Max Gufler

Max Gufler (born May 1, 1918 - † August 9, 1966 in Stein ) was an Austrian serial killer .

It is known about Gufler's childhood that he was repeatedly plagued by unpredictable outbreaks of violence as a result of a serious head injury that he suffered in an accident at the age of nine. During the Second World War , as an ambulance driver for the Wehrmacht , he was injured again in the head area by shrapnel while working at the front. His impaired physical and mental condition could ultimately be an explanation for his actions.

Murders

After the Second World War, Gufler worked as a bookseller in the Lower Austrian city of St. Pölten until he met the daughter of a tobacconist in 1951 . In his father-in-law's kiosk, he offered his customers forbidden pornographic photos, which ultimately led to his and the kiosk owner's imprisonment.

Barely released from prison, Gufler committed his first murder on the prostitute Emilie Meystrzik, who was found in 1952 with a broken skull in an hour hotel in Vienna's red-light district. Gufler, who meanwhile worked as a vacuum cleaner salesman, developed in the following years into an extremely cunning marriage swindler who promised marriage to women and killed them as soon as he had managed to get their money. He invited his victims on a honeymoon and then anesthetized them with coffee that was infused with barbituric acid . He stripped the unconscious victims and drowned them in lakes to make the crime look like suicide.

Condemnation

After the murder of Maria Robas in September 1958, the evidence against Gufler intensified. He was arrested in St. Pölten on suspicion that he had murdered 18 women since the end of the war. In order to be able to convict him, forensic doctors in Vienna developed a procedure that was new worldwide at the time, with which two sleeping pills could be identified separately and individually.

Although he was charged with seven feminicides, only four murders and two attempted murders could be proven in a jury trial before the Vienna State Court for Criminal Matters. Despite his severe brain trauma, Gufler was sentenced to life imprisonment in May 1961 . In 1966 he died in the Stein prison .

literature

• Newton, Michael: The Great Encyclopedia of Serial Killers . Graz 2002, ISBN 3-85365-189-5 .
• Bogner, Karl: The Bluebeard of St. Pölten - The most spectacular criminal case in Austria from the post-war period , radio play / feature, Bayerischer Rundfunk 1975, first broadcast: April 3, 1975 at 57:30

Web links

• Spectacular criminal cases