Gentian murder

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Gentian murder has established itself as a term for a homicide which accidentally fell victim to a 23-year-old man in 1967. He drank a gentian schnapps that had been donated to him and had been treated with hydrogen cyanide , which, according to the perpetrators' plans, was intended for another person. The case attracted extensive media coverage.

Course of events

During a course at the German Weather Service at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base , the 26-year-old course participant Manfred Müller received a package from an unknown sender on February 10, 1967 . Inside was a jug of gentian schnapps, a pack of cat's tongues and a note with the inscription “Greetings from the Palatinate , but drink alone and with pleasure”. Since he didn't like gentian schnapps, he didn't drink it at first. On February 14, 1967, Müller poured his room mate Albert Blumoser from Erding , who had a cold, and himself a glass of schnapps from the jug that he had received with the package. After Blumoser had emptied the glass in one gulp, he was shocked to find that it tasted "like vinegar". Thereupon Müller refrained from swallowing the drink. Müller put the glass down again without having drunk. A short time later, Blumoser felt nausea. He then collapsed. He died in the hospital that same evening. He was later found to be poisoned with hydrocyanic acid .

Investigations

Investigations into the origin of the gentian schnapps were initially unsuccessful. The package had been sent from Stuttgart . The postman who had accepted the package could be identified, but he was unable to provide any details about the woman who had posted it.

There were indications that the wife of the parcel recipient (Christel Müller), who lives in Kempten , may have had an extramarital relationship. Her alleged lover, the motor vehicle mechanic Wilhelm Leinauer, and she came under suspicion and were arrested. The police found out that a friend of Leinauer's who worked in an electroplating company had obtained the poison. The accused then admitted to sending the package, but denied an intention to kill. In the criminal trial, which took place after nine months at the Munich II Regional Court , the two accused described different versions of the course of events, but stuck to their statement that they hadn't wanted to kill anyone.

Christel Müller and Wilhelm Leinauer were finally sentenced to 15 years imprisonment each for attempted murder (with regard to Manfred Müller) and negligent homicide (with regard to Albert Blumoser). Both were released for good conduct after two-thirds of their imprisonment and then each lived on their own without committing another offense.

filming

The author and director Sissi Hüetlin took up the case and made a 45-minute documentary film about it in 2009, based on archive material, file research and interviews, entitled The Gentian Murder - When Women Murder . The film ran on October 5, 2012 as part of a three-part series on 3sat TV .

Comparable case in 2006

In December 2006, an employee of Siegfried PharmaChemischem Minden died after drinking from a lemonade poisoned with cyanide , which he himself had stored and used for a long time in the refrigerator of a break room. In the course of the subsequent investigation, a second poisoned bottle was discovered by an employee. It was not possible to determine who had poisoned the bottles, but it was suspected that they were taking revenge for downsizing at the company. The case has not yet been resolved.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deadly refreshment: BASF employee dies of poisoned lemonade . In: Spiegel Online , December 19, 2006, accessed June 23, 2018.
  2. ↑ Deadly Limo: colleague of the dead BASF man should also be poisoned . In: Spiegel Online , December 20, 2006, accessed June 23, 2018.
  3. ^ Matthias Bungeroth: Searching for clues in 50 unsolved murder cases . In: Lippische Landes-Zeitung , March 2, 2018, accessed on June 23, 2018.