Ulrich Schmidt (serial killer)

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Ulrich Schmidt (* around 1957) is a German serial killer and sex offender . Between 1987 and 1989 he assaulted nine women in Essen . He killed five of the victims, others survived the crimes, some seriously injured. Since Schmidt committed most of his murders on public holidays, he became known as the holiday killer .

Deeds

The first known criminal offense occurred on May 14, 1987. A 49-year-old was attacked on the stairs to the S-Bahn platform on the way home in Essen-Stadtwald at night. A man put an arm around her neck from behind and demanded money at a knife. While the woman was still looking for her wallet, the perpetrator cut her neck deeply and pushed her the remaining steps onto the platform. Passers-by found her a little later and alerted the ambulance, whereupon the woman was rescued by an emergency operation.

The perpetrator struck again on May 27, one day before Ascension Day . Shortly after 11 p.m. he attacked a 46-year-old pool attendant at the Oase leisure pool in Essen-Frohnhausen at an S-Bahn station . Through the emergency call of a traveler who had heard loud cries for help, the police checked and discovered the undressed body of the woman in a meadow below the platform. The victim's body had 48 stab wounds that were likely caused by a screwdriver due to the injury pattern .

On Whit Monday , June 8th, 1987, a 59-year-old pensioner was attacked in the toilet facility at Essen's Grugapark . The perpetrator pushed the stroller into a toilet box and demanded money at a knife. After he received this, he tried to tie the woman, but met with fierce resistance from the victim. After a wild scuffle, the perpetrator finally beat the woman unconscious, handcuffed her hands and legs and cut her fore neck, severing her trachea and esophagus. However, the woman came to, was able to free herself and reach a medical station, from where she was immediately taken to the hospital and survived.

Only four weeks later, the perpetrator pounced on a 63-year-old pensioner who was on the way home from shopping between the Essen-Kray S-Bahn station and her apartment in Essen-Huttrop . He put an arm around her neck and again demanded money at knife point, which the victim handed over to him immediately. When he tried to tie the woman up, she began to call for help, whereupon the perpetrator stabbed her several times with the knife and fled. The woman was found by walkers a little later and taken to the hospital, but died there almost three weeks later from serious injuries to her liver, pancreas, stomach and spleen.

Early in the morning on March 15, 1989, the perpetrator broke into the apartment of an 81-year-old widow in Essen-Holsterhausen through a broken kitchen window . He hit the woman several times on the head with a blunt object, killed her with a kitchen knife found in the apartment and stole cash and cigarettes. The body was only found hours later by the victim's daughter, who ran a corner shop with her mother .

The next crime occurred on Maundy Thursday night , March 24, 1989, in the Essen-Margarethenhöhe district . On the way home, a 19-year-old boy was attacked by her boyfriend after leaving the Grugabad S-Bahn station , handcuffed, killed by two stab wounds in the heart area and then placed behind a garage complex, where she was found by her father. The victim was fully clothed, and the perpetrator also left the young woman's money untouched.

On June 6, 1989, the perpetrator attacked a 23-year-old hall supervisor in an amusement arcade in Essen-Altendorf . Although the young woman could still press the alarm button and a police patrol arrived at the scene just a few minutes later, the woman had been murdered by two throat cuts. The cause of death was bleeding to the outside with simultaneous inhalation of blood. The victim had been partially undressed.

On June 19, the perpetrator struck again when he fell in a parking garage in downtown Essen on a 41-year-old chief secretary of an auditing company who was on the way to her vehicle after finishing work. This time, too, the stranger put his arm around his victim's neck and asked for cash. But after he received this, he stripped and tied the woman, raped her and made two cuts in the neck area, one of which severed the palatal cartilage. After the perpetrator fled, she was able to reach the porter's lodge on her own and be rescued.

On Saturday, August 5th, 1989, the last crime occurred. The perpetrator tried to rape a 38-year-old geriatric nurse in her apartment in Essen-Rüttenscheid , but had to flee through the patio door when neighbors rushed over to the victim's cries for help.

Investigations

After the first attack in May 1987, the police commissioner of the Essen criminal investigation department responsible for robbery offenses began the investigation. The officials assumed an attempted robbery because the perpetrator had demanded money. Since the victim had not seen his attacker, no traces of the perpetrator could be found and there were no witnesses, the investigations were inconclusive. After the crime against the bath attendant, which was also committed at an S-Bahn station, almost two weeks later, a homicide squad was convened. At the scene of the crime, the victim's clothing and jewelry were found scattered around 100 meters away. The officials suspected that the perpetrator had already attacked the woman on the platform, dragged her over the adjoining hunter fence and then raped and murdered her on the meadow.

Loudspeaker announcements and surveys were carried out in the S-Bahn that night and the following days. More than 30 detectives followed 142 leads and worked more than 1,700 hours of overtime. In the course of the crime scene work, two fibers of clothing could be secured on the said hunter fence, which according to the State Criminal Police Office must be traces of the perpetrator.

The subsequent, unusual accumulation of violent crimes in such a short time prompted the officers of the 1st commissioner of the competent service department to look for common ground in the crimes. It was noticeable that the perpetrator had approached his victims every time and demanded money, whereby the prey itself appeared to be of secondary importance. In the majority of cases he had also reached for the pantyhose of his victims in order to be able to tie them up. In addition, a stabbing weapon was used as a means of crime.

With the help of one of the surviving victims, a phantom picture was made that was distributed throughout the city. At the scene of the third murder, a shoe print of the perpetrator was also found. In the meantime, the friend of the 19-year-old murder victim was identified as a suspect and questioned in detail, but had an unshakable alibi. The victim of the attack from the parking garage could describe the perpetrator as a 25 to 30-year-old well-groomed man with a short-sleeved shirt and dark pants. In the course of the investigation, a large number of employees who were employed in companies close to the crime scene were questioned. A woman was found who had apparently been followed in the parking garage by the same man who had put his arm around her shoulder. But when two men suddenly appeared, he took his arm from her again and disappeared. This time, too, a phantom image was created and published.

Up to the last crime, 128 detectives had served on eight homicide commissions, investigating 824 leads and working more than 3900 hours of overtime. Finally, special police units were set up to patrol and control especially in the inner city area.

Movement in the case only came after the attempted rape in August 1989, in which the perpetrator fled his victim's apartment when neighbors appeared. He had left behind a 35mm camera, which was discovered by the victim himself and handed over to the criminal police. This could not only secure fingerprints on it, but also develop photos stored on it. Some of these photos showed a blue Opel Rekord D as well as two letters and a number from the license plate.

During the review of all Essen owners of this vehicle type, Ulrich Schmidt was also identified, who was already known to the police for, among other things, robbery, burglary, stolen goods and threats. The 32-year-old unemployed was married to a Hungarian and lived in the city center. The attempted rape could easily be proven, since the fingerprints saved on the camera matched his previously taken.

Arrest and conviction

On August 8, 1989, Ulrich Schmidt was arrested near his mother's apartment in Essen. After consulting with his lawyer, he refused to testify from the start. In the meantime, combat boots had been found during the search of his apartment , the profile of which matched the shoe print trace in the murder of the 81-year-old widow. This was finally confirmed by forensic technicians from the LKA Hannover . In four cases, a connection between victim and Schmidt could be established by comparing traces of smell. In this controversial process, specially trained dogs from the Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock police dog school sniffed out the perpetrator's odor on the victims' objects.

It was also found that Schmidt frequently stayed at his brother's workshop, which was located near one of the crime scenes. A jacket from him was found there, the fibers of which exactly matched the fiber traces from the hunter's fence of the first murder. In addition, Schmidt confessed to the crimes of two other inmates while in custody. Ultimately, he was found to have five murders, three attempted murders, five rapes, one attempted rape, one robbery and two break-ins.

Only after around two years of pre-trial detention and 19 days of trial did he have his lawyer inform the court that he no longer denied the charges made by the prosecution. However, he does not want to speak in public about his actions and motives, but confide in a psychiatrist. After 43 days of meetings and almost a year of proceedings, Ulrich Schmidt was sentenced in September 1992 to life imprisonment with simultaneous admission to a sanatorium.

Trivia

  • The WDR shot a documentary about the case with Joe Bausch as part of its series Kriminalzeit .
  • Stephan Harbort's audio book Phenomenon Serial Killer - The Phantom is based on Ulrich Schmidt's actions

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