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Killer mum's Web address draws US$750,000 in bids

The auction of a Web address named after a woman who murdered her five children has been taken down by eBay. But not until it had attracted bids in excess of US$750,000.

Written by Staff , Contributor June 28, 2001 at 2:02 a.m. PT

SINGAPORE--The auction of a Web address named after a woman who murdered her five children has been taken down by eBay. But not until it had attracted bids in excess of US$750,000.

AndreaPiaYates.com was offered for sale on Tuesday, and attracted six bids, starting at US$500,000, before the online auction company stopped the sale when bidding had reached US$752,011.

EBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said the auction went against the company's anti-"murderabilia" policy, The Associated Press reported, citing the Houston Chronicle. Things associated with killers and crimes have been banned from eBay's sites since May 17.

Andrea Yates, 36, confessed to killing her children, who were between six months and seven years old. She drowned them in the bath tub on June 20.

The vendor, Charles H Ziegler III, from Pennsylvania, said the auction was an attention-getter for another Web address he was trying to sell. He claimed to be surprised that it had generated interest and bids.

Ziegler is trying to auction BonnyLeeBakley.com, named after the slain wife of actor Robert Blake. The address is on an affiliate of domain name registrar Register.com. Register.com has no policy banning auctions of domain names associated with murder cases.

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Killer mum's Web address draws US$750,000 in bids

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