Vera Renczi

Vera Renczi
Born1903
Bucharest, Romania
Died1960 (aged 56–57)[anachronism]
Zrenjanin, Yugoslavia
(now Serbia)
NationalityRomanian
Other namesThe Black Widow
CitizenshipRomanian
OccupationHousewife
SpouseKarl Schick
Criminal chargeMurder
PenaltyLife imprisonment
Details
VictimsLovers/husbands
Span of crimes
1920–1930
CountryRomania
Yugoslavia
Hungary (alleged)
Killed35
WeaponArsenic

Vera Renczi (dubbed the Black Widow, Mrs. Poison or Chatelaine of Berkerekul),[1][2] was a Romanian serial killer who was charged with poisoning 35 individuals including her two husbands, multiple lovers, and her son with arsenic during the 1920s.[3][4][5][6]

Journalist Otto Tolischus published the earliest known article in the United States in May 1925 based on letters from the readers without naming any reference.[7][8] Renczi's story has surfaced repeatedly, but without traceable details such as specific dates of her birth, marriages, arrest, conviction, incarceration or death.[9]

Most sources place the murders at Berkerekul, Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia), or Bečkerek, which was renamed Zrenjanin in 1946; however, the spelling "Berkerekul" is unknown for this city. In 1972, the Guinness Book of World Records found no authoritative sources to support the claim that 35 people were killed by Renczi in early 20th-century Austro-Hungarian Empire.[10]

  1. ^ Ionela Stănilă (1 June 2016). "Sfârşitul cumplit al celei mai sadice criminale. Văduva Neagră, femeia misterioasă care a ucis 35 de bărbaţi". Adevărul.
  2. ^ Adrian Nicolae (11 October 2008). "Vaduva Neagra sau Castelana din Berkerekul". Descopera.ro.
  3. ^ William R. Cullen (2008). Is Arsenic an Aphrodisiac?: The Sociochemistry of an Element. Royal Society of Chemistry. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-85404-363-7.
  4. ^ Michael D. Kelleher; C. L. Kelleher (1999). Murder Most Rare. Random House Publishing Group. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-440-23473-9.
  5. ^ Mary Ellen Snodgrass: Encyclopedia of kitchen history. 549. ISBN 978-1-57958-380-4
  6. ^ Larissa MacFarquhar (9 March 1998). "FEMMES FATALES. Women who kill: The new postfeminist icons". The New Yorker. Vol. 74, no. 1–10. pp. 88–91 (89).
  7. ^ Tolischus, O. [Otto] B. Woman Held For Killing 35 Persons Slew Lovers and Preserved Bodies In Cans In Her Cellar, syndicated (Universal Service), The Bee (Danville, Va.), May 22, 1925, p. 6
  8. ^ "Another Lucretia Borgia Found", Kingston Daily Freeman
  9. ^ Hannah Scott (2005). The female serial murderer a sociological study of homicide and the gentler sex. Edwin Mellen Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-7734-6000-3.
  10. ^ Ross McWhirter; Norris McWhirter (1972). Guinness Book of World Records. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 288. A claim that Vera Renczi murdered 35 persons in Rumania this century lacks authority.