The oldest of the letters were from 1903 and it became clear that Kiss was defrauding the women who had been looking for marriage.[2] He had placed ads in the marriage columns of several newspapers and had selected mainly women who had no relatives living nearby and knew no one who would quickly notice their disappearance. He wooed them and convinced them to send him money. Police also found old court records that indicated that two of his victims had initiated court proceedings because he had taken money from them.