România saga Felix Rian Constantinescu 2016 Vera Renczi From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2013) This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. (June 2013) Vera Renczi Born Bucharest, Romania Nationality Romanian or Hungarian Occupation Housewife Criminal penalty Life imprisonment Motive Jealousy Killings Date 1920s? Target(s) Lovers/husbands Killed 35? Weapons Poison (arsenic) Vera Renczi (dubbed the Black Widow or Chatelaine of Berkerekul),[1][2] of Romania or Hungary, reportedly confessed to poisoning 35 individuals—including her two husbands, multiple lovers, and her son—with arsenic during the 1920s.[3][4][5][6] The earliest report published in the USA was in May, 1925.[7] The story has surfaced repeatedly, but without traceable details such as specific dates of her birth, marriages, arrest, conviction, incarceration or death.[8] Most sources place the murders at Berkerekul, Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia), but no such location can be securely identified. 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 Romania.[9] The story of Vera Renczi may have originated as a fiction or a hoax.[citation needed] Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Subsequent murders 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links Early life[edit] According to some accounts, Renczi was born in Bucharest in 1903, but in view of the dates of her alleged crimes, a date in the late 19th century would be more appropriate. The accounts of her life are lacking in verifiable documentary supporting evidence. Her mother died when she was 13 and she moved with her father to Bercicherecul Mare, today Zrenjanin, Voivodina, Northern Yugoslavia where she attended a boarding school.[10] By the age of fifteen, she had become increasingly unmanageable by her parents and had frequently run away from home with numerous boyfriends, many of whom were significantly older than she was.[11] Early childhood friends described Renczi as
having an almost pathological desire for constant male companionship[citation needed] and possessing a highly jealous and suspicious nature.[12] Shortly before the age of twenty, her first marriage was to a wealthy Austrian banker named Karl Schick[citation needed], many years her senior. She bore him a son named Lorenzo.[10][12] Left at home daily while her older husband worked, she began to suspect that her husband was being unfaithful. One evening, in a jealous rage, Renczi poisoned his dinner wine with arsenic and began to tell family, friends, and neighbors that he had abandoned her and their son.[citation needed] After approximately a year of "mourning", she then declared that she had heard word of her supposedly estranged husband's death in a car accident.[11] Subsequent murders[edit] Shortly after allegedly hearing the news of her first husband's "automobile accident" Renczi remarried[citation needed], this time to a man nearer her own age[citation needed]. However, the relationship was a tumultuous one and Renczi was again plagued by the suspicion that her new husband was involved in extramarital affairs[citation needed]. After only months of marriage the man vanished[citation needed] and Renczi then told friends and family that he had abandoned her.[12] After a year had passed, she then claimed to have received a letter from her husband proclaiming his intentions of leaving her forever.[11] This would be her last marriage.[12] Although Renczi did not remarry, she spent the next several years carrying out a number of affairs, some clandestine with married men, and others openly[citation needed]. The men came from an array of backgrounds and social positions. All would vanish within months, weeks, and in some cases, even days after becoming romantically involved with her.[citation needed] When connected to men she was openly having an affair with, she would invariably concoct stories of them being "unfaithful" and having "abandoned her".[citation needed] After the wife of one of Renczi's lovers followed him to Renczi's residence one evening and the man subsequently never returned home, the police were called to investigate his disappearance[citation needed]. Upon searching Renczi's wine cellar, they discovered 32 unburied, zinc-lined coffins. Each contained a male corpse in varying stages of decomposition.[citation needed] Renczi was arrested and taken into police custody where she confessed to having poisoned the 32 men with arsenic when she suspected they had been unfaithful to her or when she believed their interest in her was waning[citation needed]. She also confessed to the police that on occasion she liked to sit in her armchair amidst the coffins, surrounded by all of her former suitors.[11] Renczi also confessed to murdering her two husbands and her son Lorenzo[citation needed]. She told police that one day when her son had come to pay her a visit, he had accidentally discovered the coffins in her wine cellar and threatened to blackmail her and she subsequently poisoned him and disposed of his body[citation needed]. She also feared he would soon leave her to marry someone so she held him in her arms as he lay dying so she would be the last person to hug him.[11] She was convicted of 35 murders and sentenced to life imprisonment, where she subsequently died[citation needed]. Some have speculated that Renczi's story may have inspired Joseph Kesselring's play Arsenic and Old Lace, yet this is incorrect. It was the Amy Archer-Gilligan case which the playwright used as his model.[citation needed] In 2005, The Discovery Channel's three-part series Deadly Women recounted the history of Renczi, portrayed through reenactments and commentaries from FBI agents and criminal profiler Candice DeLong and a forensic pathologist. Renczi was featured in the series' first episode titled "Obsession", [13] where she is described as having killed her victims in the "1930s in Bucharest, Romania".[14] As for her motivation, the voice-over says that "modern analysis suggest she was simply looking for love".[15] On 17 March 2012, a depiction of Renczi appeared in the Daily Mirror, but it was proved to be a misidentified 2004 photograph, and an apology was printed.[16] See also[edit] BĂŠla Kiss References[edit]
Jump up ^ Ionela Stănilă (1 June 2016). "Sfârşitul cumplit al celei mai sadice criminale. Văduva Neagră, femeia misterioasă care a ucis 35 de bărbaţi". Adevărul. Jump up ^ Adrian Nicolae (11 October 2008). "Vaduva Neagra sau Castelana din Berkerekul". Descopera.ro. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ Michael D. Kelleher; C. L. Kelleher (1999). Murder Most Rare. Random House Publishing Group. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-440-23473-9. Jump up ^ Mary Ellen Snodgrass: Encyclopedia of kitchen history. 549. ISBN 978-1-57958-380-4 Jump up ^ Larissa MacFarquhar (March 9, 1998). "FEMMES FATALES. Women who kill: The new postfeminist icons.". The New Yorker. 74 (1-10): 88–91 (89). Jump up ^ "Another Lucretia Borgia Found", Kingston Daily Freeman Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ 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. ^ Jump up to: a b Crime Time (Romanian) ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. page 198. Checkmark Books. 2000. ISBN 0-8160-3979-8 ^ Jump up to: a b c d Joseph Geringer, "Black Widows: Veiled in Their Own Web of Darkness", CrimeLibrary.com Jump up ^ Deadly Women: Season 1, Episode 1 Obsession (8 Feb. 2005) Jump up ^ 10:30 into the episode Jump up ^ 14:20 into the episode Jump up ^ MARCH 20, 2012 "THE DAILY MIRROR USED MY PICTURE TO ILLUSTRATE SERIAL KILLER, AND FOLLOWED APOLOGY" Further reading[edit] Jones, Richard Glyn. The Mammoth Book of Women Who Kill. Transition Vendor. 2002. ISBN 0-78670953-7 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 (the name is given as "Madame Renici" in this article) “A Real Female Bluebeard—Strange Tragedy of the Jealous Beauty and Her Thirty-five Unlucky Sweethearts”, American Weekly (San Antonio Light Sunday magazine section), Aug. 22, 1925, p. 5 Siân Lavinia Anaïs Valeriana better known by her artist name The Raveness made Renczi the subject of one of her most popular poems to date, taken from her 2006 book Lavinia : Volume one ISBN 9781502313966. The poem is entitled A coffin for a bed referring to Vera's method for murder. Prior to the books release in 2003, the poem was previously featured on her debut poetry extended-play self-titled The Raveness." External links[edit] Francis Farmer's Revenge: Types of female Serial Killers Categories: 20th-century criminalsRomanian serial killersPoisonersFilicidesPeople from BucharestRomanian female murderersHungarian female serial killersHungarian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonmentRomanian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonmentPrisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by RomaniaRomanian people who died in prison custodyHungarian people who died in prison custodyPrisoners who died in Romanian detentionRomanian people convicted of murderHungarian people convicted of murderPeople convicted of murder by RomaniaRomanian people of Hungarian descent
Ion Rîmaru From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ion Rîmaru Born Ion Rîmaru 12 October 1946 Caracal, Olt County, Romania Died 23 October 1971 (aged 25) Jilava, Ilfov County, Romania Cause of death Executed (firing squad) Other names The Vampire of Bucharest The Wolf-Man Criminal penalty Death Conviction(s) 4 counts of murder in the first degree Killings Victims 4 Span of killings 8 April 1970–4 May 1971 Country Romania Date apprehended 27 May 1971 Ion Rîmaru (or, in newer spelling, Râmaru; b. 12 October 1946, Caracal–d. 23 October 1971, Jilava) was a Romanian serial killer dubbed "the vampire of Bucharest" or "the blondes' killer". He terrorized Bucharest between 1970 and 1971. All Romanians that had the name of "Rîmaru" changed them after this. Authorities had made over 2,500 arrests before he was apprehended. Ion Rîmaru killed four women and attacked more than 10 others. The women were attacked with an axe, bitten on the breasts and thighs and raped after they were already dead.[1] Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 University 1.3 Crimes 1.4 Investigation, trial and execution 2 Possible motives 2.1 A family affair 3 Notes 4 References Biography[edit] Early life[edit] Rîmaru's parents married in Caracal and had three sons, Ion being their eldest child. His father, Florea, would beat his mother daily; the couple eventually separated and his father moved to Bucharest, taking a job as a night tram driver. After his death years later, Florea was discovered to have been a serial killer (see below). Ion was born in Corabia. His early life was a troubled one: he repeated the ninth grade, provoked a public scandal in his home town when he was found to be having a sexual relationship with the minor daughter of his teacher, and, at age 18, was convicted of aggravated theft. Nevertheless, during high school, he always received a perfect grade in conduct. University[edit] He entered the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1966 with a grade of 5.33 (out of 10). He repeated his second year there. At the time of his arrest, Rîmaru was in the course of repeating his third year. Although he entered a university, one of his professors described him as shy and semi-literate, with a very poor vocabulary and an extremely narrow set of interests.
His roommates reported that he behaved strangely, so they avoided him. When he became enraged, he would harm himself; he was found to have over 20 cuts on his arms and legs. From adolescence, Rîmaru had an uncontrollable libido. For instance, a university classmate reported that one night, at the dormitory, Rîmaru did not sleep at all, but instead prowled outside a room where he knew a girl had come to visit a classmate. Doctors diagnosed him with esophageal spasm, reactive nervous syndrome and mental problems in 1967. Crimes[edit] Bucharest was shaken by a series of crimes committed in the latter half of 1970 and the first months of 1971. An unknown individual would use a hammer, a small ax, an iron bar or a knife to attack restaurant waitresses who were alone and returning from work. He struck after midnight during unusual weather conditions such as snowstorms, driving rain, high winds, freezing cold or fog. Many women would not go outside after 9:00 pm except in large groups or with men. Their terror was heightened by the police's reluctance to release details, leading to wildly exaggerated rumors. After a few crimes, the police realized that they were dealing with a serial killer; a yearlong investigation, with the help of victims who had survived, led to Rîmaru's arrest on May 27, 1971.[2] However, the clue which led directly to Rîmaru's arrest was a medical diagnosis sheet. On March 4, 1971, a group of six doctors found that he had "suspected periodic epilepsy"; the doctors' note was found beneath the body of Mihaela Ursu, whom he murdered in especially brutal fashion two months later. Between her fingers she had strands of his hair that were used to identify him (some have suggested that he went to the doctors to eventually be able to claim insanity at trial). Because the note was wet and bloody, only the letterhead from the Bucharest Students' Hospital was visible. At this point the criminal began acting more randomly, not attacking waitresses exclusively and even going after two women who were together. On May 15, specialists determined that the note had been produced in Dr. Octavian Ienişte's office in March 1971. He had seen 83 students that month, of whom 15, including Rîmaru, had not deposited their diagnoses with university officials. The police closely monitored each suspect and three officers went to his dormitory on May 27; he was not home but while they searched his room he came back at 1:00 pm. In his sack he had an ax and a knife; tests on the hair and bite marks he left and the testimony of witnesses left no reasonable doubt as to his guilt. The 16 gravest offences of which Rîmaru was convicted are, chronologically: 8/9 April 1970 – Elena Oprea – premeditated murder (not raped because a neighbor scared him away) 1/2 June 1970 – Florica Marcu – rape (knocked unconscious in front of her house, carried to Sfânta Vineri cemetery, pushed hard off the fence there, raped, stabbed and had her blood sucked while walking home with him, saved by a truck driver) 19/20 July 1970 – OCL Confecţia store – theft of public property 24 July 1970 – Margareta Hanganu – aggravated theft 22/23 November 1970 – Olga Bărăitaru – aggravated attempted murder, rape and aggravated theft 15/16 February 1971 – Gheorghiţa Sfetcu – aggravated attempted murder and aggravated theft 17/18 February 1971 – Elisabeta Florea – aggravated attempted murder 4/5 March 1971 – Fănica Ilie – aggravated premeditated murder, rape and aggravated theft 8/9 April 1971 – Gheorghiţa Popa – aggravated murder, rape and aggravated theft (48 stab wounds to the head, chest, groin and legs, five blows to the head, ribs crushed by stomping, genitalia bitten out) 1/2 May 1971 – Stana Saracin – attempted rape 4/5 May 1971 – Mihaela Ursu – aggravated murder, rape (he was interrupted in the act and left unsatisfied, leading him to seek a new victim) 4/5 May 1971 – Maria Iordache – aggravated attempted murder (attacked two hours after Ursu; escaped when he dropped the metal bar with which he was beating her while she was running) 6/7 May 1971 – Viorica Tatu – aggravated attempted murder 6/7 May 1971 – Elena Buluci – aggravated attempted murder May 1971 – Iuliana Funzinschi – aggravated theft of public property and aggravated theft of private property.
After the murder of Popa, a waitress, the authorities went on high alert, launching "Operation Vulture", named after the street where she had been murdered. 6,000 men from various lawenforcement agencies patrolled the streets of Bucharest each night, as well as 100 cars and 40 motorcycles. Medical personnel, night bus and tram operators, hotel and bar employees – all were mobilized, not to mention great numbers of Securitate, Police and Interior Ministry staff. 2,565 arrests were made and over 8,000 individuals were asked for identification, but Rîmaru would commit one more murder and attempt to commit several more before being arrested. Authorities rated Rîmaru's modus operandi as ferocious and cruel, based on his propensity for cutting off clothes, biting off flesh, dragging his victims, and hacking away at them with his weapons, also raping them while they were unconscious. Rîmaru was judged to be aggressive, impulsive and sadistic. He showed signs of vampirism; for instance, he poked several holes into the flesh of Florica Marcu, who later related how he sucked blood out of them. Cannibalism was also present; he would bite women's vaginas, pubic areas and breasts, and the missing pieces of flesh were no longer found at the crime scenes. Additionally, he had necrophiliac tendencies, continuing his rapes after his victims had died and also beating and stabbing their corpses. Investigation, trial and execution[edit] After his arrest, Rîmaru remained completely silent, staring expressionlessly into space. The investigators went into an office to decide on a plan; they introduced a police officer who pretended to be a thief into his cell and got him to talk. After two months of interrogations, Rîmaru admitted to 23 very serious crimes. In fact, he had been arrested for only three murders; the rest (another murder, six attempted murders, five rapes, one attempted rape, and seven thefts of various degrees) he or his father confessed to. On one hand, he tried to convince the authorities that he was not responsible on the grounds of insanity, and that he did not realize the women would die; on the other hand, he insisted he was guilty, asking to be taken to the scenes of his crimes. During police lineups, victims brought in to identify him would tremble when their eyes met his, despite there being no danger to them now. Allegedly, for the public at large, Rîmaru's name itself inspired a vague dread; rîmă/râmă means "earthworm" in Romanian. The authorities believed that suggestive remarks from his father, who knew all about his son's crimes, had led him to commit violence. During the investigation, his father was arrested three times but released because close relatives could not be forced to testify against other family members. After Ion's last crime, when he robbed a cashier, his mother visited him and found the money under his pillow. His father made him go to the crime scene and showed him what he had done. He then took the money and placed it in his Caracal home, intending to use it to buy a new house. His father was first brought in to the police station during one of Ion's silent phases; the son merely gave his father an ugly look, prompting the latter to say "How should I know what you did? How?" But he had reason to suspect it, as he had been washing his son's bloody clothes after the attacks. After Ion robbed the cashier, Florea confiscated the ax and knife and it was with these that he was secretly returning when he was arrested. Rîmaru, whose trial drew significant public attention, thought he had convinced investigators of his insanity defense. He was apparently shocked when he read the report stating that his judgment was not impaired by mental illness, that he did not suffer from hallucinations, delirium, or similar conditions. He immediately changed his plea, recanting his previous confessions in their entirety; thenceforth, he refused to answer even his lawyer's questions. Eventually, Rîmaru was sentenced to death, with the courtroom erupting in applause when the penalty was pronounced. He appealed, but the Supreme Tribunal upheld the sentence. On October 23, 1971, Rîmaru was taken to Jilava prison in a van. He had to be dragged to the place of execution from the moment he left the van. Until he was dead, he was in a rage and vigorously tried to escape. The three officers charged with shooting him tied him to a post in the prison yard. Asked, in accordance with the law, if he had any last wishes, he said no. The men noticed him become more agitated, trying to bite off his clothes and twisting around the post. He yelled, "Call my father, so he can see what's happening to me! Make him come! He's the only guilty one!" and "I want to live!" Because of his constant movement, it was difficult to aim accurately and in the end, his backside was
riddled with bullets (as he had turned all the way round). He was buried in the town cemetery; his grave remains unmarked.[3] Possible motives[edit] A psychologist, Col. Dr. Tudorel Butoi, viewed tapes of Rîmaru's interrogations several years after his execution. In Butoi's opinion, Rîmaru's crimes were a form of compensation for the inferiority complex he had felt since his youth: he was relatively poor, a social misfit, and had had dysfunctional relations with women. At the time, Rîmaru was labelled a "wolf-man", and Butoi theorizes that he suffered from a form of clinical lycanthropy. As evidence, he cites his solitary nocturnal prowling and stalking, the instinctual animalistic energy he drew from unusual weather conditions, and how he considered his victims as prey. Rîmaru would figure out his victims' route, following them home several nights in a row, and attack them when they were almost home. Butoi rejects Rîmaru's claim to have tried to engage a woman in ordinary conversation one night as "merely dissimulations, perverse excuses". A family affair[edit] Rîmaru's father Florea was also a serial killer. In the summer of 1944, a string of four murders rocked wartime Bucharest. Each victim (all were female) lived in a basement apartment, where the criminal would enter at night during a storm and bash their heads with a blunt object. Each time, the killer left fingerprints and footprints from military boots of size 42 or 43. On 23 October 1972, a year after his son's execution, Florea Rîmaru died at age 53 after falling off a train. This was officially an accident, but some authors suggest he might have been eliminated by Securitate agents, though the reason for this alleged assassination remains unclear.[4] His body was brought to the Medico-Legal Institute, where the man's height of 174 cm and his shoe size of 42 attracted attention. Sure enough, the 1944 fingerprints matched his. Both their first victims even had similar names: Florea first killed Elena Udrea, while his son Ion killed first Elena Oprea. Dr. Butoi, the psychologist, theorizes that a gene predisposing one to violent crimes was transmitted from father to son, as the murders happened under remarkably similar circumstances.[5] Notes[edit] Jump up ^ "Secretele faimosului criminal Râmaru, „vampirul din Bucureşti": sugea sângele victimelor şi le sfâşia organele genitale cu dinţii". adevarul.ro. Retrieved 2015-12-04. Jump up ^ Elena Udrea, prima victimă a lui Râmaru Jump up ^ Râmaru, primul criminal în serie al României moderne Jump up ^ Hurdubaia; Mutar, "Secretele..." Jump up ^ Cum erau executati condamnatii References[edit] (Romanian) Cristina Hurdubaia, "Rîmaru a ţopăit printre gloanţe, pe după stâlp" ("Rîmaru Jumped through Bullets behind the Post"), 16 August 2004, Jurnalul Naţional (Romanian) Ofelia Herghelegiu, "Râmaru, vampirul din Bucureşti" ("Râmaru, the Vampire of Bucharest"), Timopolis (Romanian) Adina Mutar, "Secretul lui Ion Râmaru" ("Ion Râmaru's Secret"), Ziarul (Romanian) Adina Mutar, "Moştenirea lui Ion Râmaru" ("Ion Râmaru's Inheritance"), Ziarul Categories: Romanian serial killersMale serial killersRomanian rapistsExecuted serial killersPeople executed by Romania by firing squadPeople executed by the Socialist Republic of RomaniaPeople from Corabia1946 births1971 deathsExecuted Romanian peoplePeople convicted of murder by RomaniaRomanian people convicted of murder Vasile Tcaciuc From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vasile Tcaciuc Born Vasile Tcaciuc 1900s Romania
Died 1935 Cause of death Shot by police Other names The Butcher of Iaşi Killings Victims 21-26+ Span of killings 1917–1935 Country Romania Vasile Tcaciuc was a Romanian man who lured victims and then murdered them with an axe that he specially constructed. The primary motive was robbery. On 7 September 1935, a dog found six bodies under his house in Iaşi. He had already been in prison on robbery and burglary charges. He confessed to having committed at least 26 murders. He was shot dead by a policeman while trying to escape during a reconstruction of one of his crimes.[1] References[edit] Jump up ^ "Vasile Tcaciuc – Macelarul din Iasi". procuror.ro. Retrieved February 20, 2014. External links[edit] Serial Killers Podcast New York Times Categories: 1935 deaths20th-century criminalsPeople from Iaşi CountyRomanian serial killersMale serial killersRomanian people who died in prison custodyPrisoners who died in Romanian detentionSerial killers who died in prison custody Romulus Vereş From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Romulus Vereş) Romulus Vereş Romulus Vereş.jpg Born Romulus Vereş January 23, 1929 Cluj, Romania Died December 13, 1993 (aged 64) Ştei, Romania Other names The Man with the Hammer Criminal penalty Not guilty by reason of insanity Conviction(s) Murder Killings Victims 5 Span of killings September 11, 1972–February 14, 1974 Country Romania Date apprehended February 14, 1974 Romulus Vereş (Cluj, January 23, 1929 - Ştei, December 13, 1993) was a notorious serial killer, better known as "the man with the hammer". During the 1970s, he was charged with five murders and several attempted murders, but never imprisoned on grounds of insanity; he suffered from schizophrenia, blaming the Devil for his actions. Instead, he was institutionalised in the Ştei psychiatric facility in 1976, following a three-year-long forensic investigation during which four thousand people were questioned. Urban myths brought the number of victims up to two hundred women, though the actual number was much smaller. This confusion is probably explained by the lack of attention this case received, despite its magnitude, in the Communist press of the time.[1]
Notes[edit] Jump up ^ "CiteĹ&#x;te povestea celui mai temut criminal al Clujului: "Omul cu ciocanul"" (in Romanian). Clujeanul. 2008-02-17. Retrieved 2008-03-12. Categories: People from Cluj-Napoca1929 births1993 deathsRomanian serial killersMale serial killersRomanian rapists20th-century criminals