Born in 1863 in Morgan, South Australia Martha Needle grew up in a violent and abusive household and showed sign of mental instability from an early age. At the age of 17 she married Henry Needle at North Adelaide and in 1882 she gave birth to her daughter Mabel followed by Elsie in 1883. In 1885 the family moved to the suburb of Richmond. After a short illness, her daughter Mabel died on the 23rd of February in 1885. As described by Needle, Mabel "seemed to fade." On October 4, Henry Needle Mysteriously died and followed by Martha Needles daughter Elsie in 1890. Doctors were simply baffled. The insurance money Needle received was spent on an elaborate family grave which she visited regularly. Louis Juncken, a friend from Adelaide, operated a saddlery business with his brother Otto at 137 Bridge Road, Richmond and in 1891 Martha sub-let the attached house and took in lodgers. Martha began an affair with Otto in 1893 but Louis and his other brother Herman disapproved and attempted to prevent their engagement. The following year Louis became ill and dies of a suspected typhoid. Herman travelled from Adelaide to Melbourne in June 1894 to handle his late brother's affairs. After eating a meal prepared by Martha, he became ill although he recovered. After eating breakfast the next day he became ill again. After two days, Herman had fully recovered but suffered violent and painful cramps. Doctor Boyd treated Herman for suspected poisoning and took a sample of Herman's vomit and sent it to the Government laboratory for analysis. The analyst reported the sample contained rat poisoning. Doctor Boyd informed the police of his suspicions and a trap was set. Hermann asked Martha needle to make lunch. He summoned detectives who arrived as Martha was struggling to upset the tea cup. In the tea enough rat poisoning was found to kill the men.  The bodies of Henry Needle and his three daughters as well as Louis Junken were all found to contain fatal levels of rat poisoning . Martha was charged with all five murders and was hanged at 8.00am on the 22nd of October 1894. Despite insisting her innocence, when asked for her last words she replied, "I have nothing to say."