Melissa Ann Shepard
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Melissa Ann Shepard (née Russell; born May 16, 1935), also known as Melissa Ann Weeks, Melissa Ann Friedrich, Melissa Ann Shephard and Melissa Ann Stewart, sometimes given the sobriquet of Internet Black Widow, is a Canadian
murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...
and
habitual offender A habitual offender, repeat offender, or career criminal is a person convicted of a crime who was previously convicted of other crimes. Various state and jurisdictions may have laws targeting habitual offenders, and specifically providing for enha ...
. Shepard has been convicted of manslaughter in the death of one of her husbands, convicted of poisoning another, and convicted of numerous fraud offenses.


Legal history

According to ''The Washington Post'', Shepard's first husband, Russell Shepard, was her only husband not to "become victimof a methodical, practiced ruse". This marriage ended in divorce. From 1977 to 1991, she served prison sentences for more than 30 convictions of fraud. In 1992, Shepard was convicted of manslaughter of Gordon Stewart, her 44-year-old second husband, after running him over twice with a car in 1991. He had tranquilizers in his system at the time. She told police that he had raped her and that she ran him over while trying to escape. She was sentenced to six years in prison but was released early on good behaviour, serving just two years. Following her release, she toured the country, giving speeches on
battered woman syndrome Battered woman syndrome (BWS) is a pattern of signs and symptoms displayed by a woman who has suffered persistent intimate partner violence—psychological, physical, or sexual—from her partner (usually male). Although the diagnosis has mainly ...
and killing in self-defense. She received a government grant to help others. During her tenure as a speaker, she sued journalist Barb McKenna of the Canadian newspaper ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' for writing an article in which she doubted Shepard's claims. In 2000, Shepard married American Robert Friedrich, her third husband, shortly after meeting him online through a Christian dating site. He died 14 months later, leaving her with tens of thousands of dollars in assets. His sons made a criminal complaint against her, alleging that she caused his death by overdosing him with prescription medicine. She was never charged with a crime related to his death, but his sons later won back $15,000. In 2005, she settled with a man that she met online in Pinellas Park, Florida. The man's son alerted police after his father was hospitalized a half-dozen times and he noticed unusual activity in his bank account. Hospital tests showed the man tested positive for tranquilizers but police could not prove she poisoned him; they instead charged her with grand theft, forgery and using a forged document, to which she pleaded guilty. She was sentenced to five years in prison. In 2012, she was charged with attempted murder of Fred Weeks, her fourth husband, and after pleading guilty to lesser charges, she was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Police found a substantial drugs stockpile (primarily
lorazepam Lorazepam, sold under the brand name Ativan, Tavor among others, is a benzodiazepine medication. It is used to treat anxiety (including anxiety disorders), insomnia, severe agitation, active seizures including status epilepticus, alcoh ...
and
temazepam Temazepam, sold under the brand name Restoril among others, is a medication of the benzodiazepine class which is generally used to treat severe or debilitating insomnia. It is taken by mouth. Temazepam is rapidly absorbed, and significant hypn ...
) together with prescriptions from five different doctors and several sets of identity documents in different names among her possessions. Chief Justice Joseph Phillip Kennedy, sentencing, said: "People who have contact with this lady should be careful." On March 18, 2016, Melissa was released in Truro, Nova Scotia on a number of strict conditions. Halifax Regional Police released that she would be residing in the Halifax area, and that she had been assessed and found to be at a high risk to reoffend. On April 11, 2016, Shepard was seen at the Halifax Central Library accessing the internet by a community response officer and was found with a device capable of accessing the internet during this incident, which were breaches of the release conditions she received a month before. She was charged with breaching the terms of her release. On August 4, her lawyer entered not guilty pleas for three counts of breaching a recognizance, including a ban on accessing the internet, on her behalf. Her trial was set to begin February 1, 2017, but the charges were dropped on December 22, 2016.


In popular culture

After being released from prison in 1994, Friedrich appeared in the documentary ''When Women Kill'' and was interviewed by
Peter Gzowski Peter John Gzowski (July 13, 1934 – January 24, 2002), known colloquially as "Mr. Canada", or "Captain Canada",Mary Gazze Canadian Press via The ''Toronto Star'', August 23, 2010. Retrieved 2016-06-27. was a Canadian broadcaster, write ...
. In 2012, she was the subject of an episode of CBC's '' the fifth estate'', titled "The Widow's Web". She was featured on the
Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries, similar to corporate sibling HLN. It is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery's netw ...
channel series ''
Deadly Women ''Deadly Women'' is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) Television, network. The series focuses on murders committed by women. It is hosted ...
'' in Season 8, Episode 11 "For the Money, Honey." In 2017, she was also the subject of an episode of the Investigation Discovery channel series ''Web of Lies''. Author
Lee Mellor Lee Mellor (born August 4, 1982 in Chester, England) is an Anglo-Canadian author, scholar, criminologist and songwriter. Education Mellor attended Bowmanville High School and then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and Doctorate of Philo ...
(who appeared as a guest commentator in the ''Deadly Women'' episode "For the Money, Honey") included a passage on Shepard in his 2012 book '' Cold North Killers: Canadian Serial Murder'', where he posited that Shepard is Canada's only known example of a " black widow"-type
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 ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Melissa Ann 1935 births 20th-century Canadian criminals 21st-century Canadian criminals Canadian fraudsters Canadian people convicted of manslaughter Canadian people imprisoned in the United States Canadian prisoners and detainees People convicted of forgery People convicted of fraud People convicted of theft People from Miramichi, New Brunswick Poisoners Prisoners and detainees of Canada Prisoners and detainees of Florida Living people Mariticides Violence against men in North America