Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - She's Iran's Worst Killer - The Kolsum Akbari Story

Episode Date: February 28, 2026

Kulthum Akbari is an Iranian serial killer arrested in 2023 who confessed to murdering her 82-year-old husband and 13 men over a twenty-year span, though investigations suggest she may have killed over 20 men through a scheme involving multiple fraudulent marriages. Operating in Sari, Iran, between 2001 and 2023, Akbari targeted elderly husbands, marrying them before killing them.

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And Kulsum is only 18 when this story starts and she's living in Iran. And she is living a terrible life. Her family is in poverty. So in 1985, they sell her off to get married. And the guy she gets married to is much older and abusive. and by the time she's in her 20s, she's already on her second marriage. And this new husband is also much older than her and also abusive. So now, in the year 2000, she's around 33 years old.

And she's been through two terrible marriages. So it's safe to say that she pretty much hates men at this point. And she decides that she's done putting up with these awful husbands. But she also decides that she wants money. But, you know, she doesn't have to work for this money. So she comes up with a plan. She's going to start marrying rich, lonely, old men, and then when the time is right, she's going to kill them

so that she doesn't have to be with them anymore. Great plan. What could possibly go wrong? So she gets to work. She starts going to local women, social, and religious gatherings, and she starts letting all the women there know that she is single and ready to mingle, and that she's looking to marry a nice, lonely, older gentleman who lives alone and needs a companion.

And I guess all these other women at these gatherings think that she's a nice enough person because they start introducing her to older men that they know. A lot of times these women introduce her to their own dads. And of course, when they do, Kulsoum acts all charming and she starts like batting her eyelashes and whatnot. And then they start planning to arrange a marriage. But before she agrees to do any of that, Kalsum goes and she does her research on their financial situation, and she makes sure that they have assets, like property and savings and stuff. And only then will she agree to marry them. And only on the condition that this potential husband agrees to pay her a big dowry.

A dowry is like a gift from the groom to the bride, usually right when they get married. And it's usually cash or property. And of course, this potential husband agrees to pay because, you know, they think they're going to get a nice wife who's going to take care of them in their old age. And so they get married. And shortly after Kulsum gets to work on trying to poison this guy. She gets a bunch of prescription medications like blood pressure medicines and diabetes drugs and sedatives, all kinds of stuff. And she'll put them into husband's tea or his meals that she's cooking for him. And husband will eat. or drink it. You know, he doesn't know what's going on. And over time, he starts getting sick and his body grows weak. But here's the thing. Husband is already elderly, and already on a lot of different medications, as older people often are. So none of this raises suspicion in anyone. And as husband gets sicker and sicker, eventually he has to go to the hospital. So Colsum will take him. And there, she'll play the role of a concerned watch.

who just had to rush her husband to get medical attention. But in reality, she's trying to create a paper trail of her husband's declining health, so that when he does eventually die, it doesn't look sudden and therefore suspicious. So after the hospital trip, husband gets sent home and left in the care of Colum. And Colesum will start the cycle all over again. She'll poison him by mixing high doses of his own medication into the food that she's cooking him, and eventually husband will get super sick and have to go back to the hospital. Now, inevitably, after a few rounds of this, husband gets so sick that he dies. And no one questions

it because he was already elderly and he already had a recent history of getting sick and going to the hospital. So Colum's plan is nearly flawless. So after husband dies, Colum takes the dowry and any inheritance she's supposed to get, and she transfers to her. it all over into her daughter's name. That way she doesn't suddenly look like a rich woman. And after a brief period of fake morning, Colum starts the scam all over again. She starts going to women's social and religious gatherings and letting them know that she's looking to marry. Then she'll get introduced to a bunch of elderly dads and she'll find one who's got money and she'll marry him. Then she'll slowly poison the guy and when he dies, she'll take any

dowry or inheritance that she's owed and she'll put it in her daughter's name. And she does this over and over and over again, killing husband after husband. In total, she gets married 19 different times. And she'll hop from town to town all throughout the region. That way no one is connecting her to the string of deaths because the murders are happening far away from each other. And sometimes if the poison doesn't work quickly enough, she'll just straight up smother the guy with a pillow or a towel. And she's brutal. Often she'll murder a new husband just a few months after marrying them.

Like in 2013, she marries a 69-year-old man, then she kills him a month later. In 2016, she marries a 62-year-old guy, and he's dead within a few months. Later, she marries an 83-year-old man, and he's dead just 43 days after the wedding. And so over the years, as the money's piling up, she starts getting rich off of all this, collecting all kinds of dowry and inheritance and property.

But then things start to get a little complicated. So years pass, and it's now 2020. And at this point, Kalsum, she's about 51 years old. And she's married to this old guy, Masi. And of course, Kulsoom is secretly trying to murder Masi, like all the other husbands before him. So she goes and she spikes one of his drinks with some kind of poison. And he drinks it and he gets sick.

However, instead of brushing it off as of some kind of natural illness, he immediately calls her out. He's like, what the fuck are you trying to poison me? And I don't know if she tries to deny it or what. But Masi isn't having it. He kicks her ass out of the house immediately and he divorces her. But for whatever reason, he doesn't report her to the, police. I guess he doesn't have any real proof that she tried to poison him. But see, Kalsum,

she's not going to let a little divorce stop her. She goes right back to looking for a new husband to rip off and murder, because her plan seems to be to just keep going and to continue getting richer and richer. When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert, because you know what fits your life. And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at good to know facts.org. No spin, no judgments, just the facts straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients. Visit good to know facts.org.

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Until... Until 2023, when Kulsoum gets married to this guy, Goulon Razat. Now, Goulom Raza is 82, and he's rich and elderly and just her type. So Kolsoum, at some point, you know, does her thing. She serves him up, some poison tea, and he drinks it, and he unfortunately dies. Now, Golom Razaa's family is immediately skeptical that he died of natural causes. They think something is up. And around this time, his son is chatting with a friend of his.

and that friend just happens to be the son of Masi, Colesum's previous husband. And so they're talking and one of them is like, you know, my dad died and I don't really trust his wife, Colum. And the other one is like, whoa, my dad just divorced a woman named Colesum after she tried to poison him. And this leads to a whole police investigation. And so eventually, bam, they arrest Colesum. Here's a picture of her in real life. And ultimately, she ends up confessing to murdering somewhere between 13 and 15 of her husbands. In fact, she says she's not even sure of the exact number.

But anyway, in 2025, she goes to trial and she's found guilty and she receives 10 death penalties. And I'm not even sure how that is enforced, but that's what she got.