Mariticide

The act of killing one's husband or boyfriend

Mariticide (from Latin maritus "husband" + cide, from caedere "to cut, to kill") literally means the killing of one's own husband. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out. It can also be used in the context of the killing of one's own boyfriend. In current common law terminology, it is used as a gender neutral term for killing one's own spouse or significant other of either sex. The killing of a wife or girlfriend is called uxoricide.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mariticide made up 30% of the total spouse murders in the United States, data not including proxy murders conducted on behalf of the wife. FBI data from the mid 1970s to mid 1980s found that for every 100 husbands who killed their wives in the United States, about 75 women killed their husbands indicating a 3:4 ratio of mariticide to uxoricide.

Under English common law it was a petty treason until 1828, and until it was altered under the Treason Act 1790 the punishment was to be strangled and burnt at the stake.

Lorina Dodson (the Spider Man villain White Rabbit) killed her husband after feeling treated as a trophy wife.

In Dead Alive Vera drowned her husband because he had an affair with a woman. In Addams Family Values, Deborah "Debbie" Jellinsky attempted unsuccessfully to kill her third husband Fester Addams after she killed two of her other husbands and ran off with their money. In the neo noir film, The Last Seduction, Bridget Gregory murders her estranged husband, Clay Gregory, and frames her lover, Mike Swale, for not only his murder, but for raping her. In the black comedy film To Die For, Suzanne Stone Maretto had her husband, Larry Maretto, murdered by seducing and manipulating her under age teen lover, Jimmy Emmett, into doing it, under the guise that he was abusive to her, but in reality, her husband was putting starting a family over supporting her career.

In the second season of the TV series Supergirl in episode "Distant Sun", Queen Rhea of Daxam murders her husband, King Lar Gand of Daxam when Lar Gand, against his wife's wishes, allowed their son, Mon El to return to Earth to be with his then girlfriend, Kara Danvers. In the television series Once Upon a Time, Queen Regina arranged the death of her husband, King Leopold, in order to take over his kingdom.

In Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Bentley explains in a voice over that the Contessa had married a Czech general, who mysteriously died a few weeks after the wedding; the general is heavily implied to have been poisoned by his wife, as the cutscene showing his wedding has green bubbles coming from his wine glass. Much later on, in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Bentley discovers that his girlfriend, Penelope, is plotting to use him to make a fortune in warfare out of jealousy towards Sly for supposedly holding them back. When Bentley objects to her goals, denounces her as a sociopath, and dumps her in disgust, Penelope attacks him in murderous rage for choosing Sly and Murray over her, forcing Bentley to fight in self defense. Bentley survives and escapes, and the two become archenemies as Penelope embraces her newfound villainy.