Elfriede Blauensteiner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Elfriede Martha Blauenstein
22 January 1931 |
| Died | 18 November 2003 (aged 72) |
| Other names | The Black Widow |
| Criminal penalty | Life sentence |
| Details | |
| Victims | 3–10+ |
Span of crimes |
1981–1995 |
| Country | Austria |
Date apprehended |
January 1996 |
Elfriede Martha Blauensteiner (22 January 1931 – 18 November 2003), dubbed The Black Widow, was an Austrian serial killer who murdered at least three victims by poison. 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. 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. Keoberl is believed to have been her only female victim.
After serving less than seven years of her life sentence, Blauensteiner died from a brain tumor on 18 November 2003 in a Vienna hospital. She was cremated at Feuerhalle Simmering, where also her ashes were buried.
See also
- Peter Vronsky: "Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters”, Berkley Books, New York (2007), p. 439