Woman With String of Dead Husbands Goes to Trial

Emma Raine either has the worst luck with men, or she's—as prosecutors suggest—a "serial husband killer" and "black widow." The 52-year-old woman, widowed three times, face charges of second-degree murder in the death of her second husband, Ernest Smith, shot to death in Louisiana in 2006 by a man allegedly hired by Raine so she could benefit from an $800,000 life insurance policy, reports the AP. It's a twisted tale: Prosecutors say the man who pulled the trigger—Alfred Everette, convicted of murder in 2014—was promised a cut of the insurance money from Raine and her future third husband, James Raine, before James' own murder in Mississippi in 2011. Police say Emma Raine is also a suspect in that case, though no charges have been laid.

Raine has pleaded not guilty in Smith's death and faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted. The trial could begin as soon as Wednesday. Police allege Raine hired Everette, James Raine's adoptive brother, to shoot Smith, 38, outside his New Orleans home. Police say his wife was likely inside and witnessed the shooting, but called a friend instead of 911, per the Inquisitr. James Raine was similarly shot inside his home in 2011 while his wife was apparently out of town. During Everette's trial, prosecutors also described the death of Raine's first husband, Leroy Evans, in 1994 as suspicious. Hospitalized after being hit by a car, he reportedly choked after his feeding tube was somehow removed, reports the Sun Herald. (This woman has seven dead lovers.)