I don't know about you, but I'm totally riveted by the story of Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt—the two elderly ladies charged with life insurance fraud and federal mail fraud, with possible murder charges to come.

Here's the latest:

Yesterday, a magistrate judge denied the women bail, saying there was "probable cause" that they were responsible for the deaths of two homeless men. The women, 73 and 75 respectively, allegedly befriended two homeless men, who were later killed in unsolved hit-and-run accidents, and then collected over $2.7 million from the men's life insurance policies.

The duo's lawyers contested the judge's decision, saying that neither of the women were considered dangerous, nor were they considered flight risks.

I appreciated this dry commentary from David Rossmiller at the Insurance Coverage Law blog:

The lawyer for one protested that his client poses very little risk of killing anyone. He might have also pointed out that the alleged killings were six years apart, and by that standard the next one could be as much as five years off. Also, he could have pointed out that there are millions of people in the L.A. area who were not killed by her and that statistically, if you have a home and a life insurance beneficiary that is not her, you are entirely safe.

Jokes aside, it is a disturbing story. We'll keep the updates coming.

[Related posts]:
Two Elderly Women Arrested for Life Insurance Fraud [5.23.2006]
UPDATE: Elderly Women Arrested for Life Insurance Fraud [6.9.2006]