Cora Werntz Rendall, Serial Killer – Indiana, 1936

Some sources spell the names, Rendall and Werntz as “Rendell” and “Kizer.”

ARTICLE IN PROGRESS (many more entries to add).

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Nov. 30, 1932 – Schuyler Colfax Werntz dies. Bother-in-law.

Mar. 27, 1933 – Elmer Werntz dies. 3^rd husband.

Sep. 1933 – Jesse William Welch dies.

Spring 1934 – George Kelly, nephew, living in CR’s house, becomes ill with convulsions, recovers in Epworth hospital.

Feb. 8, 1935 – Cora marries Herbert J. Rendall.

Jul. 7, 1935 – poison purchased.

Jul. 11, 1935 – Herbert J. Rendall dies. Coroner orders examination. 6 life insurance policies, $2,500, payable to Cora.

Jul. 20, 1935 – questioned by police. held by police.

Jan. 1935 – Autopsy in Indianapolis.

Oct. 4, 1935 – pleads not guilty.

Jan. 8, 1936 – Trial begins (?); defense presents case.

Jan.16, 1936 – found guilty (Thursday afternoon).

Jan.17,1936 – Sentenced to life in prison.

Jan. 21, 1936 – Sent to Indiana Women’s Prison, Indianapolis.

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FULL TEXT: South Bend, Ind., July 21. Police today questioned Mrs. Coira Werntz Rendall in connection with the deaths of two other relatives after toxicologists found strychnine in the vital organs of her fourth husband, Harry Rendall, 46.

Rendall died July 11, supposedly of acute alcoholism. But Coroner A. L. Kapp, his suspicions aroused, ordered an examination. The toxicologist’s report, received today,said there was evidence of a dose of strychnine sufficient to kill a man easily.Mrs. Rendall’s arrest followed.

The first death in the family occurred Nov. 30, 1932, when Schuyler Colfax Werntz, brother-in-law of Mrs. Rendall, died. On March 27, 1933. Mrs. Rendall’s third husband, Elmer Werntz, also succumbed mysteriously. The third death was that of Jesse William Welch, brother of Mrs. Rendell, in September, 1933. All had convulsions, a typical symptom of strychnine poisoning, Coroner Knapp said.

County officials and police joined tonight in questioning Mrs. Rendall for five hours, but they declined to reveal whether she had made any damaging admissions.

[“Quiz Woman In Death Of 4 From Poison,”Daily News (New York, N. Y.), Jul.22, 1935, p.4]

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FULL TEXT: A crisis of investigation of the mysterious poison death July 11 of Henry J. Rendall, 626 South Michigan street, is expected to develop in circuit court this afternoon when George A. Schock, attorney for Mrs. Cora Werntz Rendall, seeks Mrs. Rendall’s freedom through a writ of habeas corpus.

When this develops, police and Coroner A. L. Knapp will be faced with the necessity of showing cause why she should not be released.

This will result either in the filing of some specific charge against her, or an admission on the part of the authorities that despite hours of grilling since late Saturday afternoon they have been unable to obtain any damaging admissions from her.

Attorney Schock appeared at the office of Chief of Police Laurence J. Lane this morning and demanded that he have a five-minute interview with his client, who was held incommunicado in the woman’s ward of the county jail over the week-end when she was not being questioned at police headquarters.

~ Judge Agrees to Rule. ~

Coroner Knapp, Chief Lane and Assistant Chief Hamilton were in conference in the chief’s office when Mr. Schock appeared. They asked him to wait until they had concluded their conference. When 15 minutes had passed and he had not been admitted to the chief’s office. Mr. Schock returned to his own office.

From there he called Circuit Judge Dan Pyle on long distance telephone at Michigan City, Ind., where Judge Pyle had gone on business this morning. The judge agreed to return to South Bend this afternoon. The other county courts are in vacation.

County Prosecutor George L. Rulison will come into the case formally this afternoon when here presents the police and coroner in the habeas corpus proceedings.

No sooner had Mr. Schock left the police station then Chief Lane, who returned to his desk this morning after a trip in the east, ordered Mrs. Rendall taken to the detective bureau from her cell in the county jail. She was still being grilled behind closed doors at noon by the chief, Assistant Chief Hamilton and Coroner Knapp. Other relatives are to be questioned later today.

~ Examination by Chemist. ~

Police today planned to submit to a chemist the contents of a number of bottles and other receptacles found in the Rendall home by detectives who searched it Saturday. Among these is a partly filled whisky bottle from which Mrs. Rendall says her husband drank before hedied. She maintains she believes it contained poison liquor he obtained somewhere.

Coroner Knapp revealed that he spent part of Sunday visiting numerous drug stores in search of one which might have sold someone in the Rendall household a quantity of strychnine. According to an Indianapolis toxicologist’s report, Mr. Rendall died from the effects of a dose of strychnine.

Steps were planned also to interest the authorities in Marshall county in the deaths in the last three years of three other members of the Rendall household. These include Elmer Werntz, Mrs. Rendall’s former husband, who died in March, 1933; a brother-in-law, Schulyer Colfax Werntz, who died several months before that, and James W. Welch, who died in September, 1933. Authorities have been told they all died under unusual circumstances.

~ Had Policies on All. ~

John Werntz, a son of Elmer Werntz, made a sworn statement Saturday night in Plymouth that Mrs. Rendall had benefited by insurance policies carried on the lives of all these men.

He said he had overheard an argument between Mrs. Randall and Elmer Werntz, his father, in which the father had charged that she wanted to carry insurance “on every one in any way connected with her.”

A nephew of Mrs. Rendall,George Kelly, who still lives in the house, was taken ill about a year ago, according to Mrs. Rendall’s own statement, but recovered in Epworth hospital.

Among other activities today, Chief Lane, at the request of Coroner Knapp, directed detectives to make a more thorough search of the Rendall household for a quantity of strychnine purchased several years ago by Elmer Werntz, and mixed him in a paste intended to kill rats.

~ Canvas Drug Stores ~

Other detectives were as signed to resume the canvass of drug stores in an effort to find out about purchases of strychnine.

Authorities also planned to seek Mrs. Jean Oplinger for questioning. According to John Werntz, Mrs. Oplinger is said to have been an acquaintance of Mrs. Rendall at the time Elmer Werntz was mixing the rat poison. John Werntz, in his affidavit, quoted Mrs. Oplinger assaying Mrs. Rendall evidenced interest in the procedure.

“My father took a little strychnine on the end of a knife and said: ‘That’s enough to kill a man,’” John Werntz said in his affidavit.

Coroner Knapp Sunday questioned Mrs. Sarah M. Cook, mother of Mrs. Rendall, but declined to disclose what she had told him other than to say “It was significant.”

[“Seeks Writ To Free Widow – Lawyer Acts As Police Go On With Quiz – Move to Investigate Three Other Deaths.” The South Bend Tribune (In.), Jul. 22, 1935, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT: Mrs. Cora Wernt Rendall, aged 52, was sentenced to life imprisonment today by Superior Judge J. Elmer Peak for the strychnine murder last July 11 of her fourth husband, Harry J. Rendall.

She was found guilty late Thursday [Jan. 16] afternoon by a jury that deliberated more than 28 hours before returning the verdict that upheld the state’s charges that the former rooming house operator killed her husband of five months to collect $2,500 on five insurance policies.

Judge Peak had the choice of sentencing Mrs. Rendall to life imprisonment or death.

Mrs. Rendall’s attorney, George A. Schock, announced that he would file a motion for a newtrial Monday.

Sentence was pronounced by Judge Peak before a crowded court room. Scores who had waited in the corridor until the prisoner was ushered into the court room by Deputy Ella Mae Paidle found the doors locked when they attempted to enter.

Mrs. Rendall appeared pale and nervous, the first sign of strong emotion she had shown during the entire trial. Her lips twitched convulsively. Her chin quivered as the judge took his seat at the bench.

[“Life Term For Mrs. Rendall – Found Guilty Of Murdering Her Husband – Peak Sets Sentence As She Protests Innocence.” The South Bend Tribune (In.), Jan.17, 1936, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT: Mrs. Cora Wernt Rendall, aged 52, was sentenced to life imprisonment today by Superior Judge J. Elmer Peak for the strychnine murder last July 11 of her fourth husband, Harry J. Rendall.

She was found guilty late Thursday [Jan. 16] afternoon by a jury that deliberated more than 28 hours before returning the verdict that upheld the state’s charges that the former rooming house operator killed her husband of five months to collect $2,500 on five insurance policies.

Judge Peak had the choice of sentencing Mrs. Rendall to life imprisonment or death.

Mrs. Rendall’s attorney, George A. Schock, announced that he would file a motion for a new trial Monday.

Sentence was pronounced by Judge Peak before a crowded court room. Scores who had waited in the corridor until the prisoner was ushered into the court room by Deputy Ella Mae Paidle found the doors locked when they attempted to enter.

Mrs. Rendall appeared pale and nervous, the first sign of strong emotion she had shown during the entire trial. Her lips twitched convulsively. Her chin quivered as the judge took his seat at the bench.

~ Says She Is Innocent. ~

To the judge’s question,” Have you any legal reason why you should not now be sentenced?” Mrs. Randall slowly rose from her chair and said:

“I don’t know why I should be sentenced because I am an innocent woman. I never handled poison in my life.”

Her lips moved in a whispered reiteration of innocence as the judge intoned sentence.

Relatives seated in the rear of the court room sought to offer solace to offer solace after sentence was pronounced that she whisked past them. She requested Sheriff Roy H. Wolfe to “keep them away from me, I don’t want them near.” Only her young son received a greeting from her as she walked back to the jail that has been her home since last summer. She clasped her son in her arms and kissed them.

“I want to see you this afternoon,” she said. She made it plain she didn’t want other relatives admitted to see her.

~ Agrees to Pose. ~

As Mrs. Rendall left the court room she was greeted by newspaper photographers who asked her to pose.

“Certainly I’ll pose,” she said. “Why shouldn’t I? I’m guilty only in the eyes of the people on earth, not in the eyes of God.People who think me guilty are suffering. I’m not. My husband has been with me every night. My husband has been with me every night. He was with me in that court room when I was sentenced. So were my other husbands. I could see all of them. I’m not afraid to face any of them.”

Asked if she was afraid when she prepared to hear sentence, she said:

“No. If I had been sentenced to die I wouldn’t have worried. I’m innocent and I’m afraid of nothing. There is a higher judge than that one upstairs. I’ll get justice.”

Mrs. Rendall entered her cell still protesting the injustice of her trial.

“Well, anyway,” she said turning to Sheriff Wolfe, “those relatives of mine got fooled. They thought I’d go home with them. I was going to stay here anyway if you’d let me. I wanted to help Penny (Mrs. Jennie Penniwell, jail matron) and you promised me I could stay, didn’t you?”

~ Rush Back to Court. ~

The verdict of guilt against the former Plymouth, Ind., woman came with dramatic suddeness late Thursday afternoon after most of the thrill-seeking spectators had started to leave the court room.

Word that the jury had reached a verdict spread rapidly through the court house and spectators who had started to leave for their evening meal came rushing back to the court room. Relatives of Mrs. Rendall crowded into the front row.

A deep silence fell over the court room as the poisoner,supported on the arm of Mrs. Penniwell, entered through a side door. She was attired in widow’s black hat and veil. It was apparent she was prepared to leave the court room and return to her home if acquitted.

Her face paler than usual, Mrs. Rendall sat at the attorney’s table in utter silence while she awaited the arrival of the attorney. Mr. Schock, and Deputies Robert A. Grant and John L. Warrick fromn the prosecutor’s office. Her mouth was drawn pencil-line thin and occasionally she bit her lower lip. Eyelashes twitched spasmodically behind her thick lensed spectacles.

When finally attorneys for the state and defense had arrived she again had regained the perfect stone-like composure that characterized demeanor throughout the seven-day trial. She showed not the slightest sign of nervousness as Judge Peak took his place on the bench and ordered Bailiff Charles Fisher to summon the jury. Factory whistles sounded 4:30 o’clock as the jury entered.Mrs. Rendell eyed each juror, then settled back in her chair expressionless. The jurors appeared wan and tired from their long hours of deliberation. One woman juror’s eyes were swollen. She appeared to have been crying.

~ States Straight Ahead. ~

The jury verdict was delivered by Vern Hardenbrook, foreman, to Judge Peak. As the judge unfolded the typewriten sheet of paper Mrs. Rendall stared straight ahead, looking at no one in particular. In a hushed court room the judge read.

“We the jury find the defendant Mrs. Cora Werntz Rendall guilty as charged.”

The verdict came as a shock to many in the crowded court room who greeted it with an audible gasp. But Mrs. Randall never changed expression. Not a muscle in her square-set face moved.

Not until the convicted woman was ushered out of the court room did she show any emotion. One the step leading down from the second floor she stomped her leg heavily on the marble steps. Half-way down three young girls smiled at her.

“Never mind, you young snips,” she snapped at them,”this thing isn’t over yet. Don’t laugh too soon.”

Then turning to Sheriff Roy H. Wolfe, she said in a loud voice:

“I’m innocent. I’m not through fighting.”

Back in the cell that has housed her since her arrest early last summer she was sullen and silent. She declined to comment on her conviction.

~ Judge Halts ‘Circus.’ ~

The sensational nature of the seven-day trial brought action by Judge Peak to check “circus” tendencies in the court room. On the second day of state’s evidence the judge announced to the spectators:

“This is no theater.”

Thereafter the court room doors were locked when all available seats were filled. His action brought praise from lawyers and judges.

Mrs. Rendall was arrested last July after an autopsy revealed the presence of strychnine sulphate in her husband’s body. The state called its chief witness Ralph Beck, 19-year-old former roomer in the Randall home, 626 South Michigan street, who charged Mrs. Rendall had him purchase strychnine for her four days before her husband’s death. The state called 20 other witnesses to substantiate its charges.

The widow categorically denied all the state’s accusations and charged Beck with attempting to revenge himself on her for trouble over rent money.

The defense built its entire case about the contention that Rendall died of uremic poisoning superinduced by excessive consumption of moonshine whisky.

[“Life Term For Mrs. Rendall – Found Guilty Of Murdering Her Husband – Peak Sets Sentence As She Protests Innocence.” The South Bend Tribune (In.), Jan.17, 1936, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT: Mrs. Cora Werntz Rendall, 52-year-old convicted poison slayer of her fourth husband, today exchanged her widow’s black for the gray denim garb of Indiana woman’s prison in Indianapolis where she began serving a life sentence imposed here last Friday by Superior Judge J. Elmer Peak.

Still cheerful and confidant that she would receive a new trial, the former rooming house operator stepped into Sheriff Roy H. Wolfe’s automobile at 10:15 o’clock this morning, waved goodbye to jail attaches and started the trip south.

Her last words before leaving were:

“I’ll see you all soon.”

Whether or not she does see them soon depends upon aruling by Superior Court Judge J. Elmer Peak on a motion for a new trial which Mrs. Rendall’s attorney, George A. Schock, is preparing.

[“Mrs. Rendall Taken Away, Confident of Being Retried,” The South Bend Tribune (In.), Jan. 21, 1936, p. 1]

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For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.

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Angela Lazzaro, Suspected Black Widow - 1940, Argentina

FULL TEXT (translated from German): Angela Lazzaro from Alcorta is only 32 years old currently living in at Rosario in the Argentine province of Santa Fe, but she has already poisoned three husbands. She killed her last husband with arsenic powder. However, the authorities have some evidence that their first two men did not die of natural causes, but were victims of this female Bluebeard.

[“A Female Bluebeard.” Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung (Vienna, Austria), 17. Jänner 1940, p. 7]

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FULL TEXT: Erst 32 Jahre ist Angela Lazzaro aus Alcorta bei Rosario in der argentinischen Provinz Angela Lazzaro Santa Fé alt, aber sie hat bereits drei Ehemänner vergiftet. Dah sie ihren letzten Mann durch Arsenikpulver ums Leben gebracht hat, steht bereits fest. Die Behörden haben jedoch bestimmte Anhaltspunkte dafür, datz auch ihrebeiden ersten Männer keines natürlichen Todes gestorben, sondern Opfer dieses weiblichen Ritters Blaubart geworden sind.

[“Ein weiblicher Blaubart.” Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung (Vienna, Austria), 17. Jänner 1940, p. 7]

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For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.

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Voracious Cannibal Female Serial Killer, Gordeeva Dmitriev-Andryunin-Plaksin – Kyrgyzstan, 1940s

EXCERPT (Translated from Russian): The first recorded fact of cannibalism dates back to the 1940s. Then, in the village of Tokmok in Kyrgyzstan, a certain Gordeeva Dmitriev Andryunin Plaksin (known commonly as “Plaskin”) was detained. The investigation could not establish her real name and surname. Detectives established that she had killed and ate five women in the Chui Valley, and before that – wandering throughout Russia, Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Siberia – more than forty.

“I sometimes salted meat, often ate fresh. She made cutlets from buttocks and thighs, she loved to fry brains, and made scrambled eggs from eyeballs, she shocked the investigators with her revelations.”

Plaskin even planned to eat her own little son, who was specially taken to the photo studio so she could have a souvenir. At the last moment, she decided to destroy him. She characterised her tendency to anthropophagy, – that is: eating human meat and blood – as "attacks." And she could not restrain herself.  Plaskin was sentenced to 25 years in prison camp and her assets were  confiscated. In the 1960s Plaskin petitioned for clemency, which was not granted.

[Alyona Postelnyak, “Cannibals holding Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in fear” Kantakto, Nov. 3, 2018]

https://kaktakto.com/poznavatelno/lyudoedy-derzhavshie-v-straxe-kazaxstan-i-kyrgyzstan/

By Алёна Постельняк, “Людоеды, державшие в страхе Казахстан и Кыргызстан,” Kantakto, 03 ноября 2018.

https://kaktakto.com/poznavatelno/lyudoedy-derzhavshie-v-straxe-kazaxstan-i-kyrgyzstan/

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[Gordeeva Dmitriev-Andryunin-Plaksin - Гордеева-Дмитриева-Андрюнина-Плаксина]

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Another source:

#20. Каннибализм ; Нестор Пилявский ; Горный эндивий; (или о том, как я не стал каннибалом) –#20. Cannibalism  ; Nestor Pilavsky, “Mountain endive (or how I didn’t become a cannibal),”

http://pustoshit.com/20/pilyavsky.html

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Anna Weikert, Serial Killer – Bohemia, 1877

FULL TEXT: (translated from German):  From Neichenberg it is reported: In the winter of last year the 70-year-old cottager Vinzenz Weikert from Gabel suddenly went missing; there has been no trace of him found to this day. The growing rumor, which identified the 40-year-old spouse Anna Weikert the murderer of her husband, received a tangible aspect in the initiation of a judicial investigation, which had the result that Anna Weikert on April 13 of this year, pulled into preliminary investigation and then taken in haste to where she is now. The crimes that were gradually laid to rest in the course of the investigation of Anna Weikert, a person of repugnant appetite and bad name, can only be explained in their connection by the unbridled greed which has driven Anna Weikert from one murder to another.

Anna Weikert married to the first time, 28 years old, to the bricklayer Wenzel Hampel, in 1864, from which marriage two children emerged. After a little more than four years of marriage, Wenzel Hampel died suddenly: one child, named Wenzel, also died, and the second child, a two-year-old girl named Marie, simply disappeared. Weikert's statement that this child was buried in the cemetery at Konojed in 1865-1868 – Wenzel Hampel Jr., son, died.

In May 1870, the widowed Hampel married for the second time to the musician and weaver Josef Runge, who died on January 24, 1875, allegedly as a result of a hare's genius. The again widowed Runge married in 1876 the 69-year-old widower Vinzenz Weikert, and, as she admits, for his money alone, for he had a cash of 3 to 400 florins. Very serious moments prompted the exhumation of the two years in the grave corpse of the second man Josef Runge. The opinion of the court chemists and physicians as an undoubted cause of death of Runge was arsenic. Concerning the third man, Vinzenz Weikert, the suspicion is suggested that Anna Weikert slew the same, dismembered the corpse, burned some of it, and buried the other somewhere.

It is proved that Anna Weikert has poisoned her husband Runge. Furthermore, the conviction is hardly in any doubt that Anna Weikert has also murdered her two-year-old child Marie Hampel and the third husband, Vinzenz Weikert. But since one main element is lacking, namely that the corpses of the two latter persons have so far not been discovered, the examining magistrate issues a public announcement requesting the public to assist in discovering circumstance relating to the missing persons, if possible, locate Marie Hampel and Vinzenz Weikert alive, or their corpses if dead.

["Insane greed of a woman. Three spouses murdered.” News World-Blatt (Vienna, Austria), August 19, 1877. p. 3]

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FULL TEXT: Aus Neichenberg wird gemeldet: Im Winter vorigen Jahres wurde plötzlich der 70 Jahre alte Häusler Vinzenz Weikert aus Gabel vermißt; es war, ja, es ist bis heute noch keine Spur von ihm ausgefuiiden worden. Das immer stärker auftre tende Gerücht, welches Die 40jährige Ehegattin Anna Weikert als die Mörderin ihres Mannes bezeichnete, Erhielt eine greifbare Gestalt durch die Einleitung gerichtlicher Erhebungen, die zur Folge hatten, daß Anna Weikert am 13. April J. I. in Voruntersuchung gezogen und in Hast genommen wurde, in der sie sichnoch jetzt befindet. Die Verbrechen, welche im Laufe der Untersuchung der Anna Weikert, einer Person von abstossendem Aenßernund schlechtem Rufe, nach und nach zur Last gelegt wurden, lassen sich eben nur in ihrem Zusammenhange durch die ungezügelte Habsucht erklären, welche Anna Weikert von einer Mord that zur anderen trieb.

Anna Weikert verheiratete sich zum ersten Male, 28 Jahre alt, mit dem Maurer Wenzel Hampel, im Jahre 1864, aus welcher Ehe zwei Kinder hervorgingen. Nach etwas mehr als vierjähriger Ehe starb Wenzel Hampel plötzlich: es starb auch das eine Kind, Namens Wenzel, und das zweite Kind, ein zweijähriges Mädchen, Namens Marie kam einfach abhanden. Die Angaben der Weikert, daß dieses Kind im August 1868 auf dem Friedhofe zu Konojed begraben und vom dortigen Pfarrer eingesegnet worden sei, stellten sich als gänzlich unwahr heraus, da weder Pfarrer, noch Todtengräber etwas davon wissen.

Die so ganz freige wordene, verwitwete Hampel verehelichte sich in, Mai 1870 zum zweiten Male mit dem Musiker und Weber Josef Runge, der schon am 24. Jänner 1875, angeblichin Folge des Genus ses eines Härings, starb. Die abermals verwitwete Runge heiratete darauf im Jahre 1876 den 69jährigen Witwer Vinzenz Weikert, und zwar, wie sie selbst zugibt, nur seines Geldes wegen, denn er hatte ein Barvermögen von 3-bis 400 fl. Sehr gravirende Momente veranlaßten nun die Exhumirung der schon zwei Jahre im Grabe befindlichen Leiche des zweiten Mannes Josef Runge. Das Gutachten der Gerichts-Chemiker und -Aerzte stellte als unzweifelhafte Todesursache des Runge eine Arsenik-Bergiftung fest. Bezüglich des dritten Mannes, Vinzenz Weikert, ist der Verdacht nahegelegt, daß Anna Weikert denselben erschlagen, die Leiche zerstückelt, Theile davon verbrannt und das Andere irgendwo vergraben habe.

Es ist also er wiesen, daß Anna Weikert ihren Ehegatten Runge vergiftet hat; ferner unterliegt die Ueberzeugung kaum einem Zweifel, daß Anna Weikert auch ihr zweijähriges Kind Marie Hampel und den dritten Gatten, Vinzenz Weikert, ermordet hat. Da aber ein Hauptmoment mangelt, nämlich die Leichen der beiden letzteren Personen bisher unaussindbar waren, so erläßt der Untersuchungsrichter an Jedermann die “Aufforderung”, dem leben daraus Bezug habenden Umstand bekanntzugeben, ob überhaupt, repektive, wo Marie Hampel und Vinzenz Weikert leben, oder deren Leichen sich befinden könnten.

[“Ungezügelle Habsucht eines Weibes. Drei Gatten ermordet.” Neuigkeits Welt-Blatt (Vienna, Austria), 19. August 1877. p. 3]

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1868 – Wenzel Hampel, husband #1 (married 1864), died.

Aug. 1868 – Marie Wenzel (2), daughter, disappeared.

Year? – Wenzel Hampel Jr., son, died.

May 1870 – married Josef Runge.

Jan. 24, 1875 – Josef Runge, dies.

1876 – marries Vinzenz Weikert.

1877 – Vinzenz Weikert missing, presumably murdered and dismembered.

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For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.

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“The Paraiba Serial Child-Eater” - Brazil, 1932

FULL TEXT (translated from German): Forest Pastor Hans Frehnerau, from Rio Grande do Sul, reported a very peculiar case of cannibalism that took place in Parahyba. There was arrested an old shrew who had murdered and eaten various children. The old witch told her ravings with a calm and certainty, as if such cannibalism were a matter of course for life. When the cannibal was asked if she was not averse to the mischief and disgusted with the crime, she said she had an irresistible passion for eating children's flesh, and she felt neither disgust nor remorse. When a six-year-old child was presented to the man-eater, she laughingly said after expert examination that this child should not be eaten, that it was already a bit too tough for her toothless mouth. She was given 30 years of lockup and the Hänsl and Gretel play will now end!

["A Brazilian man-eater.” Alpenländische Rundschau (Klagenfurt, Austria), 1. Oktober. 1932, p. 20]

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FULL TEXT: Urwaldpfarrer Hans Frehner aus Rio Grande do Sulteilte einen sehr eigentüm lichen Fall von Menschenfresserei mit, der sich in Parahyba zugetragen hat. Dort wurde eine alte Megäre verhaftet, die verschiedene Kinder ermordet und aufgefressen hatte. Die alte Hexe erzählte ihre Menschenfresserei mit einer Ruhe und Sicherheit, als ob solcher Kannibalismus zu den Selbstverständlichkeiten des Lebens gehöre. Als die Kannibalin gefragt wurde, ob sie keinen Widerwillen gegen den Fratz und keinen Abscheu vor dem Verbrechen habe, sagte sie, sie habe eine unwiderstehliche Leidenschaft, Kinder fleisch zu essen und sie empfinde weder Abscheu noch Reue. Als man der Menfchenfresserin ein sechsjähriges Kind vor stellte, meinte sie nach fachmännischer Prüfung lachend, dieses Kind möge sie nicht verspeisen, es sei schon ein wenig zu zäh für ihren zahnlosen Mund. Sie bekam 30 Jahre Loch zudiktiert und das Hänsel- und Gretel"-spielen wird zu Ende sein!

[“Eine brasilianische Menschenfresserin.” Alpenländische Rundschau (Klagenfurt, Austria), 1. Oktober. 1932, p. 20]

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Paraíba, also called Parahyba or Parahyba do Norte, estado (state) of northeastern Brazil.

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This article, which does not give the date of the events, was published in 1937, in another paper (and most probably others, as well, at various times). [“Eine brasilianische Menschenfresserin.” Oedenburger Zeitung, 25. September 1937. p. 4]

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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses

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Cannibal Murderesses

1610 – Elizabeth Bathory – Hungary – sadistically murdered a large number of girls, perhaps hundreds, torturing them and biting off parts of their bodies. The legend that she bathed in the blood to preserve her youth is false. The reality of the “Blood Countess’s” perversions was much worse than the legend. (Serial Killer).

1663 – Queen Nzinga – Ndongo (Angola) – “[One account] claims that after becoming queen, she obtained a large, all male harem at her disposal. Her men fought to the death in order to spend the night with her and, after a single night of lovemaking, were put to death. It is also said that Nzinga made her male servants dress as women. In 1633, Nzinga's oldest brother died of cancer, which some attribute to her.” “It has been suggested that Queen Nzinga was a cannibal, Cannibalism was part of the lifestyle and dietary practices of the Imbangala tribe of Africa. Stories about Imbangala cannibalism were reported by African witnesses like the kings of Kongo who complained about it.” (Serial Killer)

1831 – Marie Breysse Martin – Peyrebeille, Lanarce commune, Ardèche, France – (Serial Killer)

1850 – Canadian Indian Cannibal Serial Killer – Her victims included two men, two women, three boys, and four girls, and she subsisted for some time upon their flesh. (Serial Killer).

1856 – Elizabeth Cahy – Hobarton, Australia – attacked a woman, chewing off a portion of her brow. 

1888 – “Peace River Female Cannibal” – Peace River region, Alberta, Canada – “The woman who is the cause of the present case of cannibalism turned wehtigo [a person possesses by an evil spirit that devours mankind] some years ago and killed and ate one of her children before she was suspected. … At intervals of four or five months her craving for human blood returns, and while in these fits it is reported she assails the first person she meets. Most of her children have fallen victims, having been slain with an ax. The half-breeds and Indians are in terror, and it is probable a police force will be sent to Peace river to arrest the man eater.” (Serial Killer)

1889 – “Abittibee Lake Cannibal Mother” – Abittibee Lake, Ontaria, Canada – “In the vicinity of Abittibee lake he was shown an Indian child whose grandmother had killed and eaten seven of her young children, the child’s father being the only one to escape.” (Serial Killer)

1892 – Miss Akkerman – Bessarabia (Moldova) – house guest who murdered two of her hosts’ children, and was caught eating the corpse of one of them.

1893 – Ann Bennett – Croydon, England – liked to attack women, biting pieces off of them.

1892 – “Chihuaha Cannibal Female Serial Killer” – Chihuaha, Mexico – kidnapped children and ate them. The locals’ punishment of her was a weird one. (Serial Killer).

1900 c (circa early 20th c.) – English “Jane” – Belgian Congo – On the run from English police after thrusting a hairpin through her husband's eye killing him, Jane ended up in the Congo, where she became one of the wives of a chieftain who converted her to cannibal practices.

1903 – “Cairo Cannibal Female Serial Killer” – Cairo, Egypt – kidnapped, murdered, cooked and ate numerous children. (Serial Killer).

1909 – Olga Ivanova Tamarin – Kurdino village, Novaya Ladoga, Russia – mother and 17-year old daughter; leaders of a large gang; daughter lured victims to the Tamarin home where they were robbed and murdered and cannibalized. 27 corpses were found. (Serial Killer).

1910 – Esteis Liberis – Barahona, Haiti – voodoo practitioner who ritually sacrificed and ate children. (Serial Killer).

1912 – Enriqueta Marti – Barcelona, Spain – grabbed street children, hired them out to pedophiles and murdered them, cooking their corpses to make “love potions.” (Serial Killer).

1913 – Frau Kocheritz – Berlin, Germany – She murdered her boyfriend, sliced out his heart, baked it and dined upon it. 

1932 – “The Paraiba Serial Child-Eater” – Paraiba, Brazil – Serial child-eater. (Serial Killer)

1940 – Gordeeva Dmitriev-Andryunin Plaskin – Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan (Serial Killer)

1941 – Leonarda Cianciulli – Reggio Emilia, Italy – murdered and cooked 3 women, making cakes and soaps from their flesh. (Serial Killer).

1981 – Anna Zimmerman – Germany – murdered boyfriend, cut him into pieces, stored in freezer and cooked them to serve to her children.

1983 – Philippa Mdluli – Swaziland – cannibal chef.

1991 – Omaima Aree Nelson – Costa Mesa, California – murdered, cooked and ate husband, boasting of her recipes.

1993 – Carolyn Gloria Blanton; legally changed name to Jane Lynn Woodry – Alamosa, Colorado – Blanton shot boyfriend Peter Michael Greene four times with a revolver, dismembered his body, wrapped his torso in a blanket, and stored it in a closet in his home, but took the legs home to her kitchen. She took bite-sized chunks from his legs and cooked a stew with them.

1995 – Filita Mashilipa – Zambia – prosecuted as a witch who killed and ate six of her own children in order to gain magical powers (Serial Killer). 

1996 – Lyudmila Spesivtseva – Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia – with son, Sasha, killed an estimated 32 teenage girls, who were raped by the son and cut up and cooked by the mother. “The only living witness, 15-year-old Olga Galtseva, was forced to eat soup made out of her friend. She died a day after being discovered.” [Wikipedia] (Serial Killer)

2000 – Katherine Mary Knight – Aberdeen, NSW, Australia – a woman who had a long history of violence who murdered her husband, dismembered his corpse and cooked portions to be served in a diabolical ritual meal to his unwitting children.

2002 – Laurina Marie Aune – Nanaimo, B. C., Canada – cooked and ate 2-year-old daughter.

2002 – Valentina Dolbilina  – Manturovo, Russia – with her husband murdered a woman, cooked and ate her.

2002 – “Zhytomyr Cannibal Female Serial Killer” – Zhytomyr, Ukraine – 3 men and a woman were accused of murdering and cannibalizing up to six people.

2005 – “Krasny Sulin Female Cannibal” – Krasny Sulin, Russia – woman (name not disclosed)  and her two young adult sons murdered a neighbor then cooked and ate his body.

2008 – Ms. Jabarkhel – Kabul, Afghanistan – kidnapped and partially ate an 8-year-old girl.

2009 – Klara Mauerova – Brno, Czech Republic – cult member mother tortured her two young sons mercilessly over a period of six months. She sliced off pieces of one of the boys’ skin and served the flash to other cult members and forced the victim to eat portions of his own mutilated body.

2009 – Olesya Mostovschikova – Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia – murdered a female friend with an axe and with another female friend cooked at ate portions of the corpse. Olesya made a chilling detailed confession of her actions.

2009 – “Sunday” – Southern Sudan – mother who planned to eat her own newborn but ran off when the child was rescued was caught eating the corpse of another child.

2009 – Otty Sanchez – San Antonio, Texas – murdered her baby and ate portions of the child.

2012 – Bruna Oliveira da Silviera & Isabel Cristina Pires da Silviera – Garanhuns, Pernambuco state, Brazil – two women suspected, along with Seňor da Silviera, of murdering, cooking and eating parts of 10 young women. Some were made into food sold to villagers. The three belong to a cult that promotes depopulation. (Serial Killers).

2012 – “Chiang Mai, Thailand Mother” – Chiang Mai, Thailand – butchered and ate her two young sons – aged 1 and 5 – has claimed she was hallucinating and thought they were pigs.

2015 – Catherine Muthoni – Korogocho, Nairobi – Murder victims: Muthoni’s baby boy (1 week); neighbor’s children: Nyambura Gatei (4), Peter Gatei (10 days) “On February 17, 2015, Catherine Muthoni, 20, is alleged to have slit open her son’s belly, removed his intestines and eaten them before going to her friend’s house and killing two other children.” The same day she murdered her neighbor’s two children. [Stella Cherono, “Police detain woman in gruesome Korogocho triple murder,” Daily Nation (Nairobi, Kenya), Feb. 17, 2015] (Serial Killer)

2015 – Tamara Samsonova – St. Petersburg, Russia – On August 5, 2015 the sensational news that Samsonova may have cannibalized her victims appeared in the international media. Police are giving out little about their ongoing investigation, but reports are that the woman had cut out the lungs of those she murdered and consumed the organs. (Serial Killer) 

2017 – Natalia Baksheeva – Krasnodar, Russia

2018 – Patricia Martinez Bernal – Ecatepec, Mexico

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SEE MORE: Female Serial Killer Collections

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[20,535-1/24/19] [Orig. pub. March 2, 2013]
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The Widow Thuri, Serial Killer Black Widow – Silesia, 1899

FULL TEXT (translated from German): From Budapest, 23. d. M., is telegraphed: In Sobotka yesterday the widow of the reformed preacher Ludwig Thuri was arrested on the basis of anonymous tips under the belief that she sent three deceased spouses from the world by means of poison. She denied it, but found a large amount of poison in a search of her apartment.

[“Three-Time Husband-Murderer.” Das Vaterland. Abendblatt. (Vienna, Austria), 24. Mai 1899. p. 3]

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FULL TEXT: Aus Budapest, 23. d. M., wird telegraphirt: In Sobotka wurde gestern die Witwe des reformirten Predigers Ludwig Thuri auf Grund anonymer Anzeigen unter dem Ver dachte verhaftet, daß sie ihre dre verstorbenen Gatten durch Gift aus der Weltgeschafft habe. Sie leugnete zwar, doch fand man bei einer Durchsuchung ihrer Whonung größere Mengen Giftes vor.

[“Dreifacher Gattenmord.” Das Vaterland. Abendblatt. (Vienna, Austria), 24. Mai 1899. p. 3]

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Sobótka is a town in Wrocław County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Sobótka. Sobótka is located about 30 km southwest of Wrocław on the northern slope of Mount Ślęża, part of the Central Sudetes mountain range.

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For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.

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