The Case of the Sleeping Beauty

By Anastasia Toufexis

An aristocrat goes on trial for attempted murder

It is a case right out of Agatha Christie, a high-society saga with all the elements of mystery: a beautiful woman in a coma, an aristocratic second husband, suspicious stepchildren and a fabulous fortune. This is no storybook yarn but a true-life tale that has scandalized the gentry. The final chapter began to unfold last week in Newport, R.I., where jury selection was nearly completed in the trial of Claus von Buelow, 55. He is accused of attempting to murder his heiress wife Martha with injections of insulin, precipitating the coma in which she has languished for more than a year. She is not expected to recover. During the quizzing of prospective jurors, the trial produced its first titillating revelation: Von Buelow had been having an affair with another woman.

The accused, a tall, impeccably tailored man with ramrod-straight posture and austere mien, is a member of the Danish branch of an old and distinguished German family. Among his ancestors: Conductor Hans von Buelow, husband of Franz Liszt's daughter. Sent to England during World War II, Von Buelow studied law at Cambridge. His reputation as a bright barrister attracted Oil Billionaire J. Paul Getty, who made him a chief aide. Getty called him "an extra right arm" and said he had "a rapier-quick mind and a penchant for hard work." Von Buelow is said to be a man of great wit and charm, but his cosmopolitan suaveness and reputed right-wing views have not appealed to all. Says one acquaintance: "He isn't a monocle popper, not a Junker type at all. He is softer, more Viennese--a real snake."

Martha von Buelow, 50, remembered as a stunningly beautiful woman, does not evoke such strong reactions. The only child of Pittsburgh Utilities Magnate George Crawford, who left her a fortune conservatively estimated now at $30 million, she was early on dubbed "Sunny" for her sweet disposition. She did all the things that rich girls were supposed to do: attending finishing school, making a glittering debut and junketing to Europe. It was on one such trip, to Schloss Mittersill, an Austrian resort famed for introducing wealthy socialites to impoverished European nobility, that she met the proverbial prince. He was the resort's tennis pro, Alfie von Auersperg, an Austrian with a fabulous backhand, a fancy title and a sorry bank account. They were married and had two children, Princess Annie-Laurie, now 23, and Prince Alexander, 22. But happy-ever-after lasted fewer than eight years. The couple were divorced in 1965, and by the next year, Sunny was married to Claus. They have a daughter, Cosima, 14.

The new couple led a golden life, dashing between a residence in London and a spacious apartment on Fifth Avenue. They became patrons of the arts, donating at least $200,000 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and invested in Broadway plays. One hit: Deathtrap, the long-running suspense comedy about a man plotting to kill his wife.

But much of their life revolved around Clarendon Court, the ten-acre estate on Newport's Millionaires' Row that they acquired in 1970. The 20-room mansion was somewhat small by Newport standards, and the Von Billows were not birthright members of the "summer colony," but it was not long before they were pillars of local society. They entertained on a lavish scale. Says one frequent guest: "You go to John Doe's house for an informal visit and expect a gin and tonic. At Sunny's house, you got imported champagne." The party celebrating Alexander's 21st birthday was especially memorable. Women in white dresses carrying parasols and men in white suits and straw boaters played croquet on a manicured lawn that stretched to the sea.

It was at Clarendon Court that two murder attempts were supposedly made. The prosecution alleges that in December of 1979 and again in December of 1980, Von Buelow gave his wife, who suffered from chronic low blood sugar, shots of insulin, the hormone that helps metabolize sugar. Excess insulin would have dropped her blood sugar dangerously low. Sunny was hospitalized for a few days the first time and permanently the second; she is now in the Harkness Pavilion at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan. The seed of scandal was planted when Sunny's maid of 23 years, Maria Schrallhammer, approached Annie-Laurie and Alexander with suspicions of foul play. The children retained an attorney, and he in turn pressed for the official investigation that resulted in Von Buelow's indictment. Among the circumstantial evidence expected to be presented at the trial: a small black bag containing drugs and three hypodermic needles, one of them with traces of insulin, that was retrieved from Von Buelow's closet by Alexander and a private investigator.

The prosecution suggests that Sunny was planning to divorce Von Buelow over his infidelity and that he was anxious not to lose her money. Defense lawyers dismiss this as a possible motive, though they concede that the marriage had foundered and that Von Buelow had had an affair, reportedly with New York City Socialite Alexandra Isles, a sometime actress who appeared in the television gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. They contend that Sunny was a pathologically shy woman, who assuaged her demons with alcohol, drugs and compulsive eating, and either deliberately or accidentally caused the coma through her own excesses. Von Buelow, they say, had no need of her money, since he was capable of earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on his own and had, in fact, been working part time, which disturbed Sunny because she wanted all of his attention. There is a report that Von Buelow considered divorcing her and had consulted her doctor to see if she could withstand the stress. There is also the suggestion that Von Buelow's stepchildren are upset because Sunny's will gives him control of her estate until 21 years after her death.

The case has split the Von Buelows' circle in half. Some are convinced that he is guilty. Others find the idea implausible. Says one friend: "Claus is such a meticulous man. Bumbling something like this would be ridiculous." Whatever the outcome, high society is uneasy. With Claus von Buelow as the defendant, a way of life is on trial. --ByAnastasia Toufexis. Reported byJoelle Attinger/Newport

With reporting by Joelle Attinger/Newport

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