The Life and Murders of Velma Barfield

Margie Velma Bullard was born Oct 29, 1932, in South Carolina. She was raised near Fayetteville, North Carolina. It has been reported that her father was an abusive man and that her mother did not intervene when he would abuse Velma. In 1949 she married Thomas Burke to escape the abuse at home. The couple went on to have 2 children. It was said the family was very happy until Velma had a hysterectomy and developed back pain. After that, her behavior changed, and she developed a drug addiction.

Burke began to drink to cope with the change in Velma. This led to bitter arguments between the two. On the night of April 4, 1969, after Burke had passed out, Velma took the children and left. By the time they returned, the house was burned down, and Burke was dead.

Velma then married widower Jennings Barfield in 1970. Less than a year later, Jennings passed away from heart complications. Then in 1974, Velma’s mother fell suddenly ill. She made a full recovery and just a few short months later, around Christmas, she fell suddenly ill again with the same symptoms. She passed away in the hospital this time.

By 1975, Velma was convicted of 7 counts of writing bad checks. She was sentenced to 6 months in prison but only served 3 months.

In 1976, after getting out of prison, she started working for an elderly couple taking care of them. They were Mongomery and Dollie Edwards. By January 1977, Montgomery Fell ill and passed. Just a month after her husband passed, Dollie fell ill with…