Elfriede Martha Blauensteiner (22 January 1931 – 16 November 2003), dubbed The Black Widow, was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

who murdered at least three victims by

poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

. In each case, she inherited the victim's possessions.

Crimes

On 7 March 1997, Blauensteiner was found guilty of murdering 77-year-old Alois Pichler and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

. Her former lawyer Harald Schmidt was jailed for seven years for being an accomplice to grievous bodily harm and for forging the will of Alois Pichler. She was a gambling addict, and it is believed that she would deliberately date rich elderly men and poison them before gambling away the money which had been left to her in their fabricated wills. Four years later, she was found guilty of murdering her 64-year-old husband Friedrick Doecker and 84-year-old female neighbour Franziska Koeberl. Although she was only convicted of a total of three murders, Austrian police believe that she may have murdered at least 10 people. Koeberl is believed to have been her only female victim. After serving less than seven years of her life sentence, Blauensteiner died from a

brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

on 18 November 2003, in a Vienna hospital. She was cremated at

Feuerhalle Simmering Feuerhalle Simmering is a crematorium with attached urn burial ground in the Simmering (Vienna), Simmering district of Vienna, Austria. It lies at the end of an alley, directly opposite Vienna Central Cemetery's main gate. Description Opened o ...

, where her ashes were also buried.

References

*Peter Vronsky: "Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters”,

Berkley Books Berkley Books is an American imprint founded in 1955 by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein owned by the Penguin Group unit of Penguin Random House. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Compa ...

, New York (2007), p. 439

External links

Mayhem Net
1931 births 2003 deaths Austrian female serial killers Austrian people convicted of murder Austrian people who died in prison custody Austrian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Burials at Feuerhalle Simmering Deaths from brain cancer in Austria Mariticides People convicted of murder by Austria Poisoners Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Austria Prisoners who died in Austrian detention Serial killers who died in prison custody {{crime-bio-stub

Crimes

See also

References

External links