Hey there it's Shannon Ballard Southern Mysteries is officially on hiatus.

I'm taking a much needed break from researching murders and mysteries.

I'll be back with new episodes in time to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the show this fall.

If you are a patron of Southern Mysteries, you will still hear the Patreon exclusive episodes,

the lesser knowns each month.

If you don't already support the show you can check out

Patreon.com slash southern mysteries to catch up on the show archive

and hear patron exclusive episodes like the one I'm sharing today.

So before we say goodbye for the summer, this is the story of a cold-blooded killer who became the last woman to die by

electrocution in Alabama, Rhonda Bell Martin.

50 year old Rhonda Bell Martin wore a new dress and two wedding rings as she held tight to her

Bible and took the long walk to the electric chair at Kilby Prison in Montgomery, Alabama in October

1957. Rhonda had made the new black and white dress for her final court hearing in the hope her death sentence

would be commuted to life. In an interview just days after that final hearing

she was asked if she was prepared to die.

Rhonda replied, well, you've never got anybody who's ready to sit down in the electric chair,

but if that's what it's got to be, that's what it will be.

And that's what it had to be.

On October 11th, just after midnight,

Rhonda Bell Martin was taken to the electric chair and asked if she had any final words.

She shook her head no.

At 12.10 a.m. 2,200 volts of electricity surged through her body and the woman who had confessed

...