Myth and Murder

There's an old custom around where you're not supposed to bring Lilac flowers indoors. Why would you not want to perfume your home with the beautiful scent of Syringa...?

Syringa vulgaris 'Beauty Of Moscow'

One theory is that Syringa flowers were brought into a house to disguise the smell of death. I find this idea flawed- just how long did people leave dead bodies lying around their house, and also what happens if someone dies when Syringa isn't in flower?! Nonetheless Lilac flowers are still often associated with mourning, and there is a superstition that if you bring Lilac flowers into the house then someone will die. However this idea might originate from an infamous crime....

Now I know I've read this somewhere but I can't remember where, and certainly I can't find it in Fr. John L. Fiala's authoritative monograph of Syringa. The story goes that somewhere in Eastern Europe a man went mad and killed his wife and children, and buried them under the floor of their house. To disguise the smell of decay he filled the house with Lilac blooms, but when the Lilac finished flowering he was found out and convicted (and probably duly met his end). If this story was true then that might explain superstitions regarding Lilacs in the home.

(If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd love to see if this story was true...)