Canadian, nicknamed ‘Black Widow,’ pleads guilty
Published 1:36 pm Monday, June 10, 2013
SYDNEY, Nova Scotia — A Canadian woman nicknamed the “Black Widow” for her ability to persuade grieving widowers to marry her has pleaded guilty to drugging a man she married days earlier.
Melissa Ann Shepard, 78, pleaded guilty Monday to administering a noxious substance and failing to provide the necessities of life. An attempted murder charge was dropped.
She was charged last October after Fred Weeks fell ill at a bed and breakfast in Nova Scotia four days after they married.
The prosecutor read an agreed statement of facts, saying Shepard gave the 75-year-old Weeks benzodiazepine, a tranquilizer, in his drinks while they were on a honeymoon trip in Newfoundland.
Shepard’s past criminal record includes manslaughter and theft that are linked to relationships with other men she met in Canada and the United States.
