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Women on Death Row: The Crimes of Velma Barfield
Margie Velma Bullard was born on October 29, 1932, in rural South Carolina. She was the second child born to a farmer, Murphy, and his wife, Lillian. When she was a child, her family moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where all accounts suggest that Velma had a difficult life. She was allegedly abused by her father, and her mother apparently did not intervene when he inflicted his abuse.
Velma was a good student in school, but she was often made fun of for her clothing and lunches. Eventually, she began stealing money from her father and then from an elderly neighbor. Her father would beat her for this.
In 1949, teenage Velma married a man named Thomas Burke. Together, they had two children. Following a hysterectomy, Velma claimed to experience a lot of pain that resulted in behavioral changes and drug addiction. Thomas also began to drink, apparently to deal with a concussion he experienced. She and Thomas argued often, devastating their marriage.
On April 4, 1969, Velma and her children left the family home. It ended up burning down while they were gone, and Thomas was found dead inside. He’d apparently passed out in the home and had been unable to escape the flames.
Velma and her children moved into a new home. Months later, the insured home was found burned to the ground.
