Anna Hauptreif

Serial Killer

Anna Hauptreif: The Alleged Poisoner of Hays County, Texas

Anna Hauptreif, sometimes identified in historical reports as Anna Schulze, Anna Schroeder, Annie Hauptreif, or Annie Hauptrief, was a Texas woman accused of poisoning her first husband, four stepchildren, and her second husband during the early 1920s. Newspapers portrayed her as a serial killer and called her the "Texas Black Widow." However, Anna died before her case went to trial, so she was never convicted of murder. The case centered on a disturbing series of deaths in the Hauptreif household near Niederwald and the Goforth farming community in Hays County, Texas. Within approximately seven months in 1923, all four of William Hauptreif's young children died after suffering similar gastrointestinal illnesses. Investigators later found arsenic in the body of the final child to die. When William developed comparable symptoms in 1924, authorities began to suspect that the tragedies were not natural illnesses but deliberate poisonings.

Early Life

Anna Schulze was born on June 22, 1894, in or near Niederwald, Texas, a small community in Hays County southeast of Austin. She came from a locally known family and spent much of her early life in the rural communities surrounding Niederwald and San Marcos. Little reliable information survives about Anna's childhood, education, or personality before her marriages. Later accounts often described her as emotional and dramatic, particularly during funerals. These descriptions came largely from newspaper coverage published after she had already become a murder suspect and should therefore be treated cautiously.

Marriage to Kurt Schroeder

In June 1921, when Anna was twenty-seven years old, she married Kurt Schroeder, a German immigrant. The marriage lasted only a few months. Schroeder became seriously ill and died in September 1921. His death was initially attributed to complications associated with an appendectomy, anesthesia, or another medical problem. Nothing about the death immediately resulted in a criminal investigation. Witnesses later recalled that Anna displayed intense grief at Schroeder's funeral. She reportedly cried loudly and threw herself into mourning. At the time, her behavior was viewed as the reaction of a devastated young widow rather than evidence of wrongdoing. After the deaths in the Hauptreif family attracted official attention, investigators reconsidered Schroeder's death. Authorities came to believe that he might also have been poisoned with arsenic. His remains were reportedly examined during the wider investigation, and Anna was eventually accused of responsibility for his death. Because she died before trial, the accusation was never tested before a jury. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Kurt Schroeder Age: (27), Date of Death: 1921-09-21

Survivors:

William Louis Hauptreif , Date of Attack: 1923

The story of the San Marcos serial killer - The University Star