Sunny von Bülow
Sunny von Bülow | |
---|---|
Born | Martha Sharp Crawford September 1, 1932 Manassas, Virginia, U.S. |
Died | December 6, 2008 Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. | (aged 76)
Occupation | Socialite |
Spouses | |
Children | 3, including Cosima von Bülow Pavoncelli |
Parent |
|
Martha Sharp "Sunny" von Bülow (
Early life
She was the only child of utilities magnate George Crawford (a former chairman of Columbia Gas & Electric Company)[1] and his wife, Annie-Laurie Warmack. She was born on her father's personal railway carriage in Manassas, Virginia, en route from Hot Springs, Virginia, to New York,[2] for which she was known as "Choo-Choo" as a child before being nicknamed "Sunny" because of her nature.[3]
Upon her father's death, when she was three years old, she inherited a reported US$100 million.
Personal life
On July 20, 1957, Sunny married Alfred Eduard Friedrich Vincenz Martin Maria
They had two children together:
- Annie-Laurie "Ala" Auersperg (born 1958), co-founder of the National Center for Victims of Crime, who married financier Ralph H. Isham, son of diplomat Heyward Isham.[5]
- Alexander Georg Auersperg (born 1959), co-founder of the National Center for Victims of Crime, who married investment banker Nancy Louise Weinberg.[6][7]
The Auerspergs were divorced in 1965. At that time, Sunny's net worth was over $75 million. Alfred Auersperg died in 1992 after lingering in an irreversible coma for nine years following a 1983 car accident in Austria.[3]
On June 6, 1966, Sunny married
Together, they had a daughter:
- Cosima von Bülow (born 1967),[9] who married Count Riccardo Pavoncelli.
By 1979, significant stresses and tensions had developed in their marriage, and both Sunny and Claus spoke openly about the possibility of a divorce.[10]
1979 incident
On December 26, 1979, after the family had come together for Christmas at their Newport, Rhode Island mansion, she was found unresponsive and was rushed to the hospital where she slipped into a coma, but was revived. After days of testing, doctors determined the coma was the result of low blood sugar and diagnosed her as hypoglycemic, warning her against overindulging on sweets or going too long without eating.[11] While no foul play was suspected at the time, Claus von Bülow was later accused of causing this incident by injecting her with insulin.[12] In April 1980, she was again hospitalized after appearing incoherent and disoriented; their doctors reconfirmed she suffered from reactive hypoglycemia. She was advised to maintain control of the hypoglycemia by following a strict diet, limiting her sugar intake, and avoiding alcohol.[13]
1980 incident
Because of the increased marital tensions between Claus and Sunny von Bülow in the fall of 1980, her children were suspicious that her brain injury was the result of foul play by him. Her two eldest children persuaded
First trial
The case attracted nationwide publicity in the United States. The trial began in February 1982. Evidence presented by the prosecution consisted of circumstantial evidence, imputation of financial motive, extensive testimony by various maids, including Maria Schrallhammer who was a prominent witness at both trials,[14] chauffeurs, doctors, and personal exercise trainers, a black bag with drugs, and a used syringe, reported to contain traces of insulin, found in Claus von Bülow's mansion. There was much evidence of excessive use of sedatives, vitamins, and other drugs by her, including testimony of alcohol and substance abuse problems. Harvard endocrinologist George Cahill testified that he was convinced that her brain damage was the result of injected insulin. Claus von Bülow was convicted.
Appeal
Claus von Bülow hired Harvard law professor
At the second trial the defense called nine medical experts, all world-renowned university professors, who testified that the two comas were not caused by insulin, but by a combination of ingested (not injected) drugs, alcohol, and her chronic health conditions. The experts were John Caronna (vice chairman of neurology,
Other experts testified that the hypodermic needle tainted with insulin on the outside (but not inside) would have been dipped in insulin but not injected (injecting it in flesh would have wiped it clean). Evidence also showed that her hospital admission three weeks before the final coma showed she had ingested at least 73 aspirin tablets, a quantity that could only have been self-administered, and which indicated her state of mind.[16][17]
Cahill recanted his testimony from the first trial and opined that insulin was the most reasonable explanation for von Bülow's coma, but that "neither he nor anyone else could ever be 100 percent certain of the cause of the comas."[18]
Aftermath
Sunny's family remained convinced that her husband had tried to murder her and was upset that Cosima had chosen to take her father's side. As a result, in 1981, Sunny's mother, Annie Laurie Aitken, disinherited Cosima,[19] denying her share of the estate upon Aitken's death on May 4, 1984.[20] In July 1985, ten days after Claus von Bülow was acquitted at his second trial, Ala and Alexander filed a $56 million civil lawsuit against him, on their mother's behalf.[21] On December 24, 1987, this case was settled out of court when Claus von Bülow agreed to divorce her, give up all claims to her fortune, then estimated between $25 million and $40 million, and leave the country. In exchange, Cosima was reinstated in Aitken's will and received $30 million as her one-third share of the estate.[19][21]
After the trials, Ala and Alexander founded the Sunny von Bülow National Victim Advocacy Center[22] in Fort Worth, Texas, now the National Center for Victims of Crime[23] in Washington, DC, and the Sunny von Bülow Coma and Head Trauma Research Foundation in New York.[3]
Death
Sunny remained in a persistent vegetative state until her death from
In popular culture
Books
Alan Dershowitz, Claus's attorney, wrote a book about the case, Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case (New York, Random House 1986 and London, Penguin Books 1991).
Professor Vincent Marks, an insulin expert of the University of Surrey, England, and Caroline Richmond have a chapter on the science underpinning Sunny von Bülow's medical condition in their book, Insulin Murders (London, Royal Society of Medicine Press 2007).[citation needed]
Television
Sunny von Bülow's coma is referenced in
In The Nanny Season 2 Episode 15, Fran references a trip to see Claus and Fran was “stuck upstairs with Sunny” and said “the woman doesn’t say two words”
In
Media portrayals
The 1990 film Reversal of Fortune was based on Dershowitz's books about the case, with Glenn Close playing Sunny and Jeremy Irons playing Claus von Bülow, a performance for which he was awarded an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Bill Kurtis narrated an episode of the series American Justice titled "Von Bulow: A Wealth of Evidence".
The American television series
In 2015, Mansions and Murders produced and aired an episode detailing the major events surrounding the alleged attempted murder.
This story was also featured on Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice in the episode titled "The Von Bülow Affair" on truTV.
The case and its successful appeal were also cited by the judge in the 1993
References
- ^ "Martha 'Sunny' von Bulow, at 76; heiress fell into coma 28 years ago." Boston Globe. December 7, 2008.
- ^ a b "Obituary." The Scotsman. December 7, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e Nemy, Enid (December 6, 2008). "Sunny von Bülow, 76, Focus of Society Drama, Dies". The New York Times.
- ISBN 9780440193562.
- Town & Country Magazine. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
- ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths WEINBERG, JERROLD G". The New York Times. June 21, 2015. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
- People Magazine. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
- ^ "London Lawyer Weds Princess Auersperg". The New York Times. June 7, 1966. p. 54. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ^ Nemy, Enid (December 7, 2008). "Sunny von Bülow, 76, Focus of Society Drama, Dies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 6, 2011. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
A daughter, Cosima, was born in 1967, and the three siblings apparently got along well until their mother's comas aroused the suspicions of the Auersperg children.… Mr. von Bülow was acquitted in 1985 after a second trial in Providence, R.I., where his chief defense counsel was Thomas P. Puccio.
- ^ Gribben, Mark. "The Claus von Bulow Case". Crimelibrary.com. p. 4. Archived from the original on October 21, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ Gribben, Mark. "The Claus von Bulow Case". Crimelibrary.com. p. 5. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ Dobnk, Verena (December 6, 2008). "Sunny von Bulow dead after 28 years in coma". The Star. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ Gribben, Mark. "The Claus von Bulow Case". Crimelibrary.com. p. 6. Archived from the original on October 21, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ Gribben, Mark. "The Claus von Bulow Case". Crimelibrary.com. p. 26. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-7432-2489-5.
- ISBN 0394539036.
Dr. Dal Cortivo ... As a live witness... bolstered the defense contention that Sunny had taken "at least sixty-five aspirin tablets" during a half-hour period just three weeks before her final coma.
- ^ Trial transcripts, June 1984
- ^ Friendly, Jonathan (May 17, 1985). "Insulin Probably Caused Comas, Doctor Asserts In Von Bulow Trial". New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ a b Gribben, Mark. "The Claus von Bulow Case". Crimelibrary.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ "Annie Laurie Aitken". New York Times. May 5, 1984. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ a b Hevesi, Dennis (December 24, 1987). "Von Bulow Says He Will Drop Claim to Money". New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ "Von Bulow Stepchildren Speak Out : They Open Victim Advocacy Center in Mother's Name"Los Angeles Times March 30, 1986
- ^ "NCVC - Informative Source For Your Health | NCVC – Information Source For Your Health".
- ^ Dunne, Dominick. "Sunny Memories." Vanity Fair. January 30, 2009.