to 400 infants and children until she was caught and sentenced to death by hanging in 1896.