Dolly Oesterreich hid her lover, Otto Sanhuber, in the attic of the home, and after Sanhuber killed her husband in 1922, the couple almost got away with murder.
Wikimedia CommonsWalburga “Dolly” Oesterreich, circa 1930.
In 1922, Dolly Oesterreich’s husband Fred was murdered in their Los Angeles home. At first, police thought Fred’s murder seemed like a robbery gone wrong. They’d found Dolly locked in a closet when they arrived, and some of the couple’s valuables were missing. But the police had in fact stumbled into a strange love-triangle involving Dolly, her husband, and her lover, who was living in their attic with Dolly’s blessing.
The strange story had begun almost a decade earlier, in 1913, when Dolly first crossed paths with a young man named Otto Sanhuber. The two fell in love and, to conceal their affair, Dolly invited Sanhuber to live in her attic. After hearing a violent argument between Dolly and Fred nine years later, Sanhuber had emerged — and shot Fred Oesterreich to death.
He and Dolly Oesterreich almost got away with murder. But Dolly’s actions after the fact eventually roused suspicion, and the world learned the truth of Dolly, Sanhuber, and their bizarre relationship.
This is their story.
How Otto Sanhuber Moved Into Dolly Oesterreich’s Attic
Los Angeles Public LibraryFred and Dolly Oesterreich in front of their home.
Before she became known as a “naughty vamp,” in the media, Walburga “Dolly” Oesterreich was a Milwaukee housewife, married to an apron manufacturer named Fred Oesterreich. One day in 1913, 26-year-old Dolly called her husband at work and told him that her sewing machine was broken. Fred sent a 17-year-old boy named Otto Sanhuber to look into it, and when Sanhuber arrived at the Oesterreich family home, Dolly opened the door wearing just stockings and a silk robe. With that, their affair began.
But Sanhuber’s comings and goings quickly attracted the attention of the Osterreich’s neighbors. At first, Dolly claimed that the 17-year-old was her “vagabond half-brother.” Then, to further avoid detection, Dolly came up with a surprising plan — for Sanhuber to move into her attic.
Los Angeles Public LibraryOtto Sanhuber, the man who lived in Dolly Oesterreich’s attic for years.
Sanhuber agreed to more or less abandoned his own life. He moved into the Oesterreich’s attic, where he spent the day making love to Dolly or helping her with household chores (the Los Angeles Times reported in 1995 that these included making “bathtub gin.”) Then, when Fred got home in the evening, Sanhuber retreated to the attic and wrote science fiction stories.
When Fred Oesterreich decided to move his family to Los Angeles in 1918, Otto Sanhuber quietly came along. In fact, LAist reported in 2022 that Dolly agreed to the move on one condition: their new house had to have an attic.
Dolly Oesterreich found a suitable house in the neighborhood of Silver Lake. And there, just a few years later, Otto Sanhuber would murder her husband.
The Murder Of Fred Oesterreich In Los Angeles
Los Angeles Public LibraryThe Oesterreich family home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake.
For four years, Dolly Oesterreich and Otto Sanhuber continued their affair right under Fred Oesterreich’s nose. But everything changed on the night of August 22, 1922, when Dolly and Fred began to argue.
From his place in the attic, Otto Sanhuber listened as the argument escalated. He began to fear for Dolly’s safety, and so grabbed two .25-caliber gun and raced into the house to confront Fred. Fred immediately recognized Sanhuber, and became exceedingly angry. The two men struggled, and the guns went off. Fred Oesterreich was shot three times, and killed.
Dolly and Sanhuber panicked — and decided to stage the scene as a robbery. Sanhuber took Fred’s expensive diamond watch, locked Dolly in a closet, and then scurried back up into the attic. Moments later the police — called by a neighbor who’d heard gunshots — arrived at the scene.
The police found Dolly in the closet, and she told them that her husband had been shot by a robber. However, the police were suspicious about the scene from the beginning. For starters, Dolly claimed that she and her husband never fought. For another, Fred had been killed with a relatively small gun, the kind of weapon usually carried by a woman.
Los Angeles Public LibraryThe entrance to Otto Sanhuber’s hiding place.
But since police couldn’t figure out how Dolly could have killed her husband, and then locked herself in the closet, they reluctantly believed her story. However, the truth about Fred Oesterreich’s murder would soon come out.
How The World Learned Dolly Oesterreich’s Story
In the aftermath of Fred’s murder, Dolly Oesterreich moved into a different house. Otto Sanhuber followed her — but continued to live primarily in the attic. Their routine thus continued as normal, though Sanhuber allowed himself the luxury of a typewriter to compose his stories.
Meanwhile, Dolly managed to get herself two new lovers – her estate attorney, Herman S. Shapiro, and a businessman named Roy H. Klumb.
Los Angeles Public LibraryDolly Oesterreich with a court interviewer.
With Shapiro and Klumb, Dolly made two mistakes. First, she gifted Fred’s diamond watch to Shapiro. Shapiro recognized it as the one “stolen” by the burglar, but Dolly told him that she’d found it under a cushion. Second, Dolly asked Klumb to get rid of one of Sanhuber’s guns by telling him that it looked like the one used to kill her husband, and she was worried that the police would suspect her. Klumb dropped the gun in the La Brea Tar Pits, and Dolly sweet talked her neighbor into burying the other gun in his yard.
But when Dolly broke up with Klumb, he went to the police. On July 12, 1923, the police found the discarded gun in the black bubbling tar. Dolly was arrested and, when her neighbor heard, he also went to the police.
However, both guns were too badly damaged to determine if they’d been used to murder Fred Oesterreich.
Then, with Dolly stuck in prison, she asked Shapiro to go check on Sanhuber. Otto Sanhuber told Shapiro everything, but Shapiro was seemingly undeterred by Sanhuber’s story. Instead, he convinced Sanhuber to leave the state and, when Dolly got out of prison on bail, he moved in with her. (Unlike Otto Sanhuber, Shapiro did not live in the attic.)
The charges against Dolly were dropped but, when she and Shapiro split up seven years later, Shapiro went to the police and told them everything he knew. Dolly Oesterreich was subsequently charged with conspiracy, and Otto Sanhuber was charged with the murder of Fred Oesterreich.
At trial, Dolly claimed that she had lied to the police to protect both Sanhuber and her reputation.
Los Angeles Public LibraryDolly Oesterreich in prison.
“I didn’t believe he meant to do it, and I didn’t want to expose my life to the world — having him in the house,” she stated.
Though Otto Sanhuber claimed that he’d been Dolly Oesterreich’s sex slave, a jury found him guilty of manslaughter. However, the statute of limitations on the manslaughter charge had run out, so Sanhuber walked free. Meanwhile, Dolly Oesterreich’s case ended in a hung jury. She also walked free.
Dolly Oesterreich died in 1961 at age 80, and will be forever remembered for her role in what the media dubbed the “Bat Man” murder case.
Next, read about these vintage Hollywood scandals that rocked Tinseltown, or look through these chilling unsolved cold cases.
