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.

The Deaths of Myra King and Bert Roberts

Emma later lived in Cuba, Missouri, with railroad employee Bert Lee Roberts and his mother, Myra King. King died in March 1933 after reportedly becoming ill following a meal of potato soup prepared by Emma. Her official death record attributed her death to complications associated with a dislocated hip and senility. No poisoning charge was filed. Only a few months later, Roberts also became seriously ill. He died in a St. Louis railroad hospital on July 21, 1933. His official causes of death included acute gastritis and acute nephritis, with excessive heat listed as a contributing factor. Emma reportedly claimed that Roberts had been poisoned by sardines from a can. A physician who treated him suspected poisoning, but the available investigation did not produce a criminal prosecution. The two deaths attracted renewed attention after Emma’s arrest in 1940. Relatives told investigators that both King and Roberts had suffered sudden illnesses while Emma was present. Potato soup became an especially ominous detail in later accounts because witnesses in the Heppermann case also associated Emma’s cooking with repeated sickness. However, neither King nor Roberts was exhumed and conclusively proved to have died from poison.

Marriage to William Vaughn

Emma married William A. Vaughn in Potosi, Missouri, on October 29, 1935. Vaughn survived the marriage. He later stated that Emma asked him during their trip home from the wedding to make her the beneficiary of a $1,000 life-insurance policy. Vaughn refused because he intended the money to go to his children. The relationship quickly became unstable. They separated several times, permanently separated on April 9, 1936, and were divorced on October 20, 1937. Vaughn’s survival later appeared significant to investigators because he had rejected Emma’s request involving his insurance policy and left the marriage within months.

The Poisoning of Aloysius Schneider

Emma’s sixth husband was Aloysius A. Schneider, a 55-year-old farmer from St. Peters, Missouri. Schneider became ill in September 1939 and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Charles. He died shortly after midnight on September 19, 1939. His death certificate initially listed ventricular fibrillation, a form of heart failure, as the cause. After Anton Heppermann’s poisoning came to light, authorities exhumed Schneider’s body from All Saints Cemetery in St. Peters. Chemical testing detected arsenic. A later coroner’s inquiry concluded that Schneider had died from arsenic poisoning rather than natural heart disease. Witnesses also recalled that Emma had made comments before his death about vegetables being contaminated by arsenic-based agricultural sprays. Despite the toxicology findings, Emma was not separately tried for Schneider’s murder. The case strengthened the prosecution’s argument that Anton Heppermann’s poisoning was not an isolated event, but Schneider remained an alleged victim rather than the subject of a separate conviction.

Anton “Tony” Heppermann

In early 1940, Emma advertised herself under the name Emma Lee as a housekeeper seeking work in a home without a mother. Anton J. Heppermann, a widowed farmer living about three miles west of Wentzville, Missouri, responded. Emma reportedly told him that she wanted marriage rather than ordinary employment. After a brief trial period and courtship, they married on April 13, 1940. Within weeks, Anton and his young daughter, Ethel, became severely ill. Witnesses testified that Emma prepared the family’s meals but often claimed that she was not hungry and did not eat the same food. Ethel suffered nausea, weakness and dramatic weight loss. A doctor later expressed the opinion that she was suffering from arsenic poisoning. Ethel survived. Anton’s condition continued to deteriorate. He suffered serious digestive distress and was eventually taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Charles. Before his death, he reportedly told medical personnel that he believed he had been poisoned. He died at approximately 11:30 p.m. on May 28, 1940. An autopsy revealed extensive damage to the lining of his stomach. A state toxicologist found enough arsenic in Anton’s organs to cause death and determined that the poison had entered his body while he was alive. Doctors concluded that it had been swallowed rather than injected. Investigators searching the Heppermann farm also found household products containing arsenic. The prosecution alleged that Emma administered arsenic in food, possibly by extracting it from arsenic-treated flypaper or using insect-control products. Contemporary accounts repeatedly mentioned potato soup, although the precise meal that delivered the fatal doses was never proved by a direct eyewitness. Prosecutors argued that Emma wanted control of Anton’s farm, valued at about $6,000, as well as approximately $1,000 in savings bonds.

Known and Suspected Victims

• Charles Augustus Schwack — Died July 15, 1925, in the Steelville area of Crawford County, Missouri. His recorded cause of death was dysentery contributed to by overheating. His death was later considered suspicious but was never proved to be a poisoning.
• Frank Joseph Bremser — Died May 12, 1931, at 3809 Clarence Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri. His death was attributed to internal hemorrhaging caused by a ruptured stomach lining and wall after an alleged fall from a ladder. No autopsy was performed.
• Lola May Schwack — Emma’s daughter, who died August 30, 1932, at St. Louis City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Her documented cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis. There is no reliable evidence that her death was a homicide.
• Myra King — Died March 25, 1933, in Cuba, Missouri. She was Bert Roberts’s mother and Emma’s mother-in-law. Her official death was associated with a dislocated hip and senility, but relatives later reported that she had become ill after eating potato soup prepared by Emma.
• Bert Lee Roberts — Died July 21, 1933, at a railroad hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. His official causes of death included acute gastritis and acute nephritis. Poisoning was suspected, but no murder charge was brought.
• Aloysius A. Schneider — Died September 19, 1939, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Charles, Missouri. His death was first attributed to heart failure. After his body was exhumed in 1940, investigators detected arsenic and a coroner’s jury concluded that he had died from arsenic poisoning. Emma was not separately convicted of his death.
• Anton J. “Tony” Heppermann — Died May 28, 1940, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Charles, Missouri, after becoming ill at his farm west of Wentzville. An autopsy and chemical analysis established arsenic poisoning. Emma was convicted of his murder.
• Ethel Heppermann — Anton’s daughter, approximately 12 or 13 years old during the events of 1940. She became dangerously ill at the family farm near Wentzville and lost a large amount of weight. A physician testified that she showed signs of arsenic poisoning. She survived and testified for the prosecution.

Investigation and Trial

Emma was arrested while Anton was still alive and was initially accused of attempted poisoning. After his death, the case became a murder investigation. Public interest was intense, and hundreds of people attended her preliminary hearing in Wentzville. Because of the publicity in St. Charles County, the murder trial was moved to Franklin County and held in Union, Missouri. The prosecution’s case was largely circumstantial. No witness claimed to have seen Emma place arsenic in Anton’s food. Instead, prosecutors combined medical evidence, toxicology results, testimony about her control over meal preparation, her refusal to eat the food she served, her access to arsenic-containing products and the financial property she might receive after Anton’s death. Doctors testified that Anton had swallowed arsenic and that the amount found in his body was sufficient to kill him. A store clerk stated that Emma had purchased arsenic-treated flypaper, supposedly to deal with water bugs. Family members described Anton and Ethel becoming ill after Emma entered the household. The defense argued that Anton had suffered from stomach problems before the marriage and claimed that the state had not proved Emma personally administered the poison. Emma did not testify. On May 2, 1941, after approximately nine hours of deliberation, the jury found her guilty of murdering Anton Heppermann. Jurors agreed on guilt quickly but debated whether she should be executed or imprisoned. The final decision was a sentence of life imprisonment in the Missouri State Penitentiary.

Later Life and Death

Emma spent approximately 27 years in prison. Her life sentence was commuted in May 1968, and she was released without supervision. She died on October 20, 1968, in Greentop, Schuyler County, Missouri, at the age of 85. She was buried at Hillcrest Cemetery in Fulton, Missouri. Emma Heppermann’s case remains difficult to describe with a single victim count. She was legally convicted of one murder, Anton Heppermann’s, and medical evidence strongly connected arsenic to the death of Aloysius Schneider. Several other deaths were suspicious because of their timing and similar symptoms, but they were never conclusively established as murders. Her repeated marriages, interest in insurance or property, control over her victims’ meals and association with arsenic created the enduring image of a calculated black-widow poisoner whose full number of victims may never be known.

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

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