New York’s ‘black widow’ freed after 12 years in prison

Barbara Kogan, convicted of having ordered the murder of her husband in 1990 was released after 12 years in prison on Thursday.

New York’s “black widow” finds freedom. Barbara Kogan was released from prison on Thursday after 12 years behind bars, says the “New York Post“. She was only arrested 20 years after the charges against her, namely having her millionaire husband killed. On October 23, 1990, George Kogan was killed on the 69^th street on the Upper East Side, New York. That day, he had been discovered lying on the ground by Mary-Louise Hawkins, his girlfriend, who lived in an apartment right there. In 2010, Barbara Kogan pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the contract placed on her husband’s head.

At the time of her husband’s death, Barbara Kogan had obtained her nickname “black widow” because of her custom-made black suit worn at the funeral. It was also revealed that the day the man was operated on at the hospital after the attack, she was having her hair cut at the barber. For almost two decades, this now 77-year-old woman had managed to escape the police.

“When he was killed I was shocked”

In her application for parole – which was recently granted – Barbara Kogan claimed that she never ordered the murder of her husband to collect the 4 million life insurance. She also said she was shocked to learn of her husband’s death. “When he was killed, I was shocked,” she wrote, contradicting her own plea in 2010. If the justice system decided to release her, it is mainly thanks to her discipline in prison, but also her unexpected and blunt apology in which she said she felt “horrible”.

Yet for the past 30 years, Barbara Kogan would have manipulated everyone, swears Mary-Louise Hawkins, who was 28 at the time and has now rebuilt her life away from New York. Barbara Kogan is said to have even harassed her husband’s girlfriend during the years preceding his arrest. According to her, the victim was not happy in her marriage and starting a relationship with a new girlfriend was a revelation. The man was so serene with this life that he even told his wife that he wanted a divorce. “George told me Barbara called him fat, and she said he disgusted her.” When I met him, he was so unhappy, he was killing himself little by little. He did not want to go home, ”said Mary-Louise Hawkins in a letter addressed to the agents in charge of deciding the release of his enemy.

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