Black Widow: Melissa Ann Shepard (pictured), 80, has been released after drugging her partner with tranquilizers. He was the latest of at least three victims of the woman who has become known as 'the Internet Black Widow'
Melissa Ann Shepard has a history of fraud, manslaughter and poisoning
She has been known to prey on lonely, elderly men
In 1992 she drugged her husband and ran him over twice with a car
Read the story and watch video here....
Melissa Ann Shepard has a history of fraud, manslaughter and poisoning
She has been known to prey on lonely, elderly men
In 1992 she drugged her husband and ran him over twice with a car
Read the story and watch video here....
In 2005, she stole thousands from an internet date; he says she spiked him
In 2013 she was jailed for dosing her latest partner with sedatives
She is forbidden from using the internet, has restricted access to medicines and must announce all relationships to police
She looks like a sweet old lady, but newly released ex-convict Melissa Ann Shepard - better known as the 'Internet Black Widow' - has a long criminal history and the Canadian police looking over her shoulder.
Shepard has just finished serving three-and-a-half years in jail for poisoning her latest partner with sedatives, leaving him temporarily confined to a wheelchair on their 'honeymoon.'
But her criminal record goes back to 1977 and includes convictions for fraud, poisoning and manslaughter.
Prosecutor James Giacomantonio told Fox News, 'We believe that she poses a risk going forward to the particular group of elderly males that she has preyed on in the past.'
Shepard (who was born Russell and has taken the names Friedrich, Weeks and Stewart from various marriages) is known to romance lonely, elderly men online before either drugging or stealing from them - or both.
Consequently, Canadian police plan to use a 'peace bond' to limit her access to drugs, stop her from using anything that would allow her to access the internet, and force her to declare all relationships she enters.
She must also let police photograph her if she changes her appearance, and allow them to explain her criminal history to any prospective partners, so they know what they're letting themselves in for.
And what a history it is.
And what a history it is.
Killed: Shepard (left) drugged her second husband, Gordon Stewart (right), before running him over twice with a car in 1992. She claimed he had been beating her and was convicted of manslaughter
Fraud: Even before she killed Stewart, Shepard had been convicted more than 30 times for fraud. She would later go on to seek out lonely elderly men on the internet or in person, drugging and stealing from them
Changes: Shepard (pictured left and right) has changed her hair color and appearance so often that she must now tell police whenever she does so in the future. She is also restricted from accessing medicine and the web
Between 1977 and 1990 Shepard was convicted of more than 30 instances of fraud, but she didn't start earning her nickname until 1992.
That's when she drugged her second husband, Gordon Stewart, and ran him over twice with a car.
She claimed in her defense that he was trying to rape her and was convicted of manslaughter and imprisoned for six years, although she was released after only two.
In a video interview from 1995 she described herself as a 'battered wife' and claimed that her husband had done jail time for beating her up, but that this was not admitted as evidence in her court trial.
In 2001, at the age of 65, she married her third husband, Robert Friedrich, 83, whom she had met on a Christian dating site. She moved to Florida to be with him.
He died 14 months later, leaving her thousands of dollars. His children claimed that she had poisoned him and won back $15,000 from her in a civil trial, but she was never charged with any crime.
Three years later Alex Strategos, then 73, started dating Shepard after meeting her online. 'At first, I thought she seemed very nice,' Strategos told the BBC, describing her as a 'very classy lady.'
Shepard moved down to his home in Florida to be with him, and over the one month that she stayed there he found himself hospitalized multiple times.
His son suspected foul play after doctors found the tranquilizer benzodiazepine in his blood and notified the police. Strategos now says he believes she was dosing the ice cream that she gave him most nights.
His son suspected foul play after doctors found the tranquilizer benzodiazepine in his blood and notified the police. Strategos now says he believes she was dosing the ice cream that she gave him most nights.
Photo: AP
Victim: In 2013 Fred Weeks (pictured), then 75, became her latest victim. The two were 'married' in an unofficial ceremony before going on a honeymoon that would end with him hospitalized with tranquilizers and her in jail
Police couldn't connect Shepard to the drug, but around $18,000 was found missing from Strategos's bank account and she ultimately found herself sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to seven charges including forgery and theft.
Shepard was deported and moved to Nova Scotia where, in 2013, she knocked on the door of her neighbor, 75-year-old Fred Weeks, and told him she was lonely and she'd heard he was lonely too.
Weeks, who had lost his wife 18 months before, quickly 'married' Shepard in an unofficial ceremony and the two headed off to Newfoundland for their honeymoon,
However, Shepard had started spiking Weeks with heavy doses of sedatives, and he found himself unable to drive properly.
'She’s too smooth of an actor, Weeks told The Globe and Mail. 'She kept me in the dark for a long time, telling me her stories. Everything was a story. Everything was a lie that she told me.'
The next day he was restricted to a wheelchair, could not put his shoes on and had forgotten where his car keys were, but it wasn't until he was hospitalized after falling that drugs were found in his blood and police became involved.
Shepard was initialy charged with attempted murder, but was ultimately convicted on the lesser charge of 'administering a noxious substance,' netting her two years, nine months and ten days in prison. She was denied early parole due to risk of committing another crime.
And now she has been released, despite police saying that she is 'a high risk to reoffend.'
'I don't think she should be released,' Alex Strategos told the BBC. 'I don't know what the judge had in his mind.
'What she was, she still is - she's the Black Widow. Some guys better watch out, that's all I can say.'
'Watch out': Victim Alex Strategos (pictured, with Shepard) says that she should not be released and that 'some guys better watch out' if she's around
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