Caroline Grills

{{Short description|Australian serial killer (c. 1888 – 1960)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=April 2011}} {{Infobox serial killer | name = Caroline Grills | image = Caroline Grills.png | image_size = | caption = Caroline Grills, arriving at Sydney Central Court on 9 July 1953 | birth_name = Caroline Michelson | birth_date = c. 1888<ref name=biog/> | birth_place = Balmain, New South Wales, Australia<ref name=biog/> | death_date = 6 October 1960 (aged 71–72) | death_place = Randwick, New South Wales, Australia<ref name=biog/> | status = Deceased | victims = 4 (plus 3 attempted murders) | other_names = Aunty Carrie, "Aunt Thally" whilst imprisoned | country = Australia | states = New South Wales<ref name=biog/><ref name=famousNswCases>{{cite news | url =http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Murder-tried-and-true/2005/02/10/1107890341655.html | title =Murder, tried and true | work =Sydney Morning Herald | date =11 February 2003 | accessdate = 2008-01-16 }}</ref> | beginyear = 1947 | endyear = 1953 | apprehended = {{start date|df=yes|1953|04}} | penalty = Death; commuted to life imprisonment | conviction = Murder }} '''Caroline Grills''' (née '''Mickelson'''; between 1888 and 1890 – 6 October 1960) was an Australian serial killer who poisoned her victims. She was predominantly a comfort killer, who murdered well-off members of her extended family to maintain a respectable lifestyle, but her later murders had less clear motives.

==Biography== Caroline Michelson was the daughter of Mary Preiers and George Michelson in Balmain, Sydney, and born between 1888 and 1890.<ref name="biog" /><ref name="cinemaserialkillers">{{cite book|title=Cinema Serial Killers|last=Kidd|first=Paul B|publisher=Five Mile Press|location=Scoresby, Victoria|date=2012|edition=2|isbn=9781743005361}}</ref> She married Richard William Grills on 22 April 1908, with whom she had four sons.<ref name="cinemaserialkillers" />

She first became a murder suspect in 1947 after the deaths of four family members: her 87-year-old stepmother Christine Mickelson; relatives by marriage Angelina Thomas and John Lundberg; and sister in law Mary Anne Mickelson. Authorities tested tea she had given to two additional family members (Christine Downey and John Downey of Redfern) on 13 April 1953, and detected the then-common household rat poison, thallium. At the time, thallium was easy to buy over the counter in New South Wales.<ref name="cinemaserialkillers" /> Mickelson had inherited from Grills' father a house in Gladesville, and Grills was speculated to have murdered her to inherit it. Similarly, Thomas was a close family friend of the Grills couple and had left her holiday home in the Blue Mountains to the couple.<ref name="cinemaserialkillers" />

Grills, a short woman who wore thick-rimmed dark glasses, commonly served her friends and in-laws tea, cakes and biscuits. She appeared in court charged with four murders and three attempted murders (the third being Eveline Lundberg, of Redfern, Christine Downey's mother) in October 1953. She was convicted on 15 October 1953 and sentenced to death, but her sentence was later changed to life in prison. She became affectionately known as "Aunt Thally" (a punning reference to "Aunt Sally") to other inmates of Sydney's Long Bay Prison. In October 1960, she was rushed to the Prince Henry Hospital at Randwick where she died from peritonitis<ref name=biog>Garton, Stephen [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/grills-caroline-10371 Grills, Caroline (1888–1960] in ''Australian Dictionary of Biography Online'', ANU 1996. Accessed 28 April 2012.</ref> from a ruptured gastric ulcer. In the months that followed more cases of thallium poisoning were stated, including notably, prominent Australian Rugby League footballer Bobby Lulham.

==References== {{reflist}} {{Refbegin}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060312135311/http://www.fireflybooks.com/Publicity/books/4839.html ''Hidden Evidence: Forty true crimes and how forensic science helped solve them''] by David Owen (Firefly Books, September 2000). *''Murder! 25 True Australian Crimes'' by Vivien Encel & Alan Sharpe {{Refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grills, Caroline}} Category:1960 deaths Category:20th-century Australian murderers Category:20th-century Australian women Category:Australian female serial killers Category:Australian serial killers Category:Australian people convicted of murder Category:Australian prisoners sentenced to death Category:Criminals from Sydney Category:Deaths from peritonitis Category:People convicted of murder by New South Wales Category:Poisoners Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by New South Wales Category:Prisoners who died in New South Wales detention Category:Serial killers who died in prison custody Category:Thallium poisoning Category:Women sentenced to death Category:Year of birth unknown