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For three years, the ill-mated trio followed the sun around Europe. But as the money went out and the pills came in in ever-increasing doses, Mrs. Bird slowly began to disintegrate. Beaten, bullied and publicly ridiculed by her courtiers, she began to fear for her life. In July 1961, she begged her Swiss banker for armed guards to protect her from Nicky and the doctor; the banker relayed the information to the U.S. consulate in Geneva, which took no action. Ten days later, Winnie was dead. The cause of death certified Dr. Savoy was a cerebral hemorrhage. When Mrs. Bird's lawyers could find neither the original copy of her will nor about $400,000 worth of jewelry, they hired a Swiss lawyer to investigate. He discovered that Nicky had pawned much of the jewelry, dug up so much evidence of Dr. Savoy's strange treatment of the widow that the authorities arrested both Savoy and the prince.
Autopsy Report. At the trial, the prosecution produced an autopsy report that revealed that Mrs. Bird died not of cerebral hemorrhage but of a massive overdose of drugs administered by Savoy, which caused the failure of her respiratory system. A Lausanne doctor testified that two days before Winnie died, he had advised Savoy that she needed a blood transfusion. Dr. Savoy said he had ordered the blood through room service. "That is incredible," exploded Judge Bertrand de Haller. "You don't order blood as if it were champagne."
The sentence was unusually light, even for Switzerland, where the maximum penalty for premeditated murder is 20 years. Dr. Savoy was sentenced to seven years in prison for killing Mrs. Bird. Nicky was given four years for robbery, less the 622 days he spent in prison waiting for the trial. With time off for good behavior, he could be out of prison in less than two years.