Friday, September 4, 2015

Esther Carlson, Suspected Serial Killer: California, 1931


FULL TEXT (Article 1 to 2): Los Angeles, Feb. 24.—(UP) The bodies of two men who died more than five years ago may be exhumed and examined for traces of poison, the district attorney’s office announced today, as the result of disclosures by one of two women held on suspicion of murder in connection with the strange death recently of August Lindstrom 82-year-old, retired lumberman.

Further action depends upon the coroner’s findings at an inquest today into Lindstrom’s death, Deputy District Attorney George Stahlman said Mrs. Esther Carlson, Lindstrom’s housekeeper, and Mrs. Anna Ericson, a neighbor, were arrested after poison was reported found in Lindstrom’s stomach after his body was exhumed from a grave in Williams, Ariz.

Yesterday Deputy Stahlman to the general hospital where she is recovering from the effects of poison similar to to that believed to have killed Lindstrom, Stahlman reported Mrs. Erickson told him that Mrs. Carlson cared for an aged man in Hemet, Calif., prior to the death in 1925 of  Mrs. Carlson’s husband. This man died, Mrs. Erickson said. Stahlman refused to reveal the man’s name, but said he would attempt to learn if Mrs. Carlson benefited from the estate.

The investigation into Lindstrom’s death began two weeks after he died in Lomita, Cal., when his son, P. H. Lindstrom, Chicago meat packer, learned that Mrs. Carlson had taken $2000 from a joint bank account she held with the aged man. Mrs. Erickson admitted receiving $300 of the money from Mrs. Carlson, it was reported.

Since their arrest the women have ceased to be friends. Mrs. Erickson attributes her present illness to coffee assertedly served to her by Mrs. Carlson after they were first questioned by authorities.

[“2 Women Face Murder Charge,” Oakland Tribune (Ca.), Feb. 24, 1931, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 2): Los Angeles, April 17. – Death was expected to triumph over the courts today as Mrs. Esther Carlson, who with Anna Erickson, is charged with the poisoning with August Lindstrom, lay in the county hospital critically ill with pulmonary tuberculosis.

The two women are scheduled to face trial on the murder charges April 30, but because of Mrs. Carlson’s critical state, Deputy District Attorney George Stahlman was to attempt to obtain a confession from her today.

Lindstrom died February 9, and relatives removed the body to Williams, Ariz., for internment. A few days later, Chicago relatives instituted an inquiry to discover what had become of the man’s bank account. It was then discovered that $2000 had been withdrawn from it by Mrs. Carlson a few days after his death.

A coroner’s inquest then showed Lindstrom’s body was saturated with arsenic. Inasmuch as both of the women had given him food before his death, they were questioned and a murder charge was placed against them when a Long Beach druggist identified Mrs. Carlson and Mrs. Ericskon as two women who had tried to purchase arsenic from him.

[“Death Likely To Free Woman From Charges Mrs. Esther Carlson, Accused in Poison Case, Believed Dying,” Oakland Tribune (Ca.), Apr. 17, 1931, p. 30]

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Sam Gnerre, “Who really killed August Lindstrom?” South Bay History, April 26, 2014

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[2234-12/31/20]
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2 comments:

  1. misandry? she wasn't killing them for being men, she was killing them for money. what was she going to do, lure all those nonexistent lesbians in with promises of marriage? if you're going to claim your position as evidence-based, the least you could do is like, you know, not force evidence to fit your argument - that's called confirmation bias and it undermines your credibility.

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  2. What "position" are you referencing? No claim is made that Carlson was a misandrist. There is a claim that the overlooking of 70% of female serial killers is problematic. The title of the blog refers not to each individual historical text that is reproduced. See "A message to 'gender' ideologues.

    Please read a few hundred more of the forgotten female serial killer cases.

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