The suffering was immense.
“The majority of their victims were in their 80s, but all were over the age of 75,” investigators reported. Tragically, at least 22 victims could have survived if hospital administrators had cooperated fully with police earlier.
One suspect chillingly told authorities:
“The ones who got on my nerves were dispatched directly to a free bed with the good Lord.”
Police Encounter a Wall of Silence
Chief investigator Max Edelbacher later stated that he encountered a “wall of silence” within the hospital, which hindered the inquiry. The case finally cracked when a doctor overheard the nurses casually discussing the killings at a local pub.
The ensuing investigation shocked Austria and garnered global coverage, with outlets like The New York Times reporting estimates of the number of victims as high as 300. The story was later echoed in international tabloids such as the Express, which described the women as “twisted angels of death.”
Vienna’s then-Mayor Helmut Zilk drew grim historical parallels, labeling them “Angels of Death” and likening the crimes to Nazi medical atrocities at Auschwitz. There was nothing angelic about the killer nurses.
Trials, Sentences, and Controversial Releases
In 1991, Waltraud Wagner and Irene Leidolf were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Despite the severity of their crimes, both were conditionally released in 2008 for good behavior.
