Murderpedia

 

 

Juan Ignacio Blanco  

 

  MALE murderers

index by country

 index by name   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

  FEMALE murderers

index by country

 index by name   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

 

  
   

Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.

   

 

 

Rosanne KEEN
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

    
 
 
Classification: Homicide
Characteristics: Juvenile (16) - Poisoner
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: November 1843
Date of birth: 1827
Victim profile: Enos Seeley ("her owner")
Method of murder: Poisoning (arsenic)
Location: Cumberland County, New Jersey, USA
Status: Executed by hanging in New Jersey on April 26, 1844
 
 
 
 
 
 

April 26, 1844 - 16 year old Rosanne Keen, an African American domestic servant, was hanged in New Jersey for murder.

 
 

Rosanne Keen

New Jersey hanged  16-year-old Rosanne Keen for poisoning her owner Enos Seeley. Young Keen reportedly used arsenic borrowed from a neighbor that she mixed with butter and served to Seeley.

He succumbed to the poison but authorities believed Seeley died of natural causes. It was only when a neighbor revealed that she had given the poison to young Keen that suspicions escalated and officials exhumed Seeley's body.

A laboratory analysis confirmed Seeley had died from arsenic poisoning, and officials tried, convicted, and sentenced Keen to death for the murder.

Local authorities hanged Keen in a jail yard in April 1844 altough she was reportedly "deficient in intellect".

(Streib & Sametz, 1989, pp. 17-18).
 

 
 
 
 
 
home last updates contact