The early 20th century was the height of spiritualism. Many people took advantage of this to defraud others. And some, well, some took advantage for more nefarious purposes.
Ottillie “Tillie” Gburek was born on October 22nd, 1977 in Poland. She was the first of seven children, and helped her parents care for her siblings. When she was four, the family immigrated to the United States, settling down in Chicago. Not much else is known about Tillie’s early life, until her first marriage.
Tillie married John Mitkiewicz in 1985. They were happy, and seemed to get on well with their neighbours and their community. Tillie was known around her neighbourhood as a good cook. But she also had an uncanny ability.
Tillie claimed that she would have strange dreams. Dreams that could predict death. She said they came to her often. At first, they related to a few dogs that had annoyed her. Those dogs were found dead, just as Tillie had predicted.
Then, the dreams began predicting the date of death of a neighbour who’d had unpleasant words with Tillie. And, as predicted, the neighbour turned up dead. And no one seemed to find it suspicious.
On January 14th, 1914, Tillie’s husband died mysteriously, after a few dreams predicting that he would. His death certificate stated that the cause of death was ‘heart trouble’. Tillie claimed the life insurance money, and went about being a grieving widow.
Tillie’s grief didn’t last very long, though. On February 27th, 1914, she married Joseph Ruskowski. And then the dreams started happening again.
Prior to the marriage, Joseph was in perfect health. But he slowly began to deteriorate. On May 20th, 1914, Joseph passed away, just as Tillie had predicted. She promptly went about collecting cash and insurance left to her. Tillie was becoming a financially sufficient woman. But she was still distraught.
Tillie sought refuge in the arms of a lover. He helped her during her ‘grieving period’. Both the lover and his sister became violently ill after eating some candy that Tillie had left for them. The lover died, but the sister survived. And she was suspicious.
Tillie seemed to lay low for a while. The sister was whispering about Tillie’s ‘abilities’. Any attention drawn to her could be her downfall. But she just couldn’t resist.
In March of 1919, Tillie married Frank Kupczyk. Shortly after moving him into the apartment she had shared with her previous lover (under the assumed name of Myers), Frank became extremely ill.
Tillie, once again distraught, informed him of her ‘abilities’, and told him that she’d dreamt that he would soon perish. She mocked him. Telling him: “It won’t be long now”, and “You’ll be dying soon”.
She even sat by his bedside knitting herself a mourning hat. Taunting him. Tillie was quite brazen. She sought permission from the landlady to store a discount coffin she’d bought in the basement. She would need it in short order.
Frank died in April of 1921. Neighbours and the landlady recalled hearing ‘joyful and festive’ music playing on Tillie’s victrola after her husband’s passing. The death certificate stated the cause of death as bronchial pneumonia. Tillie, once again, collected life insurance.
On July 30th, 1921, Tillie married Joseph Klimek – her fourth and final husband. She was especially attracted to the wealthy man’s bank account. It seemed to be the only thing that Tillie found attractive.
She claimed that he ‘liked moonshine too much and too often’. She also claimed that he had a wandering eye. Tillie would not stand for that.
Tillie complained to her cousin, Nellie Koulic, who suggested divorce. But that solution didn’t take Tillie’s fancy. No, instead, she began having her dreams again.
Joseph’s friends began noticing a change in his demeanour. He was lethargic; he looked rather ill. A friend, Dr. Peter Burns, cautiously examined Joseph, and then called for an ambulance to bring him to the Cook County Hospital. Tests showed that Joseph was suffering from long-term arsenic toxicity.
After confirming that Joseph was being poisoned, hospital officials called the police on October 22nd, 1922. Without delay, Tillie Klimek was arrested for attempted murder.
Tillie put up a fight. She snarled and snarked at her arresting officers, accusing them of ‘making all her troubles’. After 18 hours, Tillie cracked and confessed. Even as she was going down, she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
She told police that she got the poison from her cousin, Nellie. Nellie had procured it for her from a rat poison called “Rough on Rats”.
Seeing as one husband had almost been killed, the police decided to exhume the bodies of her other husbands, as well as the body of Nellie’s first husband. Tests and examinations found that all of the bodies had lethal doses of arsenic in them.
It wasn’t long before police also discovered that Nellie’s twin children, as well as one granddaughter, had also all died of poisoning in 1917. That same year, two other children of Nellie’s recovered from poisoning.
The list of potential victims kept growing and growing – from dogs and neighbours, to other cousins and relatives. All in all, about 20 victims were suspected of being poisoned by Tillie and Nellie. 14 of them had died.
In March of 1923, Tillie Klimek was found guilty of the murder of Frank Kupczyk. She was sentenced to life in prison, which was the harshest sentence that had been imposed on a woman at the time in Cook County.
Nellie Koulic was acquitted at her trial.
Tillie Klimek died in prison on November 3rd, 1936. She was 60 years old.
At the height of spiritualism, many people set out to defraud true believers. Tillie Klimek, however, used her ‘abilities’ to commit murder. With that in mind, fraud doesn’t seem so bad.
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The Strange Murders of Tillie Klimek – Heather Monroe – Medium
Tillie Klimek Wikipedia page