India transfixed by Kerala killer Jolly who murdered husband and family with cyanide
- Police say Jolly Joseph has confessed to six killings carried out between 2002 and 2016
- She is said to have wanted to take control of her victims’ property and remarry a man in the family
A murder case in which a suspected serial killer poisoned her family and five other family members with cyanide has transfixed India.
Jolly Joseph, 47, was arrested this month and has confessed to the killings, which occurred between 2002 and 2016 in Koodathayi, a sleepy village in the coastal district of Kozhikode, Kerala, according to police.
Two men accused of supplying the poison have also been arrested.
When the three appeared in court last week, hundreds of locals attended the proceedings to catch a glimpse of Joseph, whose case has been referred to by some in the Indian media as the “Jolly Murders”.
Among the killings she is said to have confessed to are those of her mother-in-law, Annamma Thomas, in 2002, and her father-in-law, Tom Thomas, in 2008. Her husband, Roy Thomas, died in 2011. The three other victims – Roy’s uncle and two other members of the extended family, including her second husband’s first wife – died in 2014 and 2016.
Joseph is said to have mixed the cyanide into her victims’ food, motivated by gaining ownership of the family property and marrying a different man in the family. She reportedly told investigators she derived pleasure from watching her victims’ last moments.