This Very Dangerous "High Risk Offender" Has Just Been Released From Prison
The Halifax, Nova Scotia, Police Department is warning residents to beware of Melissa Shepard, 80, who is now living in the community. Shepard was just released from prison after a completing a 2013 sentence for administering noxious things and not providing the necessities of life to her husband Fred Weeks, whose coffee she spiked with tranquilizers.
Shepard's criminal history dates farther back than three years ago though and has earned her the nickname "Black Widow": According to the Washington Post, Shepard has 30 fraud convictions since the 1970s and was convicted of the manslaughter of her first husband Gordon Stewart, who she ran over with her car in 1991 while he had a near-fatal combination of drugs and alcohol in his system. She maintained running over him was an accident and served just two years in prison.
After Stewart came Robert Friedrich, and while Shepard was never convicted for anything in relation to his death, she began altering his will during their marriage to ensure his sons would receive nothing of his when he died … and he died just a year later, leaving her his entire $100,000.
Alex Strategos, an 84-year-old partner of Shepard's in between Friedrich and Weeks, told the BBC he met Shepard on an online dating site. "At first, I thought she seemed very nice," and she moved in with him very quickly. Soon after, Stratego said she began stealing money from him and poisoning his ice cream. He was hospitalized - and she served five years for forgery and grand theft from a person aged 65 or older.
The Halifax police explain in their post Shepard is not to alter her appearance, access the Internet, communicate with past victims or families of victims, or enter any new romantic relationships. Many commenters ask older gentlemen in the community to beware of her presence, as her victims were repeatedly senior men.
Strategos echoed these sentiments, telling the BBC "I don't think she should be released. What she was, she still is - she's the Black Widow. Some guys better watch out, that's all I can say."
No one is safe.
Follow Tess on Twitter.
