Claus von bülow
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Claus von Bülow
Danish-British socialite
Claus von Bülow (born Claus Cecil Borberg; 11 August 1926 – 25 May 2019) was a British lawyer, consultant and socialite.[1] In 1982, he was convicted of both the attempted murder of his wife Sunny von Bülow (born Martha Sharp Crawford; 1932–2008) in 1979, which had left her in a temporary coma, as well as an alleged insulin overdose in 1980 that left her in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of her life.[2][3] On appeal, both convictions were reversed, and Bülow was found not guilty at his second trial.[4][3]
Background
Beginning life as Claus Cecil Borberg, Bülow was the son of Danish author and playwright, Svend Borberg (1888–1947) and his wife, Jonna von Bülow-Plüskow (1900–1959). His father was accused, though later cleared, of being a Nazi collaborator for his activities during the Second World War in the German occupation of Denmark.[5] After graduating from university with a degree in law and becoming an apprentice in the legal profession, Cl
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The heiress who spent 27 years in a coma
Sunny von Bülow
1932-2008
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By the time Martha “Sunny” von Bülow died last week in a Manhattan nursing home at 76, she had been in a coma for 27 years, 11 months, and 15 days—the result, prosecutors argued, of a murder attempt by her second husband, Claus von Bülow. Languishing in a persistent vegetative state, Sunny inspired two sensational 1980s trials, during which von Bülow was first convicted and then acquitted of the charge.
Known as “Sunny” because of her cheerful disposition, she was the only daughter of a Pittsburgh utilities magnate who left
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Sunny von Bülow
American heiress, socialite, and philanthropist
Martha Sharp "Sunny" von Bülow (née Crawford; September 1, 1932 − December 6, 2008) was an American heiress and socialite. Her second husband, Claus von Bülow, was convicted in 1982 of attempting to murder her by insulin overdose, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. A second trial found him not guilty, after experts opined that there was no insulin injection and that her symptoms were attributable to overuse of prescription drugs. The story was dramatized in the book and film Reversal of Fortune. Sunny von Bülow lived almost 28 years in a persistent vegetative state, from December 1980 until her death in a New York City nursing home on December 6, 2008.
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
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