The original was by Vicki Lawrence (at time she was regular on Carol Burnett show). From what I recall, her husband had written the song and wanted Cher to record it. Vicki did the demo and sent it to Cher, who refused to do the song for being so bloody. It was Cher or someone from her staff that said Vicki sounded good on demo so why didn’t she record it herself. She did and made a big hit from it. Ironically, Cher, who had refused to do the song because of the deaths in it, later recorded the song Dark Lady, which also included a murder!