Gesche Gottfried poisoned a total of 15 people in Bremen between 1813 and 1827, including her parents, three children, and two husbands. From 1823 onwards, she repeatedly mixed poison into the food of at least 19 other individuals in non-lethal doses. In 1828, Gesche Gottfried was arrested and three years later executed on the Domshof. The spot where her head was severed from her body with a sword is still marked today by a cross-shaped stone, which is spat upon daily by tradition-minded Bremen passersby as a sign of contempt. In the account by Gesche Gottfried's defender, Friedrich Leopold Voget, a picture emerges of a coldly calculating woman who murders out of base, greedy motives, shocking the public with her actions. After nearly 170 years of unexamined acceptance of this portrayal, Peer Meter has re-examined the case based on the trial records.