Johann Oberreiter

Johann Oberreiter (8 May 1807 – 26 July 1865) was an Austrian murderer and politician. He was convicted of poisoning his stepdaughter and a biological daughter in 1864, but is also suspected in the death of his first wife in 1855. He was sentenced to death for the latter murders, and hanged in 1865.

Biography Early life Johann Oberreiter was born on 8 May 1807, in Dienten am Hochkönig.

Murders, trial and investigation On 26 April 1864, Oberreiter's stepdaughter Eva died, followed by biological daughter Barbara on May 17. His wife believed the rumors that they had been poisoned, much like his first wife, and reported her suspicions to the police, claiming that she had observed her husband trying to convince his stepdaughter to poison herself for some time. Concerning his motive, it was suspected that he wanted to the 500 guilders in insurance money, and possibly to rid himself of mental anguish, as almost all of his children were either mentally or physically disabled. Eva had suffered from diarrhea and had been vomiting frequently since 1862, but considering this part of her gout, the coroner examining her body treated this as normal, and she was buried without any further examination. After Barbara, who had shown similar symptomps, died three weeks later and her father quickly arranged her funeral, his wife decided to tell the police. In her complaint, she assumed that both daughters had been poisoned with cupric acetate. When their bodies were exhumed and autopsied, the coroners found traces of arsenic. According to the newspaper, Oberreiter was called a hypocrite by fellow prisoners, and was ill-regarded. The autopsies and examinations of the items confiscated from the household were extensively examined in a special publication of the Vienna Medical Press: Organ für Praxis Ärzte.