Ana di Pištonja,[note 1] (née Drakšin[5] or Draxin)[4] better known as Baba Anujka,[note 2] (Serbian Cyrillic: Баба Анујка; c. 1836 or 1838 – 1 September 1938) was a Serbo-Romanian convicted serial killer amateur chemist from the village of Vladimirovac, which was during her life part of the Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary and eventually Yugoslavia.
According to some sources, she was born in 1838 in Romania (which at the time was actually the Principality of Wallachia, the Principality of Moldavia, and might also be referring to some other areas then in the Austrian Empire) to a rich cattleman and moved to Vladimirovac in the Banat Military Frontier province of the Austrian Empire around 1849.
[6][7] She attended private school in Pančevo with children from rich families, and later lived in her father's house.
[8] She allegedly became a misanthropist at age 20 after being seduced by a young Austrian military officer; she contracted syphilis from him before he left her broken-hearted.
[1][8] Anujka made a laboratory in one wing of her house after her husband died,[1][8] and she earned a reputation as a healer and herbalist in the late 19th century.
[8] She was popular with wives of farmers who sought her help for health problems, and she earned a respectable income which enabled her to live comfortably.
[1] She sold the so-called "magic water" mostly to married women; they would give the concoction to their husbands, who would usually die after about eight days.
[5] Anujka's "love potion" contained arsenic in small quantities and certain plant toxins that were difficult to detect.
Stana gave the mixture to her husband Lazar Ludoški, and he fell ill and died after a few days.
The trial continued on 1 July when results were available from chemical testing of samples found in Anujka's house, at which time the prosecutor and defence attorneys gave closing statements.
Stana Momirov claimed that she only wanted the magic water to heal her husband from alcoholism and that she was not aware that it would kill him.
[12] Dr. Branko Vurdelja, expert witness, testified that traces of arsenic were found in the bodies of both victims.
[17] Both the prosecutor and the defendants appealed the verdict to the Appellate Court in Novi Sad, and that trial took place on 29 and 30 November 1929.
After some cross-examination, Sima and Sofija Momirov admitted that they knew about the poison from the start, but all defendants stood by their previous statements otherwise.