Alice Mitchell

Who was Alice Mitchell?

Alice Mitchell was an American murderer. On January 25, 1892, the 19-year-old Mitchell cut the throat of her lover, 17-year-old Freda Ward. Mitchell was subsequently found insane by means of a jury inquisition and placed in a psychiatric hospital until her death in 1898. The case received unprecedented media coverage and drew discussion of lesbianism into public light. The case influenced the popular literature of the era which began to depict lesbians as "murderous" and "masculine".

The case history produced by Mitchell's defense describes her as "a regular tomboy".

This story was featured on Investigation Discovery's Deadly Women.