Bio

Dovie Blanche Dean was born on February 25, 1898.

She lived in Clermont County and was from Batavia, Ohio.

She was a mother of six and was a grandmother.

She married more than once and was known publicly as Dovie Dean.

Murder Story

Dovie Blanche Dean was born February 25, 1898. She married Hawkins Dean on April 13, 1952. The couple lived in Clermont County, Ohio. Hawkins Dean was a 69-year-old farmer and was her newlywed husband.

Hawkins Dean died on August 22, 1952. Dovie Dean was arrested on September 12, 1952. She was convicted of putting arsenic-laced rat poison in his milk. The case listed the method of murder as poisoning with arsenic.

Prosecutors said Hawkins changed his will after the marriage and made Dovie the sole beneficiary of his $27,000 estate. Dovie at first blamed her son for the death. She later confessed to the killing. She told police the killing followed several violent arguments and said, "He wanted a housekeeper and I wanted a home." She also said, "I got him before he got me."

A University of Cincinnati psychiatrist examined Dovie and found her sane, but with a flattened affect. At her trial she said she could not cry. The jury convicted her in about 40 minutes and did not recommend mercy. Under Ohio law at the time, the judge sentenced her to death.

Dovie Dean, age 55, was executed by electrocution on January 15, 1954, at the Ohio State Penitentiary. Witnesses said she wore a simple green dress, white anklets, and brown shoes. Her last meal included roast chicken, potatoes, asparagus, green salad with French dressing, coconut cream pie, angel food cake, and coffee. She asked that someone sing "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," and the hymn was read to her. Her final statement included, "When I got on the witness stands they made light of me because I couldn't cry," and, "I had grief inside like knives." The switch was thrown at 8:00 p.m., and she was pronounced dead at 8:07 p.m.