# Dagmar Overbye
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dagmar_Overbye
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dagmar_Overbye.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagmar_Overbye
> Source revision: 1354541123
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Short description|Danish serial killer}}
{{Expand Danish|topic=bio|date=December 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox serial killer
| name = Dagmar Overbye
| image = File:Dagmar Overby politimuseet.1920.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Dagmar Johanne Amalie Overbye
| other_names =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1887|4|23|df=y}}
| birth_place = [Skanderborg](/source/Skanderborg), Denmark
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1929|5|6|1887|4|23|df=y}}
| death_place = [Copenhagen](/source/Copenhagen), Denmark
| cause =
| conviction = [Murder](/source/Murder) (9 counts)
| sentence = [Death](/source/Capital_punishment_in_Denmark); commuted to [life imprisonment](/source/life_imprisonment)
| victims = 9–25
| beginyear = 1913
| endyear = 1920
| country = [Denmark](/source/Denmark)
| states =
| apprehended =
| children = 3
}}
'''Dagmar Johanne Amalie Overbye''' ({{IPA|da|ˈtɑwmɑ ˈɒwɐˌpyˀ|lang}}; 23 April 1887 – 6 May 1929) was a [Danish](/source/Danes) [serial killer](/source/serial_killer). She murdered between nine and 25 children, including one of her own, during a seven-year period from 1913 to 1920. On 3 March 1921, she was [sentenced to death](/source/Capital_punishment_in_Denmark) in one of the most noted trials in Danish history—one that changed legislation on [childcare](/source/childcare).[{{Cite encyclopedia
| author = Hanne Rimmen Nielsen
| author-link = Hanne Rimmen Nielsen
| title = Dagmar Overby (1887–1929)
| encyclopedia = [Dansk kvindebiografisk leksikon](/source/Dansk_kvindebiografisk_leksikon)
| year = 2003
| publisher = [KVINFO](/source/KVINFO)
| language = Danish
| url = http://www.kvinfo.dk/side/170/bio/904/
}}]
The sentence was later [commuted](/source/clemency) to [life in prison](/source/life_in_prison).
Overbye was working as a professional [child caretaker](/source/childcare), caring for babies born [outside of marriage](/source/Illegitimacy), and murdering her own charges. She strangled them, drowned them, or burned them to death in her [masonry heater](/source/masonry_heater). The corpses were either cremated, buried, or hidden in the loft.
Overbye was convicted of nine murders as there was insufficient proof of the others.[{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=Jane |date=2016-08-15 |title=The shocking case of the Vesterbro baby burner |url=https://cphpost.dk/2016-08-15/business-education/the-shocking-case-of-the-vesterbro-baby-burner/ |access-date=2025-08-29 |website=The Copenhagen Post |language=en-GB}}] Her lawyer based the defense on Overbye being [abused](/source/Child_abuse) herself as a baby, yet that claim did not impress the judge. She became one of the three women sentenced to death in Denmark in the 20th century, but she – like the other two – was reprieved.{{citation needed|date=October 2011}}
She died in prison on 6 May 1929 at the age of 42. Notes relating to her case are included in the [Politihistorisk Museum](/source/Politihistorisk_Museum) (Museum of Police History) in [Nørrebro](/source/N%C3%B8rrebro), Copenhagen.
== In popular culture ==
The Danish author [Karen Søndergaard Koldste](/source/Karen_S%C3%B8ndergaard_Koldste) wrote a novel called ''Englemagersken'' (''The Angel Maker'') based on her.[{{Cite web |url=http://www.englemagersken.dk/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103135034/http://englemagersken.dk/ |archive-date=2014-01-03 |url-status=dead }}] [Teatret ved Sorte Hest](/source/Teatret_ved_Sorte_Hest) in Copenhagen has performed a play named ''Historien om en Mo(r)der'' (''Morder'' meaning "murderer" and ''moder'' meaning "mother") based on her life.
Premiering at Chicago Horror Film Festival in 2024, [Peder Pedersen](/source/Peder_Pedersen_(director))'s feature film ''Englebørn'' AKA ''Lost Angels'' stars Agnes Born as a troubled young artist whose traumas resurface as she hears the sound of crying babies appearing from nowhere; it turns out she is living in one of the apartments where Dagmar Overbye committed her infanticide.[{{cite web | title=Englebørn | url=https://anotherworldent.com/film/engleboern/ }}]
Overbye is a character in the 2024 film ''[The Girl with the Needle](/source/The_Girl_with_the_Needle)'', directed by Poland-based Swedish director [Magnus von Horn](/source/Magnus_von_Horn), where she is portrayed by [Trine Dyrholm](/source/Trine_Dyrholm) as a candy shopkeeper who quietly advertises she can get babies adopted for a fee, but in fact kills them after their mothers drop them off.[{{Cite web |last=Lodge |first=Guy |date=2024-05-15 |title='The Girl With the Needle' Review: Magnus von Horn's Expressionistic Nightmare of Women Abandoned by Society |url=https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/the-girl-with-the-needle-review-1236002246/ |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}][{{Cite news |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |date=2024-05-16 |title=The Girl With the Needle review – horrific drama based on Denmark's 1921 baby-killer case |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/may/16/the-girl-with-the-needle-review-magnus-van-horne-dagmar-overbye |access-date=2024-05-16 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}] The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.