S36 Ep4: Serial Killers in History – The Foundling Wheel Killer

Foul Play: Crime Series

Quick Synopsis (appears in most podcast apps)

In 1772 Portugal, an 18-year-old caregiver named Luísa de Jesus turned the era’s child-welfare “foundling wheel” into a murderous money scheme. Before authorities intervened, at least 33 abandoned infants lay buried on Monte Arroio or hidden beneath her cottage floorboards. We expose the systemic cracks, the killer’s psychology, and the reforms her crimes set in motion.

Episode Breakdown

00:00 Opening scene on Monte Arroio

04:15 How foundling wheels worked—and failed

09:02 Luísa’s early life & public façade

15:30 The money trail: 600 réis per child

22:47 Forensic discoveries: graves & hidden clay pots

30:18 Confession to 28 murders

36:55 Trial, garrote, and public execution

43:20 Child-welfare reforms that followed

48:05 Today’s take-aways on safeguarding the vulnerable

Why This Case Still Resonates

• First female serial killer executed in Portugal—and the last woman ever put to death there.
• Exposed lethal flaws in 18th-century child-protection policy, triggering nationwide reform.
• Challenges myths that women “only poison”; Luísa strangled newborns for profit.
• A cautionary tale of how financial incentives plus lax oversight can weaponize charity.

Fast Facts

• Years active: 1771–1772
• Confirmed victims: 33 infants (one child remains unaccounted for)
• Method: Strangulation or suffocation within days of state payout
• Motive: Collecting stipends meant for wet nurses
• Sentence: Hands severed, garroted; body burned, ashes scattered (1 July 1772)

Sources & Further Reading

• National Archives, “Casa da Roda” foundling-wheel records, 1760-1775
• António Barata, Infanticídio e Justiça em Portugal Setecentista (2018)
• Royal Chancellery of Coimbra trial transcripts, 1772–1773

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