When they have been the victims of historical crimes, women are central to true crime narratives. In such narratives, these women’s life stories are, however, usually told with little biographical nuance, as the authors regularly focus on the male perpetrators of the crimes and the other men central to the legal/judicial processes involved. This presentation outlines strategies that can be used to compose fuller biographical narratives of women at the centre of sensational criminal cases, using the example of Mary Dean and the Australian late nineteenth century Dean Case. This includes how to compose biographies when the source material available is inadequate and, or, unreliable, but still remain historically diligent.