3. Holmes was a serial bigamist as well as a serial murderer
In 1886, before arriving in Chicago, Holmes courted and eventually married Myrta Belknap, despite the fact that he was still married to Clara Lovering, albeit under the name of Mudgett. During his lengthy confessions years later, Holmes claimed that during 1886, while he was courting Myrta, he murdered his former friend at the University of Michigan after taking out an insurance policy on his life. The friend, Dr. Robert Leacock, was at the time practicing medicine in Canada, and died there three years later. There has been speculation that Dr. Leacock’s name was attached to one of the cadavers Holmes used to defraud insurance companies, but as with most things associated with his claims, little evidence and less proof has been presented.
After marrying Myrta, Holmes decided that it may could a good idea to divorce his first wife, and eventually filed papers to do so. Evidence suggests that Clara Lovering Mudgett never received the divorce papers and it was never finalized. Holmes, who had a son with Clara, also had a daughter with Myrta, born in 1889 while Holmes was working as a successful businessman in Chicago. Unsatisfied with having two wives, in 1894 Holmes took a third, exchanging vows with a woman named Georgiana Yoke in Denver, Colorado. Along with three wives (though he lived with but one at a time) Holmes was prone to taking mistresses, some of which became his victims. The myth that one of them was the widow of his Chicago employer began during his sensational trial, in fact both the owner of the Chicago drugstore and his wife outlived Holmes.