Alfred Cline

Case record

Alfred Cline was an American “Bluebeard” who was linked with at least nine homicides between 1930 and his arrest in 1945. He was never convicted of the murders due to lack of evidence. He was convicted of forgery in California and sentenced to 126 years in prison.

Background

Cline was described as a quiet, heavy-set man with romantic charm. He liked company, efficiency, and forgery. He met lonely, well-heeled old women at church functions, and his company usually died suddenly in a hotel room shortly after signing her estate over to him.

Cline liked to take his company on pleasure trips. He then asked them to drink a glass of buttermilk. When a victim died, he had her body cremated before police could examine it. Most of his victims were cremated.

Cline also used a method in which, after a bride became unconscious, a house physician would be summoned and told that “Mrs. Cline was suffering ‘another heart attack.’” Hours later, when a second dose of drugs proved fatal, doctors were inclined to issue death certificates citing “heart failure” as the proximate cause.

The offence

Cline was linked with at least nine homicides between 1930 and his arrest in 1945. He was described as “Bluebeard” slayer of eight wives and one male friend.

The dates of killings were given as 1931–1945. The locations were given as California, Nevada, Texas, Massachusetts, and Colorado.

It was stated that he would have his victims put his name in their wills and then he would kill them.

Investigation

Police dug into Cline’s secretive past and found at least eight instances in which “Forger Cline’s buttermilk-drinking friends had died, leaving him legacies totaling $82,000.” Family members pressed for an investigation after “a wire arrived from Portland, Oregon, reporting her death,” which led to uncovering his criminal activities in a dozen states.

It was stated that cremation of his late, lamented wives saved Cline from prosecution on a murder charge, but he was jailed for forgery in San Francisco.

It was also stated that testimony from two surviving poison victims persuaded the court that a maximum sentence was justified.

Arrest

Cline was said to have been arrested in 1945.

It was also stated that he had an arrest last December and that this had cost him two prison terms and an arrest last December.

Trial

At his trial in San Francisco last week, Judge Herbert C. Kaufman made it reasonably sure that Alfred Cline would make no more close friends.

Cline was charged with nine counts of forgery. The judge ruled that the nine sentences should run consecutively. Maximum time was 126 years.

Sentencing

Cline was sentenced to 126 years in prison.

Outcome

Cline was never convicted of the murders due to lack of evidence.

Cline died in Folsom Prison of a heart attack on August 5, 1948.

Other details

• Delora Krebs: In May 1944, Cline married a Chicago widow, Delora Krebs. Her annuity checks were always promptly cashed, but relatives had trouble reaching her by telephone. Cline habitually put them off with tales of illness, shopping errands, previous engagements. A wire arrived from Portland, Oregon, reporting her death; family members pressed for an investigation. Delora’s annuity checks came back to haunt him.
• Rev. Ernest Jones: Cline’s single male victim was an evangelist, Rev. Ernest Jones. Rev. Ernest Jones made Cline the heir to $11,000 shortly before Cline’s “unexpected” death.
• Cremation: It was stated that cremation of his late wives saved him from prosecution on a murder charge.
• Disposition: “126-year sentence in Calif.; died in prison, Aug. 1948.”
• The status description also included: “Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans ‘Buttermilk Bluebeard’ Time.com Monday, May. 06, 1946.”
• Classification details provided in the case summary included: “Motive: CE-inheritance” and “MO: ‘Bluebeard’ slayer of eight wives and one male friend.”