Barbara Elaine Ford was born June 26, 1923, in Oakland, California. Her early childhood was marked by instability and hardship. Her mother, Hortense Ford, worked in prostitution and was arrested while Barbara was still a toddler. Sent to a reformatory herself, Hortense left Barbara to grow up in foster homes and with extended relatives, where Barbara later claimed she was neglected and abused.

Although she was intelligent and capable, Barbara’s education was limited. As a teenager, she was arrested for vagrancy and sent to Ventura State School for Girls, the same institution her mother had been held in. After her release in 1939, she tried to build a more stable life. She married Harry Kielhamer in 1940 and had two sons, but the marriage collapsed, and she lost custody of the children.

Barbara married two more times and again saw each marriage end in failure. She drifted into prostitution during World War II, working near naval bases in California. Her beauty and boldness earned her work, but she also drew police attention. Over the years, she was arrested multiple times on vice charges. In the mid-1940s, she was convicted of perjury after providing a false alibi for two criminals and spent five years in prison at Tehachapi.

After her release, Barbara bounced between Nevada and California, trying to start over but repeatedly returning to sex work and the criminal underworld. She married Henry Graham, a bartender, in 1953 and had a third child, Tommy. But through Henry’s associates, she was drawn deeper into circles of professional criminals, including Emmett Perkins and Jack Santo.

In early 1953, Barbara Graham learned from Emmett Perkins that an elderly widow named Mabel Monohan was rumored to be keeping a fortune in cash and jewels in her Burbank home. The story claimed Mabel’s ex-son-in-law, gambling figure Luther Scherer, trusted her enough to store $100,000 in her house. Whether the rumor was true didn’t matter—it was enough to convince Barbara and her accomplices to plan a robbery.

On March 9, 1953, Barbara knocked on Mabel’s door, pretending she needed to use the phone. When Mabel opened the door, the men forced their way inside. What happened next was pieced together largely from John True’s testimony and Baxter Shorter’s confession: Barbara handed a gun to Perkins, telling him to knock the woman out. Mabel was beaten and gagged. As the group ransacked the house, they failed to find the rumored fortune.

When they left, Mabel was still alive, but she suffocated from the gag left in her mouth. Her body was found two days later by her gardener.

Initially, the police struggled to solve the case. But Shorter, worried about facing the gas chamber, turned informant and detailed the crime to police. Soon after, he disappeared—presumed murdered by Perkins and Santo. Another informant, William Upshaw, and then John True agreed to testify in exchange for immunity.

Barbara sealed her own fate when she tried to fabricate an alibi with the help of another inmate who was cooperating with the police. Caught on tape admitting she’d been at the scene, her credibility was destroyed.

The press, eager for a sensational story, labeled her “Bloody Babs.” Despite her protests of innocence, the jury found her guilty of murder. She was sentenced to death along with Perkins and Santo.

Barbara appealed but lost every bid for clemency. On June 3, 1955, she was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin Prison. Her final words were:

“Good people are always so sure they’re right.”

Her story was later dramatized in the 1958 film I Want to Live!, sparking debate over whether she truly deserved the ultimate penalty.