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Dagmar Johanne Amalie Overbye (April 23, 1883 – May 6, 1929) was a Danish serial killer. She murdered between 9 and 25 children -- of which one was her own -- during a seven-year period from 1913 to 1920. On March 3, 1921, she was sentenced to death in one of the most talked about trials in Danish history, that changed legislation on childcare.^[1] The sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

Overbye was working as a professional child caretaker, caring for babies born outside of marriage, murdering her own charges. She strangled them, drowned them or burned them to death in her masonry heater. The corpses were either cremated, buried or hidden in the loft.

Overbye was convicted of nine murders, as there were no proof of the others. Her lawyer based his case on Overbye being abused herself as a baby, but that didn't impress the judge.

She died in prison on May 6, 1929. She was 46.

Trivia

• Sometimes Overbye is spelled "Overby".
• Overbye was one of three women sentenced to death in Denmark in the 20th century - all were reprieved.
• Her case is in the Politihistorisk Museum (Museum of Police History) in Nørrebro, Copenhagen.
• The Danish female author Karen Søndergaard Jensen wrote a novel called Englemagersken (The Angel Maker) about her.
• The theater Teatret ved Sorte Hest in Copenhagen did a play about her called 'Historien om en Mo(r)der. Morder meaning "murderer" and moder meaning "mother".

References