Women Scorned

By Sara Saxton

A look back at two women who felt as if they killed their husbands out of necessity, Amber Cummings and Clara Harris. Amber Cummings claimed to have been subjected to mental and physical torture by her Nazi-inspired husband while Clara Harris caught wind of her dentist husband's infidelity and decided to take matters into her own hands...by running him down with her car. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201062538

Book preview

WOMEN SCORNED : TRUE STORIES OF FEMALE KILLERS

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SARA SAXON

TABLE OF CONTENTS

AMBER CUMMINGS

CLARA HARRIS

VELMA BARFIELD

AMBER CUMMINGS

On the surface, James and Amber Cummings had it all.

They had been married for twelve years. James had inherited millions of dollars from his father and they owned a home in the peaceful, seaside town of Belfast, Maine.

On paper, they were a couple that looked as if they had everything, forensic psychologist Paula Orange said. Definitely one of those cases where looks are more than deceiving. They are downright deadly.

The couple met in Fort Bragg, California. Amber was a tall brunette while James was overweight and had an awkward vibe about him.

Amber found him charming, however, and would later describe him as the nicest guy she'd ever met. She would marry him at 19 years of age and things looked bright for the young couple until Amber got pregnant.

That is when his personality started to change, Orange said. He would drive away Amber's family members in California and seek to keep her isolated. This brought much consternation to Amber's side of the family, obviously. There was one heart-breaking instance where Amber's mother and sister went to a neighbor's yard just to get a glimpse of Amber's daughter riding her tricycle.

James wanted no outside influence on Amber or their daughter so he began moving the family around. They left California when Amber turned five and moved to Texas. Then they traveled the country in a motor home until 2007 when the finally settled in Belfast, Maine.

My husband said that he hated people and that he didn’t care where we moved, Amber said. I always wanted to live in a nice, small town in Maine.

EARLY LIFE

James' life seemed to have been one of trouble even though he was born into wealth.

His father would be murdered by one of his former employees in 1997 which was preceded by James making headline news as he videotaped his own mother doing heroin.

James would have numerous run-ins with the law himself.

He had a bunch of assault charges, Orange said. Some were cases where he was the victim. Others were cases where he was the perpetrator. When he was the perp, his father's money always bailed him out.

According to some Internet rumors, James' father had allegedly injured himself while getting off a forklift on one of the docks in the Fort Bragg harbor, breaking his knee in the fall.

Cummings then went to a friend's house and fell to the ground outside claiming that he tripped in a hole. James' father then sued the owners of the property and won.

That gives you an idea of the kind of guy James' father was, Orange said. Rumors abound on the internet and in the Fort Bragg community about how he acquired his wealth. None of it is verifiable aside from the fact that the majority of the trust is funneled through a trailer park, which is odd.

Cummings Sr. would own many businesses and it would be one of his employees, a man named Williams Vargas who would gun him down.

Vargas detonated a homemade bomb he called a firecracker outside Cummings' home. The disgruntled employee then panicked as one of Cummings' neighbors drove by and blocked his escape. Cummings Sr.  then came out with his own gun to investigate the blast which shattered his window.

Vargas then pulled out his own gun and shot Cummings. He had been working for Cummings at the Noyo Harbor trailer park and was allowed to live there in exchange for labor. But he began having problems with other residents which he would blame Cummings Sr. for.

Cummings, 77