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Welcome to the Serial Killer Podcast. The podcast dedicated to serial killers. Who they were, what they did, and how. Episode 205. Tonight, we continue on our Scandinavian sojourn into the life and crimes of Dagmar Overby, a.k.a. the Angel Maker.
Last episode we witnessed the beginning of Dagmar's descent into depravity. Tonight we reach her crescendo and final fate. Enjoy. This episode, like all other sagas told by me, would not be possible without my loyal Patreones. They are...
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THE YEAR 1915 Dagmar is wearing a typical middle-class outfit for the time, a tight-fitting dark blue dress, black lace-up boots, and a small shawl over her shoulders. Her hair was neatly done with a small hat to complete the outfit. She had finally gotten a good source of income being the proprietor of a small candy store.
after many different failed ventures she had finally managed to leave the rural peninsula of jutland she had learned that a life in the capital suited her temperament much better life had to be lived and dugmar had no intention of letting anyone stop her
Mrs. Overby, as she now called herself, was on her way up, and no one was ever going to bring her down again. She had her mental ups and downs over here too. When she had arrived in the capital in early summer, shortly after she had been at home to visit her parents, and Jens had turned up, he had said in words that could not be misunderstood—
that he would not marry her, and that, moreover, he would have nothing more to do with her. Dagmar had had a regular breakdown, and had taken an overdose of ether in an attempt to kill herself. It was obviously unsuccessful, and in her desperation to find just one person who could care for her, she had a soldier as her boyfriend for the last five months.
However, the relationship was over. He had apparently had enough of her. Another new aspect in her life was that Irina was with her again. Dagmar had picked her up before she left for the big city. The daughter was now barely three years old, a small, slender girl with long, dark hair and eyes that had a look of slight anxiety.
It had been an upheaval for her to be uprooted and have to start a new life with the woman who called herself her mother. Dagmar herself had mixed feelings towards the girl. She felt that they belonged together somehow, but there were no great feelings of love between them. She enjoyed being in charge of someone, that there was someone to take care of, even if it was just as often really difficult.
It was demanding that she couldn't do as she wanted. Conversely, Irina was already a small, independent individual who could also be useful. As time had passed, she had formed a bond with Dagmar, called her mother, and occasionally stopped by for a hug.
Dagmar, who was still not quite comfortable with physical contact, learned to reflect herself in the little one's caresses, and could now almost appreciate it. Her small candy store did well, and Dagmar even managed to snare the handsome deliveryman from the candy factory who came by every week. He was blonde, handsome, and muscular, just as she liked it.
A few months later the deliveryman, whose name was Svensson, had moved in with Dagmar, and they were busy planning and preparing for Christmas. The shop did well during this time, because there were many people who wanted a little extra for the family for Christmas. So she had made a very good profit. It always pleased her to count the till, and that pleasure was extra great after a good day's earnings.
"'Svenson's income varied greatly, depending on how many tasks he could get. He often went idle, especially during winter. Svenson sat in the living-room with his pipe and the newspaper. She had served him coffee and enjoyed that he was the man of the house. He gave her necessary balance. She could not bear the thought of having to live with a submissive man.'
"'Even Irina had accepted a new man who had suddenly moved in with them. "'Now the food was almost finished, "'and she could just rest for half an hour before they had to eat. "'She was sore all over, and tiredness was bothering her. "'She shouted to Svensson that she was taking a nap, "'so he had to be quiet and keep an eye on Irina.'
"'Inside the bedroom she took off her dress, "'laid down in her petticoat under the covers, and tried to sleep. "'The neighbours' kids were making noise, "'and she knocked hard on the wall as a sign for them to be quiet, "'and sighed in relief when they instantly fell silent. "'They respected her, and rightly so. "'Dagmar had a sharp tongue, "'and she could silence any child with her stern gaze.'
A few months later, things had changed dramatically. From having a stable life with a husband, daughter, and stable income from a respectable candy shop, in April 1916, things were far more chaotic. Dagmar was expecting visitors, and she looked at the apartment one last time. Everything had to be in place before the woman Rassmin showed up with the baby.
"'Dugmar looked forward to the easy money the baby would bring. "'During winter, Dugmar had been hospitalized for three weeks. "'The abdominal inflammation had flared up again, "'and Irina had been placed in Pastor Bast's orphanage in the meantime. "'Swenson could not take care of her, and someone had to look after the little girl. "'Dugmar had missed her, and picking up Irina had been her first stop on the way home.'
Now she stood here in the apartment and thought back on her first boy. The easy death had caused a plan to sprout in her mind, especially when she had heard a mother talk about how they had taken in a foster child and used the money to buy a house. This seemed like a great way to earn money, and if she couldn't take care of the kids, she could make them disappear.
Swenson's earnings were still very fluctuating, so she had to be the one who put food on the table, especially now that she had had to sell the shop. It had been too unmanageable to have it at the same time as she had to be hospitalized. It had not taken long for her idea to come to fruition.
An advertisement was placed in the newspaper, which the 26-year-old Rasmine Kristine Jensen answered. She had offered Dagmar that she could take care of her son. Rasmine was a single mother after she had been separated in September of 1915. She now lived with her mother, with her daughter, and the son was child number two.
and she could not handle two children on her own. Dagmar had demanded that she would have the twelve kroner, which was the father's contribution, per month for having the boy, and Rasmien was readily agreed. It was a lot of money, but given what it would otherwise cost her to raise the boy, it was cheap at last. Dagmar was ready.
She immediately heard the heavy steps up the stairs. It was Razmin with her infant son on her arm. Soon after, there was a knock on the door, and Dagmar went out to open it. A young slender woman stood with a child on her arm and a small suitcase with clothes and diapers. Her long fair hair was up, and her blue eyes held both sadness and helplessness.
She was a pretty woman, but she was marked by the hard life she led. It seemed as if her zest for life was gone. Yet she radiated curiosity and attentiveness. Dagmar asked to hold the baby. Rasmien looked down at the infant and first clutched it to herself, but then hesitantly held it out to Dagmar, who immediately accepted it.
Dagmar held the child close to her body, rolled the swaddling aside, and the most adorable baby boy revealed himself. The child slept safely and soundly. Dagmar could feel the warm breath against her fingers and let the tip of her finger brush across his cheek, mostly because she felt that Rosmin was watching her intently.
Apparently, Razmin liked what she saw, because she relaxed her body and Dagmar felt approved. Razmin then asked if she could stop by occasionally to see the child. To this, Dagmar replied that it was a bad idea. She lied, and told Razmin that her husband had insisted that the child would be their child, and it would only prove to be confusing for the child as well.
Razmin sighed and relented, and Dagmar was pleased with herself. As soon as Razmin left, she went into the living room and tore the clothes off the sleeping infant. She carefully studied its body before redressing it with a smile. She grabbed her jacket, and with Harry, who was the child's name, in her arms, she went down into the yard and put the baby in the pram.
She told Irina, who was playing in the yard, that she was just going to go away for a bit, and for her to stay where she was. Smiling big, she walked through the streets of Copenhagen with the little one in the pram, and enjoyed the sun's rays on her cheeks. As she walked there, the ugly thoughts came, the uncertainty, the doubt. Finally, she reached the cemetery.
and here she took a long walk her mind still racing all at once she made a decision and she drove the pram under the cover of a thicket and carefully she laid on the covers and looked at the still sleeping boy
A sly glint appeared in Dagmar's eyes when, with a big smile on her lips, she reached down to the child, grabbed a cloth diaper, and put it around the boy's neck. She herself held her breath as she tightly wrung the fabric that would squeeze the life out of Harry around his neck.
she released the cloth and sat down on the bench as she waited for him to die she could hear the child squirming and imagined how he opened his eyes in confusion and pain before long harry lay completely still the nerve of life had left him dagmar gasped for breath
She could feel the frantic spots that had spread on her cheeks, and she let her hands straighten her hair before she stood up again and pulled the covers tightly around the lifeless boy. She needed to feel some cold water on her cheeks, so Dagmar stared the pram towards the retreats in the cemetery. As she washed her hands and dabbed her cheeks, her gaze drifted to the latrine, and once again she had to smile.
Without a second thought, she went outside and lifted little Harry out of the pram. She took him inside and threw the child's body into the latrine. In her mind, it was a fitting place for a bastard child to end his days. Satisfied with herself, she drove the empty pram through the streets and decided to pawn it later. For now, she would hide it out of the way in the basement.
On the way home, she wondered why she had chosen this solution. After all, she could have just delivered the child back to Rasmus, said it was a mistake. But the intoxication of power had been impossible to ignore. Also, the money was simply too good. She shook her head and pushed the doubting thoughts away.
Irina followed her up to the apartment, where Dagmar found milk and bread for the hungry girl, even though she could not eat anything. An hour later, Svensson came home, and he pulled her in for a passionate kiss and a big hug. Three days later, the workers at the local sanitation station made a macabre discovery. The body of a little boy turned up, but no one could figure out who it was.
let alone why he had ended his days in such a gruesome way. Fourteen days later, Dagmar saw a new advertisement in the newspaper. Nineteen-year-old Maren Hansen advertised for an adoptive family for her newborn daughter. As soon as Dagmar had read the ad, she sat down and answered it. Just a few days later, there was a letter for Dagmar, and contact was established.
the two women agreed to meet at maren's residence in pederskramsgade and at the end of april dagmar went there this time dagmar insisted on a one-time payment of four hundred kroners instead of monthly payments
They agreed that Dagmar could pick up the payment the next day in the city square. The parents would give the money to a soldier who they trusted, and Dagmar could get her money from him. It's that time of the year. Your vacation is coming up. You can already hear the beach waves, feel the warm breeze, relax, and think about...
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Visit betterhelp.com slash serialkiller today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash serialkiller. After Dagmar left the desperate couple, she carefully put the child down in the carriage, tucked the blanket tightly around her, and headed home. Irina was playing in the yard, and Dagmar let her stay down there.
The next hour disappeared in an ether intoxication, a habit that she had picked up while at hospital. Dagmar could not remember what happened, because she had taken considerably more than she used to, but when she came to again, the child was dead. She wrapped the body in some old newspapers, before taking the bundle under her arm and going down into the courtyard to bring Irina with her.
First stop was at the pharmacy to get more ether. She bought fifty grams of ether and put the fifty öre, that's half a crown, on the counter. Then the trip continued to the tram stop, she got on line two as usual, which ran out to Amager, where she put the bundle down under a small bridge on Klovermark's road, while Irina waited up on the road.
Relieved, she returned home. The next day, Dagmar Svensson and Rina met at Kongen's new Torrjub. Dagmar had told Svensson that she had to pick up some money, but not why. She let the others wait while she herself scouted around the square. And soon Dagmar found the man she was looking for. A tall man in military uniform stepped up to Dagmar and introduced himself as Mr. Hansen.
The money was ready, and Dagmar could soon return to Svensson and Rina. A month later, Dagmar was again badly in need of money. She was becoming experienced, so she had answered Esther Larsen's ad in the newspaper without hesitation. At the end of April, Esther had given birth to a little boy, for whom she had sought an adoptive family a few weeks later.
Dagmar had called herself Mrs. Rosenkranz, something that had always brought a smile to her face. There were only a few who knew that Rosenholm Castle was located close to Hornslit in Jutland, and that the castle was inhabited by the Rosenkranz family. Taking their name made Dagmar feel more powerful. Soon the deal was done.
"'Dagmar had demanded two hundred kroner at the time of the takeover "'and ten installments of thirty kroner per month in the future. "'The timing was lucky, because on the same day that Dagmar returned home to Copenhagen, "'Rasmin had turned up to see her boy. "'There had been nothing else to do but to present Esther's boy to Rasmin, "'who had noticed nothing. "'She had sat for a long time with the boy on her lap,
However, Dagmar had made it clear to her that there could be no talk of this kind of visit in the future. It was not good for the child. He would be confused by it in the long run. Fortunately for Dagmar, Razmin had nodded in agreement. It did not take long for Dagmar to murder the infant girl. However, due to her now rampant misuse of ether,
She did not recall how she had killed the child or where she had put the body. This did not cause her much concern. In her mind, the dead was not something to worry about. Soon after, the family moved again, and Dagmar walked around a new apartment while she cleaned up. He was not happy about staying there, so she was relieved that it was only going to be for fourteen days.
The newspaper was on the table, and mostly out of boredom with the monotonous work, she sat down to read through the advertisements. It did not take long for her to notice the little ad in which Anne Christensen applied for a new home for her newborn son, who had been born on the 12th of May at Fötzlstiftelsen. A thought flashed through her. She wanted to keep the boy this time.
She got the money anyway, and now that summer was coming, the family could use some new clothes. She found a paper and pen, as a smile curled on her lips. The next day she had a good chat with Anna Christensen. The agreement was that Anna would deliver the boy and two hundred crowners on the 22nd, and they said goodbye. The day dawned.
Anne showed up with the boy, and Dagmar was the perfect hostess. She waited impatiently for Anne to leave again, because this time she was not so much in doubt. She fully intended for the child to grow up as her own. Having a boy and a girl would make the family complete in her mind. Shortly after taking custody of Anne's boy, Dagmar answered yet another ad regarding adoption.
This time it was Kristine Hittel that needed someone to adopt her infant daughter, and Dagmar had eagerly answered their call. After she had picked up the girl, she began to have dark thoughts of what she would do with the infant. She had enough with her own daughter and adopted son. She had no need for yet another mouth to feed. All she wanted was the money.
When she arrived home, she noticed a bucket of water on the kitchen floor. Without further thought, she grabbed the girl and knelt beside the bucket. With a firm grip around the child's neck and legs, she held the face under the water. Now the little girl was not so calm. It was as if the child knew it was fighting for its life, but it was flailing its arms and legs.
Small air bubbles rose to the surface of the water, and it seemed to Dagmar to last an eternity before the little one finally lay still and relaxed in her hands. With frenzied red cheeks, she stood up again, took a deep breath, trying to get herself under control, as she looked down at the small, lifeless body in fascination. So beautiful the child was. So quiet. So calm.
The lackluster eyes, which Dagmar refused to look into, and the skin's ashen color. She truly looked like a little angel. Dagmar wiped the girl's face and went into the living room to the fireplace. Unfortunately, the fire had gone out, and Dagmar did not bother to light it. Instead, she put the body in the kitchen cupboard. The next day, she placed the body in a concealed space in the attic.
Only a couple of months later, and Dagmar answered yet another adoption ad. An agreement was soon reached, and she picked up the child herself in Rysgata, where Miss Frida Spadhansen lived. She did not want to have to explain about the boy at home, or risk Frida withdrawing because she thought two babies were too big of a mouthful.
The father would deliver the agreed-upon 200 kroner to Dagmar's residence in a few days. And sure enough, the father showed up with the money. He did not want to see the child, but hurried down the stairs. Two weeks later, Dagmar was on her way to Jutland. She had to visit her parents again, because her mother had asked her to come and help get Grandma Hanna moved to their house. Miss Bad Hansen's little child travelled with her.
Dagmar was sitting on the train and leaning towards the suitcase. The boy was not alive, for the impulse to suffocate him had been overwhelming, so that his little body lay securely between her clothes. However, she still kept a close eye on him so that the suitcase should not fall down and open by accident. When the train arrived and she began the hour-long walk to her parents' house, she stopped at a small grove
Dagmar fell to her knees and dug a small grave, placed the child's body in it, and carefully covered it again. Sparhansen, Jr. had gotten his own little burial place. Dagmar smiled quietly, got up, and brushed the dress clean of dirt and leaves, before she, with Anna's boy on her arm and Irina by her side, went the last distance down to her parents' horse.
A few weeks later, Arne's boy got to measles. He was completely unrecognizable. A sea of small wounds covered his skin and his cheeks flared with fever. His breath was ragged and a fine wheezing sound indicated that he had bronchitis too. Although he was asleep, he looked tormented. His small fists were clenched and his hair glistened with sweat.
Dagmar caressed his cheek and sat by his side. A few days later, Arne's boy died of bronchitis. Dagmar was for once actually saddened by the death. She had grown fond of the boy. By summer of 1917, Dagmar had killed several more infants. She had developed a clear modus operandi and followed strict measures to ensure that she got her money back.
and that no one raised suspicion regarding the child's death. She combed the newspaper every day for adoption ads, and she was always happy when she saw a plea from unmarried women who wanted to put their child up for adoption. She had initially let them come to her residence, but after the first few times the neighbor started noticing the frequent visits, she instead always arranged a neutral meeting place.
she went out there took the child and made sure to receive payment once she had also had the problem that the mother had regretted it and had returned the next day to see the child one last time but by then it had been too late the child had been dead for a long time
But fortunately, Dagmar had just had another child, and had been interrupted murdering the child when the unhappy mother had forced herself into the apartment. Dagmar had put on a good face and had shown off the new child. The mother had been so choked with tears that she did not manage to discover anything wrong before Dagmar had thrown her out. She could not remember how many children she had received, some of it
was a little hazy as if it hadn't really happened that is why she had now invested in a camera she had enough money and then she made sure to take pictures of the naked babies before she killed them for her it was a fine way of remembering them
Dagmar Overby was exposed on the 2nd of September 1920, when the woman, Caroline Augusten, who had delivered her daughter to Overby a few days earlier, regretted it and returned to Overby's home to get her daughter back. Augusten handed the daughter over to Overby on the 30th of August and brought 300 kroners as payment for Overby to take care of her.
When Augustine returned for her a few days later, and Overby could not tell where or with whom the daughter had been placed, Augustine went to the police. The police accompanied them to Enghavvevei 21, and after being greeted by a disgusting smell, the police searched Overby's home, where they found the remains of Augustine's daughter in Overby's tiled stove.
She was taken to the police station, and during the following questioning, Overby confessed how, shortly after the child had been handed over to her, she had strangled it with a twine cord, and the following day had poured kerosene over the body and burned it in the tiled stove. During the trial, it emerged that Dagmar Overby had presumably been under the influence of nafta and ether when she committed the murders.
She was also declared a liar and a thief, but was not diagnosed as insane, and no real motive for the murders was ever found. The role of Dagmar Overby's partner also remained unclear. However, it emerged that he had received money from her and did not care for children.
Dagmar Overby oscillated during the three-day trial between being cold-hearted, unmoved, despairing, and showing a kind of carefree cheerlessness. After two days of harrowing and dramatic witness interviews came the prosecutor's procedure.
He demanded that Dagmar be convicted of premeditated murder, while the defense lawyer stated in his proceedings that she had been, and here I quote, a tool for a flawed society and for indifferent mothers, end quote. He denied that she had acted with full premeditation. After that, the jury's verdict was clear, and it called for the death penalty.
On the 3rd of March 1921, she was sentenced to death by Presiding Judge Winter. Dagmar Overby was declared guilty of nine murders. The verdict was not appealed. The last Danish woman was executed in 1861. As expected, Dagmar Overby's sentence was changed to life imprisonment a month later. Conditions were set.
They were that she was never to be released or given special relief inside prison. No one knows with certainty how many children Dagmarov had been murdered. It is known with certainty that she killed seven infants in the period from the 15th of April 1916 to the 30th of August 1917.
In the period from 1919 to her arrest on 30 August 1920, while she lived at Enghavevei 21 in the town of Westerbro, it is ascertained that she killed two children. Dagmar Overby served her sentence in the women's prison at Kristianshavn and later in the prison called Vestre Fengsel, where she died in 1929.
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And with that, we come to the end of this uniquely Scandinavian serial killer saga. Next episode will feature a fresh serial killer expose, so as to say in the land of radio. Stay tuned. What follows is a message to my dear Norwegian listeners in Norwegian. I mean it by saying that my Norwegian-language podcast, Serienbryddepodden,
You can listen to it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all other places you listen to podcasts. As they say on Radio Land, follow along.