Episode 112: The Mysterious Death of Jennie Cramer


Jennie Cramer was born to parents Jacob and Christina in New Haven, Connecticut. Jacob was a cigar merchant and adored Jennie, who was a very sickly child. Despite her being a frail child she was described as having grown up to be a “striking beauty” with a fair complexion, deep blue eyes and dark hair and was even known as “The Belle of New Haven.”

Jennie was allowed to leave school at 15 to focus on her social life and finding a respectable suitor, who had to be approved by her mother, and she became somewhat of a flirt. At the age of 21 in 1881, Jennie met 23-year-old Jimmy Malley who worked at his uncle’s department store where Jennie would go to flirt with him. Jimmy’s good friend and cousin Walter was shy and into the arts but enjoyed going to New York City with Jimmy to frequent brothels. At one brothel Walter met a sex worker named “Blanche” who he desperately began trying to woo.

Jimmy was trying to do the same with Jennie, who was not that interested. The two men, Blanche and Jennie began going on double dates and Jennie would return home in the early hours of the next morning to her very angry mother. On August 4th, 1881, Jennie came home in the morning after a night out to her mother waiting to not only scold her, but kick her out of the house.

On August 6th, an oyster man was preparing his boat for an early morning start when he saw the body of a woman drifting in the shallow sea dressed in white. The body was that of Jennie Cramer, and it was initially thought that she had drowned or died by suicide. Autopsy determined that drowning was not the cause of death due to the absence of water in her lungs and stomach. Further investigation determined that Jennie had ingested 2-4 grains of arsenic, a very lethal amount.

Walter, Jimmy and Blanche were all questioned by police. Once alone, Blanche provided police with disturbing information that put suspicion on Jimmy and Walter, however there was not enough physical evidence to incriminate them in Jennie’s murder. Her case is still considered unsolved.

Image sources:

  • findagrave.com - “Jennie E. Cramer”

  • newenglandhistoricalsociety.com - “Jennie Cramer - New Haven’s ‘Beautiful Victim’ of 1881”


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Case Profiles #29