Bio

Melissa Ann Friedrich was born on May 16, 1935, in Burnt Church, New Brunswick.

When she was a teenager, she moved to Ontario with her family in 1953. She lived with an aunt and completed high school through evening correspondence at Stafford College.

In 1955 she met and married Russell Shephard, who worked in a factory. They had two children.

Murder Story

Melissa Friedrich, who has also used the names Melissa Ann Stewart and Melissa Ann Weeks, was involved in several criminal cases linked to men she married or dated. She became widely known in news reports as the "Internet Black Widow."

On April 27, 1991, Melissa Stewart ran her husband, Gordon Stewart, over twice with their car on a deserted road near Halifax, Nova Scotia. His autopsy showed a lethal amount of benzodiazepine in his system. She reported his death a few hours later and told police he had tried to rape her. Medical tests did not confirm a sexual assault. A jury convicted her of manslaughter on May 26, 1992. She was sentenced to six years on August 20, 1992, and was later released on full parole in 1994. While in prison, she formed a support group for women and later set up a counseling line called Project Another Chance.

In June 2000, Melissa married Robert Friedrich in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Over the next year his family noticed his health decline and said his speech became slurred and he had frequent hospital visits. Robert rewrote his will to make Melissa the sole beneficiary. He died on December 16, 2002 of cardiac arrest. No autopsy or toxicology tests were done, and a cremation certificate was issued on December 20, 2002. Authorities investigated doctor shopping and pension fraud, but the Manatee County State Attorney and Canadian investigators later decided they did not have enough evidence to proceed on those matters.

In November 2004, Melissa met Alexander (Alex) Strategos online and flew to Florida. She moved into his Pinellas Park condominium the night of their first date on November 5, 2004. Over the next two months he had eight hospital visits. On December 28, 2004, while hospitalized, Alex signed over power of attorney to her. In January 2005 blood tests showed benzodiazepine that his doctors had not prescribed, and about $18,000 was missing from his accounts. Pinellas Park police arrested Melissa on January 6, 2005 and charged her with exploitation of the elderly, theft and forgery. On March 14, 2005, she pleaded guilty to seven charges related to the Strategos case, including three counts of grand theft from a person 65 or older, two counts of forgery and two counts of using a forged document. She was sentenced to five years in prison and was later deported to Canada after her release.

In September 2012 Melissa married Fred Weeks after a short courtship. On September 28 the couple checked into a bed and breakfast in Cape Breton. Fred Weeks fell ill and paramedics were called. Tests showed a high dose of benzodiazepine in his body. Police searched their apartment and found many tablets of lorazepam, other pills, prescriptions from multiple doctors, and an unlabeled tub of ice cream that was treated as suspicious. The marriage was later ruled invalid because false information had been provided on the marriage certificate. Melissa was charged with attempted murder and administering a noxious thing. On June 10, 2013, she pleaded guilty to administering a noxious thing and to failing to provide the necessaries of life.