Ep. 21: The Attic Lovers

On this episode of Friends Who Crime, Ben joins me to explore a case so audacious, it sounds like fiction: the murder of Fred Oesterreich. We'll uncover the shocking truth behind his death, involving his "naughty vamp" wife Dolly and her teenage lover, who spent years hidden in their attic. Prepare for a tale of obsession, deception, and a cover-up so bizarre, it defied belief for a decade.

Sources:

• "A Crime to Remember." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Crime_to_Remember.
• Ancestry.com. "Fred Oesterreich." Ancestry.com, www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Fred_Oesterreich&birth=1877&death=1922.
• "The Attic Lover: The Bizarre Case of Dolly Oesterreich." YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVvUhgkIzFI.
• "Dolly Oesterreich – The Craziness Begins." Scandals and Sweets, scandalsandsweets.com/2021/03/23/dolly-oesterreich-the-craziness-begins/.
• "Fred & Dolly Oesterreich." Morbid, Wondery, podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fred-dolly-oesterreich/id1379959217?i=1000586175130.
• "Hidden History of LA: The Murderous Lover Who Lived in a Silver Lake Attic." LAist, laist.com/news/la-history/hidden-history-of-la-the-murderous-lover-who-lived-in-a-silver-lake-attic.
• "Hidden History of LA: The Murderous Lover Who Lived in a Silver Lake Attic." LAist Off-Ramp, laist.com/podcasts/off-ramp/hidden-history-of-la-the-murderous-lover-who-lived-in-a-silver-lake-attic.
• "The Lengths of Love: Otto Sanhuber & Walburga 'Dolly' Oesterreich." Buried Motives, podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-lengths-of-love-otto-sanhuber-walburga/id1579516226?i=1000617932829.
• "Love, Lies, and a Man in the Walls." Hitched 2 Homicide, Deezer, www.deezer.com/us/show/1085742.
• "The Lover in the Attic: A Torrid Triangle Gone Bad." MyLifetime.com, www.mylifetime.com/movies/the-lover-in-the-attic-a-true-story/articles/the-lover-in-the-attic-a-torrid-triangle-gone-bad.
• Mason, Jeffrey C. The Twisted Case of Dolly Oesterreich. Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/book/show/195112330-the-twisted-case-of-dolly-oesterreich.
• Mason, Jeffrey C. The Twisted Case of Dolly Oesterreich: True Crime. Amazon Kindle Store, www.amazon.com/TWISTED-CASE-DOLLY-OESTERREICH-CRIME-ebook/dp/B0CCXZ7N46.
• "Mrs. Walburga Oesterreich, in 1930." Calisphere, calisphere.org/item/ark:/21198/zz0002pjzb/.
• Nugent, Addison. "The Married Woman Who Kept Her Lover in the Attic." Atlas Obscura, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-married-woman-who-kept-her-lover-in-the-attic.
• "The Oesterreich Case: The Attic Lover." Deranged LA Crimes, derangedlacrimes.com/?p=11877.
• "TIL a woman secretly kept her lover hidden in her attic for 10 years, and he eventually murdered her husband." Reddit, www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1k3g2ra/til_a_woman_secretly_kept_her_lover_hidden_in_her/.
• "Vagabond." Time, content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,752478-2,00.html.
• "Walburga Oesterreich." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walburga_Oesterreich.