Summary
Overview
This episode covers the shocking case of Tilly Climek, known as 'Mrs. Bluebeard of Chicago,' a serial poisoner who killed multiple husbands and possibly dozens more victims in early 1920s Chicago. Through arsenic-laced food and medicine, Tilly murdered her way through marriages to collect insurance money, while displaying disturbing callousness about her crimes, including planning funeral outfits before victims died and playing upbeat music at their funerals.
Early Life and First Marriages
Born in Poland in 1876, Tilly immigrated to Chicago's Little Poland district as a child. Her first marriage to Joseph Michiewicz lasted considerably longer than those that followed, ending mysteriously in 1914 when he died of 'heart trouble.' Tilly immediately collected $1,000 from his life insurance policy and wasted no time finding her next husband, beginning a pattern that would define her criminal career.
- Tilly was born Otilia Gibyork in Poland in 1876 and immigrated to the U.S. at age four
- She married Joseph Michiewicz at 14 years old in 1890; he was 17
- Joseph died in January 1914 from 'heart trouble,' allowing Tilly to cash in a $1,000 life insurance policy
- Within one month of Joseph's death, Tilly married Joseph Ruskowski in February 1914
- Ruskowski was dead by May 1914 - just three months later - and Tilly inherited $1,200 in savings plus $722 from insurance
" January, February, March, April, three months. Holy shit. Dead. And Tilly inherited his twelve hundred dollars in savings and 722 dollars from an insurance policy. All together, today that would be like 63,000. "
The Milwaukee Confession and Pattern Emerges
After the quick death of her second husband, Tilly took a new boyfriend to Milwaukee, attempting to secure another marriage proposal. When he laughed at her proposal, she made a shocking confession - that her previous two husbands didn't die of natural causes, but were poisoned by her. This ill-advised admission would prove prophetic, as the boyfriend himself died shortly after their return to Chicago.
- Tilly used inheritance money to fund a vacation to Milwaukee with a new boyfriend
- When he laughed at her marriage proposal, she confessed to poisoning her previous two husbands
- She threatened to report him for violating the Mann Act (transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes) if he reported her
- A few days after returning to Chicago, the boyfriend died unexpectedly
- Tilly then lived with a man known only as Myers who vanished at the end of 1918
" Contrary to popular belief, my previous two husbands didn't die of natural causes. I fucking poisoned them. So don't mess with me. "
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