The case reads like a modern version of Arsenic and Old Lace, but here the old ladies are killing the old men for their insurance policies. Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, are accused of insuring homeless men and then running them over to collect millions in insurance benefits.
Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid were killed in 1999 and 2005. Both were crushed by cars and both insured by Goley and Rutterschmidt. For pictures of the victims and charges, click here The police indicated that it was their greed that led to their capture: if they had stopped with Vadoes, they could well have gotten away with the insure-for-murder scheme. The women collected lmost $3 million from policies on the two men. Rutterschmidt is accused on taking in Vados by using her Hungarian background. After finding him an apartment, she persuaded him to sign life insurance policies totaling $760,000.
The night before he died, someone took him to see the movie “The Bone Collector.” The women allegedly claimed in a missing persons report that Vados was the cousin to one of them and was going to marry the other.
Filings include a May 2000 letter from Rutterschmidt to Goley saying, “I have a few very interesting and good life insurance company listings. They pay regardless of illness, or accidental cause. (No hassle, no investigations.)”
For the full story, click here.
But Professor Turley, the old ladies in Arsenic and Old Lace were not seeking economic benefit!