For weeks a man was considered missing, then pieces of bone were discovered in a forest. Little by little, investigators put a puzzle together – until one suspicion was unsettling.
Berlin – A teacher is said to have killed a 43-year-old man in Berlin for sexual satisfaction and to eat parts of the corpse. The murder trial in the case of suspected cannibalism began on Tuesday at the regional court in the capital.
The defendant was silent on the allegations. One of the 41-year-old’s two defense lawyers said at the beginning of the trial that her client would not comment at the moment. While the charges were being read, Teacher sat upright and motionless in the dock.
“Sadistic-cannibalistic” motivation
The German met the victim in September 2020 just a few hours earlier via a dating portal. The public prosecutor’s office assumes a “sadistic-cannibalistic sexual motivation”. There were no indications that the victim had “consented” to his killing. The teacher is said to have cut up the corpse in his apartment in Berlin-Pankow and deposited body parts in various places in the city.
The prosecution announced in May after the indictment that the crime was “to satisfy the sexual instinct” and in a “previously unknown manner”.
According to investigations, the victim, a fitter in high-power line construction, left his shared apartment on September 5, shortly before midnight. He never returned. The man was missing for weeks. The alleged crime came to light on November 8th after human bones were discovered in a forest in Berlin-Buch.
Investigations in which people and corpse detection dogs were used later led to the 41-year-old. During the search, the chat history of the men was also evaluated, according to the police. In addition, a taxi driver was identified who is said to have driven the fitter to Pankow.
The teacher has been in custody since November. He is said to have been silent about the allegations so far. 18 days are planned for the process until mid-October.
The Berlin murder trial is reminiscent of a spectacular crime in Germany in 2001, which has become known as the case of the “Cannibal von Rotenburg”. A computer technician met his future victim through a personal ad on an Internet forum. In March 2001 he cut off the penis of his Internet friend in Berlin at his express request. He later stabbed the engineer and partially ate him. The criminal case ended with life imprisonment. dpa
