Max GUFLER

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Poisoner - "Bluebeard"
Number of victims: 4 - 18 +
Date of murders: 1946 - 1958
Date of arrest: November 1, 1958
Date of birth: May 1, 1918
Victims profile: Women (after luring them with matrimonial advertisements)
Method of murder: Poisoning - Drowning
Location: Austria
Status: Sentenced to life in prison on May 1961. Died 1966

'Bluebeard' on trial in Vienna

The Miami News

April 11, 1961

Austria's "Bluebeard" went on trial in Vienna yesterday and claimed he was forced to confess to four murders because his fiancee has been arrested as hostage.

"I would have confessed to 20," declared Max Gufler, a 50-year-old traveling salesman accused of killing the women after luring them with matrimonial advertisements.

The judge challenged Gufler, pointing out that he even reconstructed one of his crimes for the police.

A 65-page indictment said he took the women on motor tours, then gave each a cherry liqueur and drowned her in river.

Is this man a Bluebeard?

The Montreal Gazette

November 6, 1958

St. Poelten, Austria, Nov. 5 - (Reuters) - Austrian police said today the recent arrest of a man may bring to light a case resembling that of Henri Desire Landru, the French "bluebeard" executed in 1922.

The man, 50-year-old Max Gufler, who lives in this lower Austrian town was arrested on suspicion of having killed 47-year old Maria Robas, whose body was found Sept. 22.

While searching his rooms, police found piles of ladies' bags, suitcases and other articles that they have established belonged to women who disappeared in the last six years.

Police claimed they have proof to convict Gufler of at least three murders.

SEX: M RACE: W TYPE: N MOTIVE: PC

MO: "Bluebeard" slayer of wives/fiancées.

DISPOSITION: Confessed four murders; life sentence, May 1961.

Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers