Günter Lorenz
Günter Lorenz (* 1964 or 1965 in Wels ) is an Austrian criminal who went down in criminal history for one of the most sensational murder cases in Austria .
Double homicide
On February 15, 1983 , the bodies of 43-year-old Sieglinde Eckert and her eldest, 18-year-old daughter Ursula were found at Ungargasse 12 in Vienna-Landstrasse . A police doctor found that both women were killed in headshots from a rifle loaded with explosive projectiles. The bodies of the dead were so disfigured that the officers were initially unable to distinguish between mother and daughter, and the two younger daughters first had to identify them.
Despite questioning all of the neighbors, no one wanted to see an armed man or hear a shot. There were also no signs of burglary on the apartment door, which led the investigators to the conclusion that the victims must have known the perpetrator and opened the door for him. Only when a friend of Ursula was interviewed did the officers advance. She testified that she had talked to Ursula shortly before the murder, whereby she told her that her ex-boyfriend Paul recently visited her again and that he had a gun with him. However, because he became scary to her, she broke off contact with him. The police managed to investigate Paul, who was actually called Günter Lorenz. He was 18 years old, had just graduated with honors and lived in a caretaker's apartment in Vienna. During the first interrogations, he denied having anything to do with the murders until investigators found the victims' personal belongings in his apartment. Now he suddenly said that he wanted to rob his ex-girlfriend, but hadn't dared to go alone. That's why he asked his 16-year-old cousin Peter Daubinger to accompany him. However, he brought a gun, shot the two women and fled with the lion's share of the booty. Since Daubinger could not be found, the police triggered a large manhunt for him and warned of his dangerousness. In the meantime, Daubinger was presented as a real culprit in the media.
Confessions and Condemnation
It was only after two days of long hours of non-stop interrogation that Lorenz became entangled in contradictions. It was found that Lorenz and Daubinger could never have captured 10,000, but a maximum of 2,000 schillings, as stated by Lorenz, and Daubinger could therefore not have the lion's share of 8,000 schillings. Finally, Lorenz confessed to having shot the two women himself. He used a 98k carbine with explosive ammunition, as it is normally used for hunting big game. He had bought the weapon along with the ammunition in a Viennese arms shop. In order to be able to carry it concealed, he had sawn off the piston and used a piece of carpet as a silencer. After a few hours he finally confessed to the murder of his cousin, whom he lured to an abandoned construction site on the Danube bank near the Reichsbrücke for alleged target practice on February 9, killed with three shots and then beheaded to make it difficult to identify. Lorenz then led the investigators to Daubinger's body, which he had buried under a pile of snow on the Danube Island .
The extreme cold-bloodedness and unrepentantness of the 18-year-old not only astonished the investigators, but later also led to the imposition of the maximum sentence. Shortly before he wrote a confession, he asked with a smile if he could start studying and doing sports in prison, and found out about the prison books' selection. He also gave no comprehensible motive to this day and only said that he did not like the three victims and that they had conspired against him. At first he even tried to portray Daubinger's killing as self-defense. The police assume that he murdered the victims out of the pure desire to kill.
In spite of the established personality disorder and mental abnormality , he was declared to be sane. Lecturer Dr. Willibald Sluga from the University Psychiatric Clinic said he was not aware of a single crime comparable to this that was committed by a mentally ill person. Prosecutor Ernst Kloyber "have not seen such crimes in 15 years of professional experience" and demanded the maximum penalty, while Lorenz's defense attorney Gunther Gahleitner placed the bad childhood of the perpetrator in the foreground and called for no conviction, but rather an institution. The defendant's last words: "My defense lawyer should be psychiatricized."
On March 14, 1984 Günter Lorenz was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by the presiding judge Paul Weiser and sent to an institution for sane, mentally abnormal lawbreakers. In 2004 his release was prevented by a psychiatric report, whereupon he went nuts in the JA Mittersteig , threatened a psychologist and smashed furniture. He had to be overpowered by seven officers and was later transferred to JA Stein .
Others
The character assassination of Daubinger in particular sparked outrage. His picture was published in the newspapers and he was dubbed a murderer , double murderer and killer , relying only on the statements of Günter Lorenz. His affiliation to the right-wing scene, emphasized by the media, and his alleged infatuation with weapons also proved completely unfounded. Many newspapers then published a letter of apology in their daily editions, in which they accused themselves of judicial murder in the media.
The Stern magazine secured the book and film rights for Günter Lorenz . The price guaranteed him to cover his legal fees.
The acts also sparked a political discussion about the Arms Act. The two MPs to the National Council Robert Lichal and Harald Ofner called for a tightening of the weapons law, while Interior Minister Erwin Lanc and MP Hans Hobl stressed that laws alone cannot prevent such bloody acts. It has been criticized that there are strict requirements for the acquisition of handguns, but extremely liberal ones for the acquisition of long weapons such as pump guns and carbines . However, since more than 1.2 million gun owners would have to be followed up with the introduction of a gun license for long guns and there was fear of an increase in the illegal gun trade , the law remained unaffected.
The weapon used in the three murders, together with original newspaper reports of the crimes , can be viewed in the Vienna Crime Museum.
In addition, the Günter Lorenz case is dealt with in the book Traces of Evil ( ISBN 3-8000-7310-2 ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Double Murder: Bloody Detective Puzzle . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 16, 1983, p. 7 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ Double murder: police are looking for 16-year-olds and warned - he still has the weapon with him . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 17, 1983, p. 7 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ Lorenz himself murdered. Freund also shot . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 18, 1983, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ NEWS-Exclusive: Triple murderer after riot on hunger strike in Stein
- ↑ The verdict: 20 years . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 15, 1984, p. 5 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ^ After a triple murder in Vienna, discussion about the weapons law . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 19, 1983, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
Web links
- Summary in "Historical Criminal Cases" ( Memento from July 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lorenz, Günter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian murderer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1964 or 1965 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wels , Upper Austria |