Hugo Schenk was born to a well off family. He began a life of crime around 1869 and 1870. He would pretend to be Prince Boleslav von Wilopolsky an escapee from the henchmen of the Tsar from Warsaw. He would convince women of this and would get a dowry from alleged brides. He was caught and sentenced on December 5, 1870, and served 2 out of 5 years for a number of frauds at the Mirov detention center.
He was arrested again in 1881 and was released in 1883 at 34-years-old. This time he met a thief in there name Karl Schossarek who would help him with his crime spree. He started his ways again soon after, but with even worse plans for the girls. After his release, he met a 34-year-old Josefine Timal. He courted her and then promised her his hand in marriage. She was working as a maid in Vienna, Austria and convinced her to quit her job. She packed up all her stuff believing they were going on a honeymoon to Kraków. Instead, he took her near the Hranice Abyss raped, gagged and then tied her to a heavy stone and sunk her into the water. He then took all her stuff for himself.
He was convinced that Josefine's Aunt Katharina Tamil would find out what he had done. In order to cover himself, he wrote her on June 21, 1883, telling her they had married and invited her to his property. He picked her up from the station and drove her to Krummnußbaum. With Schossarek they then killed Katharina by sinking her into the Danube much like he had done with Josefine. He also stole her valuables.
Six weeks later he was onto his next victim, Theresia Ketterl, another housemaid. He had tried a different method on her. He brought a gun to their picnic at a gorge in Lilienfeld and taught her how to play Russian Roulette with an empty gun. He secretly loaded the gun and gave it to give it a try and she shot herself thinking it was empty.
In December his next con was 30-year-old Rosa Ferenczy. She was also a maid but also the illegitimate daughter of a Hungarian nobleman. Rosa was said that she suspected him in cheating, but didn't believe it when he showed himself. At Christmas, she stated to her landlady that "You'll either see me happy and married or never again." The next day Rosa's body was found in the Danube near Presbourg. The duo had killed the woman.
Schenk was already planning five more murders when he was caught on Jan. 10, 1884 and the next day Schossarek was arrested. He wanted to save up enough money to escape to America with Emily Höchsmann. He had supposedly fallen in love with her even though he originally intended for her to be another victim. He openly courted her and gave her jewelry (possibly from previous victims) and spent money on her. It's said that he spent the rest of his day with her right after he murdered Theresia.
The two were then sentenced to death by hanging on April 22, 1884. Schenk's skull was autopsied and neurologically examined after his death. His skull is now displayed in the Vienna’s Kriminalmuseum (Crime Museum),
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