Books like three sisters in black

Oceana Wardlaw Martin Snead (September 1885 – November 29, 1909) also known as Ocey Snead, was an American woman who was drugged and drowned in East Orange, New Jersey by her own family to collect $32,000 (equivalent to $870,000 in 2017) in insurance money.

Oceana was born in September 1885, probably in New York City, to Caroline B. Wardlaw (c. 1850–1913), and Colonel Robert Maxwell Martin, who had fought for the Confederacy in the American Civil War. Her mother had a career in education, at one point being removed from a position due to unstable behavior. She got her nickname, Ocey, because she frequently garbled her real name in her baby talk.

Caroline Wardlaw had three sisters. The elder sister was Mary E. Long Wardlaw (1849–1937), who married Fletcher Tillman Snead (1829–1891). Together they produced a son, Fletcher Wardlaw Snead (1875–1955), who was Ocey's first cousin and would become her husband. The second sister was Virginia Oceana Wardlaw (1852–1910), who never married. Both sisters were also involved in education and were also implicated in Ocey's murder. The third sister, who was not implicated in the death, was Bessie Gertrude Wardlaw (1867–1954) who married Richard Spindle (1855–1928).