Crime Library: Criminal Minds and Methods

The Trophy Wife and the Tennis Pro

The Material Girl

For Debra Hartmann, her marriage license must have seemed like a winning lottery ticket. Almost overnight she went from spending her evenings in a sleazy strip club to spending them in a luxury home in upscale suburbia.

Was she grateful? Not likely.

"Debra told everyone from the beginning, including Werner, it was for his money, his money only," Farrell said. "It was a marriage of convenience, and it would end when she decided it would end."

The stereo king did everything he could to buy his wife's love.

"Werner started spending a lot of money on her for fur coats, necklaces, diamonds, expensive cars, but he was paying for her favors much in the same way he did when he first met her," reporter John Gorman said.

Except now it was costing Werner Hartmann a lot more than $75 for a trip to the VIP room.

"She was probably the perfect material girl," said ATF Special Agent Jim Delorto. "She was a user, a professional user."

Even Werner's daughters could see through Debra.

Miss Showcase is what Eva Hartmann called her new stepmother. "Money was very important to Debbie," Eva said. "The way she acted, I knew she was never in love with my dad."

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