Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

The Lainz Angels of Death

Maria Gruber, Irene Leidolf,Stephanija Meyer, and Waltraud Wagner were four Austrianwomen who worked as nurse's aides at the Geriatriezentrum amWienerwald in Lainz, Vienna, and who murdered scores of patientsbetween 1983 and 1989. The group killed their victims with overdosesof morphine or by forcing water into the lungs. By 2008, all four ofthe women had been released from prison.

Background

Wagner, 23, was the first to kill apatient with an overdose of morphine in 1983. She discovered in theprocess that she enjoyed playing God and holding the power of lifeand death in her hands. She recruited Gruber, 19, and Leidolf, 21,and eventually the "house mother" of the group,43-year-old Stephanija Meyer. Soon they had invented their own murdermethod: while one held the victim's head and pinched their nose,another would pour water into the victim's mouth until they drownedin their bed. Since elderly patients frequently had fluid in theirlungs, it was an unprovable crime. The group killed patients who werefeeble, but many were not terminally ill.

Investigators criticized the hospitalfor meeting them with "a wall of silence" as theyattempted to look into a suspicious 1988 death. The aides werecaught after a doctor overheard them bragging about their latestmurder at a local tavern. In total, they confessed to 49 murders oversix years, but may have been responsible for as many as 200. In 1991,Wagner was convicted of 15 murders, 17 attempts, and two counts ofassault. She was sentenced to life in prison. Leidolf received a lifesentence as well, on conviction of five murders, while Mayer andGruber received 20 years and 15 years respectively for manslaughterand attempted murder charges.

In 2008, the Justice Ministry inAustria announced that it would release Wagner and Leidolf fromprison due to good behavior. Mayer and Gruber had been releasedseveral years earlier and had assumed new identities.