Waltraud Wagner

Accomplices: LEIDOLF Irene (*1962), MAYER Stephanija (*1940) , GRUBER Maria (*1964)

In 1989 Waltraud WAGNER and three auxiliary nurses of Vienna’s Lainz hospital confessed on killing more than 40 elderly patients. WAGNER, of „divine“ patience and never weak, invented the method, the accomplices called „mouth care“: They pressed down the tongue of a victim with a spatula and dripped water into the victim’s mouth – they died by drowning. As water in the lungs of elderly patients is not uncommon and they were usually in bad health, there was no suspicion for years.
Waltraud WAGNER varied her killing method with Rohypnol, which calms people normally but works fatally when overdosed. On some cases she used insuline to lower the blood sugar level to fatal.
After some time she „recruited“ three auxiliary nurses and „trained“ them to kill as efficiently. There were rumors throughout the hospital that when WAGNER was on duty, she ordered a little too often „a room with Joe“ („Pepi“ the Austrian equivalent to „Joe“ is Viennese jargon for the undertaker).
From 1987 the „Lainz Angels of Death“ became more and more careless and the death toll at Pavillion 5 (the „pavillion of death“) rose inproportional – it could be fatal to be „annoying“ (in the eyes of WAGNER), to wetten the bed or to ring once too often for the nurse…
The fatal team was observed and the drug usage was controlled. But it was not before coincidence, that the murder spree was uncovered: When they joked about their last victim in a bar after a few drinks, a doctor at a neighbour table heard the unbelievable and informed the police.
The team was arrested on April 7, 1989.
Confronted with the accusations, the „Lainz Angels of Death“ immediately confessed on having murdered 49 patients since 1983 (when WAGNER was 23). WAGNER defended herself on having killed for mercy. During the trial WAGNER also admitted on having killed for power over life & death. The accomplices assumed the number of victims nearer to 200.
WAGNER later withdrew her confessions down to 10 victims – all „killed for mercy“, and received lifeterm for 15 murders, 17 attempted murders and 2 aggravated assaults. Irene LEIDOLF was convicted lifeterm for 5 murders, Stephanija MAYER and Maria GRUBER received equally 15 years for attempted murders.
In his closing the prosecutor stated: „It is only a small step from killing incurable patients to the murder of people demanding intensive care up to the euthanasia of the Third Reich. This is a door which must never be opened again…„