Judy Buenoano: The Complete Story of Florida’s Black Widow
- Aug 24
- 15 min read
Judy Buenoano became one of the most notorious women in Florida criminal history. Convicted of murdering her husband James Goodyear and separately convicted of killing her son Michael Goodyear and attempting to murder John Gentry, Buenoano spent more than a decade on Florida's death row before her execution in the electric chair on March 30, 1998.
Her case eventually stretched across decades, multiple deaths, insurance policies, allegations of poisoning, an attempted car bombing, exhumations, trials and years of appeals.
The press would give her a name that followed her until her death: The Black Widow.
This Case File examines the story of Judy Buenoano, the evidence presented against her, her convictions, her years on death row and her eventual execution by the State of Florida.
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Death House Films presents a cinematic examination of the Judy Buenoano case, from the suspicious deaths surrounding her to the investigation, trial and final years of her life on Florida's death row.
Part 1. Judy Buenoano: Case Summary
Full name: Judias Anna Lou Welty Buenoano Commonly known as: Judy Buenoano Born: April 4, 1943 Died: March 30, 1998 Place of execution: Florida State Prison, Starke, Florida Method of execution: Electric chair Primary capital conviction: First-degree murder of James Goodyear Other major convictions: Murder of Michael Goodyear and attempted murder of John Gentry Media nickname: "The Black Widow"
Buenoano was ultimately sentenced to death for the 1971 murder of her husband, James Goodyear. According to evidence later presented in court, Goodyear died after suffering from chronic arsenic poisoning. His death was not identified as a homicide at the time.
More than a decade later, investigators exhumed his body, and testing revealed arsenic concentrations that medical experts concluded were consistent with chronic arsenic poisoning.
The Florida Supreme Court ultimately affirmed Buenoano's first-degree murder conviction and death sentence.
Part 2. Who Was Judy Buenoano?
Judy Buenoano was born Judias Anna Lou Welty on April 4, 1943, in Texas.
Her childhood was reportedly difficult, and accounts of her early years describe family instability and periods spent outside her immediate household.
As an adult, however, Buenoano built what outwardly appeared to be a relatively ordinary life. She married, raised children, entered new relationships and moved between different communities. It was only years later that investigators began looking backward at a series of illnesses, deaths and financial arrangements involving people close to her.
Those investigations transformed what had initially appeared to be unrelated tragedies into a sprawling criminal case.
The Death of James Goodyear:
One of the most important figures in the Judy Buenoano case was her husband, James E. Goodyear, a member of the United States military. Goodyear returned from a tour in South Vietnam in 1971. According to evidence later summarized by the Florida Supreme Court, he began experiencing serious gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
His health deteriorated.
Goodyear was admitted to a naval hospital in Orlando in September 1971 and died shortly afterward. At the time, his death was not treated as a murder.
Following his death, Buenoano received approximately $33,000 from life insurance policies, as well as additional dependency compensation from the Veterans Administration. More than a decade would pass before investigators took another look at what had happened.
The Death of Bobby Joe Morris:
After Goodyear's death, Buenoano lived with Bobby Joe Morris. Morris also became seriously ill. He subsequently died. As investigators began reexamining Buenoano's past years later, Morris's death attracted attention because of similarities between his illness and the symptoms experienced by James Goodyear.
Evidence presented in the Goodyear murder proceedings indicated that Morris's death was associated with acute arsenic poisoning. Buenoano also received insurance proceeds following Morris's death. Court records state that three policies totaled approximately $23,000, and a mortgage was paid off.
The Morris case became important evidence in the prosecution of Buenoano for the murder of James Goodyear.
The Death of Michael Goodyear:
Another case concerned Buenoano's son, Michael Goodyear. Michael had experienced serious health problems before his death. In 1980, he died during a canoe trip in Florida.
Authorities eventually prosecuted Buenoano for his death, alleging that she was responsible for his drowning. Buenoano was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Michael Goodyear.
That conviction later became significant during the penalty phase of the James Goodyear murder case because prosecutors could point to a previous conviction for a violent felony when arguing that Buenoano should receive a death sentence.
Part 3. John Gentry and the Case That Began Unraveling the Past
Perhaps the most consequential survivor in the Buenoano story was John Gentry.
Buenoano and Gentry lived together and eventually became engaged.
According to Gentry's testimony, Buenoano began giving him capsules that he believed were vitamin C while he was suffering from a cold in late 1982. Gentry became extremely ill.
He recovered after hospitalization but became sick again after returning home and taking more of the capsules. Eventually, Gentry stopped taking them.
His health improved.
Suspicious, he saved some of the capsules and later provided them to authorities.
Testing cited in court proceedings indicated that the capsules contained paraformaldehyde, a poisonous substance. But Gentry's ordeal was not over. On June 25, 1983, a bomb exploded in his automobile. Gentry survived. Investigators began examining Buenoano's possible involvement.
That investigation would eventually lead authorities back through the deaths that had surrounded her years earlier.
Part 4. What Investigators Discovered
As authorities reconstructed Buenoano's past, several recurring elements attracted their attention.
They included:
Serious illnesses involving people close to Buenoano
Life insurance policies
Financial benefits following deaths
Poisoning allegations
Similarities between illnesses
Statements attributed to Buenoano by witnesses
The poisoning allegations involving John Gentry
The bombing of Gentry's automobile
Investigators eventually sought the exhumation of James Goodyear.
His remains were examined more than a decade after his death. Medical experts subsequently testified that arsenic concentrations found in his organs and hair were high enough to conclude that his death resulted from chronic arsenic poisoning.
The death that had occurred in 1971 was now being investigated as a homicide.
Part 5. Arrest and Investigation
On August 31, 1984, Buenoano was indicted for the first-degree murder of James Goodyear.
The prosecution's case did not depend upon a single piece of evidence. Instead, prosecutors assembled medical evidence, financial records, testimony from acquaintances and evidence involving other incidents in Buenoano's life. Witnesses testified about conversations in which Buenoano allegedly discussed poisoning.
Two witnesses also testified that Buenoano had admitted killing James Goodyear.
Prosecutors presented evidence concerning the life insurance proceeds Buenoano received after Goodyear's death.
Evidence involving Bobby Joe Morris and John Gentry was also used to establish patterns the prosecution argued were relevant to the Goodyear case.
Part 6. The Trial of Judy Buenoano
The central question confronting jurors was difficult:
Could prosecutors prove that a death occurring more than a decade earlier had actually been murder?
The State of Florida argued that it could.
The Prosecution Case
Prosecutors presented medical testimony concerning the arsenic found in Goodyear's remains. They also presented testimony about Goodyear's declining health after returning from Vietnam. Witnesses described statements Buenoano allegedly made concerning arsenic and poisoning.
Financial evidence established that Buenoano received substantial benefits following her husband's death. The state also introduced evidence involving Bobby Joe Morris and the alleged poisoning of John Gentry. Prosecutors argued that the evidence, viewed together, demonstrated that Goodyear's death was not natural.
It was intentional.
And they argued that Buenoano was responsible.
The Defense
Buenoano maintained her innocence.
Her attorneys challenged elements of the state's case, including whether prosecutors had sufficiently established that Goodyear had been murdered and whether evidence concerning other incidents should have been admitted. Those arguments continued through the appellate process.
Ultimately, they were unsuccessful.
Part 7. Verdict and Death Sentence
The jury found Judy Buenoano guilty of first-degree murder in the death of James Goodyear. During the penalty phase, the jury recommended death by a vote of 10–2.
The trial judge imposed the death sentence.
The court identified four aggravating circumstances and no mitigating circumstances sufficient to outweigh them. Among the factors cited were financial gain, Buenoano's previous violent felony conviction, and findings concerning the calculated nature and circumstances of Goodyear's poisoning.
In 1988, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed both Buenoano's conviction and her death sentence.
Judy Buenoano was headed to death row.
Part 8. Judy Buenoano on Death Row
Buenoano spent approximately a decade under a death sentence while her attorneys pursued state and federal appeals. Her case passed repeatedly through Florida and federal courts.
At one point, her execution became intertwined with a larger controversy surrounding Florida's electric chair. In 1990, condemned prisoner Jesse Tafero's execution produced flames and smoke from his head during the electrocution.
Buenoano subsequently challenged aspects of Florida's execution process while facing an execution warrant of her own. Her execution did not occur at that time. Years of additional litigation followed.
Part 9. The Final Appeals
By early 1998, Buenoano was facing her third death warrant.
Her execution was scheduled for March 30. Her attorneys continued pursuing post-conviction relief. One late issue involved questions surrounding practices at an FBI laboratory and testimony connected to the John Gentry case.
The Florida Supreme Court considered those arguments but concluded that the challenged evidence did not undermine confidence in the James Goodyear murder conviction.
On March 26, 1998 — only four days before the scheduled execution — the Florida Supreme Court rejected another request for relief.
Federal litigation continued into the final hours. On March 29, the United States Court of
Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit considered another attempt to pursue habeas relief.
The execution remained scheduled. After years of litigation, Buenoano's legal avenues had effectively reached their end.
Part 10. The Execution of Judy Buenoano
March 30, 1998
On the morning of March 30, 1998, Judy Buenoano was executed at Florida State Prison.
She was 54 years old. The method was electrocution.
Her execution received national attention not simply because of the crimes associated with her name, but because of its historical significance. Buenoano became the first woman executed by Florida in the modern era and the first woman executed by the state since the 19th century.
The death sentence being carried out that morning was specifically for the murder of James Goodyear.
After more than two decades, a death initially attributed to illness had culminated in an execution.
The Florida State Prison in Starke is a squat, concrete edifice that seems to drink the morning light. At 7:02 AM on March 30, 1998, the humidity of the north Florida dawn already hangs thick in the air, but inside the execution chamber—known to the men who run it as "Old Sparky"—the atmosphere is sterile, refrigerated, and clinical. The air smells of antiseptic, aged wood, and the faint, metallic ghost of copper.
Judy Buenoano, at 54, is a ruin of the woman she once was. Her frame is bird-like, diminished by years of incarceration and the slow, creeping rot of the nerve damage that has plagued her. She wears a standard-issue prison jumpsuit, a stark white that hangs loosely on her shoulders, making her look more like a forsaken mannequin than a condemned killer. As the heavy steel door groans open, she does not walk; she is carried.
Two correctional officers support her under each arm, her canvas prison slippers skimming the linoleum floor. Her legs are useless, her muscles atrophied, and her head lolls slightly forward, the thin, gray-streaked hair falling across her pale face. There is no defiance in her posture—only a frail, trembling acceptance. Her eyes, squeezed shut with a fierce, desperate pressure, are the only sign of her terror. She keeps them closed as if to will herself out of this concrete tomb, the wrinkles around her lids deep and strained.
The officers maneuver her into the towering oaken chair, a relic of the 1920s that seems monstrously oversized for her tiny body. They strap her in with practiced efficiency. As the first leather strap cinches across her sunken chest, a visible wince ripples across her face—a fleeting grimace that pulls her lips taut. It is not a cry of pain, but a flinch of profound, animal aversion to the finality of the binding. The leather creaks as the officers secure her wrists to the wide, scarred armrests, and they kneel to lace the brass electrode assembly to the back of her right calf. This is Florida's macabre signature: a rigid contraption of brass, a saline-soaked sponge, and heavy black leather straps that bite into the flesh just below her knee. They apply a thick, conductive electrode gel to her right calf and to the crown of her head—a cold, slick intrusion that makes her shoulders twitch involuntarily.
The warden, a stout man in a crisp white shirt, steps forward and holds a small, black microphone suspended on a gooseneck stand, positioning it just inches from her quivering lips.
This is her moment. The law demands a final statement. The room holds its collective breath, the only sound the low hum of the generator warming up behind the wall. The warden clears his throat. "Ms. Buenoano, do you have any last words?"
For a long, agonizing moment, her lips part. Her eyes, still sealed shut, squeeze tighter until the skin around her temples whitens. She sucks in a shallow, rattling breath. Her voice, when it comes, is not a statement—it is a ghost of a whisper, so faint that the microphone barely captures it. It is the sound of a child refusing a bitter medicine. "No, sir." Two words. No defiance. No confession. No plea. Just a quiet, final surrender to a ritual she cannot stop. The warden nods, retracts the microphone, and steps back.
The attendants move with mechanical precision. A thick, rubber mouth strap is forced between her teeth and buckled tightly behind her head, locking her jaw shut and immobilizing her skull against the high, leather-padded backrest. Her closed eyes become the only mobile part of her face. Next comes the crown—a large, saline-drenched sponge is placed upon the top of her head, its cool wetness seeping through her hair. A brass mesh screen is laid over it, and the leather skullcap is pulled down, its straps cinching under her chin with a final, decisive tug. Her head is now a statue's, fused to the chair. Finally, the black veil—a heavy, opaque curtain of leather—is lowered over her face, plunging her into absolute, soundless darkness. All she can hear is the thrum of her own racing heart and the distant, muffled footsteps of the men leaving the chamber.
She waits. The seconds stretch into epochs. In the darkness under the veil, her internal clock screams. It is exactly 45 seconds of this suffocating isolation, this silent purgatory, before the switch is thrown.
At 7:08 AM, the generator releases its hellish symphony.
The first jolt—a staggering 2,300 volts at 9.5 amps—slams into her body like a freight train of white fire. Her spine arches violently against the straps, her slight, frail frame lifting a full two inches off the chair's backrest. The leather bites into her wrists and chest, holding her together as her fists clench into bone-white knots. The current sears through the gel on her scalp and calf, cooking the flesh from the inside out in a fraction of a second. A low, guttural groan escapes past the mouth strap, not a scream, but the involuntary expulsion of air from lungs seized by the spasms of death. The lights in the chamber dim perceptibly, and the acrid smell of burnt hair and singed flesh curls into the air.
After exactly eight seconds, the voltage drops mercifully to 1,000 volts, 4 amps. Her body, which had been rigid as iron, relaxes into the chair as the lower current courses through her vital organs, stopping her heart in a sustained, buzzing hum. For 22 seconds, this lower rhythm holds her in a grotesque stillness, the only movement the faint, electric tremble of her fingers. Her tightly closed eyes, hidden behind the veil, are now fused shut by the heat.
Then, the final insult. The current spikes back up to the brutal 2,300 volts and 9.5 amps for the last eight seconds.
Her body seizes once more, a final, violent surge against the restraints, a marionette jerked by an invisible, merciless hand. Her toes curl, her neck strains, and then—it is over. The 38-second cycle ends with a sharp, decisive *thump* of the circuit breaker. The humming dies. Silence rushes back into the room, heavy and ringing. Smoke, thin and greasy, rises from the back of her calf and the top of her head, dissipating into the ventilation grates.
The veil is lifted. Her face is slack, her mouth frozen in a grimace, the skin around her eyes still creased from the force with which she held them shut.
At 7:13 AM, the prison doctor steps forward. He has waited five minutes, as protocol dictates. First, an EMT in green scrubs presses two fingers to her singed wrist, feeling for a pulse that will never come. He shakes his head and steps back. The doctor then removes his stethoscope from his neck, places the cold metal disc against her jumpsuit, just above her heart. He listens. The only sound is the distant hum of the fluorescent lights. He moves the disc to her left side, then her back. He hears nothing but the silence of extinguished life. He straightens up, looks at the warden, and gives a single, curt nod.
The warden scribbles a terse note on his clipboard. He turns to the assembled witnesses, his face an impassive mask, and announces the standard bureaucratic verdict: "The execution was routine. There were no complications."
Judy Buenoano, once the "Black Widow," is gone. The small, weak woman who had to be carried to her fate is now nothing more than a cooling form strapped to a wooden throne, her tightly closed eyes having seen their last dawn. The clock reads 7:13 AM. In Starke, Florida, the day is just beginning. For Judy, the darkness has become permanent.
Part 11. Why the Judy Buenoano Case Remains Notorious
The Buenoano case remains unusual even within the history of American true crime.
Part of its notoriety comes from its scope. The investigation reached backward across years of Buenoano's life and examined multiple relationships, deaths, illnesses and insurance policies. There was also a survivor.
John Gentry's experience gave investigators an opportunity that did not exist in several of the earlier cases: a living witness who could describe his illness, his relationship with
Buenoano and the suspicious capsules he had received. The investigation into Gentry ultimately helped authorities begin reevaluating events that had previously been considered closed.
The resulting cases transformed Buenoano into one of Florida's most infamous female prisoners.
Part 12. Judy Buenoano Timeline
1943 — Judias Anna Lou Welty is born on April 4.
1971 — James Goodyear becomes seriously ill after returning from South Vietnam.
September 1971 — James Goodyear dies.
1970s — Buenoano becomes involved with Bobby Joe Morris.
1978 — Morris dies after becoming seriously ill.
1980 — Buenoano's son Michael Goodyear dies during a canoe trip.
1982 — John Gentry becomes seriously ill after taking capsules provided by Buenoano.
1983 — A bomb explodes in Gentry's automobile. He survives.
1984 — Investigators exhume James Goodyear's remains. Testing becomes central to the subsequent murder investigation.
August 31, 1984 — Buenoano is indicted for the first-degree murder of James Goodyear.
1980s — Buenoano is convicted in separate proceedings involving Michael Goodyear and John Gentry.
1985 — Buenoano is convicted of murdering James Goodyear and sentenced to death.
1988 — The Florida Supreme Court affirms the conviction and death sentence.
1990 — Buenoano faces a death warrant while litigation surrounding Florida's electric chair becomes part of her appeals.
1990s — State and federal post-conviction litigation continues.
1998 — A third death warrant schedules Buenoano's execution.
March 26, 1998 — The Florida Supreme Court rejects another post-conviction challenge.
March 29, 1998 — Federal litigation continues on the eve of the execution.
March 30, 1998 — Judy Buenoano is executed in Florida's electric chair.
Various Newspaper clippings
Frequently Asked Questions:
Who was Judy Buenoano?
Judy Buenoano was a Florida woman convicted of multiple serious crimes, including the first-degree murder of her husband James Goodyear. She was sentenced to death for Goodyear's murder and executed by the State of Florida in 1998.
Why was Judy Buenoano called the Black Widow?
News coverage commonly referred to Buenoano as the "Black Widow" because multiple men with whom she had close relationships died or were allegedly targeted, with financial motives becoming an important element of the cases against her.
How many people did Judy Buenoano kill?
This requires an important distinction between convictions and allegations. Buenoano was convicted of murdering James Goodyear and her son Michael Goodyear. Evidence concerning the arsenic-poisoning death of Bobby Joe Morris was also introduced in court, but Buenoano was not executed for Morris's death. She was additionally convicted of attempting to murder John Gentry.
Why was Judy Buenoano executed?
Buenoano was executed specifically for the first-degree murder of her husband, James Goodyear, whose 1971 death was later attributed to chronic arsenic poisoning.
When was Judy Buenoano executed?
Judy Buenoano was executed on March 30, 1998, at Florida State Prison.
How long was Judy Buenoano on death row?
Buenoano was sentenced to death in the mid-1980s and remained under a death sentence until her execution in March 1998, spending roughly twelve years facing execution while her case moved through state and federal courts.
What were Judy Buenoano's last words?
Accounts of Buenoano's final statement vary in wording and context. Because last words are frequently misquoted or simplified in secondary true-crime accounts, readers should consult contemporary execution reports and official archival material rather than relying on unattributed quotations online.
Where is Judy Buenoano buried?
Published accounts identify Buenoano's burial as taking place following her execution, but burial-location information found across secondary online sources is inconsistent. Death House Films recommends verifying cemetery information through contemporary records or established burial archives before treating a specific location as definitive.
Part 13. The Legacy of the Judy Buenoano Case
More than a quarter-century after her execution, the story of Judy Buenoano continues to appear in books, documentaries, television programs and true-crime discussions.
But behind the "Black Widow" nickname is a complicated collection of individual cases.
Understanding that history requires separating sensational claims from what prosecutors actually proved in court. Buenoano was not sentenced to death for being a suspected serial killer. She was sentenced to death after a jury convicted her of the first-degree murder of James Goodyear.
Other convictions and evidence involving Michael Goodyear, Bobby Joe Morris and John Gentry contributed to the much larger story that eventually surrounded her.
That distinction is important.
And it is why, decades after her execution, the original court records remain some of the most valuable sources for understanding the case.
Sources & Further Reading
Readers interested in researching the Judy Buenoano case should prioritize original judicial records and contemporary reporting.
Primary legal sources include:
Additional useful sources include contemporary Florida newspaper archives.
Press and other wire-service reporting from the 1980s and 1990s, Florida corrections records, historical archives and published works dealing with the Buenoano investigation.
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