100-year mystery: Did Indiana woman get away with murders?

Suspicious after a bank said his brother, Andrew, had cashed a $3,000 check a large sum in 1908 the South Dakota farmer came to LaPorte and discovered his brother's remains in a pit of household waste.

A century later, modern forensic scientists hope to solve once and for all what appears to have been a web of multiple murders, deceit, sex and money orchestrated by a woman dubbed Lady Bluebeard, after the fairy tale character who killed multiple wives and left their bodies in his castle.

Many locals believed Gunness staged her death in a farmhouse fire, 100 years ago Monday, before Asle Helgelien's arrival to cover up years spent poisoning and dismembering more than two dozen people.

Forensic anthropologist Andi Simmons grew up in the area east of Chicago hearing tales of the LaPorte black widow.

"There was always a sense of, what if she's still out there? What if she's lurking around," said Simmons, who decided to explore the case as part of her thesis.

Gunness probably killed at least 25 people and possibly as many as 33, Simmons said. The exact number isn't known because authorities never thoroughly searched the farm property after Helgelien found his brother's remains.

"When you look at the numbers, she should be a household name," Simmons said.

The official account was that Gunness died in the fire at age 48, along with three foster children and another woman who has not been identified.

Bruce Johnson, chairman of LaPorte's Gunness 100th Anniversary Committee, said some residents wish the story would fade away. But programs leading up to the anniversary of her death have drawn many who are eager to share their own tales.