Bio

Gertraud Arzberger was born in 1972. Public news reports and reference sites do not give detailed information about her childhood or family.

As an adult she worked as a bookkeeper. She lived in Graz, Austria. Neighbours described her as a hard worker who kept a tidy house and a neat yard.

She lived with a long-term partner, Johannes (Hannes) Genser, who worked as a carpenter. Reports say they had lived together for about eight years. Some accounts note that Genser was married to another woman and had three children.

News coverage from 2005 described her as being in her early thirties. In those reports she said she had financial problems and feared her partner might leave if she had a baby.

Murder Story

In June 2005 police found the bodies of newborns at an apartment block in Graz. Two bodies were wrapped in plastic and hidden in a basement freezer. A neighbour reportedly found them when he went down to get ice cream for his children. Two other bodies were later found in plastic buckets filled with concrete in a garden shed at the same residence.

The woman arrested was Gertraud Arzberger, then aged 32 or 33, and her partner was Johannes Genser, aged 38 or 39. Arzberger, a bookkeeper, told investigators she gave birth to the children in a bath and could not remember what happened next. She said she had financial problems and feared her partner might leave if she had a baby.

Neighbours told the court her pregnancies had been obvious. Genser denied knowing about her pregnancies, but he had told her she would have to leave him if she got pregnant. Prosecutors said DNA tests showed Genser had fathered at least three of the infants.

Autopsies indicated the two infants found in the freezer were still alive when they were placed inside and were wrapped in plastic. Tests could not be performed on the two newborns sealed in concrete because they had deteriorated too much. Authorities said the possible deaths may have taken place over a period of about three years.

Prosecutors charged Arzberger with five counts based on neighbour testimony, but a fifth body was never found and Arzberger denied having a fifth child. She pleaded guilty to four murders. Experts said one of the infants might have been stillborn, and she was convicted on three counts.

On 31 March 2006 Arzberger was sentenced to life imprisonment. Genser was jailed for 15 years as an accessory. Before the verdict she told the court, "I'm sorry. I can't make everything all right again." As Genser left court in handcuffs he asked, "Can I still offer her my hand?" The judge replied, "No."