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In the summer of 1928, Emmy Buckingham Parker took off on a trip to the south of France, reportedly frustrated by her husband who was swamped in work. For undisclosed reasons, Von Armstadt hired private investigator Heinrich Lapp to shadow and guard his wife. Lapp followed Emmy to St. Tropez, where she registered at the Hotel du Soleil. Unfortunately Lapp could not continue his investigation. He was beaten up by "a gang of thugs" and landed in hospital with a heavy concussion. He later claimed Von Armstadt's younger brother Jurgen had ordered "the hit" as Lapp was about to uncover Jurgen's illicit affair with Emmy. There is no proof of fact for this allegation. Lapp was later sued for slander by the Von Armstadt family. He died in 1939 in a police raid on an opium den in Central London. Emmy returned to her husband after three weeks. Bruno Schweig, Von Armstadt's loyal manservant, recalled Emmy seemed very happy to be reunited with her husband. "It was as if their relationship took on new vigour". The reconstruction of Emmy's exact activities in St Tropez remains sketchy. During his infamous trial in 1935 Dr. Fabrice de Rigeur, popularly known as the Abortionist of the Elite, claimed to have performed such an operation on Emmy in his St. Tropez clinic. No records exist. |
