Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
For thousands of years, poison has been used as a murder weapon, and it was particularly popular amongst women, as it required no physical violence whatsoever to kill the victim. One woman who employed this method was Milica Vukobrankovics de Vuko et Branko. This princess was the last descendant of a Serbian noble family who, despite her attempts at poison murder in 1917 and 1922 against two wives and the children of her lovers, was later revered under the name Elisabeth Thury as one of Austria’s most prominent post-war journalists. But who was this woman of two faces? Milica was born on 1 March 1894 in Korneuburg, the daughter of Hermann von Vukobrankovics, a reserve officer and lawyer who served as an imperial and royal civil servant and head of the Korneuburg district administration. Milica’s father was quite violent; he died of complications from syphilis when Milica was 13 years old. Milica was an inquisitive young woman who, thanks to her outstanding achievements at the Teacher Training College in Vienna, was supported by the college’s director, the provincial school inspector Rudolf Piffl. Milica was a welcome guest at the Piffl household, with whom she was secretly having a passionate affair. However, in March 1917, his wife and children suddenly fell ill. The family doctor who was called in attributed the symptoms to arsenic poisoning and alerted the police. The police investigation revealed that the corn dish had been poisoned with arsenic. Milica quickly came under suspicion, as she was the only woman from outside the Piffl household and wanted to get rid of her rival and her children. However, the evidence against Milica was insufficient, and as Piffl wanted to avoid a scandal over his extramarital affair, he covered for her. It was only when his wife found a book in Milica’s bag entitled The Psychology of Poisoning by Erich Wulffen that Rudolf Piffl reported Milica to the police. However, due to a lack of evidence, the case was shelved by the police in December 1917. When Antonia Piffl celebrated her 50th birthday on 13 February 1918, Milica also brought her a present. It was a bottle of wine, which she presented to Antonia with wishes for a long life. Antonia Piffl had been prescribed tranquillisers by her doctor due to the whole situation. After the birthday party, she wanted to take a tablet, but noticed its unusual size. Someone had in fact swapped the tranquilliser for a phosphorus tablet. Naturally, Antonia immediately suspected Milica, who was banned from the house. Meanwhile, Milica did everything she could to pin the attempted murders on the Piffls’ adopted son. To this end, she had sent a schoolgirl to the Piffl family to plant a phosphorus crucible and opium drops in the adopted son’s room. On 12 March 1918, Milica was arrested and remanded in custody, whilst vehemently protesting her innocence. In October, the jury trial began on charges of multiple attempted murder by poisoning. Milica was highly intelligent and, above all, eloquent. She knew how to captivate the jury and convince them of her innocence; indeed, they acquitted her on 30 October 1918. Nevertheless, she was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for slandering the Piffls’ adopted son. However, the princess served only a few months of her sentence, as she was pardoned in 1919. Upon her release, she joined the Social Democratic Workers’ Party in 1919. Through a newspaper advertisement, she found a position as a secretary at the well-known Karl Konegen publishing house in Vienna, as she was no longer permitted to work as a teacher due to her criminal past. Thanks to her dedication, Milica became the right-hand woman of the 51-year-old publishing director Ernst Stülpnagel, with whom she began a fling in September 1920, until Milica became pregnant by him in 1922. However, Ernst Stülpnagel had no intention of divorcing his wife, which led to a physical altercation with Milica. Shortly afterwards, not only did Ernst Stülpnagel fall ill, but so did his wife, their two sons and a maid. They were all displaying strange symptoms. Stülpnagel immediately summoned a doctor, who recognised signs of lead white poisoning; the substance had been mixed into the icing sugar, the flour and the breadcrumbs. The dose found in these items could have wiped out an entire school class. The doctor called the police. Milica had, in the meantime, confessed everything to her lover. She herself had induced a miscarriage using the white lead, which she had obtained from Dr Julius Löwy. Fearing a public scandal, Ernst Stülpnagel tried to cover for Milica. However, the evidence against Milica became increasingly damning, leading to her arrest and prosecution. On 15 December 1923, she was found guilty by the jury, though they ruled out intent to kill. Milica was sentenced to 3.5 years’ imprisonment for causing grievous bodily harm. This verdict was upheld on appeal. Once again, however, Milica did not have to serve her full prison sentence, as she was released back into freedom as early as 1925 following a pardon granted by Federal President Michael Hainisch. Whilst in prison, she published the book Weiberzelle 321, Tagebuch aus der Haft (Women’s Cell 321: A Diary from Prison) in 1924. After her release from prison, Milica changed her name to Elisabeth Thury so that she could work as a journalist for newspapers closely associated with the Socialist Workers’ Party. This caused her considerable trouble during the Nazi regime. Milica was arrested on 1 September 1939. After a year in Gestapo custody, she was transferred on 2 August 1940 to the Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp, where she rose to become head of the camp police and later even camp elder. After the end of the Second World War, she resumed her work as a journalist. She campaigned tirelessly for the establishment of the ‘Austria Presseagentur’, which earned her the nickname ‘Madame APA’. Milica became one of Austria’s most influential female journalists, known far beyond the country’s borders. Even after reaching retirement age, she was unwilling to give up her position at the APA. She also politely declined her honorary pension. She continued to work as a journalist until her death on 9 June 1973. On 19 June 1973, she was laid to rest at Vienna’s Central Cemetery. Although Milica had enjoyed a fascinating career in journalism under the name Elisabeth Thury, she never shook off her reputation as a poisoner, not even at the end of her life or beyond.
