Christa Lehmann

Christa Lehmann was born in 1922 as Christa Ambros in Worms. She grew up almost without parents, and her mother lived in a health and nursing home in Alzey.

After attending elementary school, Christa found work in a leather goods factory, later moving to Hoechst AG. During this time she was sentenced to probation for stealing and theft.

At Hoechst she met Karl Franz Lehmann, whom she married in 1944. Due to stomach sickness and his slight limping, Karl was deferred from military service. The couple moved to Lehmann's parents' house in Worms. They earned their living with a tiling business, but also through the black market trade. However, the currency reform put an end to this, a fact with which Christa could hardly arrange, resulting in disputes and brawls with her alcoholic husband, as well as violent clashes with her in-laws. Christa Lehmann entered into short-lived relationships with American occupation soldiers and other men.

Karl Franz Lehmann died unexpectedly on 27 September 1952 within a half hour of violent convulsions. The doctor determined the cause of death as peptic ulcer disease, which seemed quite plausible given the known stomach disease and alcohol dependency.

After the death of her husband, Christa Lehmann met more often in her apartment with her ever-changing love affairs. The confrontations with her husband were replaced by bitter arguments with father-in-law Valentin Lehmann, who saw the reputation of his house in danger. On 14 October 1953 Valentin Lehmann fell clinically dead from his bicycle during a trip to the city. The doctor summoned by passers-by diagnosed the death as heart failure.

Christa Lehmann made friends with Annie Hamann, a war widow who lived in a common household with her mother Eva Ruh, her brother Walter and her 9-year-old daughter. Hamann also had changing relationships with American soldiers and went out a lot with Lehmann, a circumstance that Eva Ruh profoundly disapproved of. On Sunday 14 February 1954 Lehmann came to visit and brought five chocolate mushrooms with liquor filling. She shared four of the chocolates with Annie, her brother, a neighbour who happened to be around, and offered the fifth one to Eva. She politely declined and put it aside.

The next day Annie came home, found the praline in the kitchen cupboard, bit into it, swallowed a part and spat the other half out disgusted on the floor. The family dog ate the rest of the praline immediately. A short time later, Hamann paled, stumbled and said she could no longer see anything. She staggered into the bedroom, accompanied by her mother, and lay plagued on the bed. She lost consciousness and Eva Ruh sought help. When the doctor called by the neighbours arrived, Annie Hamann was already dead, as was the dog in the kitchen. After describing the events, the doctor informed the police.

Annie Hamann's body was confiscated and brought to Mainz in the forensic institute. After long investigations (inter alia on strychnine), Prof. Kurt Wagner tested Hamann's stomach contents on the plant protection product E 605, a poison that had been invented in Germany but was used until then mainly in the USA. The poisoning effect was very similar to that of hydrogen cyanide. By that time, however, there had been no proven case of murder or suicide using E 605. The 168 cases of poisoning documented in the USA until 1953 were due to gross negligence and were rather mild, with the exception of nine cases. Therefore, there was not method to prove E 605 forensically.

Christa Lehmann was arrested and interrogated. On 23 February she made a confession. It was not meant for Annie, but for her mother. On 19 March the bodies of Karl Franz and Valentin Lehmann were exhumed. Both showed signs of E 605. On 20 September 1954 the trial of Christa Lehmann began. She was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In Neuwied prison Lehmann tried several times to take her own life. In 1971 she was transferred to the women's prison in Frankfurt. After 23 years of prison, she was released and since then has lived freely under a new identity.