‘Black widow’ must toe line
CRIME: Woman, 81, has history of poisoning, killing partners
HALIFAX — An 81-year-old woman who killed and poisoned her intimate partners has agreed to peace bond conditions that require her to report any new romantic relationships to police for the next two years.
Melissa Ann Shepard — known as the Internet black widow — used a walker in court Wednesday to stand and agree to 21 conditions negotiated between the Crown and her lawyer Mark Knox.
Under the bond conditions, she is required to report to police any potential relationship with a man and to report weekly to police by telephone or in person. She is also to inform police of any changes to her appearance and provide them with fresh photographs.
The elderly woman was released from prison in March after serving a full sentence of just under three years for spiking newlywed husband Fred Weeks’s coffee with tranquillizers in 2012.
Shepard has a long criminal record. In 1991, she was convicted of manslaughter and served two years of a six-year term after killing her husband Gordon Stewart on a deserted road near Halifax.