The Little Fella in the Attic - Adultery and Murder Case, Part 2 of 2

When we last left our star-crossed lovers and the cuckolded but unaware husband, Fred, Dolly and Otto had just moved from Milwaukee to their new home in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles - a newly developing community just north of downtown L.A. and east of Hollywood. Glendale Blvd. provided Fred with an easy commute to his new factory.

There are little to no public records of the Oesterreichs (or Otto) between when they moved into their Silver Lake home until the fateful night of Aug. 22, 1922.

Sanhuber later testified that shortly after moving in, he installed “window locks” on the inside of his attic entry hatch in Dolly’s bedroom closet. Her desires were so incessant that he would, on occasion, lock himself in - his only means of avoidance. He referred to these times as “fasting” because when locked in he had no access to food.

Otto’s 1930 trial testimony, from attorney, Jerry Giesler’s book, The Jerry Giesler Story:

Question from Mr. Wakeman, Otto’s lawyer: Tell us about the times that you fasted.
Answer from Otto: It was a sort of defense. I had no other weapon. I did it deliberately. I would go in my attic and I would stay there, I would not come out except for when needful, and I would fast, I just wouldn’t eat anything, that is all, and I had peace. Maybe it was foolish of me, but I did not - that was my best way of doing it - and she would begin to feel sorry for me, I think, and talk softly to me and bring me food, set it there. Well, now, like in that house, at that little door, you know.
Q. Outside of the door?
A. And then she would become, not disagreeable, but annoyed with me, and then I behaved myself.
Q. By “behaving yourself” you mean you did what she wanted you to?
A. Yes sir.
Q. And did that have anything to do with sex?
A. Yes sir, as a rule.

Otto described in his grand jury testimony in 1930 that one night at the Silver Lake home, while Dolly and Fred were out, there was an attempted break-in. Otto said he managed to scare off the would-be thief or thieves before they were able to make entry.

Ever since that night, for the next couple of years, whenever Fred and Dolly were out in the evening, he said he would sit at the top of the stairs holding his two pistols, guarding the house. He very much saw himself as Dolly’s protector.

On the night of Aug. 22, 1922, when an intoxicated Dolly tripped on a throw rug after entering their home and cried out. Otto assumed that Fred was doing something to Dolly and he rushed down the stairs, pistols in hand.

According to Dolly’s later statement, Fred - also drunk - recognized Otto as the scrawny young sewing machine repairer from ten years earlier. He simply said, “You?”, as Otto rapidly approached him. The two briefly struggled before Otto got off four shots - three bullets hit Fred and he collapsed, dead.

Two women were in the house next to the Oesterreichs, directly to the east: Mrs. Flora Rawson, the home’s owner, and her guest for three weeks, Mrs. Cora N. Norton. They both testified in Dolly and Otto’s murder trials eight years later. Mrs. Norton recounted how the window in the bedroom she was staying in looked out directly at the Oesterreich house.

Shortly after 11:30 she was awakened by a cool breeze from the Pacific coming in through the open window. As she got to the window to shut it, she heard one shot coming from the Oesterreich house. Following the sound of the gun shot, Mrs. Rawson joined her in kneeling at the window. Almost immediately, they heard three more shots, and they heard Dolly scream, “Fred, oh Fred”.

The two women actually knelt at the open window, watching the house for approximately twenty minutes before calling the police. In fact, Mrs. Rawson called the Oesterreich home instead, recalling that the phone rang for 3-4 minutes and no one answered.

Mrs. Norton testified that about fifteen minutes after hearing the shots the front porch light was turned off. About five minutes later, a light went on in an upstairs room and then went off. After seeing that light, the women went outside and walked around the Oesterreich house but did not notice anything out of order.

After 5-10 minutes, they began to hear a knocking coming from inside the house. They both agreed that it sounded like the heel of a slipper striking something. They called out that help was coming a number of times but received no response.

They also testified that they saw no one leave or enter the home the entire time they were watching.

The acting Chief of Police dispatched two detectives to the scene, with Detective Herman Klein as the lead investigator. When they finally arrived, they found the front door locked but were able to gain entry through a set of French doors that led from a patio to the living room. Once inside, Detective Klein turned on a light, revealing Fred Oesterreich sprawled on the living room floor, dead.

Three bullets had entered his body. One penetrated his heart. Another entered his head a few inches above his left ear. The question now was, where was Mrs. Oesterreich?

The group headed upstairs, toward the slapping or pounding sound, finally entering the last bedroom. The noise was coming from the closet, which they found was locked. The closet key was conveniently lying on top of a dresser next to the closet door.

One of the detectives unlocked it to find Dolly crumpled on the floor, seemingly in a dead faint. After having cold water splashed on her face, she came to and immediately cried, “Where’s Fred?”

What followed was a story the detectives found suspicious: The Oesterreichs had visited friends and had come home not long before midnight. According to Dolly, when Fred had let her in she had noticed a fur neckpiece on a chair, had picked it up, had gone upstairs and had just put the fur away in a bedroom closet. Then she heard unusual noises downstairs.

“I thought Fred had slipped on a rug”, she said. “When I turned to leave the closet, someone shoved me into it and slammed the door. I thought that perhaps Fred was playing a joke on me. Then I heard four shots. I took off my shoes and pounded on the door. I yelled, but no one came. After that I drew a blank.”

Then she cried out frantically, “Something has happened to Fred. I know it has. Where is he?”

One of the women told her police had found her husband’s body downstairs. That’s about all they did find. They didn’t find a secret entry to the attic where they would have found the small, very pale Otto silently hiding in the darkness. Nor did they find Fred’s diamond encrusted pocket watch or the Elks pin that he wore - items that Dolly told the detectives that the burglars/murderers must have taken.

She had actually given these items to Otto, telling him to take them to the attic with him after locking her in her closet. Dolly also instructed Otto to break up the pistols into small pieces, which he did after filing off the serial numbers. She later tied the pistol pieces up in two handkerchiefs.

In the days that followed, Dolly gave one of the handkerchief bundles to Roy H. Klumb, a businessman, actor and another of her lovers, and asked him to throw it into the La Brea tar pits to avoid unfair suspicion falling on her if it was found by police - which he did.

In fact, Klumb’s relationship with Dolly had to have pre-dated Fred’s death because Klumb testified at Dolly’s murder trial eight years later that Dolly told him she had a lover that she was afraid would kill her husband.

She asked a neighbor, John Farber, to dispose of the other gun for her. Farber agreed, and buried the pistol parts under a rose bush in his garden, also in order to keep suspicion from falling on Dolly, who he believed was innocent as well.

Detective Klein, however, had other ideas. The night of Fred’s killing he had asked Dolly if she and her husband ever argued or fought. “Never”, was Dolly’s reply. Klein realized this was highly unlikely, and probably a bald-faced lie. His suspicion was later confirmed by the statements of friends and neighbors saying that Dolly and Fred had frequent, loud arguments.

Later in 1922, Dolly purchased and moved into a new, slightly smaller home on Beachwood Drive in Hollywood. Yes, it also had an attic in which Otto again took up residence. Even though Fred was now gone, Dolly and Otto, for whatever reason, preferred it that way.

The next summer (1923) Roy. H. Klumb learned that Dolly was also having a relationship with her business attorney, Herman Shapiro. This led to arguments between Klumb and Dolly. Klumb realized that his affections and trust had been misplaced.

He first attempted to sell the story of the gun and its disposal to an L.A. reporter in exchange for a $50 per week newspaper job. Instead, the reporter alerted detectives who brought Klumb in and got his story.

The detectives weren’t sure whether to believe such a tale, but they followed up and went to the La Brea tar pits. Incredibly, they found the gun pieces in a handkerchief bundle, just as Klumb had said. It turned out he didn’t throw the small bundle far enough and it was still lying in the dirt, inches from the tar pit that would have swallowed it forever.

During subsequent questioning, Klumb suggested that the detectives should talk to John Farber, a neighbor of Dolly’s, who also might have information. Farber was candid with the investigators and showed them his rose bush, buried under which they found the second bundle of pistol pieces.

This new information was enough for the police and the L.A. prosecutor, and they prepared an indictment for Dolly. She was arrested for murder on July 12, 1923.

Both pistols were .25 caliber, the same as the bullets that killed Fred. Tests on the pistols indicated that the tar pits gun could not have been the murder weapon. And the pistol recovered from under the rose bush was too degraded and well-filed that no determination could be made.

Since Dolly was a wealthy woman, she could afford the best defense lawyer. She retained Jerry Giesler, who would in the ensuing years become known as “The Hollywood Lawyer” for successfully representing such stars as Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn, Robert Mitchum and Lana Turner’s daughter, Cheryl.

Giesler insisted that since neither of the two guns could be identified as the murder weapon, and there was no way that Mrs. Oesterreich could have locked herself in her closet, the state had insufficient evidence to proceed with the murder charge.

Meanwhile, Dolly was not doing well. Her health had deteriorated and the conditions in the L.A. women’s jail were filthy and abusive.

Giesler’s pleas to the court on Dolly’s behalf were successful and in late August 1923 she was released on $50,000 bond, after six weeks of incarceration. The Hollywood Lawyer was also successful in obtaining multiple trial continuances until finally, in Jan. 1925, all charges were dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Prior to her jailing, attorney Shapiro had taken his relationship with Dolly to the next level and had moved into her Beachwood Dr. home. One day, during a jail visit from Shapiro, Dolly told him that her reclusive “vagabond half-brother” was living in her attic and would Shapiro buy some groceries and deliver them to him?

She described the scratching and knocking combination that he should employ to signal to Otto that it was safe to come out. An incredulous Shapiro did as she asked and after scratching and knocking on the panel in Dolly’s bedroom closet as instructed, the panel swung open and a pale, wraith-like man/boy emerged.

“I know you”, the figure exclaimed to the shocked Shapiro. “I’ve been watching you for quite a while”. It became clear to the attorney that Otto had long been without human contact because he chattered non-stop about his history with Dolly and his multiple attic homes over the past 10 years.

Shapiro convinced Otto that his continuing presence in Dolly’s attic was dangerous for her because she was actively being investigated by the police. So, with Shapiro’s encouragement and assistance, Otto moved out and took a bus to San Francisco where he found work as a janitor.

Otto later moved to Canada where he changed his name to Walter Klein and met and married a woman named Mathilde. He must have decided he missed something about Los Angeles because in 1926 he moved back there with his wife.

At some point, Dolly wanted to show her appreciation for Shapiro and gifted him Fred’s diamond-encrusted pocket watch, saying, “This belonged to my late husband and I want you to have it”.

Shapiro recognized the watch as being one of the items the burglars supposedly stole the night Fred was murdered and pointed that out to Dolly. Her explanation was that she later found the watch wedged between sofa cushions and didn’t think to inform police.

Not long after this, Detective Klein visited Shapiro at his office to ask further questions and noticed Fred Oesterreich’s watch sitting on his desk. Shapiro gave Klein the explanation he had received from Dolly. This only further strengthened Klein’s belief in Dolly’s guilt.

Dolly’s later explanation to Klein was that Mr. Shapiro’s watch was not that of her late husband. This prompted Klein to actually travel to Milwaukee with the watch and show it to jewelers in the city until he found one who recognized it as a watch he sold to Fred Oesterreich years ago.

While in Milwaukee, Klein also interviewed Alvie Judkins, one of Fred’s former office employees. Since Fred was distrustful of Dolly, he would hire Alvie to stay in the home with her when he was out of town on business trips.

Alvie told Klein that Dolly was having none of that. Dolly would tell her to leave as soon as Fred was gone and bring her back just before Fred returned. She also told Klein that she had been receiving anonymous death threat letters warning her not to come to Los Angeles to testify if she knew what was good for her.

By early 1930, Shapiro had had enough of Dolly’s lies and behavior and went to Klein and spilled the beans about both Dolly and Otto.

The news that Dolly had a secret lover hidden in the house at the time of Fred’s death broke the case wide open. A grand jury was empaneled in April 1930 at which both Dolly and Otto testified. Otto confessed to everything, and Dolly took the fifth.

The result was that Otto was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder and Dolly was charged with conspiracy to commit murder

The DA’s office wanted to try the two together but Dolly’s lawyer, Mr. Giesler, successfully convinced the court they should be tried separately. Otto’s trial was held first, on June 11, 1930, before Judge Carlos S. Hardy. The little fellow’s testimony went on for three days, covering virtually every detail of his 10+ years with Dolly.

Attorney Giesler, who observed the trial in preparation for his defense of Dolly, later commented that, “somewhere along the way, Sanhuber had acquired a habit of twitching which almost amounted to a body tic. This convulsive shuddering was noticeable to all who saw him, and it made him seem even more pathetic”.

And he later commented, “My principal recollection of Otto Sanhuber is that at that point he was utterly forlorn”.

The jury must also have felt some pity for this man-child and self-described “sex slave”, because they only found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. And, since the statute of limitations for manslaughter at that time was six years and the crime was eight years old, Otto was set free.

Next, on August 4, 1930, Mrs. Oesterreich was put on trial “for conspiracy, leading to the murder of her husband”. Since Otto had faced trial and had been set free, Dolly retold the story of her slipping on the throw rug in the entry and crying out. Otto thought she was being attacked and rushed down the stairs with the two pistols, struggled with Fred and her husband was shot three times. Otto then locked her in the closet, etc.

Her neighbors testified that they heard loud, profanity-filled arguing between Dolly and Fred over the years. Defense attorney, Giesler argued that the shooting was accidental rather than criminal and certainly was not premeditated.

When Otto testified (for the prosecution), he, for some reason, reverted to the story that burglars had killed Fred.

The prosecution had paid for Alvie Judkins to travel to L.A. to testify. She told the court that when the Oesterreich’s were getting ready to move to Los Angeles, Dolly said to Alvie, “I don’t know why I’m going to California with him. You know what I think about him”.

Alvie replied, “Why don’t you divorce him?”

“No, there is only one way to get rid of him and it isn’t divorce”, was Dolly’s answer.

After Fred died Dolly had returned to Milwaukee to take care of some of the estate business. Alvie spoke to her several times. “Tell me who did it,” Alvie asked her several times.

“Don’t ever ask me that question”, responded Dolly. “I sweat blood while they were questioning me. But don’t forget this: I’m a fox! I’m so hard now that I could shake hands with the devil!”

“But lots of foxes are caught”, Alvie answered her.

“Not me! Don’t ever answer any questions about me if you don’t want to get in trouble”, was Dolly’s final answer.

In the end, the jury was deadlocked and unable to reach a verdict. Judge Hardy granted attorney Giesler’s motion for a mistrial and in Dec. 1930 the charge against Dolly was dismissed.

Sometime after 1930, Dolly took on a man named Ray Bert Hedrick as her business manager. By the early 1940s, she and Ray Bert began living together in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles, though there is no evidence that they were ever lovers.

By 1961 Dolly was 81 years old and in very poor health. She and Ray Bert decided to marry so that her estate could flow to him after her death. Two weeks after tying the knot Dolly was dead.

Part 1

Author’s note: In researching this article, I found there were very few consistencies to this story in the many other published accounts, both in the timelines and in other key details. I have attempted to lay out the facts of this story based on transcripts of court testimonies, contemporary newspaper accounts and interviews with the key participants from those years.