Black Widow’ Resentenced in Insurance Fraud Case

Tuesday August 08, 2006 6:27am

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) – A Wheaton woman has been sentenced for a second time to 40 years in prison for her roles in the deaths of three men. The woman, dubbed “The Black Widow” by police investigators, was convicted of insurance fraud in connections with the deaths.

Josephine Gray was originally convicted in 2002, but appealed her sentence after the Supreme Court found that the mandatory federal sentencing guidelines in use at the time were unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Chasanow resentenced Gray to 40 years in prison.

The men included two of Gray’s husbands and a long-time live-in boyfriend. All three men had been shot to death. Between 1974 and 1996, Gray received about $160,000 of the three men’s life insurance benefits.