Transcript: 204. Internet Black Widow, Melissa Ann Shepard | Canada

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At first glance, Melissa Ann Shepherd looked like a sweet and charming older lady, seeking companionship following the tragic death of her husband. 
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With her rosy cheeks, spectacles and overall harmless appearance, Melissa didn't exactly seem like the type. 
00:01:16 
Of woman that you should be afraid of. 
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And yet, at the age of 82, the authorities considered Melissa Shepard so dangerous they had to make preparations to ensure the safety of the people of the Halifax area in Nova Scotia, Canada, upon her release. 
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Residents were warned to steer clear of the Internet. Black Widow, especially those who happened to be lonely, elderly widowers looking for love. 
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Born in Burnt Church, New Brunswick, Canada, on May 16, 1935, Melissa Ann Russell seemed to have had a relatively normal and uneventful childhood. 
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Almost nothing has been said about her early years, but at the age of 18, Melissa packed her things and moved to Ontario to live. 
00:02:29 
With her aunt. 
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Melissa ended up completing high school through evening correspondence at Stafford College and married her first husband, Russell Shepherd, in 1955. 
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The young couple lived in Toronto and eventually had two children together, a son and a daughter. 
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Again, very little is known about Melissa and Russell's relationship, but there definitely were some hardships after Russell was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that starts in white blood cells called lymphocytes. 
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Due to Russell's illness, the family's financial situation got tighter and tighter, which seemed to cause Melissa to resort to desperate means. She began to write bad cheques, which is obviously not a sustainable way to fix the family finances. 
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Between 1971 and 1985, Melissa was charged with over 30 counts of fraud and forgery, in addition to impersonation and littering in Toronto and Georgetown PE. 
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Melissa was convicted of her crimes and ended up spending a total of five years in prison. Her first term of 11 months, starting in 1977. 
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After her release in December 1985, Melissa returned to her husband and children in Russell's hometown, Montague PE. 
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For a while. 
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It seemed like Melissa was going to live a decent life and forget her criminal chapter. She got herself a real estate licence and started her career as an. 
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For a few years, everything was working out just fine. But then in nineteen 8853, year old Melissa met a man called Gordon Stewart. 
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Gordon had recently retired from the Army and was living alone in Prince Edward Island after tragically losing his wife to. 
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Cancer the year prior. 
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It's unclear if the couple of many years ever had children together, but Gordon did have siblings. A brother named Brian and a sister named Kate. 
00:04:10 
Gordon's military friends described him as an honourable, firm loving guy with the great sense. 
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Of humour. Who? 
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Would give you the shirt off his back. 
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According to Terry Randall, who served with Gordon. 
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His friend had. 
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A tattoo reading his last surname, Stuart. 
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On his lower. 
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Lip that he liked to show often, as Terry later recalled. 
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He always said I'm Gordy Stewart from PEI, but the spud from the mud and he pulled down his lip every time. I remember that until the day I die. 
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At the time. 
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Melissa met Gordon on a blind date. 
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Through a lonely hearts column. 
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He was still wearing his wedding ring, having a bit of a hard time moving on. 
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But there was something on my list that convinced Gordon he could find happiness again. 
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So despite the fact that Melissa was still married to Russell, she and Gordon began a relationship. 
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It's unclear how the situation between Melissa and Russell was at this point, but by 1990 they were still legally together, forcing Melissa and Gordon to travel to Las Vegas to have an unofficial wedding. 
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The couple later had a second ceremony in Vancouver. Once heard of horse was final. 
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Little is known about how Melissa was involved in her children's lives at this. 
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Point or if. 
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She just basically abandoned her son and daughter with. 
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Her first ailing husband. 
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The teammate Melissa was more focused on her new relationship than being a mother and a carer. 
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Although one would think Melissa and Gordon were a happy couple based on their hurry to tie the knot, the relationship was actually quite tumultuous. 
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Gordon was known to enjoy drinking to the point that it became a problem. In turn, Melissa may have not been the most faithful wife, and her husband suspected she was using his retirement savings without permission. 
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Gordon had saved about $50,000 and was getting a monthly pension of about 800. But strangely, the money began disappearing. 
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Melissa herself claimed that the disagreements led to fights that often included physical violence. 
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Apparently, Gordon once even picked up a gun, pushed the barrel against his wife's head and pulled the trigger. 
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The only reason why Melissa survived was that the gun jammed. 
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Afterwards, Gordon reportedly lost his right to own a. 
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Firearm for five years. 
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Another incident occurred on December 23rd, 1990, when Gordon was found in the couple's apartment acting delusional, foaming at the mouth. 
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Gordon was rushed to the hospital where lab tests revealed he had a large amount of benzodiazepine in his system. 
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There was no logical explanation for why or how this drug had ended up in Gordon's body, as it was not prescribed to him and he. 
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Denied taking it himself. 
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Benzodiazepines like Valium and Xanax are used to treat conditions such as anxiety, insomnia and seizures. 
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But an overdose of the drug can cause dangerous deep unconsciousness that can prove fatal, especially when combined with alcohol. 
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Needless to say, when Gordon was released from the hospital, he was increasingly suspicious of Melissa and what she was after in their relationship. 
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The situation often escalated into arguments and long lists of accusations back and forth. 
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During a fight in early 1991, Gordon slapped his wife, which Melissa reported to the police. 
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Gordon was charged with domestic violence and after pleading guilty, spent time in prison before his release in March. 
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Despite the judge ordering Gordon to stay away from Alyssa, she visited him often in prison and was open to starting fresh and attempting to repair their marriage once he got out. 
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Gordon agreed, and in April the couple moved to a new apartment in Dartmouth, NS. 
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The reconciliation, however, didn't last long, and when the fight started again, there were worse than ever before, and this time it would end in death. 
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On April 27, 1991. 
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Melissa contacted the authorities, saying she had killed her. 
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Husband in self defence. 
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According to Melissa, Gordon had been drinking that day and forced her to drive along for hours along deserted roads at knifepoint before sexually assaulting her. 
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When Gordon had then gotten out of the car. 
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To urinate. 
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Melissa saw her chance to flee and ended up running over her husband with their Chevrolet Cavalier. 
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Not once, but twice. 
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Melissa claimed it was an accident, saying that she didn't notice the transmission was in reverse, which is why she hit Gordon, who was standing behind the veil. 
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That, however, didn't. 
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Explain how she ran over Gordon the second time. Nor did Melissa explain why it took three hours for her to report the incident. 
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A postmortem examination also found benzodiazepines, Valium and Restoril and Gordon system once again. In addition to large amounts of alcohol. 
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These three substances together made for a toxic cocktail, enough to either incapacitate Gordon or even kill him. 
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Furthermore, a sexual assault forensic exam found no evidence of. 
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Rape in Melissa's body. 
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But regardless of the fact that her husband was unlikely to move at the time, Melissa said Gordon had violated. 
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Her in one way or another. 
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What can I say to say that he raped me doesn't mean he has to have sexual intercourse with me. That means he could have performed other kinds of sex. 
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On me, that is considered rape. 
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Melissa also contradicted herself, claiming she didn't even realise she had hit her husband. Instead, she thought she had run over a log. Needless to say, the police were suspicious of Melissa's version of events. 
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Especially as two witnesses saw her running over Gordon twice and she hurried to apply for pension benefits from the Department of National Defence and Canada Pension shortly after his death. 
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In the end, Melissa was charged and convicted of the manslaughter of 44 year old Gordon Stewart on May 26th, 1992. 
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This implied that the jury thought his death was an accident. 
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The judge sentenced Melissa to six years in prison and sent her to the prison for women located in Kingston ON. 
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During her imprisonment, Melissa formed a support group for women who were the victims of domestic violence and wrote an article about a relationship with Gordon and the article. 
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Melissa said her second husband came from a family of Alcoholics and she knew about his problems but thought. 
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She could save. 
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But instead, Melissa was constantly beaten and psychologically abused, resulting in many broken bones and mental problems. 
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However, this is just Melissa's version of the story, and Gordon's family would later argue he was never abusive and was a victim himself. 
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No matter what the truth was, Melissa was eventually released after just two years behind bars. Based on her good behaviour. 
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In Canada, the maximum penalty for manslaughter is imprisonment for life, with a mandatory minimum penalty ranging from four to seven years that the person was killed with a firearm. Otherwise, there is no minimum. 
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In Canada, the offender ends up spending 4 to 15 years behind bars for manslaughter, similar to getting out. So soon was a bit unusual. She only just served 1/3 of her time, which is the requirement to be. 
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Eligible for parole. 
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After her release, Melissa toured Canada, speaking about battered woman syndrome and defending herself as the victim of an abuser. 
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But this was also interviewed for the documentary when Women Kill and she ended up suing up the Guardian's Barb McKenna over an article she found doubted the veracity of her claims. 
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Melissa's role as a battered woman's advocate kept her busy for a while. She set up a toll free counselling line for women having trouble in gaol, called Project another chance, and even receive the grant from the government to help other survivors of domestic violence. 
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But in the end, Melissa needed something more in her life. 
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In April 2066, year old Melissa travelled to Florida, where she met a man named Robert Friedrich at a Christian retreat. 
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According to Melissa, when she saw Robert standing up on the platform with the pastor, the Holy Spirit spoke to her, saying that this man would be her next husband. 
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Robert, who was in his 80s at the time and had lost his wife of 53 years to breast cancer 14 months before the retreat, later received the letter from Melissa with her picture and the message. 
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God wants us to be married. 
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Robert ended up responding to Melissa's letter in May 2000, asking her to visit him in June. It seems that the two hit it off as spending just three days together. Robert and Melissa got engaged. 
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He had three children who later described how their father was extremely happy about the relationship and that he was pleased with the fact that he was not alone anymore, thinking he now had someone to take care of him for the rest of his life. 
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Life, apparently, Robert seemed like a teenager again, who had just found his first love. 
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But while Robert's children were happy for him, they couldn't help but think that Melissa had ulterior motives. 
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Their father was not a poor man and as their relationship was moving so fast, Roberts children feared Melissa. 
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Could be a gold digger. 
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Still, there was nothing that could have changed Roberts mind. And on June 23rd, 2000, he and Melissa married in Dartmouth, NS. 
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Afterwards, Melissa moved in with a third husband in Florida. 
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They nearly had spent the following year travelling extensively, but during that extended honeymoon Roberts children began to notice their father's health deteriorated at an alarming rate. 
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Robert's speech was often slurred. He suffered from fainting spells and he suddenly needed a Walker, despite the fact that he had been walking just fine before. 
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Strangely, whenever Roberts relatives visited him, the symptoms seemed to ease up, but then got worse again once he was left alone with Melissa. 
00:15:19 
Eventually the situation got so bad, one of Robertsons, Bob Friedrich, called the elder abuse line and father complained against Melissa's. 
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Care of his father. 
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Melissa was not happy finding out about this and left Bob a heated message. 
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Hello, Bob, this is Melissa Friedrich calling. I have something to share with you this morning. Your father and I are going to see a lawyer. And your father is going to change his will. 
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He's going to leave all the money to me, except for the portion that he had set aside for you and your two brothers, and that portion now is going to go to the Christian retreat. 
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And you guys are getting nothing. 
00:15:53 
Big fat 0. So try that on precise and have a nice day. 
00:15:58 
Those were not just empty words. 
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Robert did in fact rewrite his will in 2002, making Melissa the sole beneficiary. 
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Only some months later, Robert passed away on December 16th, 2002. 
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His cause of death was determined to be cardiac arrest, although the doctor didn't even examine Roberts body and the death certificate was confirmed over the phone. 
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After all, he was advanced in age and had had a couple. 
00:16:23 
Of months with ill health. 
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Melissa wasted no time in getting her third husband cremated, so no autopsy or toxicology tests were ever performed. 
00:16:31 
After Robert's death once, he continued to receive the Social Security cheques and 10s of thousands of dollars in assets. 
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She eventually returned to Prince Edward Island. Although Melissa kept travelling back and forth between Canada and the US over the following year. 
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Meanwhile, Robertsons remained convinced their father's widow had something to do with his death, especially after one of them searched for information about Melissa on the Internet and found out about her manslaughter conviction. 
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If Melissa had killed her second husband, it did not seem too far fetched to think she had done it again. 
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In the end, Robertsons filed a criminal complaint against her, alleging she caused his death by overdosing him with prescription medication. 
00:17:11 
Melissa was indeed investigated by the Manatee County Sheriff in Florida for six counts of doctor shopping during the time she was married to Robert in September 2003. 
00:17:21 
Doctor shopping being when a patient has a script filled by more than one practitioner to obtain more medicine than they clinically need. 
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According to police reports, Melissa obtained several prescriptions for benzodiazepine, called the Lorazepam, from different doctors, getting a new one only a short time after each visit, which should not be possible. 
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But although it's quite clear Melissa had been obtaining a large number of drugs through prescription fraud, she was never prosecuted. 
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And there was. 
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Also, no evidence proven she had done something to her third husband. 
00:17:52 
Melissa was never charged in connection with Robert Friedrich's death, and his sons only went back $15,000 of their father's assets from her in a. 
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Civil trial. 
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In January 2004, another investigation was launched by Human Resource Development Canada relating. 
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To the old Age Security Act. 
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It was eventually found out. Melissa had used different names and Social Security numbers to cheat the system and received money that didn't belong to her. 
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Meanwhile, Melissa discovered online dating. Now she had a much larger hunting ground in her disposal. 
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By September 2004, Melissa was talking with dozens of men, both in. 
00:18:27 
Canada and in the US. 
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As soon as Melissa felt things were getting too hot in Canada due to the ongoing investigation, she drove down to Florida to meet one of her online contacts and American singles dating.com, a 73 year old man named Alex Strategos. 
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Alex, I've been feeling lonely and looking for companionship online for some time, and he was absolutely thrilled when Melissa told him she was coming for a visit. As Alex later recalled. 
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I thought this would be a good chance for me to find somebody and get together and start a different life. 
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Melissa and Alex had dinner together on November 5th, 2004 in Pinellas Park. 
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Due to the fact that Melissa had not booked the hotel room, Alex invited her to stay at his house. 
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Things apparently went well because after that one night, Melissa did not return home, but instead moved in with Alex immediately. 
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Melissa's new boyfriend seemed to become played by bad luck. The minute Melissa stepped into his home. 
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During the first night together, Alex started to. 
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Feel dizzy fell. 
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Hit his head and was taken to the hospital. 
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But due to the fact that Alex was diabetic and not exactly physically fit, he didn't think much about the incident. 
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Went over the following weeks. Paramedics kept visiting the strategos residence quite regularly. 
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Within two months, Alex was hospitalised 8 times due to feeling feeble and constantly falling over. 
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On December 28, 2004, Alex was again in a hospital bed when Melissa came to visit him with two of their neighbours. 
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After some quick gestures of affection, Melissa told Alex he needed to sign some papers. 
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While the neighbours witnessed Alex signed over power of attorney to his girlfriend of eight weeks while sick in the hospital. 
00:20:11 
That very same day. 
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Melissa decided it would be better if Alex was moved to a nursing home. 
00:20:17 
After all his health. 
00:20:18 
Issues were not looking good and made it difficult for him. 
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To live at home. 
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Needless to say, Alex's relatives found the situation odd and felt bewildered by the fact that a lady who they didn't even know was making such a big decision for their loved one. Something strange was definitely going on. 
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Then, in January 2005, Alex's son Dean visited his father and went through his medical records. 
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Dean noticed Alex's blood test had showed benzodiazepines in his system, although such a drug had never been prescribed to him alone by the discovery, Dean decided to investigate further and checked his father's bank accounts around $18,000 was missing. 
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At this point, Dean. 
00:20:58 
Realised it was time to contact the police. 
00:21:02 
Melissa was arrested on January 6th, 2005 and charged with exploitation of the elderly deaf and forgery. 
00:21:10 
Again, there was no proof she'd actually poisoned Alex. 
00:21:14 
The police concluded Melissa had made Alex give her power of attorney while he was in a compromised state. He didn't understand the implication of what he was doing. 
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Afterwards, Melissa transferred her boyfriend's life savings to her own bank account. Melissa was further charged with defrauding the Government of Canada of $30,348.54 / 4 years. 
00:21:34 
After the RCMP finished their investigation in February 2005, these offences took place between July 1999 and October. 
00:21:42 
2003. 
00:21:44 
On March 14th, 2005, Melissa ended up pleading guilty to seven charges related to what happened with Alex Strategos. 
00:21:51 
Guilty to seven charges related to what happened with Alex Strategos, including three counts of Grand Theft from a person 65 years or older, 2 counts of forgery and two counts of using a forged document due to her plea agreement, Melissa was sentenced to five years in prison. 
00:22:08 
Despite pleading guilty, Melissa later claimed the prosecution had figures wrong, saying Alex never had 18,000 for her to clean out. 
00:22:16 
It didn't seem to matter that there was proof of her making several transfers and money orders worth thousands of dollars. 
00:22:21 
During an interview, the 5th Estates Linden McIntyre enumerated 3 transfers worth around $13,000, but the only thing that Melissa cared about was the fact that it still wasn't 18,000 during the same interview, Melissa said she can't say she didn't personally give Alex benzodiazepines. Alex himself had a theory about how it all happened. 
00:22:41 
As he explained. 
00:22:43 
When I'd go to bed, she'd bring me a little dish of ice cream, not more a little custard cup, maybe a couple of teaspoons or something like that, and she'd bring it into the bedroom and she'd. 
00:22:53 
Feed it. 
00:22:53 
To me, I guess that's where the drugs were. 
00:22:56 
Then I'd get up to the bathroom and fall flat on my face. 
00:23:01 
Lisa was released from prison in Florida on April 4th, 2009 and deported back to Canada, where she made a home and a retirement community in Nova Scotia. 
00:23:10 
One could think Melissa had learned her lesson during her years in prison and even promised to stay out of trouble. But in the end, it didn't take long for her to be back. 
00:23:17 
To her old ways. 
00:23:19 
By 2012, 77 year old Melissa began to feel lonely and one day decided to knock on the door of her neighbour. 75 year old Fred Weeks. 
00:23:28 
Fred fit the pattern of Melissa's previous partners. He had recently lost his wife for several decades and was in need of human connection. 
00:23:36 
The two immediately got together, developing a relationship that moved faster than many feel comfortable with. 
00:23:41 
On September 25th, Melissa and Fred were already wed by Fred's friend and the Justice of the Peace, George Megeney. 
00:23:49 
That day, George had been glad to be part of Melissa and Fred's big day. The couple seemed truly happy, but it wasn't long after the ceremony that George began to worry about the safety of his lifelong friend. 
00:24:00 
A lady contacted George asking if he knew who Melissa was and if he had seen a documentary called The Black Widow about her and her troubled past. 
00:24:09 
Needless to say, after some digging, George felt the need to warn Fred about the fact his new wife had killed one of her former husbands and had committed many other crimes. 
00:24:18 
But unfortunately, George couldn't reach his friend, who was. 
00:24:20 
Heading out for a honeymoon in Cape Breton. 
00:24:23 
Finally, George contacted the authorities to ask them to warn Fred that he might be in danger, but the police refused to get involved. 
00:24:31 
Melissa and Fred arrived at Chambers Guest House in North Sydney, Canada on September 28th after a seemingly rough, fairly trip. 
00:24:38 
Pushing her husband in a wheelchair, Lisa explained to the innkeeper shell chamber that Fred had fallen ill during their trip across the waters. 
00:24:46 
Cheryl later recalled Mr Weeks didn't look well at all. He looked a little green, very gaunt looking missus weeks. On the other hand, she was beautifully. 
00:24:53 
Groomed and a lovely red so. 
00:24:56 
So Cheryl didn't find it that odd when the couple remained in their room for the rest of the day. 
00:25:00 
But she heard some strange noises from the room at night, she heard a thud. The reason revealed the following morning when Melissa asked the guest house owner to call an ambulance for Fred, who had fallen out of bed and hurt himself. 
00:25:12 
However, Melissa made sure the call was made only after she had finished eating her breakfast because she knew she was about to have a long day at the hospital. 
00:25:20 
Paramedics found disoriented Fred Weeks on the floor of the couples room. He was taken to the hospital where his worried wife stayed behind him, telling every nurse how her husband suffered from dementia and how she was all he had. As Fred was childless. 
00:25:34 
But The thing is, Fred Weeks. 
00:25:36 
Actually had a son and a. 
00:25:37 
Daughter, who knew their father did not have any other medical issues other than high cholesterol before he met Melissa. 
00:25:44 
Apparently, Lisa had told similar false claims about Fred to their neighbours in the seniors apartment building in Nova Scotia. 
00:25:50 
As the suspicions Rose, Fred's blood was tested. The results revealed a heavy dose of Tranquillisers in his system. 
00:25:58 
Following the discovery, Melissa was arrested and the police searched the home she shared with her husband. 
00:26:04 
The investigators recovered 134 tablets of lorazepam, numerous empty unlabelled bottles, prescriptions from 5 different doctors and several sets of identity documents with different names. 
00:26:15 
Melissa was eventually charged with attempted murder and administering A noxious substance. 
00:26:21 
Meanwhile, Fred fortunately recovered from the ordeal, barely remembering what had happened between the wedding and the time he woke up from the hospital. 
00:26:29 
Luckily for Fred, his and Melissa's Union was later ruled invalid by the provinces. Vital statistics division, due to the fact that some false information had been provided on the marriage certificate. 
00:26:39 
In other words, Fred and Melissa technically never were husband and wife, and he didn't have to go through a divorce process. 
00:26:46 
Again, Melissa didn't try to completely deny what she had done and pleaded guilty to administering a noxious substance and failing to provide the necessity of life avoiding the attempted murder charge. 
00:26:57 
Lewis, who was once again sentenced to prison, this time for 3 1/2 years, followed by Chief Justice Joseph Philip Kennedys comment. 
00:27:05 
People who have had contact with this lady should be careful. 
00:27:09 
When 82 year old Melissa was eventually released on March 18th, 2016, authorities made preparations to keep the community safe. 
00:27:17 
Melissa was given a list of more than 20 conditions she must follow, including an 11:00 PM curfew, a ban on Internet access, no contact with victims and their families, and no prescriptions for certain medications. 
00:27:29 
Melissa was also required to notify the police if she changed her appearance or she entered an intimate relationship so that the authorities could inform the partners of her past. 
00:27:38 
Crown prosecutor James Jacob Antonio commented on the condition, saying it's just important for us to keep an eye on high risk offenders like Miss Shepherd. 
00:27:47 
We believe she poses a risk going forward to the particular group of elderly males that she has. 
00:27:50 
Preyed on in the past. 
00:27:53 
Fred Weeks, who had managed to survive the short marriage with Melissa, was also concerned about public safety, saying she's too smooth an actor. 
00:28:00 
She kept me in the dark for a long time, telling me her stories. Everything was a story. Everything was a lie that she told me I wouldn't want her to come around myself or. 
00:28:09 
Any of my friends. 
00:28:11 
It seemed that for the most part, Melissa followed the rules and wasn't bothering anyone after her release. But just a month later, on April 11th, 2016, she was spotted at the Halifax Central Library accessing the Internet by a Community Response Officer. 
00:28:26 
Furthermore, Melissa had a device in her possession that allowed her to browse the Internet, meaning she was breaching not just one but two of her release conditions. 
00:28:34 
In the end, Lisa was charged with three counts of breaching A recognisance to which she pleaded not guilty. On August 4th, 2016. 
00:28:42 
But although a trial date was already set, the charges ultimately were dropped on December 22nd, 2006. 
00:28:49 
So how much of A direct is Melissa to society? 
00:28:52 
Back in 2005, when CBC asked her if she could be able to change her behaviour, lesser replied. 
00:28:58 
I can't say that from now on I'll be a perfect citizen, but I'm just going to try day by day to behave myself and do what I should have been doing all along. 
00:29:08 
But I can't say that that is going to be the outcome of how my life will end. 
00:29:12 
Lisa and Shepherd, known as the Internet Black Widow, has maintained a low profile. 
00:29:17 
Not much is known about her life nowadays. 
00:29:20 
But perhaps we can hope that this octogenarian has finally changed her ways. 
00:29:28 
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00:29:39 
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00:29:45 
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00:29:49 
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00:29:50 
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00:30:04 
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00:30:06 
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