Women Serial Killers of the 20th Century (12 page)

GATEWAY TO HEAVEN

Early Life

Velma Barfield (née
Bullard) was born on October 29
th
, 1932 in rural South Carolina. Velma was the second born of nine children and the eldest daughter born to Presbyterians Murphy and Lillie Bullard. Murphy Bullard was an impoverished, small, tobacco and cotton farmer. The house that Velma was born into was a small, wooden, unpainted house with no running water or electricity. As the Great Depression tightened its grip around the country, Murphy Bullard found it harder and harder to make a living from the farm as crop prices fell by about 60%. He gave up the farm and took a job in a saw-mill. When the saw-mill laid Murphy off, he moved his family into his parents’ home in Fayetteville, North Carolina and found work in a textile mill.

Murphy Bullard, Velma’s father, was an authoritarian. He was the undisputed ruler of his family, and Velma’s mother was the compliant, docile wife. Murphy was a big drinking man, was easily angered, and didn’t hold back from taking the strap to the children if they annoyed him or disobeyed him. Lila, Velma’s mother
, never argued or tried to stop Murphy from hitting the children, fearful that he would turn on her.

In 1939, when Velma was seven years old, she began attending the local elementary school with her older brother Olive. Her teachers found her smart, and she received excellent grades. Velma at first loved school as it was an escape from her crowded, volatile home life
, but that soon wore off as she was picked upon by her class mates for always being dressed in hand-me-downs. They also made fun of the contents of her lunch-box, which consisted of cornbread and a slice of ham. This affected Velma so much that she would hide from the other children while she ate her lunch.

Velma hated the poverty she and her family lived in and began stealing change from her father’s pockets to enable her to buy candies from the store opposite the school like the other kids. Then, from an elderly neighbor, she stole $80. This enraged her father so much, he took the strap to her and beat her black and blue. She was never known to steal as a child again.

With nine children to support, life in the Bullard family was tough. With so many children, Velma’s mother was often ill and as Velma grew older her mother demanded more and more help of Velma with the house and with the smaller children.

Although Murphy Bullard was tyrannical, he also loved his children and in particular Velma, much to Olive
’s, her brother, jealousy. Although money was short, Murphy Bullard would take them out on excursions and teach them to swim and fish in the nearby rivers. He also taught them all to play baseball and would organize games for his children and their friends.

Twice each summer
, Velma would be sent to a Presbyterian Bible School.

When Velma was thirteen
, the family moved to Robeson County, and Velma enrolled at Parkton Public School. Although no longer achieving the high grades she had enjoyed when younger, Velma did excel at basketball and was chosen to play on the school team. When her mother gave birth to twins, she made Velma quit the team as she needed Velma’s help at home. Velma deeply resented this but did as she was told.

When she was fifteen, Velma began seeing a boy from school, Thomas Burke, who was a year older than
she. He was a tall, thin, dark haired boy, and they got along together well. Murphy Bullard forbade them to see each other out of school until she was sixteen, so the young couple had to limit their time together to the playground.

When they did begin to date, it was under strict guidelines set down by her father.

First Marriage

Thomas proposed to hazel-eyed Velma when she was seventeen, and she accepted. Her father was furious but despite her father’s rage
, she stood up to him and married Thomas in 1949. They both left high school, and Thomas took work anywhere he could: in a cotton mill, as a farm laborer, and as a delivery truck driver.

Velma gave birth to her first-born son, Ronald Thomas
, on December 15
th
, 1951. She delighted in being a mother and was probably for the first time in her life genuinely happy. On September 3
rd
, 1953, Velma had her second child, a daughter they named Kim. Thomas and Velma, although poor with only the basics in life, were content. When the children began school, Velma returned to work at a textile plant to bolster the family income. Velma had the night shift. Apart from working, she was also extremely active in the children’s school life. She took an active part in all school activities, was always one of the first to volunteer for chaperoning on school trips, and was an active member of the PTA. She was one of the most popular moms at the school with the children and teachers seeing her as being fun and a terrific sport. Velma was also committed to teaching Ronald and Kim Christian values and regularly escorted them to a Baptist church.

In 1963, Velma’s life changed. She started to have medical problems and underwent a hysterectomy. The operation was successful physically. For many women having a hysterectomy is emotionally difficult, especially when the hysterectomy is carried out during the childbearing years as Velma’s was. Her hormones changed which led to mood swings, hot flashes, temper tantrums, nervousness
, and night sweats.

Velma worried that she was less feminine since she could no longer have children even though she and Thomas had not wanted more than two children. She did not want to be a replica of her worn out mother. Following the operation
, she was also in a lot of pain especially in the lower back. One of the most common complaints after a hysterectomy is pain. The majority of women following the surgery are given prescription-strength painkillers to help lessen the discomfort and in a short period of time they can then take over-the-counter pain relievers, if needed. Velma found that the over-the-counter painkillers were not strong enough.

With the change in his wife, Thomas began to spend more time out of the house. He joined the
United States Junior Chamber more commonly known as the Jaycees. The Jaycees is a private organization that was established in the 1920s to provide opportunities for young men to develop personal and leadership skills through service to others.

Velma resented these meetings as she was left alone in the evenings with the children
, and when Thomas began going for drinks with the other men after the meetings finished Velma was furious. Velma was a teetotaler and saw alcohol as the devil’s drink.

When he returned home, noisy arguments would occur
and tensions in the house were taut. When Thomas had a car accident in 1965 and suffered a concussion, Velma was convinced it was due to driving after drinking. Thomas vehemently denied the accusation and said he had fallen asleep at the wheel because of tiredness. Unfortunately, as a result of the concussion, he suffered from severe headaches from then on. This caused Thomas to drink more to ease the pain. The tension in the house increased leading to Velma being hospitalized from stress. In the hospital, she was treated with valium. With her already suffering from addiction to painkillers, she also became addicted to valium.

When Velma returned home, she signed up with a few different doctors to collect her prescription drugs. None of the doctors were aware she was seeing other doctors
, and so Velma began taking a variety of medications that were not meant to be mixed with each other.

In 1967, Thomas was arrested for drunk driving which led to him losing his driver’s license and, therefore, his job as a delivery driver for Pepsi-Cola. Velma was livid, and Thomas was devastated. He felt ashamed and depressed which had the effect of making him drink more. The children, Ronnie and Kim, no longer felt comfortable inviting their friends to the house because of their father’s drinking and their parents’
arguments. Thomas eventually secured another job at a nearby mill and would get a lift to work with a neighbor.

Not only were the children worried about their father’s drinking but they
, as well as Thomas, were concerned about Velma’s pill taking. Sometimes, she would be exceedingly groggy, and her words were slurred as if she was drunk.

In April
of 1969, while Velma and the children were out and Thomas was comatose in a chair, the house caught fire. The fire brigade arrived and took Thomas to hospital where he died of smoke inhalation. On learning of her husband’s death, Velma collapsed. Just a few months later, the house burned down again and was destroyed. This time, the house was insured, and Velma and the children moved in with her parents, Murphy and Lillie, while they waited for the insurance check.

Just a few months later
, Velma sat intensely proud at her son, Ronnie’s, graduation ceremony. He, having achieved the honor of being the salutatorian, delivered the opening speech of the ceremony. A salutatorian is an American honor given to a graduating student with the second highest academic rank. For his speech, Ronnie gave public praise to his mother and credited Velma for any exceptional qualities he possessed.

Second Marriage

Not too many months after Thomas died; Velma met a widower Jennings Barfield. Jennings had lost his wife around the time that Thomas had died and so when they met they were both feeling fairly lonely. Jennings had taken early retirement due to his health. He suffered from emphysema, diabetes, as well as heart disease. Velma and Jennings married in a church on August 23rd, 1970.

The marriage soon ran into difficulties when Jennings discovered his new wife’s addiction to prescription drugs. Shortly after the wedding
, Jennings returned home one day to discover Velma in a semi-conscious state. He took her to the hospital where he was told she had overdosed. Following this, Velma promised Jennings she would cut down in her use of pills but within weeks after leaving the hospital it happened again, and Jennings once again had to take Velma to the emergency department.

Jennings realized he had made a colossal mistake in marrying Velma
but before he could divorce her, he died on March 22
nd
, 1971 from what was attributed to heart complications.

Less than a year after her marriage, Velma was a widow again and seemed inconsolable.

Widowhood

Velma continued taking her pills trying to keep the depression she felt at bay. A sympathetic manager at Belks department store gave her a job. Adding to her depression was her son Ronnie’s draft into the US army who had ordered him to report to Fort Jackson in South Carolina. The Vietnam War was in full swing, and the nation’s youth were being sent to fight a war in a country most had never
heard of and for reasons they didn’t fully comprehend.

Velma finally got the sack from her job because of her obvious drug addiction and to top it all
off, her house burned down again. Velma was practically hysterical wanting to know why all these dreadful things kept happening to her. Once more, Velma and her daughter moved back in with her parents’, Murphy and Lillie. Shortly after moving back in, her father was diagnosed with lung cancer and died at the age of sixty-one.

In March
of 1972, Velma forged a prescription and was arrested. She pled guilty and received a fine and a suspended sentence. Life with her mother was not going well. Her mother was demanding and was constantly complaining about Velma’s pill taking. The two women seemed to quarrel incessantly. Her daughter Kim, meanwhile, had married her boyfriend Dennis and had moved into a trailer home.

Ronnie had been discharged from the army and had married.

In the summer of 1974, Velma’s mother, Lillian, became ill with severe nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting and was hospitalized. The doctor’s put the cause down to a virus, and Lillian returned home.

About two months after this incident
, a man who Velma had been dating died in a car accident. He had made Velma the beneficiary of his life insurance, and she received $5,000.

Meanwhile, just before Christmas, Lillian was fretting about a letter she had received from a finance company informing her that a loan was overdue on her car. She had not taken out a loan on her car and was mystified as to why she had received the letter. Her youngest son told her not to worry
; it was most probably a bureaucratic mistake.

On December 30th, 1974, just after a large family Christmas
, Lillian became ill with the same symptoms she had displayed earlier in the year. Only this time, they were considerably more severe, and she was in agonizing pain. Olive, Velma’s older brother, called for an ambulance, and Velma accompanied her mother to Fayetteville’s Cape Fear Valley Hospital. Lillian died two hours after arriving at the hospital. An
autopsy was performed after obtaining permission from the family including Velma, but the doctors were unable to diagnose Lillian’s fatal illness.
No toxicological screenings were carried out.

In 1975, Velma was arrested for writing fraudulent checks. The judge sentenced her to prison for six months, but she served only three. When she was released, she stayed with her daughter Kim whilst looking for work. Velma was still heavily addicted to pills which concerned Kim greatly; she visited Velma's doctors urging them to stop prescribing pills for her mother, all to no avail.