Margaret Summers

Serial Killer

Margaret Summers: The Suspected Flypaper Murderess of Chicago

A Pattern of Death Inside a Chicago Home

Margaret Summers was a Chicago woman who became known in newspapers as the "Flypaper Murderess" after investigators connected her to a disturbing series of deaths involving relatives, husbands, and male boarders. Between approximately 1928 and 1931, six men died after spending time in or living at her residence on North Avenue. Summers was reportedly the beneficiary of life insurance policies carried by each of the deceased men, creating suspicions that the deaths were not coincidental. Although Summers was ultimately convicted of only one murder, investigators suspected that she had poisoned several other people for financial gain. Examinations of exhumed bodies reportedly revealed arsenic in multiple victims. Authorities believed Summers may have extracted arsenic from commercially available flypaper by soaking the sheets in water and repeatedly administering the resulting solution in food, beverages, or medicine.

The Death of Thomas Meyers

The investigation centered on Summers's 17-year-old nephew, Thomas Meyers, whose surname was sometimes reported as Meyer. Thomas died at Summers's Chicago residence during the first weeks of May 1931. The exact date of his death is unclear in surviving accounts, although the investigation became public on May 22, 1931. Some later summaries incorrectly identify May 22 as the date of death, but contemporary descriptions indicate that he had already been dead for approximately two or three weeks. Relatives became suspicious after discovering that Thomas had named Summers as the sole beneficiary of several life insurance policies. Summers reportedly controlled or paid the premiums on many of those policies. Investigators learned that nine policies had been issued on the teenager's life and that Summers stood to receive a combined payment of approximately $3,630. Thomas had been examined after his death, but doctors initially found no obvious evidence of violence or poisoning. As suspicions intensified, authorities ordered his body exhumed. Toxicological testing reportedly revealed chronic arsenic poisoning, meaning that the poison had been administered in small quantities over an extended period rather than in one immediately fatal dose. ...

Confirmed Victims: (1)

Thomas Meyers Age: (17), Date of Death: 1931-05-21

Suspected Victims:

Thomas "Shags" Summers Age: (37), Date of Death: 1931-05

William Reimer (Reimer)

Thomas Lanagan

Louis Meyers

John Meyers

SUMMERS Margaret | Serial Killer Database Wiki - Fandom