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Johann Otto Hoch

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Johann Otto Hoch (born John Schmidt) a.k.a. The Chicago Bluebeard is a German-American suspected serial killer, "lonely hearts killer", con artist, and poisoner hanged after a long history of bigamist romance scams, dozens of them ending in murders of women.

History[]

Little is revealed about Hoch, as little can be found about him and his crime spree. He was born in Horrweiler, and immigrated into the United States sometime in the 1880s or 1890s after passing through Vienna, London, and Paris. His only legal marriage was to Christine Ramb, with whom Hoch had three children; he abandoned his entire family in 1887.

Hoch is believed to have started his criminal history in Europe, but there are few if any records to confirm this. He first arrived in New York, then Chicago, which would be his most recurrent destination. With the cons he pulled on the women he targeted and killed, he originally began renting flats. Then in 1895, he bought a saloon. It was shortly after this Hoch escalated in his crimes and traveled further and more frequently across the U.S. to commit them. Some women tried to warn people they were being poisoned, but they were never saved. One woman, Barbara Brossett, died from the stress of being swindled. In 1898, Hoch spent one year in jail for selling mortgaged furniture under the aliases "Adolf Hoch" and "Martin Dose". He didn't stop his crimes after his release, and they became so destructive his victims sold their businesses for him, only to lose all the proceeds.

Hoch as finally arrested in 1905, the various women he illegally married identifying him. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Marie Walcker, yet he convinced Cora Wilson to advance him money to appeal the sentence, which ultimately failed. He was executed in February 1906.

Modus Operandi[]

Hoch targeted various women of different classes, seducing them under false professional backgrounds or pressuring them under arranged marriages. Multiple victims were married around the same time, Hoch even having no qualms marrying women who were sisters. He would also steal other money and valuables he cam across, such as the savings of Hulda Nagal and the diamonds of Mabel Leichmann. After a period of several months, each woman was conned out of thousands of dollars before Hoch fled, often by manipulating them to sell their businesses for or invest in him. If Hoch found any women liabilities, or if he found it necessary for his romance cons, he would gradually or rapidly poison the victims, typically with arsenic, hoping their deaths would be masked as natural causes or that he'd be long gone and ready to repeat his cons by the time police were after him. Sometimes Hoch would disappear the remains of the women he murdered. Mary Schultz had a daughter, Nettie, so Hoch killed them both. Hoch's next surname would often be the maiden name of the previous women he conned or murdered. After killing Karoline Miller, Hoch faked his own death as a countermeasure for his escape.

Known Victims[]

Several of Hoch's victims

Several of Hoch's victims

  • Unknown dates
    • Wheeling, West Virginia: Unidentified woman (met under alias "John Hicks"; poisoned)
    • Chicago, Illinois: Emma Rencke (robbed only)
    • Batavia, Illinois: Palinka (first name unidentified; robbed only)
    • Aurora, Illinois: Fink (first name unidentified; robbed only)
    • Natalie Irgang (robbed only)
    • Hulda Stevens (robbed only)
    • Milwaukee, Wisconsin: J.H.H. Schwartzmann (robbed only)
    • Cincinnati, Ohio
      • Unidentified woman (met under the alias "Henry Bartel"; status unknown)
      • Unidentified woman (met under the alias "Fred Doess" status unknown)
  • 1881, Austria: Annie Hock (status unknown)
  • 1883, New York: Annie (surname unknown; poisoned)
  • 1888, New York: Unidentified woman (poisoned)
  • 1892, Chicago, Illinois
    • Unknown date: Hoyle (first name unknown; poisoned)
    • May: Unidentified woman (poisoned)
    • June: Unidentified woman (poisoned)
  • 1893, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Schmitz sisters (both poisoned)
    • Lena Schmitz
    • Clara Schmitz
  • 1894, Chicago, Illinois:
    • Unidentified woman (poisoned)
    • Martha Hertzfeldt (met under the alias "Jacob Erdorf"; robbed only)
  • 1895
    • Chicago
      • Unknown dates
        • Germany: A victimless robbery of $3,000 marks
        • Hulda Stevans (abducted only)
        • A victimless diamond robbery
        • Janet Spencer (met under the alias "C.A. Calford"; robbed only)
    • June 15, Wheeling, West Virginia: Karoline Miller (met under the alias "Jacob Huff"; poisoned; faked his own death to escape)
    • Chicago, Illinois:
      • August: Maria Steimbucher (met under the alias "Jacob Hoch"; poisoned)
      • November: Mary Rankin (robbed only)
  • 1896
    • Unknown dates, Baltimore, Maryland (all status unknown)
      • Nannie Klenke (met under the alias "Schultz"; status unknown)
      • Henrietta Brooks (met under the alias "Schultz"; status unknown)
      • Unidentified woman (met under the alias "Louis/Charles Bartels"; status unknown)
    • April, Chicago, Illinois: Maria Hartzfeld (met under the alias "Jacob Erdorf"; robbed only)
    • San Francisco, California:
      • September: Barbara Brossett (met under the alias "Schmitt"; robbed; later died from the stress of the robbery)
      • September-November: H. Tannert (attempted; survived)
    • November, Cincinnati, Ohio: Clara (surname unknown; met under the alias "Henry Bartel"; poisoned)
    • November-December, Baltimore, Maryland: Unidentified woman (met under the alias "Henry Bartel"; poisoned)
  • 1897
    • Unknown date, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Lena Hoch (poisoned)
    • Unknown date: Hoch (first name unidentified; sister of Schwatzman; poisoned)
    • January, Cincinnati, Ohio:
      • Julie Dose (robbed only)
      • Minnie Rankin (met under the alias "Warneke"; status unknown)
    • January-July, Cincinnati, Ohio: Callie Charlotte Andrews (met under the alias "DeWitt C. Cudney"; robbed only)
    • July 20, Cincinnati, Ohio: Unidentified woman (met under the alias "Henry F. Hartman"; status unknown)
    • December 6, Williamsburg, New York: Unidentified woman (robbed only)
  • 1898
    • Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hoch (first name unidentified; sister of Schwatzman; poisoned)
    • January 6, Jersey City, New Jersey: Winnie Westphal (met under the alias "William Frederick Bessing"; robbed only)
    • January-March, Buffalo, New York: Wilhelmina (surname unknown; poisoned)
    • June, Chicago, Illinois:
      • Unidentified woman (met under the alias "Martiz Dotz"; poisoned)
      • A victimless furniture theft (under aliases "Adolf Hoch" and "Martin Dose")
  • 1899, Norfolk, Virginia: Unidentified woman (poisoned)
  • 1900
    • Mary Hendrickson (status unknown)
    • Argos, Indiana: The Schultz family (met under the alias "Albert Buschberg"; both poisoned)
      • Mary Schultz (mother)
      • Nettie Schultz (daughter)
    • Chicago, Illinois: Anna Scheffries (met under the alias "Jacob Hoch"; status unknown)
    • December 12, Chicago, Illinois: Amelia Hohn (met under the alias "John Healy"; robbed only)
  • 1901
    • January, Columbus, Ohio: Unidentified woman (met under the alias "Carl Schmidt"; robbed only)
    • January-November, San Francisco, California: Loughken (first name unknown; poisoned)
    • November: Anna Goehrke (robbed only)
  • 1902
    • April 8, St. Louis, Missouri: Mary Becker (poisoned)
    • May: Hulda Nagel (met under the alias "Count Otto van Kern"; robbed only)
  • 1903
    • Unknown date: Justina Loefler (disappeared)
    • June 18: Mabel Leichmann (met under the alias "Dr. G.L.Hart"; robbed and attempted to fatally poison)
    • Dayton, Ohio
      • Annie Dodd (robbed only)
      • Regina Miller Curtis (robbed only)
    • Milwaukee, Wisconsin
      • Ida Zazuil (robbed only)
      • December: T.O'Conner (robbed only)
  • 1904
    • Unknown date: Anna Frederickson (robbed only)
    • January 2, Hammond, Indiana: Anna Hendrickson (Met under the alias "John Jacob Adolf Schmidt"; robbed only)
    • June, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Lena (surname unknown; poisoned)
    • September 21, South Haven, Michigan: "R.K." (killed by unknown causes)
    • October 8, Chicago, Illinois: Bertha Dolder (met under the alias "Leo Prager"; robbed only)
    • October 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Caroline Streicher (met under the alias "John Schmidt"; robbed only)
    • December, Chicago, Illinois: Marie Walcker (poisoned; only murder conviction)
  • 1905
    • January 15, Joliet, Illinois: Emile Fischer (Marie Walcker's sister; met under the alias "John Hock"; robbed only)
    • January 30, New York City, New York: Catherine Kimmerle (met under the alias "Harry Bartells"; attempted; survived)
    • June: Cora Wilson (robbed only)

Note: Hoch is suspected of killing as many as 50 women in total and swindling countless more, including in Vienna, Austria; London, England; and Paris, France

On Criminal Minds[]

  • Season Eleven
  • Season Fourteen
    • "Chameleon" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in the episode, Hoch appears to be a significant inspiration for the episode's main unsub, Everett Lynch - Both are serial killers targeting women of various classes in romance scams, used multiple aliases, proposed to (and married, in Hoch's case) women before murdering them, had specific regions of operation in the U.S. (Hoch stayed close to Chicago and traversed the North, Lynch traversed the South), and had families they abandoned.

Sources[]

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