Mary "Frances" Creighton

The death of Ada Applegate in Baldwin New York was one too many deaths in the life of Mary “Frances” Creighton and would contribute to her undoing. Ada's initial cause of death was said to basically be a heart attack but then authorities realized that there had been several unexpected deaths surrounding Frances Creighton and re-examined Ada's death. In fact in 1923 both Frances and her husband, John Creighton were put on trial for the death of Frances' brother, Raymond Avery. Ada Applegate's cause of death would be changed to arsenic poisoning.

In 1935 Frances, her husband John, their son and their teenage daughter, Ruth lived with Everett and Ada Applegate and their young daughter. It was the Depression Era so this was not that uncommon. Families came together to conserve finances and things just to get by. It was said that at some point Frances and Everett began having an affair. It was not clear whether John knew of this but it was said that Everett's wife, Ada, sometimes joined in their relationship. Then later apparently Everett began a “relationship” with Ruth. Sources differ on how this came about. Some say that Everett was sexually abusing his own daughter and then also Ruth, who apparently “consented.” Now, keep in mind that this was during a time that it was not necessarily uncommon for a girl of fourteen or fifteen to marry so while yes, I would agree that in today's age it is considered highly inappropriate, it was less so in 1935. Some of those same reports stated that Ada knew about the abuse also. It was indicated that Frances did not know about the relations between her daughter and Everett until it had already occurred but that she too consented to the relationship. But, there were also reports that Frances would later say that she had been “pimping” her daughter out to Everett which indicates that she knew about the relationship from the start and may have initiated it.

Frances and John had come to New York from New Jersey. In 1920 the couple lived with John's parents, Anna and Walter, as well as Frances' brother, Raymond Avery. Anna died in 1920 and her husband soon followed in 1921. They were both in their mid to late 40's and it seems that their deaths were not suspicious at the time. Then in 1923 Raymond Avery died and that did seems suspicious. His death was listed as arsenic poison. Authorities believed that Frances and John were responsible and then they also began looking into Anna and Walter's deaths and re-examining their bodies. They had also discovered that the couple had a $1,000 life insurance on Raymond. While both Frances and John were charged in Raymond's death, Frances would also be charged in the death of Anna. They were both acquitted in Raymond's death allegedly from “lack of witnesses.” It is unclear who took care of their children at this time but when it was over John went home while Frances was held until her trial in the death of Anna two weeks later. Once again Frances was acquitted when it was said that they could not prove that she had purchased the poison. There did not seem to be enough evidence to prove Walter had died the same way. So, the couple moved on and headed to New York with their two children.

All of these deaths came into play when Ada Applegate died on September 27, 1935. It seems that Frances would admit and then deny being involved in Ada's murder. At some point she allegedly stated she had helped so that Everett and Ruth could legally marry. She would also allegedly confess to and then deny being involved in the deaths of her mother in law and her brother. In the process Frances and Everett would both be charged in the death of Ada.

It is unclear whether there was one trial or two. In addition to being charged with murder, Everett was also with “criminally assaulting Ruth” who professed her love for him in court. Frances' defense attorney's attempted to put all of the blame on Everett and it was known that he had bought the rat poison. While Everett's defense attorney's would admit that “their client was a scumbag and a pervert” they argued that he was not a murderer. And, when Frances attempted to blame Everett and claim innocence his defense brought up her past. This was an attempt to show she was not the weak, meek woman she was hoping to be portrayed.

In the end both Frances and Everett were found guilty and sentenced to death. Just before her execution on July 16, 1936 Frances passed out and was unconscious. The state proceeded with her execution and it is thought to be the only time an unconscious person was put to death. Fifteen minutes later Everett would follow her.