Kidnapping of Joachim Göhner

The kidnapping of seven-year-old Joachim Göhner from Stuttgart-Degerloch on April 15, 1958 was the first case of child abduction ("kidnapping") in the Federal Republic of Germany.

kidnapping

In 1958, Joachim Göhner was lured to the Stuttgart Haldenwald by the 40-year-old temporary gardener Emil Tillmann on the pretext of wanting to show him animals. According to his own account, Tillmann immediately strangled him there and hid the body. The forensic medical report, on the other hand, sets the time of death to be a few days later.

Then Tillmann tried to extort a ransom of DM 15,000 from Joachim Göhner's father by telephone . However, the handover of the money was delayed due to various misunderstandings. Seven days after the kidnapping, the boy's body was found in the woods. The father had called in the police, who recorded the kidnapper's voice on tape when he called.

Manhunt

Since the police did not get any further in their investigation using conventional methods and the discovery of the body became known to the public, they resorted to a new aid: two weeks after the crime, the kidnapper's voice was broadcast on the radio. It was the first time in the history of Germany that a perpetrator's voice was publicly broadcast. In fact, several clues were received about Tillmann, whereupon he was arrested and confessed to the crime.

aftermath

The confessing Tillmann hanged himself while in custody. In the course of this case, the discussion about the death penalty abolished in the Federal Republic of Germany came up again. The broadcasting of perpetrator voices via radio or telephone announcement has since become a standard tool in forensics .

filming

This sensational case was filmed in the series Stahlnetz as episode 19 with the title "Deer" and was broadcast on German television for the first time on June 16, 1964. The murderer Emil Tillmann was portrayed by Sigurd Fitzek (role name: Willy Funke). This film was originally scheduled for an earlier broadcast, which happened to coincide with the start of the trial in a similar case. German television decided at short notice to postpone the film.

literature

Extortionate kidnapping . In: Rudolf Sieverts (Ed.): Short dictionary of criminology . tape 4 . Supplementary volume. de Gruyter, Berlin 1979, ISBN 3-11-008093-1 , p. 92-94 .
With and without sirens . In: Der Spiegel . No. 20 , 1958 ( online ).
Kidnapping. A Stuttgart crime based on the American model . In: Die Zeit , No. 18/1958
Kidnapping. What's going on . In: Der Spiegel . No. 10 , 1964 ( online ).

Web links

Katja Iken: Murderer on the radio . one day , 2008
Files and audio documents in the Ludwigsburg State Archives

Individual evidence

↑ Instead of a judgment . In: The time . No. May 22 , 1958 ( zeit.de ).

↑ Including error . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 1964 ( online ). Quote: “In 1958, to the applause of his audience in the Stuttgart suburb of Heslach, Baden-Württemberg's ex-Justice Minister Dr. Beyerle for the death penalty. The Swabian boy Joachim Goehner had previously been kidnapped and murdered by a blackmailer "

[1] Instead of a judgment . In: The time . No. May 22 , 1958 ( zeit.de ).

[2] Including error . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 1964 ( online ). Quote: “In 1958, to the applause of his audience in the Stuttgart suburb of Heslach, Baden-Württemberg's ex-Justice Minister Dr. Beyerle for the death penalty. The Swabian boy Joachim Goehner had previously been kidnapped and murdered by a blackmailer "