Belle Gunness and Amy Archer Gilligan were two notorious female serial killers in the early 1900’s. Belle’s span of killing was from 1896 to 1908, twelve years; Amy’s span of killing was from 1910 to 1916, six years. How were they able to get away with so many killings for twelve and six years? There is a combination of reasons of how Belle and Amy got away with their crimes for so long: they were women, they lived in rural towns with poor police forces, and lack of scientific innovations, and the simple fact of how easy it was for someone to disappear. To first understand how they got away with murder for several years one must know the stories of these two women. Then I will examine the different reasons they were able to hide their crimes for so long.