‘Black Widow’ charged after her husband falls ill
The “Internet Black Widow” has become tangled in another web.
Melissa Ann Weeks, 77, of New Glasgow, N.S., was charged Tuesday with attempted murder after her husband suddenly fell ill at a bed and breakfast this weekend. Cape Breton police said they were called to a hospital in North Sydney, N.S., Sunday, after doctors grew suspicious about 75-year-old Fred Weeks’ illness.
“Further investigation led the police to believe the man’s spouse could be responsible for his illness,” police spokeswoman Desiree Vassallo said in a statement.
Cheryl Chambers, a bed-andbreakfast operator in North Sydney, said a couple identifying themselves as Fred and Millie Weeks checked in Friday. The next morning, Weeks said her husband had fallen ill and needed to be taken to hospital. She ate breakfast before calling 911, Chambers said. Weeks was also charged with administering a noxious substance. She appeared in Sydney provincial court Tuesday and will appear again Friday. Police confirmed that Weeks has gone by multiple aliases and has faced fraud and manslaughter charges. Local media quickly identified Weeks as the infamous “Internet Black Widow,” a nickname she earned for exploiting an elderly Florida man she met on an online dating website. The “Black Widow” has gone by multiple names, including Melissa Friedrich, Melissa Stewart and Melissa Shephard. People from Weeks’ past had strong reactions to her arrest. “She’s a busy little gal,” said Alexander Strategos, Weeks’ ex-boyfriend. Weeks met Strategos, a Florida resident who’s now 81, on an online dating website. In 2005, she was convicted of theft after stealing $20,000 (U.S.) from him. In1992, she was convicted of manslaughter after drugging her husband at the time, Gordon Russell Stewart, and running him over with her car near Halifax. She claimed domestic abuse and served two years of her six-year sentence.
Kate Reeves, Stewart’s sister, said she was not surprised to hear about Weeks’ arrest. “(Stewart) didn’t get justice,” Reeves said. “He had a violent and brutal death and she served two years.”
In 2001, Weeks met Robert Friedrich, an elderly Florida man, on an online dating website. The two married quickly and he died one year later.
Weeks, then known as Melissa Friedrich, was never charged with a crime. But Dennis Friedrich, Robert’s son, became suspicious about his father’s health when he began slurring his speech and falling over.
She gained control of his father’s entire estate after his death, but his family sued her and stopped her from receiving most of his life insurance, Friedrich said.