In 1929, the inhabitants of Düsseldorf were horrified. Murders began to take place in the city, the brutality of which shocked everyone. The victims were of different ages and sexes, and the traces leading to the discovery of the perpetrator were like medicine. Additionally, local newspapers began receiving anonymous greeting letters from a man who had been dubbed a "vampire." Who was he and why was he killing?
In February 1929, the body of a girl, Rosa Ohliger, was discovered at a construction site in Düsseldorf. She was brutally raped, and in addition to thirteen stab wounds, traces of choking and burning were found on her body. The abuser probably returned to them several times after abandoning the bodies, pouring gasoline over them and treating them with fire. In the same month, Rudolf Scheer was also killed. An adult man was probably attacked from behind, stabbing him twenty times in the head and neck with a knife.
He raped and murdered even several-year-old girls, and drank the blood of his victims. Who was the vampire from Düsseldorf?
Investigating the similarity in the manner in which the wounds were reported and the degree of brutality, the police linked the two crimes to the murder of 13-year-old Christine Klein of Cologne on a May night in 1913. Christine was the daughter of the inn owners. The murderer initially planned to commit the robbery, but found nothing that would interest him. That changed, however, when he looked into one of the rooms in an apartment above the inn. He found a sleeping girl there, whom he first choked and then slit her throat with a pocket knife.
Information about these crimes eventually leaked to the press, and articles detailing their details shocked the city's inhabitants. For the first time, the murderer was called "the vampire of Düsseldorf," heating up the already buzzed atmosphere. Unfortunately, time was to show that the perpetrator cannot be caught so easily. The next brutal murders took place in August 1929.
The next victims of the serial killer were two girls, 5-year-old Gertrude Hamacher and 13-year-old Luise Lenzen. The cousins disappeared from the area of the amusement park, where they spent time together. They were tricked by a vampire and brutally killed. The younger girl was found the next day in bushes with 34 stab wounds and signs of choking. Her older cousin was found with her head decapitated. Both were also brutally raped.
Threat letters
The entire police in Düsseldorf was mobilized to search for the perpetrator. The pressure to catch the murderer grew with each passing day. Everyone was afraid of who would fall victim to him next. Unfortunately, tracking him was still extremely difficult. The lack of witnesses, evidence and the randomness of the targets of the attacks did not make the task any easier.
In the meantime, local newsrooms began to receive anonymous names, the sender of which was describing the details of the crimes committed and reported that he was planning more murders. Soon he started putting these plans into effect.
Both adult women and young girls fell victim to the vampire.
In September of the same year, he murdered Ida Reuter, 31. Workers discovered her body. She was also raped and killed by smashing her head with a hammer. The perpetrator abandoned the body in a forest near Düsseldorf. She probably met the torturer through matrimonial advertisements in the press.
Elizabeth Dörrier, 22, was also discovered by workers, two weeks after the previous crime. She was also sexually abused by the killer and stabbed.
The last known victim of a vampire was 5-year-old Gertrude Albermann, killed in early November. The theme of choking and stabbing is here again - but this time there were over 40 wounds.
In November, the body of Maria Hahn, a 30-year-old maid, was found missing, reported by her employer in August of the same year. The woman was strangled and then killed with scissors. Later accounts revealed that the murderer had drunk her blood from the wounds on her neck and then abandoned the body. But he did come back the next night to bury them on the banks of the Rhine.
Düsseldorf is boiling! Did no one really see anything? Will you ever catch a vampire who terrorized the city with his crimes and letters?
Caught by accident
In 1930, a woman appeared at the police station. She received a letter which she received by accident as a result of a wrong address filling. The broadcaster described a brutal sexual assault on her. Its course sounded very much like that of a vampire.
The officers immediately found the author of the message. It turned out that after arriving in Düsseldorf, she came across a man who, instead of showing her the way to a place where she could stay overnight, invited her to his place. His behavior began to seem strange to her, so she asked him to escort him to a shelter or guesthouse. The man agreed, but attacked the woman on the way.
The police visited the flat where the torturer had taken her with the victim. They found Peter Kürten, 46, who lived there with his wife. The author of the letter, however, did not recognize him at first as the attacker from that unlucky night.
Peter Kürten murdered his victims with scissors
Nevertheless, the police decided to check Kürten by discovering his criminal past. He was convicted 17 times for burglary, theft and arson. They decided to make a detention in order to have a closer look at him. However, it did not come to that.
In the man's apartment, the officers found only his wife, who informed them about her husband's escape. After the police left the premises, Peter returned and told his wife about all his crimes. The terrified woman reported to the services and, in agreement with them, set up an ambush for her husband. On May 24, 1930, a vampire from Düsseldorf was finally caught.
The terrifying Peter Kürten
The investigation and the subsequent court hearing revealed how dark a man Peter Kürten was. He was born in 1883 in Cologne, as one of the eldest sons of thirteen siblings. The family lived in a one-room apartment that was for them like a prison with an executioner in the form of an alcoholic father. He abused and sexually abused his wife and children.
Ultimately, he was convicted of the rape of his 13-year-old daughter. This allowed Peter's mother to divorce him and start a new life with her second husband and children in Düsseldorf. Unfortunately, the new beginning did not save the boy's psyche, whose behavior only worsened.
The investigation and the subsequent court hearing revealed how dark a man Peter Kürten was.
He began to abuse animals, brutally murdering them and carrying parts of their bodies with him as trophies. Blood aroused him, and over time, fire joined the objects of his fascination. During the hearings, Peter related how he looked for lonely houses in his youth, which he set on fire and masturbated, excited by the sight of them. He also made sexual assaults. He enjoyed rough sex as well as drinking the blood of his victims.
During the trial, which was extremely popular with the public, he was kept in a cage specially built for him. Many viewers of the trial were surprised to see the murderer. Neat, smartly dressed, he looked even a decade younger than he really was. At first glance, no one would have thought him a monster. It is not known how many crimes he was behind. According to the testimony, he could have started killing when he was still a child. Ultimately, he was convicted of 9 murders, 7 attempts, and 2 rapes, and was sentenced to death ten times by guillotine. The sentence was carried out on July 2, 1931.