Emma Sarana Heppermann

Serial Killer

Emma Sarana Heppermann: The St. Charles "Black Widow"

Overview

Emma Sarana Stinnett Heppermann was a Missouri poisoner whose repeated marriages and the unusual deaths surrounding her made her known as the St. Charles "Black Widow." Born in Crawford County, Missouri, on June 20, 1883, she used several married names during her life, including Schwack, Bremser, Roberts, Vaughn, Schneider and Heppermann. Historical records indicate that she married seven times. Five of the men identified as her husbands died, while two marriages reportedly ended in divorce. Heppermann was convicted of only one murder: the arsenic poisoning of her seventh husband, Anton "Tony" Heppermann. Investigators nevertheless examined several earlier deaths because the victims had suffered sudden digestive illnesses while living with Emma. Some had eaten meals she prepared, and two later examinations produced evidence of arsenic poisoning. The earlier cases were surrounded by suspicion, but they did not result in additional murder convictions. For that reason, the people connected to the case should not all be described as legally proven murder victims.

Early Marriages and Unexplained Deaths

Emma's first husband was Charles Augustus Schwack, a blacksmith whom she married before April 25, 1910. The couple lived for a time in Michigan and later returned to the Steelville area of Missouri. Schwack became seriously ill during the summer of 1925. His recorded cause of death was dysentery, with overheating listed as a contributing factor. He had been treated by a physician, and there was no recorded finding of poisoning. His death became suspicious only in retrospect, after Emma's later husbands experienced similar stomach-related illnesses. Her second husband, Frank Joseph Bremser, died in St. Louis in 1931. His death was attributed to severe internal bleeding caused by a rupture in the stomach lining and wall. The injury was said to have resulted from a fall from a ladder at his residence. No physician was present at the time of death, and no autopsy was performed. Although investigators later considered his death part of the troubling pattern surrounding Emma, no surviving evidence established that she poisoned him. Emma claimed that she next married a man named Frank Lee and that the marriage ended in divorce. Researchers have found little documentation confirming this marriage, and Lee's identity and later life remain uncertain. ...

Confirmed Victims: (1)

Anton J. Heppermann Age: (53), Date of Death: May 28, 1940

Suspected Victims:

Charles Augustus Schwack Age: (50), Date of Death: July 15, 1925

Frank Joseph Bremser Age: (62), Date of Death: May 12, 1931

Lola May Schwack Age: (13), Date of Death: August 30, 1932

Myra King , Date of Death: March 25, 1933

Bert Lee Roberts Age: (40), Date of Death: July 21, 1933

Aloysius A. Schneider Age: (55), Date of Death: September 19, 1939

Survivors:

Ethel Heppermann

Emma Heppermann–St. Charles Black Widow 1940–Part I-Prologue ...