Locusta
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Locusta was a professional poisoner in Rome sometime during the first century A.D.
She drank a bit of poison every day. She soon became immune to all poisons known to man in that time. If anyone tried to poison her it would fail.
In A.D. 54, she may have been hired by Agrippina the Younger to kill the Emperor Claudius, possibly with a poisoned dish of mushrooms. In 55, she was convicted of poisoning another victim. When Nero learned of this he sent a tribune of the Praetorian Guard to rescue her from execution. In return for this she was ordered to poison Britannicus. She succeeded on her second try, Nero rewarding her with immunity from execution while he lived. Seven months after Nero's suicide, Locusta was condemned to die by Galba in January 69. Apuleius described her life.
[edit] Source
- Michael Newton, The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, ISBN 0-8160-3979-8
