Henry Meyer

Serial Killer

Henry Meyer: The Nineteenth-Century Insurance Poisoner

Introduction

Dr. Henry C. W. Meyer was a German-born physician, confidence man and convicted murderer whose criminal career unfolded across several American cities during the late nineteenth century. He was also known by numerous aliases, including William Reuter, Hugo Wehler, Schaffer, Oswald and Stoffen. Contemporary investigators suspected that Meyer repeatedly used poison, false identities and fraudulent life-insurance policies to profit from the deaths of people around him. Meyer operated with his wife, generally identified in historical accounts as Maria or Mary Meyer. The couple moved between communities in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and New York, changing their names whenever suspicion followed them. Their schemes often involved arranging insurance coverage on a selected person, naming themselves or an associate as beneficiary and then attempting to collect after that person died unexpectedly.

Early Life and Medical Career

Meyer was born in Germany around 1848 and later immigrated to the United States. By the 1870s, he had settled in Chicago and obtained medical training. His knowledge of medicine gave him access to drugs and allowed him to recognize symptoms that could resemble natural illness. It also placed him in a position of trust when relatives, acquaintances or criminal associates became sick. Questions about Meyer arose early in his American career. His first wife, sometimes identified by her former married name of Kirchoff, died suddenly not long after their marriage. Meyer subsequently married another woman whose previous husband had also died under suspicious circumstances. Meyer and his new wife were reportedly arrested in 1879 after authorities investigated the deaths, but laboratory examinations did not uncover sufficient evidence of poison to support murder charges. The lack of a successful prosecution allowed Meyer to continue moving from place to place. Later reports connected him to additional unexplained deaths in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Detroit and other cities. Many of those allegations were never proved in court, and the identities and precise death dates of several suspected victims were not reliably preserved. ...

Confirmed Victims: (1)

Ludwig Brant , Date of Death: March 30, 1892

Dr. Henry Meyer American Serial Killer