She Devils Around the World

by Sylvia Perrini

  Anna’s next task was to rid the household of Judge Gerhard’s infant child. She fed the child a biscuit coated in arsenic. She also sprinkled arsenic on the food of any of the household’s servants that annoyed her. The servants lived; the baby did not.

  With Judge Gebhard not paying her any attention, she began lacing his evening brandy. When he began suffering from similar stomach complaints his servants’ had suffered from, and noticed white powder sediment in his empty glass, his wife’s warning came back to him. He dismissed Anna. Anna, angry and full of resentment, filled all the salt pots and sugar containers with arsenic before leaving the household. She perhaps thought that if the poisonings and symptoms continued, they would not suspect her.

  Judge Gebhard sent the glass off to be analyzed at the local apothecary. It was found to be contaminated with arsenic. The authorities were notified, and the bodies of his wife and child were exhumed. Both bodies were found to contain large traces of arsenic.

  Unbeknownst to Anna, a warrant was put out for her arrest. Several months passed and Anna, not aware of the ongoing investigation into her, wrote to Judge Gebhard from Bayreuth, suggesting they forget the past, and he consider employing her again.

  In 1809, she was arrested in Bayreuth and after been questioned for six months, Anna finally confessed.

  In July of 1811, Anna was beheaded.

  GESINA GOTTFRIED

  Gesina Gottfried, nee Timm, was born on the 6th of March in 1785 to middle class parents, Gesche Margarethe and Johann Timm, in Bremen, North Germany. Gesina grew up to be a blonde, attractive girl who had many suitors.

  At the age of twenty, she chose to marry a businessman named Miltenberg. They had three children together: Johannan, Adelheid, and Heinrich. Early on in her marriage, she realized that she had married an alcoholic. Remembering how her mother poisoned rats with arsenic, she borrowed some from her and used it in Miltenberg’s beer. On the 1st of October in 1813, Miltenberg died. No one was suspicious; they thought he had drunk himself to death. The death certificate read, “Death by excessive drink”

  Gesina quickly found herself a new lover named Gottfried. He was a wealthy, nervous, shy man. Gottfried was reluctant to marry her and take on the responsibility of another man’s children. Gesina’s parents were opposed to her second marriage and thought it was too soon after the sudden loss of her husband. Gesina went to dinner at her parent’s house and poisoned them both. Gesche Timm, Gesina’s mother died, on the 2nd of May in 1815, and Johann Timm, her father, died on the 28th of June in 1815. The death certificates read “death because of bowel problems and old age.” Next on Gesina’s list were her children.

  First to be poisoned was Johanna on the 10th of May in 1815 followed by Adelheid on the 18th of May in 1815 and then finally Heinrich on the 22nd of September in 1815. Their sudden deaths were linked to grief over their father's and grandparents' deaths.

  Gesina married Gottfried and then began poisoning him. Shortly after their marriage, he died on the 5th of July in 1818. She inherited everything.

  Her next lover was Paul Thomas Zimmermann, a wealthy merchant. While Gesina was conducting this affair, her brother Johann unexpectedly showed up at her house on annual leave from the army. It was an inconvenience for Gesina, so she simply poisoned him.

  When she became bored of her lover Paul, who was by now her fiancé, he also was poisoned. He died on the 1st of June in 1823. Over the following years, several other friends and acquaintances of Gesina’s fell ill and died. There was a vast amount of compassion for Gesina from the local people of Bremen because of the number of her family and friends who had fallen ill and died. She became known as the "Angel of Bremen" due to her devoted nursing of the victims during their time of suffering. However, others began to become suspicious.

  Bremen, Northern Germany

  In 1828, Gesina Gottfried was finally arrested and gaily admitted to her crimes. With no feelings of remorse, Gesina confessed to having poisoned thirty people, sixteen of whom died. She told officials that she was born without a conscience.

  Her trial was speedy, and she was found guilty and sentenced to be beheaded. Gesina Gottfried was the last person to be put to death publicly in Bremen on April 21, 1831.

  ELIZABETH WIESE

  Elisabeth Wiese, nee Berkefeld, was born in 1850 in Hamburg, Germany. As a young woman, she trained to become a mid-wife.

  She had an illegitimate daughter, Paula, before she married Heinrich Wiese, a tradesman. As a sideline to her work as a mid-wife, she performed illegal abortions. She was discovered, convicted, and banned from working as a mid-wife. Financial stress caused problems between herself and Heinrich. The stress caused Elizabeth to attempt to murder Heinrich; her attempts varied from poisoning to endeavoring to slice his throat with a razor as he slept.

  To earn money, she set herself up as a child minder to women who were unable to bring up their children themselves or to mothers with illegitimate children. She also offered to arrange adoptions. For these services, she normally charged a one-time fee. She would then inform the mothers of babies left in her care that wealthy families in different countries had adopted the babies.

  What Elizabeth did, in fact, was feed the babies morphine and then burn their corpses in a stove in her kitchen. To attract clients, she advertised in both the German and English press. These advertisements brought Elizabeth many clients from high-society, as well as from impoverished families. In court, it was alleged that she received from the well-to-do clients a fee of $1,000 plus $250 in “hush money.”

  Not only did she advertise her baby-care services, but she also forced Paula, her daughter, to engage in prostitution and advertised her services in the papers. These ads read:

  “Young and beautiful girl would appeal to noble-minded gentlemen for temporary pecuniary assistance.”

  Paula escaped and ran away to London. When Paula found herself pregnant, she returned home. Here, her mother kept Paula in the cellar until she gave birth and then drowned the baby and burned its body in the oven. Her neighbors had started to become suspicious of Elizabeth and what happened to the babies who came into her care and then seemed to vanish remarkably quickly. The police began an investigation and on searching her home discovered a large supply of morphine and other poisons.

  The neighbors also reported to the police that the kitchen was heated to an intense degree and that revolting odors were frequently smelled. Elizabeth Wiese was arrested. Her daughter and husband testified against her for the prosecution. Her husband also reported Elizabeth’s attempted poisoning of him.

  Elizabeth Wiese was charged with fraud, attempting to poison her husband, living off immoral earnings, the murder of five children, and burning the bodies in her kitchen stove. Elizabeth Wiese plead innocence and said that others killed the children.

  On the 15th of October in 1904, Elizabeth Wiese was found guilty on all charges accept that of attempting to poison her husband. It was only his word against hers. In accordance with German law, Elizabeth Wiese was sentenced five times to death, once for each murder. For perjury and forgery, she was sentenced to six years penal servitude and loss of honor for the remainder of her natural life.

  Elizabeth Wiese was executed by guillotine in 1905

  CHRISTA LEHMANN

  Christa Lehmann nee Ambros, was born in 1922 in Worms, the oldest city in Germany. A town famous for its association with Martin Luther and the Edict of Worms. When just a young teenager Christa’s mother was committed to a mental asylum, where she eventually died, and her father became an alcoholic. Her father, for the most part, ignored the young Christa leaving her to her own devices; hence, she grew up undisciplined, wild and with few friends. In 1944, she was convicted for petty theft and placed on probation.

  When Christa was in her early twenties, she met and married Karl Lehman, a man resembling her father in looks. Unfortunately for Christa, not only did Karl resemble her father in looks, he also had her father’s addiction to alcohol. Christa soon tired of he
r inebriated husband and embarked on a series of affairs, with the US soldiers stationed at the Taukkunen Barracks. These liaisons were well known about in Worms.

  Karl, died at home suffering from convulsions on September 17, 1952. A local doctor listed the cause of death as being caused by a ruptured stomach ulcer. At the time of Karl’s death, Karl’s parents Kathe and Valentin Lehmann resided with them. Christa hoped that, with Karl’s death, they would move out, but they remained becoming an increasing thorn in her side.

  In January 1953, Kathe Valentin unexpectedly died, and thirteen months after Karl’s death, on October 14, 1953 Karl’s father, collapsed on the street twenty minutes after been fed lunch by Christa suffering from convulsions and died. The local doctor recorded a verdict of death by natural causes in each case.

  During this time, Christa had become best friends with another local girl, Annie Hamann, and together they would go out on dates with US soldiers. Annie’s mother Eva objected to the girl’s friendship, believing that Christa was an unhealthy influence on her daughter Annie. Eva, would voice her opinion of Annie loudly to all who would listen, and it was not too long before the scathing comments reached Christa’s ears. Christa, was furious but kept her thoughts to herself.

  On February 15, 1954, Christa visited a local chocolate shop and purchased five chocolate truffles. These were a great luxury and rare delicacy in post-war Germany. Christa took the truffles home and wrapped each one individually as gifts. Four of the chocolates she gave to close neighbors, who were delighted with their present. The fifth one she gave to Annie’s mother Eva. Eva suspected it was a ploy of Christa’s to get into her good books. Rather than, enjoy the truffle herself, she kept it and gave it to her daughter Annie when she got home from work. Annie took a large bite of the truffle and complained about its bitter taste before collapsing to the floor and lapsing into convulsions. As she fell to the floor the uneaten piece of truffle fell to the floor and was eagerly pounced upon and gobbled down by the family dog. Within, a short amount of time, both Annie and her dog were dead.

  The doctor who was summoned was somewhat puzzled by the common symptoms and sudden deaths exhibited by Annie and the dog and ordered an autopsy to be performed. Tests performed during the autopsy showed the cause of death to be from the chocolate truffle, which had been injected with a pesticide, known as E-605. This was in the 1950’s a relatively new chemical substance which had been developed by the Germans during World War II as a potent insecticide. Today, E-605 is known as parathion, it behaves in a similar way to a nerve-gas agent causing rapid alterations in a person’s autonomic nervous system eventually leading to death.

  The authorities immediately suspected Christa as the poisoner of the chocolate. They also began to suspect that the recent death of her parent’s in law and deceased husband could also be suspect. Christa was arrested on February 23. Once in custody the authorities ordered the exhumations of Christa’s parent’s in law and deceased husband Karl. Traces of E-605 were discovered in all the exhumed corpses.

  During Christa’s police interrogation when asked why she had murdered them all she reportedly replied;

  “I don’t suppose I should have done it. But with the exception of Annie, they were all nasty people.”

  Christa was convicted on September 20 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Christa spent the following 23 years in prison, periodically attempting suicide with no success. When she was eventually released, the authorities provided her with a new identity.

  Christa’s murder trial received a great deal of media publicity. An unwanted fallout from the publicity that surrounded her trial and the discussion in the newspapers of E-605 and its potential, led to numerous suicides using Parathion and a number of copycat murders such as the ones carried out by Maria Velten.

  MARIA VELTEN

  Maria Velten born in 1916 from Kempton, West Germany spent twenty years murdering her loved ones before she was apprehended. The police were alerted to her crimes by Maria’s daughter in law’s attorney.

  The daughter in law had wanted a divorce from Maria’s son, upon hearing the news, Maria threatened the younger woman, saying she would kill her as she had her husbands and recently deceased boyfriend.

  The daughter-in-law took Maria’s threats seriously and became extremely frightened which led her to consult a lawyer. Apart from telling the lawyer about the threats she also told the lawyer that she suspected Maria of having forged papers of her recently deceased boyfriend which left his estate to Maria. The lawyer, alarmed by the young woman’s palpable fear consulted the police.

  The police were initially reluctant to become involved as the deaths of Maria’s deceased husbands and boyfriend all had death certificates stating death by natural causes. But, due to the persistence of the lawyer they agreed to investigate the alleged forgery.

  The police obtained the alleged forged paperwork from the bank and found that the signature had indeed been forged. The police contacted the local prosecutor who reluctantly agreed to the exhumation of Maria’s recently deceased wealthy boyfriend.

  On examination of the corpse, the toxicologist found in the stomach the remains of the potent insecticide E 605. A warrant was issued for Maria’s arrest in August 1983 on suspicion of murder.

  Once arrested, the 67-year-old mother of six gave a detailed confession, which ultimately convicted her.

  She told the police detectives that she had murdered her father in 1963 and an aunt in 1970, by feeding them blueberry pudding laced with herbicide. Maria claimed she did so because they were old and too much of a burden on her.

  Maria also admitted to killing her first husband with her blueberry pudding in 1976 because he got on her nerves and her second husband was given his pudding in 1978 because he was obsessed with cleanliness. Her wealthy lover received his pudding in 1980 as he had many bad habits and would not move out of her flat when asked to.

  The 68-year-old great-grandmother, received three life sentences for the murders of her husbands and lover, plus an additional 15 years.

  SABINE HILSCHENZ

  Germany was in a state of deep shock when a forty-year-old woman, Sabine Hilschenz, born in 1965, was arrested on August 1, 2005, and was convicted of killing eight of her babies.

  The bodies of the new-borns, two boys and seven girls were discovered in the garden shed of Sabine’s parents in a small town near the Polish border, Brieskow-Finkenheerd, which was formally in communist East Germany. A neighbour who was clearing out the shed for Sabine’s parents discovered the bodies. The tiny corpses were found buried in plant pots, an aquarium and buckets.

  Shortly, after the bodies were discovered, a small shrine full of flowers and stuffed bears was erected by the town’s people, against the wooden fence of the garden and a poster was erected asking “Why, why, why?" A question many Germans and politicians were also asking.

  Sabine Hilschenz, the mother of the nine infants was arrested on suspicion of murder following the discovery. Sabine had recently divorced and was an out of work 39-year-old dentist’s assistant, who had been born in 1966 in Brieskow-Finkenheerd.

  Sabine and her ex-husband Oliver Hilschenz had three live children between them. During the police investigation, the DNA tests showed Sabine and Oliver Hilschenz to be the parents of the nine new-born corpses. The couple divorced in 2002, and the courts awarded custody of the three children to Oliver because Sabine suffered from alcoholism. Following the divorce Sabine-s life spiralled further out of control. She was arrested for petty theft in 2003, had a number of short-term boyfriends and had a daughter with one of them in 2003.

  Sabine and Oliver Hilschenz had spent their married life living with their three live children in a block of flats known to be home to many Stasi members in Frankfurt an der Oder, another small town on the border with Poland. Sabine’s and her husband Oliver were believed to have worked for the feared East German secret police, the Stasi.

  The Stasi employed roughly 274,000 people during 1950 and 1989.

/>   Sabine gave birth to the first baby victim in 1988 before the communist regime collapsed. During her police interrogation, she said her husband did not want any more babies as they already had three children.

  Sabine told police that when she was pregnant for the fourth time, she gave birth to the baby in a lavatory, where the baby’s head became submerged in water and drowned. At the time, her husband was asleep in the adjoining room. In a small hotel in Goslar, in 1992, she gave birth to her fifth child. Here, she said she left the baby covered by a blanket and paid its cries no attention until they finally stopped.

  She said she could not remember the deaths of the other seven babies because she was in an alcoholic stupor and when she regained consciousness the children were already buried, and she did not know if they had been born alive or dead. The police believed all nine, born between 1988 and 1998, died shortly after they were born. When asked if she had ever considered contraception she replied that contraception was never discussed in her family.

  When the police interviewed Oliver Hilschenz he insisted he did not know his wife had been pregnant, and thought she simply had a weight problem. Relatives, neighbours and the three surviving children also denied knowing that Sabine had been pregnant.

  Because of Germany's statute of limitations, Sabine could only be prosecuted for eight of the deaths. Before Sabine’s trial began, the prosecution dropped the murder charge and changed it to one of manslaughter as the prosecution felt that they were unable to prove that Sabine had deliberately killed her children.