Latest / Crime Night / The Widow of Death: Kolthoum Akbari's Decades of Deception and the Coincidences That Caught Her

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The Widow of Death: Kolthoum Akbari's Decades of Deception and the Coincidences That Caught Her · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Imagine the quiet of the night, deep silence, and then
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: suddenly this sharp, insistent rap on the door, knuckles against wood,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: you know, echoing through a home. Footsteps coming closer, maybe
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a bit hesitant, Yeah, than that metallic click of a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: lock turning. That's it. A surge of voices, crisp, authoritative,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: cutting right through the stillness. You see the cold gleam
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of herani and police uniforms in the dim light. And
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: there in the doorway is Coold Tumac Bari, bewildered.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Her world just completely falling apart.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Exactly, her carefully built world, decades of secrets and deception.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: It's all about to unravel the woman they called the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: widow of Death. Her passes finally catching up. So let's
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: try unpack this. Imagine you're living this life, maybe you
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: thinking you've built a future rate and then bam, the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: pass just crashes down. You're facing accusations, not just one,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: but like over a dozen lives spanning decades. This deep dive,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: it's not just about finding a serial killer. It's about
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the really shocking circumstances that kind of created her. In
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: those coincidences and the series of almost unbelievable coincidences that
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: finally brought her down. It's extraordinary.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Well, what's truly insightful here, I think, is how Akbari's
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: initial desperation, which was rooted in these really specific societal constraints,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: was systematically.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Weaponize weapinis. Yeah, how so she leveraged.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: The anonymity of natural death, especially in elderly people. She
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: took seemingly mundane things, financial worries, social pressures, even just
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: you know, the frailties of old age, and twisted them
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: into this horrifying, calculated pattern.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: So it wasn't just opportunity, no.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: No, it was a chilling exploitation of vulnerabilities that were
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: already there. It really makes you ask what happens when
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: that facade of normality hides something, well, something truly sinister underneath.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Right, So today we're diving into this terrifying, very detailed
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: case of kulthum Ma Akbari, the widow of death, an
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Iranian woman cues of marrying over eighteen times and murdering
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: at least eleven people. We'll explore the complex origins. You know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: how she started down this path, the chilling way her
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: methods evolved, and then the dramatic turn of events that
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: finally exposed everything. To really get a handle on the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: widow of death, we have to go back way back
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: to where it all started, to a life marked by
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: just immense constraint, a shocking lack of agency really from
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: a very young age. Early it does. Culbari was born
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty seven in Seri. That's a rural city
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: in northern Iran. In this area, it was known for
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: its deeply conservative.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Traditions, especially regarding women exactly.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: A woman's value was often tied to her marriage prospects,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: her ability to secure a financially stable match. Women were
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: almost treated like well.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Commodities, economic assets, right, and.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: This put huge pressure on families and on young women
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: like Cultham to marry for money, not for you know,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: choice or affection. Coultham's family was relatively poor and by
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the time she was just twelve years old twelve, her
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: physical maturity made her seem older.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Which was dangerous in that context.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Terribly it led her family to make this huge decision
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: for her. An older, wealthy man wanted to marry her
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: this child, just a child. Culthomb could barely grasp it.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: She refused. She actually tried desperately to run away, to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: escape this marriage. But her family, they were driven by
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: this desire for you know, financial improvement, maybe social standing.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Have they stopped her, brutally suppressed her attempts, forced her
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: into the marriage. This much older husband treated her harshly,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: and within a year Kulthom, still basically a child herself,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: got pregnant, gave birth to a son.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, but she lacked.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: The knowledge, the support, just the maturity to care for him.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: His health deteriorated and tragically he passed away within a year.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: The trauma for a child mother unimaginable.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then shortly after the baby died, her older
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: husband had heart attack, died naturally. Culthumb was just fiteen,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: a widow already scarred by just immense loss, emotional neglect.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: And completely alone in it, it seems.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: So she goes back to her family, but there's no comfort,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: no time degrees. She was immediately pushed into a second
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: forced marriage, yes again wealthy older man, purely for financial gain.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: This one ended in divorce after she had a daughter,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: adding to that instability. Then a third marriage, one she
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: actually chose.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Herself, maybe hoping for something different.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Maybe, but that also ended in divorce, stripping away any
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: hope that even her own choice could lead to a
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: better pass.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: That paints such a picture of deeply ingrained powerlessness, doesn't it.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, by twenty five, she's been married five times
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: sometimes two husbands dead, three divorced her and despite all
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: these unions, she had absolutely zero financial independence.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Nothing, still depending perpetually at.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: The mercy of her family's decisions, always upon in their
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: economic game. This constant lack of control, combined with the
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: repeated trauma, the loss, it becomes this crucial, simmering motivator.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Rusher cooker exactly.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: She's trapped in this cycle marriage, lost, divorce, back to
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: a family who just sees her as a means to
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: an end, not as a person, And.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: That perpetual cycle. You mentioned, that feeling of always ending
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: up back at square one financially, that seems to be
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: the crucible where her outlook fundamentally shiss.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Something had to change for her right.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: She decided she had to forge her own path. She
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: was frustrated she'd lost hope in traditional marriage, So now
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: at twenty five, Coultholm decided she'd work to support.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Herself taking control in a way.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: She found a job in a bustling restaurant, a totally
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: different world from the domestic life she'd known, and it
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: was there in that environment that she made a kind
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: of discovery about herself.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Oh what was that?
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: She realized her striking beauty got a lot of attention
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: from male patrons, significant attention, and she saw this not
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: just as you know how she looked, but as an asset,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: something she could use strategically.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Interesting.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: And as she's figuring this out, she learns about muta
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: temporary marriage.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Ah, yes, the fixed term contract.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Exactly, a permissible union for a set period in exchange
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: for a dowry. This offered a new path, potentially a
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: lucrative one, to get money without that lifelong commitment and control.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: She hated a loophole almost you could see it that way.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: She quickly entered her first temporary marriage two months with
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a wealthy man in his late sixties. She was in
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: her late twenties. Then the deal was a significant payment
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: when the contract.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Ended purely financial, purely.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: And for those two months she experienced a life she'd
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: never known. Luxury, his opulent palace, wealth, comfort, things that
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: were always out of.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Reach, a taste of something different, a big taste.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Then the two months ended, he politely dismissed her and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: gave her the agreed upon large sum of money, And
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: that was the moment that was the profound realization. Unlike
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: her five previous marriages, this one, the short term contract,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: gave her substantial media cash, a tangible reward for her time,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: without the emotional baggage or subjugation. For Coultham, this was
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the turning point.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: That aha moment is absolutely critical. You see this stark shift,
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: don't you, From passive victim to on an active agent,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: even if it's operating in a morally ambiguous space.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Definitely ambiguous.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: She realized she could convert societal expectations, her own looks
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: into a consistent income stream, transactional. This was her real
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: entry into a calculated approach to relationships, no real connection needed.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: So she quits the restaurant, yep.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: Left the restaurant, started actively seeking these temporary marriages, and
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: she set strict conditions contracts no longer than two months
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: and the money paid upfront.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Smart in a calculating way.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Very she successfully completed three more like that, cementing this
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: new career path. She thought she'd found her financial autonomy.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: But that desire for security, which started as desperation, it
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: morphed into something colder, calculating ambition. And this is where
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Kolta Machbari crosses that irreversible.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Line, the point of no return.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Exactly her fourth temporary marriage after those first few successful
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: short ones, it was different. She married Ahmed, a seventy
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: year old man. The contract was for a year and
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: a half and crucially, the money would only be paid
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: at the end.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Ah that's a major shift from her new rule.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Riskier, huge risk, and she quickly found out Ahmed wasn't
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: just incredibly stingy refused her any money during the marriage,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: but he was manipulative too. Oh so when she asked
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: for a divorce, he used the long contract to threaten her,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: reminded her she'd forfeit all the money if she left.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Coltham felt trapped oka that old feeling of powerlessness.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: It goes of her past.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, but this time her reaction was utterly, chillingly different.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: She was intensely frustrated, terrified of losing her investment of time,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: and she came up with.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: This horrifying plan to eliminate him.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Eliminate Ahmed, but make it look natural, exploited his age,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: figuring an elderly man's sudden death wouldn't raise too many eyebrows,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: less scrutiny, much less. She concocted this deadly mixed diabetes,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: medication and sexual stimulants.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Why that combination.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: She figured it would destabilize an older man's cardiovascular system,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: make a stroke or heart attack seem like a natural,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: age related thing. Her plan was meticulous.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: How did she do its.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Small doses first in his food and drink to make
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: him sick enough to go to the.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Hospital, establishing a history of frail.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Health exactly, laying the groundwork. Then when he came back
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: home seeming weaker but maybe recovering, she'd administer a lethal
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: dose calculated shillingly precise. It worked. Ahmed died from a stroke.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: The family accepted it as natural causes, coult him, collected
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: her payment, no suspicion.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: What's absolutely fascinating in a grim way is the ingenuity
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: and the sheer callousness. It's not just murder, it's a performance.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: The performance.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: Yes, she weaponized those societal assumptions about aging about illness,
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: used them like a shield. This his first kill established
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: her modus operandi, natural death, clean exit, financial gain. She'd
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: perfected this invisible method using the natural course of life
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: as her cover.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: So it's clear her outlook had totally shifted. She found
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: her solution, verifyingly efficient way to get what she wanted,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: and nobody knew.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: It wasn't about survival anymore.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: No, this was about control, profit, whatever the cost. Her
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: next target was Massi, an eighty year old man. Another
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: long contract, two years, payment only at the end.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: So she's sticking with the longer contracts now, despite the risk.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Seems so. But within a month, Coltume got impatient, waiting
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: two whole years for the money intolerable, she decided to
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: speed things up. He gave him the mixture, but Matthee
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: didn't die right away. And here, in this horrifying escalation
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: of cruelty, she watched him struggle and then deliberately, coldly,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: she suffocated the frail old man with a wet cloth.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Just to make sure, that's a significant escalation direct physical violence.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: It is now Messi's eldest son, who was a doctor.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: He was deeply suspicious about his father's sudden guests, understandably,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: but a siblings They dismissed his concerns. Their father was old.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Cultum seemed so kind, so attentive.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: And they didn't want to believe it exactly.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: So the death, like Ahmed's, was ruled natural, and that
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: unseen trail just kept going. Coultum repeated this method three
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: more times, yeah, different elderly husbands, each time refining.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Her act, becoming more practice.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: With one retired teacher, she even consoled his upset children
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: after he died, cementing that innocent facade. Another victim, a
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: kindly widower, had a nephew who was suspicious, voiced concerns,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: but she managed it. Akbari definitely convinced the family the
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: old man was just a hypochondriac. Again ruled natural. Each
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: successful murder just boosted her confidence, deepened that psychological detachment.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: An angel of death hiding in plain sight.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Pretty much by this time, Coultholm is fifty two years old.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: She's been doing this, this pattern of murder for twenty
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: two years. Five undetected victims, but probably likely many more.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: If we connect this to the bigger picture, you really
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: see that deepening psychological detachment you mentioned. It's almost become professionalized.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: A cold industrial process.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Industrial.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the human cost is secondary, irrelevant, almost, it's just
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: about the money and the fact she operated for over
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: two decades without getting caught. It speaks volumes about how
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: clever her method was and frankly, how unsettlingly easy it
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: can be for natural deaths to mask something.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Else, especially with the elderly, especially.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: When there's a seemingly kind caregiver presenting a benign story.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: It highlights how easy it is to miss these patterns
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: if you're not looking closely, or if you don't want
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: to see them.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Well, after decades of this cunning, this cruelty, her luck
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: was finally about to run out, and it would be
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: this series of incredible coincidences, almost like fate stepping in,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: that ended her reign of terror.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: The unraveling begins.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Yes, we're in twenty twenty three. Now Coldumb is fifty five.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: She enters her final marriage with Golam, an eighty three
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: year old former Iranian Army.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Officer, military background.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Interesting, very temporary marriage, two years following her usual lethal pattern,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: But Golam, maybe because of his military background, he was
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: inherently suspicious instinct. Perhaps a week into the marriage, COLTM
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: prepares her usual mixture this time and some juice. Golam
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: senses something's wrong, just off about her demeanor. He refuses
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: to drink it. Wow, and then this is the crucial
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: misstep for Coltum. He shrewly demands she.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Drank first, called her bluff Goldally.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: She panics she can't drink her own poison, so she
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: accidentally drops the glass smashes it. But this just confirms
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Golum's suspicions. He knew then, he was certain. Without hesitating,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: he throws her out of his house. Now Coltuam is desperate.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: She fears losing the money, sure, but more importantly, she
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: fears exposure. She acts fast, ruthlessly.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: What does she do?
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: She tracks Golum to his daughter's house, and with this
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: terrifying resolve, she bribes the maid offers a large sum
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: of money to put the poison in Golam's food.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Instead using someone else.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Yes, the maid, tempted by the cash, probably unaware of
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: the full implications, does it. Golam eats the poison food,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: he collapses dies of a heart attack. Coltham waits, expecting
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: to collect her money.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Like always, but this time is different.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: This time is very different. They're unforeseen connections that change everything.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: First unknown call them. Golam had already told his daughter
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: about his suspicions about the juice incident.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: He warned her, he did so.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: After his sudden death, his daughter remembers her father's fears
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and reports Coultum to the police, mentioning his specific concerns.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Oh right, that's one thread.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: But here's the really astonishing twist, the convergence that's almost unbelievable.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: The doctor who receives Golum's body at the hospital for
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the examination, don't tell me it's Masi's eldest son, the
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: same doctor who suspected Colthum decades ago after his own
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: father's death.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: No way, that's incredible, incredible.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: He recognizes Kolholmagbari's name as Golham's wife, and with this jolt,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: this chilling recognition, he finally connects it back to his
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: father's unresolved death, His interition from all those years ago,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: dismissed by his.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Family, finally validated.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Instantly, he files a separate, damning report, providing that missing link.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: The threads of justice, so slow for so long, finally
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: pull tight.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: That really raises the question, doesn't it how much of
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: Justice's fate and how much.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Is just persistence.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: It feels like both here.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: The combination of Golam's foresight, his action, his daughter speaking up,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: and the decade's old, unwavering gut feeling of a grieving son,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: all converging at that exact moment.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: It's destordinay. It really highlights how.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: Random connections can sometimes unlock these incredibly complex cases, and
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: how one small detail dismissed years ago can be the key.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: It also speaks to the impact of just one observant person,
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: like Mussy's son, who never let go of that suspicion.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: So the autopsy on Golan confirms it a cocktail of
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: unrelated drug nothing he was prescribed, the daughter's report, the
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: doctor's report. Coltolm is arrested.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Did she confess right away?
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: No? Initially she denied everything her usual cunning but the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: bribed maid facing charges herself eventually confessed confirmed Coltham paid
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: her to poisoned gol on pressure mounted it did. After
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: long denials, Colthum Macbarry finally confessed to eleven murders, all
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: carried out using that same chillingly effective method. Her reign
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: of terror over two decades long was finally over. So
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the chilling saga of Kulthum Macbarry, the Widow of Death.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: It's just this stark reminder, isn't it How far desperation
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: mixed with this cold ambition can push someone, and how
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: cleverly evil can hide right under the guise of normalcy
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: for so long.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Eighteen marriages in total.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Eighteen five permanent, the rest temporary, and she confessed to
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: eleven murders. It's staggering. And you think about her intelligence,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: her manipulative skills. If she channeled that differently.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: It could have been a completely different life, constructive perhaps
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: instead of just destructive.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Exactly calculated cruelty.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: And this story.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: Really makes you wonder profoundly about those broader societal pressures,
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: especially on women in certain environments, that might have initially
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: set her.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: On this path, the lack of options early on, right.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: But it also underscores a darker, maybe universal truth. There's
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: always more to learn about the human capacity for darkness.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: How the relentless pursued a control of financial gain can
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: just warp a life beyond recognition. What really stands out, though,
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: is how this brutal reality stayed hidden in plain sight
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: for so long.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: And how families unknowingly might have even enabled it by
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: dismissing those early doubts precisely. The investigation into coolhum Ike
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Bari is actually still ongoing. There are rumors she might
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: have killed more than twenty people. It just leaves you
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: with this really unsettling question. Some of the think about
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: how many other natural deaths out there might actually be
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: hiding a meticulously planned murder, and how many untold stories
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: like Colthum Makbari's are still just waiting for their own
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: unlikely threads to connect