The Poisonous Path of Yiya Murano: Argentina's Murderous Grandma

Behind her unassuming grandmotherly facade, Yiya Murano concealed a deadly secret - a poisonous path of murder, deceit, and swindling that would earn her the chilling moniker "The Poisoner of Montserrat." Her victims, lured in by her cultured airs and the illusion of wealth, never suspected the diabolic crimes she was capable of.

Born Bernardina Maria Mercedes Aponte Murano Bolla in 1930, Yiya portrayed herself as a sophisticated socialite despite her lack of education and chronic financial troubles. She had a knack for convincing those around her that she was a woman of means, splurging on imported clothes, and jewelry, and keeping up appearances at all costs - even if it meant owing money to friends.

It was this deadly combination of greed and vanity that turned Yiya into one of Argentina's most notorious murderers. The first hints of her dark nature emerged in early 1979 when three of her close acquaintances died in shocking succession after suffering from what appeared to be heart attacks.

The first was her cousin, Carmen Zulema del Giorgio de Venturini, who collapsed and died on March 24th in the stairwell of her apartment building after visiting Yiya that very day. Then just weeks later, her neighbors Nilda Gamba and Lelia Formisano de Ayala inexplicably passed away in similar circumstances. Suspicions began to swirl, and a second autopsy on Venturini's body revealed traces of cyanide poisoning.

As investigators untangled the twisted web, they realized that all three victims had lent Yiya money that she still owed them. The alleged "heart attacks" were andmethodically planned murders, with the cyanide delivered through a most unassuming vehicle - petite fours cookies laced with the lethal poison. Yiya had been poisoning her victims with kindness.

When police arrested the "Black Widow" grandmother at her home in April 1979, she expressed mock outrage at the allegations, insisting "I never invited anybody to eat." But the evidence was damning - testimony from the doorman who saw her enter Venturini's home on the day of her death with a mysterious package, the missing loan contracts between her and the deceased, and her financial indebtedness to the three victims.

Yiya's trial became a national spectacle in Argentina, with the unrepentant murderer maintaining her innocence to the end, even taunting authorities that she wouldn't have poisoned people by inviting them to literally eat the evidence. In 1982 she was initially acquitted of the murders, only to see that decision overturned three years later when she was convicted and handed a lengthy prison sentence.

But Yiya continued to spin an intricate web of deception well into her dotage. After somehow managing to get her sentence reduced, she bribed judges to secure an early release in exchange for boxes of chocolates in 1995 after serving just 16 years. While professing her innocence on national television shows, she faced new allegations of attempting to poison her step-daughter by lacing her pasta with toxins.

To this day, the unrepentant granny maintains her cover of plausible deniability. Now in her 90s and residing in an elderly home, Yiya Murano has attained an almost mythical stature in the Argentine criminal underworld. A best-selling book titled "Deathly Women" recounts her murderous misdeeds, while television specials recreate the grisly scenes of her meticulously planned crimes over dainty tea cakes.

For the families of her victims, Yiya's nonchalant disregard for the lives she stole over money remains an open wound. But for this unassuming abuelita turned "Black Widow", the game of deceit and corruption continues as she basks in the infamy, never expressing a shred of remorse for her poisonous path to ill-gotten riches.