Solved case · 1983
Also known as Lainz Angels of Death
The short answer
Between 1983 and 1989, four nurse's aides at a geriatric hospital in the Lainz district of Vienna, Austria, killed elderly patients in their care using morphine overdoses and forced drowning; the group confessed to 49 murders, and all four women were convicted in 1991, with the last two released from prison in 2008.
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Suggest coverage for this caseBetween 1983 and 1989, four women employed as nurse's aides at the Geriatriezentrum am Wienerwald, a geriatric hospital in the Lainz district of Vienna, Austria, killed dozens of patients under their care. The perpetrators — Waltraud Wagner, Maria Gruber, Irene Leidolf, and Stephanija Meyer — used overdoses of morphine or forced water into victims' lungs to carry out the killings.
Wagner, then 23 years old, killed the first patient with a morphine overdose in 1983. In doing so she found that she enjoyed the feeling of controlling whether a patient lived or died. She went on to recruit two younger aides, 19-year-old Gruber and 21-year-old Leidolf, and eventually 43-year-old Meyer, who became known within the group as its "house mother." Together the four developed their own method of killing: one aide would hold a patient's head and pinch the patient's nose shut while another poured water into the patient's mouth until the patient drowned in bed. Because many elderly patients already had fluid in their lungs from unrelated conditions, the method was difficult to detect as murder. The patients the group targeted were frail, but many were not terminally ill.
A suspicious death in 1988 drew scrutiny from investigators, who later said hospital staff met their inquiries with "a wall of silence." The group was eventually caught after a doctor overheard members discussing a recent killing at a local tavern. In total, the four aides confessed to 49 murders committed over six years, though investigators believed the true number could have been as high as 200.
In 1991, Wagner was convicted of 15 murders, 17 attempted murders, and two counts of assault, and was sentenced to life in prison. Leidolf was also sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of five murders. Meyer and Gruber were convicted on manslaughter and attempted-murder charges and received sentences of 20 years and 15 years, respectively.
By 2008, all four women had been released from prison. Meyer and Gruber had already been released several years earlier and had assumed new identities. In 2008, Austria's Justice Ministry announced that Wagner and Leidolf would also be released, citing good behavior. The releases caused public anger in Austria: although most Austrians opposed capital punishment, many felt the women had not served enough time in prison given the scale of the killings.
Waltraud Wagner, a 23-year-old nurse's aide at the Geriatriezentrum am Wienerwald in Lainz, Vienna, kills a patient with a morphine overdose, the first in what investigators later determined was a six-year pattern of killings; she goes on to recruit fellow aides Maria Gruber, Irene Leidolf, and Stephanija Meyer.
A suspicious patient death draws scrutiny from investigators, who later say hospital staff met their inquiries with "a wall of silence."
The four aides are caught after a doctor overhears them discussing a recent killing at a local tavern; they confess to 49 murders committed since 1983.
Wagner is convicted of 15 murders, 17 attempted murders, and two counts of assault and sentenced to life in prison; Leidolf is convicted of five murders and also sentenced to life; Meyer and Gruber are convicted of manslaughter and attempted murder and sentenced to 20 and 15 years, respectively.
Austria's Justice Ministry announces the release of Wagner and Leidolf on grounds of good behaviour; Meyer and Gruber had already been released earlier and had assumed new identities, so by this point all four women were free.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Nurse's aide recruited by Wagner; convicted in 1991 of five murders and sentenced to life in prison; released in 2008.[3]
Nurse's aide recruited by Wagner; convicted of manslaughter and attempted murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison; released several years before 2008 and assumed a new identity.[3]
Nurse's aide described as the group's "house mother"; convicted of manslaughter and attempted murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison; released several years before 2008 and assumed a new identity.[3]
Nurse's aide who killed the first patient with a morphine overdose in 1983 and recruited the other three; convicted in 1991 of 15 murders, 17 attempted murders, and two counts of assault; sentenced to life in prison; released in 2008.[3]
From the record
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