The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-04-10
ATTIC GHOST
CHARGED WITH
Love MURDER
MiIIionaire'S Killing Eight
Years Ago Is Laid to
'EaVeS Hermit
WEIRD SOLUTION GIVEN
Lived Constantly in Hiding
Because of Wealthy
Mans Wife.

LOS ANGELES, April 10.-Mem-
bers of the grand jury were sched-
uled today to hear how an attic
hermit allegedly murdered Fred
OeSterreich, millionaire garment
manufacturer, in his home here
eight years ago.
Buron Fits, district attorney,
planned to go before the jury to
relate the story. and to seek an
indictment against Otto Sanhuber.
alias Walter Klein, who aSsertedly
crept from his abode in the caves
of the Oesterreich residence and
shot Oesterrejch to death
Authorities contend that San
huber's love for Mrs. OesterTeich
led him to continue his strange at
tic life over many years and finally
to Stay her husband.
Mystery for s Years
A meek, middle-aged man who
lived like a phantom in the home
Of the married woman he loved,
told rather casually, Wednesday,
how he rushed from his attic re-
treat one night to kill the husband
who never had known of his pres
ence.
For eight years the murder Of
Oesterreich remained one of Los
Angeles great criminal mysteries,
1t had been a perfect crime. The
widow, Mrs. Walburga Oesterreich
ostensibly was alone in the house
when police arrived. She was locked
in a closet, the key outside the
door.
Explanation Is Accepted
She was charged with the murder
at first, but police finally acceHtfd
her explanation that burglars were
responsible.
The Phantom of the Attic" had
retired one night when he heard
the woman he loved and her hus-
band quarTeling. He feared that
Oesterreich would harm her and,
pajama clad and pistol in hand,
crept from his attic retreat, he told
James Costello, deputy district at
torney Wednesday.
To Oesterreich he was a ghost,
for the manufacturer never had
known that his wife was harbor-
ing the man over whose friendship
they had quarreled in Milwaukee.
What are you doing here, you
dirty rat?" Sanhuber said the hus-
band shouted
Il replied: The same thing you
are doing and he luTched at me.
l had the gun in my hand. A
struggle followed He held my hand
in the air when the gun went off
and a bullet hit the ceiling. He al
most got me, but got him. 1t was
my life or his"
Then the phantom intruder"
said he told the wife:
Dolly, this must be burglary"
and locked her in the closet. He
threw the key several feet away.
According to Sanhuber, he could
hear police questioning the woman
as he remained alert in his attic
room.
Attorneys Story Told
Sanhuber's confession was the
main information to place before
the jury, but Fits said he also ex-
pected to present the story of Mrs.
Oesterreich, who once was charged
with the murder, and that of Her
man Shapiro, former attorney for
the widow.
Sanhuber's admissions, relating a
strange association with Mrs. Oes-
terreich from 1912 until after the
murder, were made only after Sha-
piro accused the suspect in the af-
fdavit filed early this week.
According to Sanhuber's alleged
confession, he first met Mrs. Oes-
tereich eighteen years ago when
he was II years old. Later he en-
tered the Oesterreich home, then
in Milwaukee, and constructed a
place for himself In the attic.
When the Oesterreichs moved to
Los Angeles, Sanhuber followed
them and built himself another
nest in the attic Of their California
home.