Walburga Oesterreich

Walburga Oesterreich circa 1930.

Walburga Oesterreich (née Korschel; 1880 – April 8, 1961), nicknamed "Dolly" and "Queen of Los Angeles", was a German-born American housewife, married to a wealthy textile manufacturer Fred William Oesterreich (December 8, 1877 – August 22, 1922), who gained notoriety for the shooting death of her husband and the subsequent bizarre revelation that she had kept her lover, Otto Sanhuber, hidden in the attic of the home she shared with her husband for ten years.

Murder

On August 22, 1922, after overhearing a loud argument between the Oesterreichs and believing Walburga to be in danger, Sanhuber emerged from the attic and retrieved two .25 caliber pistols from the bedroom bureau. In the ensuing struggle, Sanhuber shot Fred three times, killing him. The two lovers then hastily staged the scene to look like a botched burglary. Walburga gave Sanhuber all the cash in the bedroom, as well as Fred's diamond watch. Sanhuber then locked Walburga in a closet and tossed aside the key before returning to the attic with the money, watch, and pistols. Upon being summoned by neighbors who reported the gunshots, the police, unaware of Sanhuber's presence in the house, strongly suspected Walburga's involvement in the murder but were unable to explain how she could have locked herself into the closet.

After the murder, Sanhuber continued to live in the attic for another eight years. The only notable change in the relationship was that Sanhuber was permitted a typewriter, as there was no longer anyone to hear it. By this time, Walburga was also carrying on an affair with her personal attorney, Herman Shapiro, whom she had hired after being suspected for Fred's murder. In 1930, Shapiro became suspicious after Walburga gave him the diamond watch she reported stolen by the burglars who murdered her husband; she stated that she had later found the watch in the front yard and that the thieves must have dropped or abandoned it during their escape.

Roy Klumb, another of Walburga's lovers, soon discovered that she was having an affair with Shapiro. He went to police and informed them that Walburga had given him a pistol shortly after the murder, asking him to dispose of it in the La Brea Tar Pits. A neighbor also told police that Walburga had given him yet another pistol shortly after the murder, asking him to dispose of it because it too closely resembled the gun that killed her husband and she "did not want to get into trouble." The neighbor buried the pistol under a rosebush in his garden. Police were able to recover the pistols from both locations. Although badly decayed, both weapons were determined to be of the same caliber that killed Walburga's husband. She was arrested under suspicion of murder.

While in jail, Walburga confided to Shapiro that her "vagabond half-brother" was living in the attic of her home and requested he check on his well-being. Upon knocking on the trapdoor leading to the attic, he was greeted by a thin, pale, but cordial Sanhuber, who explained his true relationship with Walburga and eventually confessed to his role in the murder. Sanhuber was arrested and tried for manslaughter. The unusual circumstances of the case soon reached the press, where Sanhuber was dubbed "The Bat Man."

Sanhuber was convicted of manslaughter, but later released because the statute of limitations had expired. He changed his name to Walter Klein and moved to Canada, where he married another woman, then eventually relocated back to Los Angeles and lived the remainder of his life in obscurity. Walburga's trial ended in a hung jury (with most of the jurors leaning towards acquittal), and in 1936 the indictment against her was finally dropped. She remained in Los Angeles until her death in 1961, at age 80.

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