Midday killer

In the 1960s, a German serial killer who killed at least five people out of greed was called a midday killer . He got the name because he committed the robberies and murders mainly around noon. The perpetrator Klaus G. (* 1940 in Frankfurt (Oder) ) was released from prison in February 2015. With almost 50 years in prison, he was the longest prisoner in Bavaria .

Life

Klaus G., the son of a professional officer who was born in 1940 and had been missing since February 1945, grew up with his brother in Meseritz in eastern Brandenburg until 1945 and in Hersbruck from 1949 . After five years of elementary school, Klaus G. switched to the Hersbruck secondary school in 1951 . There he had to repeat a class and failed the final exam. He switched to high school in Ingolstadt , where he graduated from high school in July 1962. In the autumn of the same year he began to study economics at the higher business school in Nuremberg , which he broke off.

In the summer of 1964 he volunteered as an officer candidate and went to work in October. After his training with various pioneer units in Koblenz and Munich , he tried repeatedly to get his release. When this did not materialize, he deserted in April 1965 and from then on lived under a false name in Nuremberg and the surrounding area.

crime

Klaus G. shot two women and five men during his robbery in the Nuremberg area between 1960 and 1965. What was striking was the fact that the perpetrator immediately used the firearm in the event of alleged or actual resistance and that his crimes always occurred around lunchtime.

The first act occurred on April 22, 1960 in Tuchergartenstrasse in Nuremberg, when G. attacked an elderly woman in her apartment. When she called for help, a lodger and her fiancé rushed over, who were both shot by the perpetrator. G. fled without prey and left the householder alive. This alerted the police and gave them a good description of the perpetrator. Despite an alert to all police stations in Nuremberg and the surrounding area, the fugitive could not be caught. The officers then followed up on hundreds of leads from the population and viewed around 2000 photos from the criminal record with the apartment owner. In addition, fingerprints were compared, connections to similar attacks were sought and dozens of comparisons were carried out. A Belgian Fabrique Nationale Herstal brand self-loading pistol , caliber 7.65 mm, was identified as the murder weapon .

After about a year without success, the investigators started one of the largest manhunt in the history of the Federal Republic . All men born in 1939 and 1940 who had lived in Nuremberg at the time of the crime were checked, a total of 50,366 people. Officials also checked 1,174 men from the dating agency the surviving homeowner worked for.

The next crime occurred on September 10, 1962. G. shot the branch manager of the Sparkasse in Ochenbruck and escaped with loot of over 3,000 marks. This time he had used a Walther PPK . Witnesses were able to follow his escape route to the train station. On November 30th, G. attacked the Sparkasse branch in Neuhaus an der Pegnitz and shot a pensioner who seemed unaware of the attack and had reached into his breast pocket to pull out glasses. This time a Walther P38 was used as a weapon .

While the officers were still investigating the previous crimes, the owner and his mother were shot on March 29, 1963 in the workshop of an arms store in Nuremberg. Due to the projectiles, cases and individual firing features, the same Walther pistols could be identified as weapons that had already been used in the fatal shots in Ochenbruck and Neuhaus. Investigations into possible illegal arms deals were underway against the male murder victim.

On June 1, 1965, G. committed his last crime in a Nuremberg department store. After trying to steal a customer's handbag, several passers-by followed him. Police arrested G. after a shooting in which he killed one man and seriously injured two others.

Sentencing and imprisonment

At the time of his arrest, Klaus G. carried three pistols, a manslaughter and fireworks with him. G. initially denied the crimes, but one of the pistols he had with him and two other pistols that were in an apartment he rented in Nuremberg could be identified as the murder weapon. These were stolen in the years 1959, 1960 and 1962. During a confrontation, a witness of the attack in Ochenbruck recognized him.

When confronted with this evidence, he confessed, including his indifference to the victims. Among other things, he reported: "He came rushing towards me like a wild man (...) Since I absolutely wanted to fend off this attack, I fired at the man a third time" (first murder in Nuremberg) the savings bank came and drew the pistol, then they all had to raise their paws. If they did not do that, it was their own fault if I had to shoot them "(on the savings bank robberies)," I was afraid that I would be arrested and had to shoot in self-defense "(last murder in Nuremberg) .

The secret of the midday crime times was also revealed. He is not an early riser and has used the morning for his preparations.

On July 27, 1967, Klaus G. was sentenced to life imprisonment for five murders and three particularly serious cases of robbery . The first double homicide was not tried because he had committed it before his 21st birthday.

At the beginning of 2010 the regional court of Regensburg ordered easing of detention in order to release G. long-term on probation. However, this decision was overturned by the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court because there was a risk that G. would commit another serious crime. The constitutional complaint directed against this was successful in 2011. After the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court , he was now prepared for a life outside the correctional facility and released on probation on February 26, 2015 after almost 50 years in prison in Straubing .

literature

• Stephan Harbort : The midday killer. Audiobook series phenomenon serial killer. Pablos Media, Cologne 2007, ISBN 3-938852-57-7 .
• Gerhard Mauz : What happened, for heaven's sake? In: Der Spiegel . No. 30, July 17, 1967, p. 51 f.
• Petra Nacke, Elmar Tannert : The midday killer. Ars Vivendi Verlag, Cadolzburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86913-109-2 .
• Felix Hutt: 7 murders, 50 years imprisonment, 1 life after: The "midday murderer" Klaus G. - The true story of a serial offender. Heyne, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-453-20149-1 .
• Tobias Haberl: Seven deaths and one life. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung from October 21, 2017, online at 12app.ch from October 31, 2017.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ After 50 years: Nuremberg "midday murderer" is free , Nürnberger Nachrichten online, February 17, 2015
2. ^ Lifelong prison for the "midday murderer" in Schwäbische Zeitung from July 28, 1957, p. 5
3. ↑ Karin Truscheit: Back in the future. In: FAZ.net . February 27, 2015, accessed February 28, 2015 .