Women Serial Killers of the 20th Century by Sylvia Perrini Read Free Book Online Page A

Blue Mountains, which Richard was to inherit upon her death. Once again, armed with home-made cakes and biscuits, Caroline would drop in on Angelina and make her endless cups of tea. It was not too long before Angelina’s health began to fail, with her hair falling out, her eyesight deteriorating, and her eventual death. Like Christina, because of Angelina’s age, no one was suspicious.
    Caroline now found herself with a rather comfortable life: a smart house in Sydney’s suburbs and a weekend retreat in the mountains. Nevertheless, despite the large family of children, grandchildren, in-laws, nephews, and nieces, Caroline was bored.
     

     
    In the summer of 1949, Caroline and Richard joined John Lundberg, Richard’s brother- in-law, and his sister Evelyn for a few days break in Woy Woy, a Central Coast resort. This was a resort people visited for the clean air, the bush, the sun, and for general relaxation.  While there John, a fit healthy man in his early sixties, became ill. Upon his return home, his condition steadily worsened. Carline would pop over to the house daily bringing homemade treats and making endless cups of tea. However, John became weaker, his sight became poor, his hair began to fall out, he became mentally confused, and he eventually died in October of 1949.
    When Caroline’s boredom struck again, she chose to lavish her attention on her dead brother’s wife, Mary Anne Mickelson. When Mary Anne became ill, Caroline took it upon herself to visit daily with homemade treats of casseroles and soups to help keep up Mary Anne’s strength. These she would patiently spoon-feed to the weakening Mary Anne, as well as make Mary Anne plenty of warm, comforting cups of tea. The rest of the family looked on with admiration at Caroline’s seemingly un-endless selflessness. Mary Anne, in the months before her death in February of 1950, became bedridden, bald, and blind.
    When Caroline’s boredom next kicked in, she chose as her next victim the newly widowed Evelyn Lundberg, her husband Richard’s sister. Evelyn lived on Great Buckingham Street in Redfern, an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Evelyn’s married daughter Christine and husband John Downey, a tram driver, lived across the street from her. Frequently, Caroline, Richard, Evelyn, Christine, and John would get together to play cards. Evelyn began to feel ill and was alarmed at the fact that many of her symptoms were the same from which her husband John had suffered. Weekly, her condition began to deteriorate, and she began to suffer from cramps in her legs, loss of her eyesight, and loss of hair. Caroline visited Evelyn daily, taking with her plenty of homemade treats and made her endless cups of tea. With the loss of her eyesight, Evelyn also experienced acute depression. Her daughter Christine had her mother hospitalized; here, she began to show slow signs of recovery.
    When Evelyn was in the hospital, both Christine and John began to feel unwell. Aunt Carrie began to visit them daily, seemingly concerned for their welfare. In September of 1952, as John and Christine began to lose their hair and their eyesight worsened, they heard on the radio about a murder case where a woman, Yvonne Fletcher, had killed two of her husbands with rat poison. As John and Christine listened, chills ran up their spines as they realized they were suffering the same symptoms as those being discussed on the radio.
    The fo llowing day, John and Christine reported their suspicions to the police. The police said they needed evidence and asked the Downey’s to bring them samples of the food that had Caroline supplied. This they did but all the tests proved negative.
    On April 13, 1953, when Evelyn was home from the hospital, Caroline as normal came to visit. Christine offered to make the tea, and Caroline offered to carry a cup out to Evelyn who was sitting on the porch, still barely able to walk and blind. It was then that John saw Caroline remove something from the pocket of