Marie Alexandrine Becker

Marie Alexandrine Becker (born July 14, 1879 in Landen as Marie Alexandrine Petitjean , † June 11, 1942 in Vorst ) was a Belgian serial killer . With the help of cardiac glycosides , she killed at least 11 people and has since become the deadliest serial killer in Belgium.

Life

Marie grew up on a farm in Landen . At the age of 16 she moved to Liège to work in her aunt's textile business. At the age of 26 she met her soon-to-be husband Charles Becker at the world exhibition in Liège . Together they took over a butcher's shop , but without success. When Charles's father died, he left them a lot of money. With this money, Marie opened her own clothing store, with success. However, due to the global economic crisis, she would have to give it up in 1929.

In 1932 she began an affair with the younger Lambert Beyer, one of many in her life. In the fall of 1932, she killed her husband Charles by adding cardiac glycosides to his tea. However, the initial cause of death was cancer . With the estate, she opened a new clothing store. Again and again she invited old ladies to tea and shortly before her death borrowed large sums of money from them. Very likely, like her lover Beyer and her husband Becker, they were poisoned.

After these deeds, Marie began a dissolute and expensive life with nightclub visits and got involved with much younger men. In order to be able to continue to finance this luxury life, she took on the care of people in need of care, whom she poisoned and robbed. At her funerals she always played the inconsolable friend.

When a friend complained to her about her husband, she made comments that she knew how to get rid of her husband and that she could get her cardiac glycosides like the widow Lange-Damoutte. With this information, the friend went to the police . When Becker was arrested and her home searched in 1936, 18 empty bottles of cardiac glycosides and many missing items from various estates were found.

The court then decided to exhumate some of the deceased who were found to have shown signs of a fatal dose of cardiac glycosides. Becker continued to deny the allegations. In 1938 she was sentenced to death by a jury , which was later commuted to life imprisonment . The court saw it as proven that she had murdered at least eleven people and tried the same on at least five others. There were probably more victims.

literature

• Michael Newton : The Great Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Collector Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-85365-189-5 , p. 32.
• Peter & Julia Murakami: Lexicon of Serial Killers . 10th edition. Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH , Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-548-35935-9 , p. 34 .
• Elisabeth Lange, Marie-Alexandrine Petitjean. Veuve Becker (Belgique, 1879-1942) , Éditions Jourdan, 2006
• Dirk C. Gibson: Serial killing for profit: multiple murder for money . ABC-CLIO , Santa Barbara 2009, ISBN 978-0-313-37891-1 , pp. 67–80 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).

Web link

• Koen Van De Sype: Deze zwarte weduwe voert top 10 Belgian massamoordenaars aan. In: Het Laatste Nieuws . August 1, 2017 (Dutch).