Text from Serial
Killer True Crime Index:
A peculiar chapter of Colorado’s criminal history was closed
on March 9, 1971, with the announcement that Gloria Tannenbaum, suspect in two
deaths and one disappearance, had died in the state mental hospital at Pueblo.
A suicide note was found at her bedside, and authorities concluded she had
somehow managed to ingest a dose of cyanide -- the same poison allegedly used
to kill two of her victims in 1969.
Gloria Tannenbaum’s publicized troubles began after Dr.
Thomas Riha, 40-year-old professor of Russian history at Colorado University,
vanished from his home near the Boulder campus on March 14, 1969. Within a
short time, Tannenbaum was charged, both in Boulder and Denver, with four
separate felony counts involving illegal disposal of Riha’s property.
Prior to her trial on one charge -- that of forging his name
on a $300 check -- Gloria was pronounced insane by court psychiatrists and
confined to the state hospital until such time as she recovered sufficiently to
participate in her own defense. In confinement, Tannenbaum boasted of
influential contacts and hinted at “secret assignments” performed on behalf of
intelligence agencies.
Outside her narrow world, the search for Dr. Riha’s body
yielded no results, but homicide detectives had begun suspecting Gloria in two
more deaths. A couple of her neighbors, 78-year-old Gustav Ingwerson and
Barbara Egbert, 51, had recently died of apparent cyanide poisoning. There was
insufficient evidence for indictment, but police believed that Gloria had
murdered both, perhaps because they had possessed some information on the Riha
case.
The deaths and disappearance are officially unsolved, but
Gloria appears to have claimed the last word on the case for herself. “It
doesn’t matter really,” she wrote to her attorney on the last night of her
life, “but I will tell you this. I didn’t do Tom or Gus or Barb in. I went nuts
with hurt over losing them. Everything that has made me feel good about myself
has been taken away. Life is very cheap.”
Text from Serial
Killer True Crime Index:
***
BOOK: R. K. Price, Love, Spies & Cynide: Galya’s Story,
Quiet Owl Books (November 13, 2014)
Publisher’s description: While Veteran Chief of Detectives
Victor Bravo investigates a routine death at Colorado’s notorious Asylum for
the Habitually Insane he discovers the cyanide poisoning of the glamorous
master forger and con-artist, Galya Tannenbaum, was not self inflicted. As he
searches for the killer he becomes entangled in 70’s era international
espionage pitting FBI, CIA and KGB agents against each other, jockeying for
control of Galya’s lover, Professor Thomas Riha, acclaimed Russian-Soviet
authority. When Riha vanishes on March 15, 1969 on his way to teach a Russian
History class at the University of Colorado the mystery leads to heightening
Cold War tensions, Congressional hearings, outrage by J. Edgar Hoover, and even
pre-Watergate abuse-of-power accusations against Richard Nixon.
R.K. Price’s third true-life crime thriller is based on the story Price broke
as a newspaper reporter and splashed across across American headlines for
weeks. To this day Riha has never been found. The case remains unsolved.
***
A book chapter on the case – Jay Robert Nash, “The Prof who
went poof,” pp. 239-244, in: Among the Missing: An Anecdotal History of Missing
Persons from 1800 to the Present, 1978, M. Evans Pub. (uses the spelling
“Galva”)
***
Galya Tannenbaum – Born Gloria Ann Forrest
Mar. 14, 1969 – Dr. Thomas Riha (40), disappears; never
found. Having affair with GT.
1969 – Within a short time, Tannenbaum was charged, both in
Boulder and Denver, with four separate felony counts involving illegal disposal
of Riha’s property.
1969 – Prior to her trial on one charge -- that of forging
his name on a $300 check -- Gloria was pronounced insane by court psychiatrists
and confined to the state hospital until such time as she recovered
sufficiently to participate in her own defense.
Mar. 9, 1969 – Hana Riha, attacked, ether on clothing.
Jun. 16, 1969 – Gustav Ingwerson (78), neighbor, dies;
cynaide.
Sep. 13, 1969 – Barbara Egbert (51), neighbor, dies;
cynaide.
A couple of her neighbors, 78-year-old and had recently died
of apparent cyanide poisoning.
Sep. 30, 1969 – Rihas’ divorce decree signed.
March 9, 1971 – GT suicide; cyanide.
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I believe she was murdered in the state hospital
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