黑寡婦 / The Black Widow

This 78 years old woman who was being characterized by the Crown as "cold, calculating, .... " was found guilty and sentenced to 3.5 years in jail. According to news report, her husband/boyfriend/partner(s) all seemed to die or get sick after falling for her charm.

She has been nicknamed the Black Widow for her abilities to spin lies and trap the senior male victims. Even the Chief Justice warns:  'People who have contact with this lady should be careful.' 

To all older gentlemen out there, don't let this woman start your engine !!!!



Photo Credit/Caption: (CBC) Melissa Shepard, who has gone by several last names, was charged under the surname Weeks because she had married Fred Weeks days before her latest arrest. Facing an attempted murder count, she pleaded guilty Monday to lesser charges and was sentenced Tuesday.

Internet Black Widow sentenced to 3½ years in jail

Woman, 78, called cold and calculating by Crown, pleaded guilty to lesser charge after husband fell ill

CBC News 

Posted: Jun 11, 2013 10:52 AM AT  

Last Updated: Jun 11, 2013 12:47 PM AT

The 78-year-old woman nicknamed the Internet Black Widow for her ability to persuade grieving widowers to marry her was sentenced to 3½ years less time served for administering a noxious thing and failing to provide the necessaries of life for then husband Fred Weeks.

Melissa Ann Shepard had been charged with attempted murder and administering a noxious thing — listed in court documents as the drug benzodiazepine — after the 75-year-old Weeks fell ill at a bed and breakfast in Cape Breton in late September. She is also known as Melissa Friedrich, but was charged under the last name Weeks.

'People who have contact with this lady should be careful.'—Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy

The couple had been married just a few days before he fell ill. Their union was later ruled invalid by the province's Vital Statistics division after it said false information was provided on the marriage certificate. During sentencing, Shepard sat still, with her hands folded and looking straight ahead, reported the CBC’s Stephen Puddicombe.

The Crown had argued Shepard was a cold, calculating woman who lied about her husband's medical history to cover up what she had done. The defence argued Shepard's medical condition should be considered, but the Crown said that was something she ignored with her victim. The Crown argued her age shouldn’t factor into the verdict since it helped fuel her crimes. The Crown said if she was younger warning bells would have sounded.

"People who have contact with this lady should be careful," said Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy. "How do you deter Melissa Ann Shepard? Let's be candid — this will not be a long-term factor."

Weeks, a thin, gray-haired man, sat several rows back on the other side of the court watching. There was no victim impact statement.

Criminal Past

The woman has a long history with the law. In 1991, she was convicted of manslaughter and served two years of a six-year jail term after killing her husband, Gordon Stewart, of P.E.I., on a deserted road near Halifax. Stewart was heavily drugged when she ran him over twice with a car.

Shortly after she was released from jail, she travelled to Florida and met Robert Friedrich at a Christian retreat. They married in Nova Scotia in 2000. A year later, Friedrich's family noticed his health was faltering. He had mysterious fainting spells and slurred speech and was in and out of hospitals. Friedrich's family also alleged his money had started to disappear. Friedrich died in 2002 of cardiac arrest. No one was charged.

In 2005, she was sentenced to five years in prison for a slew of charges stemming from a relationship she had with another Florida man she met online. She pleaded guilty to seven charges including three counts of grand theft from a person 65 years or older, two counts of forgery and two counts of using a forged document.

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Internet Black Widow is back in custody as police investigate the attempted murder of her current husband.

CTV Atlantic
Published Monday, Oct. 1, 2012 1:32PM ADT 
Last Updated Monday, Oct. 1, 2012 6:52PM ADT

A woman who became known internationally as the Internet Black Widow is back in custody as police investigate the attempted murder of her current husband.

Melissa Weeks, who was also known as Melissa Friedrich and Melissa Stewart, was once convicted of a number of crimes involving older men, including manslaughter in the death of a husband. Police say the 77-year-old woman’s past is one of the reasons she has been arrested again. 

Police in Cape Breton say the arrest comes after a 75-year-old New Glasgow man was admitted to the North Sydney General Hospital on the weekend. The Cape Breton Regional Police were called to the hospital Sunday morning, as health officials were suspicious about the nature of the man’s illness. They say they became concerned after contacting the man’s son in New Glasgow.

“It was learned that his wife of two weeks, a 77-year-old lady who is known to police, had given a story that didn’t seem to add up to the injuries that the 75-year-old male was suffering,” says Cape Breton Regional Police Staff Sgt. Mike Kennedy. Police say further investigation led them to discover the man’s wife had previous convictions of forgery and manslaughter.

The woman, formerly known as Melissa Sheppard, was once described as the Internet Black Widow after a number of incidents in Nova Scotia and Florida. In 2005, when she was known as Melissa Friedrich, the woman was sentenced to five years in a Florida prison for grand theft and forgery of a senior. She also served time for manslaughter in the death of her husband, Gordon Stewart, in Nova Scotia in 1992.

A warrant was issued for her arrest Monday morning and police picked her up at a senior’s complex outside New Glasgow around noon. People who live at the complex say the woman moved in shortly after it first opened about a year ago and that she quickly became friends with a man who lived three doors down.

“They were back and forth quite a bit. It was quite a short relationship, it just marched right along,” says resident Pauline Chapman. “I was away when they supposedly got married.” “She never caused any trouble around here that I’m aware of, but everybody here knew,” says neighbour Floyd Green. “They knew who it was and what was going on, you know.”

Police brought Weeks to the Cape Breton Regional Police headquarters in Sydney for questioning. They say she will be held in custody overnight and Kennedy says she will appear in court tomorrow to face charge of attempted murder. 

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh

Source of info: Black Widow charged with attempted murder | CTV Atlantic News


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The Black Widow: She preyed on the lonely, then married and buried them.

Text and photo credit: CBC TV Fifth Estate (originally aired Feb 20, 2012)

She brought hopes of love and romance but instead she turned out to be a predator who gained the trust of vulnerable, elderly men and then, their family members say, she tried to kill them. In Black Widow, the fifth estate tells the incredible story of Melissa Stewart, also known as Melissa Shephard and Melissa Friedrich.
In 1992, Melissa was convicted of manslaughter in the death of her second husband, Gordon Stewart. She claimed that as she attempted to get away from him after he had raped her, she had to drive over him, twice. She was released from prison in 1994, after becoming the sympathetic focus of an NFB documentary When Women Kill, and established herself publicly as a victim of spousal abuse.

Melissa married widower Robert Friedrich in June 2000. His health deteriorated soon after that and his family suspects Melissa in his death. Her next lover, an elderly man living in Florida named Alex Strategos whom she met online, was committed to a nursing home after he suspiciously began to get sick. While he was in there, Melissa helped herself to his bank account.

The fifth estate’s Linden MacIntyre talks to the family members of the dead men as well as Melissa’s last lover, Alex Strategos. He reveals Melissa drugged him with so much medication that he ended up in the hospital eight times in just under two months and signed over power of attorney to a woman he barely knew.

We also meet Florida businessman Sunny Decker, the man who could have become Melissa’s next victim had she not been arrested. Decker was one of twenty men from across the United States and Canada who Melissa made contact with via an Internet dating site. She had dinner with Decker while Alex Strategos was sitting in a nursing home.

How does Melissa account for these allegations and her actions? In an exclusive interview from a Florida prison, Melissa talks publicly to Linden MacIntyre about her life, her loves and her crimes.

Please visit the CBC website for more detailed info, documentation, pictures, and video:  http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2008-2009/black_widow/