| Shortly after Maria married, her husband left to serve in the military. Initially, she heard from him regularly. After a while, she heard nothing from him. After two years of not hearing from him (and believing him to be dead), she moved in with an older man (a chair maker). She could not "officially" marry him (since her husband was not declared dead). One day, she got word her husband at his family's home in the country and she was to go join him. On the way there, she was assaulted by her husband and his brothers. They buried her alive - still in her apron. When the authorities found the body, her hands were over her eyes as if to protect her face from the earth. Her husband and his brother were imprisoned for the crime. |
