New developments have materialized in a story the fifth estate first told you in 2005 about a self-made widow - Melissa Friedrich, now Millie Weeks - who’s been arrested in Nova Scotia for a suspected attempted murder after the suspicious near-fatal illness of another husband… The Widow’s Web tells Mrs. Weeks’ troubling story anew, with the latest developments, and airs this Friday, Oct. 5 at 9 p.m. ET (9:30 NT) on CBC-TV.
From Web of Deceit, which originally aired on the fifth estate on March 9, 2005: Alexander Strategos did what any lonely 73-year-old retiree in Florida looking for love would do - he logged on to a seniors’ website and made a date. The 69-year-old brunette from Canada who answered his call arrived in a new white Cadillac and quickly made herself at home in his condo. Over the next two months, police believe Melissa Ann Friedrich drugged Strategos, took control of his home, stole his life savings and was already searching for her next victim on Internet dating sites.
the fifth estate’s Linden MacIntyre investigated Friedrich’s remarkable and complex story, including a lengthy and dramatic interview with her in prison. After police arrested Friedrich on charges of exploitation of the elderly, they learned she had at least 13 aliases and at least 30 prior convictions for various kinds of fraud dating back to 1970. They also learned that she was convicted of manslaughter in 1992 after running over, not once but twice, her 44-year-old husband on a dirt road near the Halifax airport. Another husband died in 2002, and family members suspect Friedrich in his death. And in March 2005, Friedrich was convicted on seven charges of theft and forgery.
She was released from prison in Florida in 2009, and until yesterday’s news, had apparently been living a quiet life for the past three years.
CBC News Network rebroadcasts the fifth estate on Saturdays and Sundays at 7 p.m. ET. For more information on the fifth estate, visit our website at www.cbc.ca/fifth, join us on Facebook and follow us on twitter. Executive producer of the fifth estate is Jim Williamson.
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For further information, or to request interviews, contact: Melissa Prince, Veritas Communications o) 416-482-2669 c) 647-205-4744 prince@veritascanada.com or Corey Black, News and Current Affairs Publicist, CBC o) 416-205-8710 c) 647-221-4133 corey.black@cbc.ca
