Sewer Murders

Screw conveyors of a sewage treatment plant

The Sewer Murders or "Sewage Plant Murders" were an unexplained murder series of male adolescents in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area during the 1970s and 1980s.

Victims

The victims were seven children or young people aged between 11 and 18 who were from Frankfurt (and the nearby Baseler Platz around the "Tivoli" game room) or the Offenbach station millieu where prostitutes worked. There they probably met the offender. The boys were handcuffed to the back with a rope or cord and then killed. For some, however, death presumably occurred when they were drowned in the sewerage. Due to the long stay in the sewage system and by partly strong mechanical damage of the corpses to the plant, the dead were identified relatively late. The killings took place in the years 1976 to 1983. Due to the long lay time in the sewer, only one victim could be clearly stated that he died from a "blunt force blow" on the head.

Victims

  • September 7, 1976: male corpse, identity unknown (15–18 years), found in Stangenrod, Giessen. The naked corpse was found near a footpath in a forest between Atzenhain and Lehnheim during the military maneuver "Gordian Shield".[1][2] The dead man was heavily mummified after a lying time of six weeks[Anm 1] and partially skeletized. Probable cause of death: violent skull fracture. Since the identity of the dead could not be clarified for a long time, the police assume that it may have been a foreigner who was in transit to West Germany.
  • May 23, 1982: Erik (17) Dreieich, Offenbach. The body was found in an oblique position behind the inflow. He had significant injuries, with the right thigh torn off and the bones exposed, the pelvis and skull smashed. According to the autopsy report, the corpse was in an advanced state of decomposition with extensive corpse wax growth. He was probably lying there for over six months, and the cause of death could no longer be determined.[3]
  • September 19, 1982: Bernd Michel (17–18 years) Darmstadt-Erzhausen. The collecting rake was blocked by a clothed body. Michel was probably still alive when he was thrown into a manhole, and most likely drowned. The identification of the almost unrecognizable corpse was difficult. The young man was around 17 years old and was characterized by a clear overbite. He came from Frankfurt.
  • July 2, 1983: Markus Hildebrandt (17 years) Darmstadt-Erzhausen. A tattoed corpse was discovered in the sump of the Dreieich Bundschlag sewage treatment plant. According to the Offenbach police, the dead man was washed ashore by a sewage pipe.[4] His hands were handcuffed, but there were not other externally visible injuries. The tattoos on the upper arms showed different motives and the word "Fuck".[5] Markus Hildebrandt came from Hanau and since 1981 had participated in the Frankfurt heroin scene.[6] Hildebrandt, who had spent much of his youth in education centers, was teaching and leading a "restless life" in Frankfurt. He is said to have occasionally prostituted. He was seen for the last time in January 1983, accompanied by three men and is said to have traveled to Saarbrücken.[7]
  • September 9, 1983: Fuad Rahou (14 years), Niederrad. The body of the 14-year-old Moroccan boy was found in the Niederrad treatment plant. At first, it was assumed that he had drowned accidentally or inhaled marsh gasses. Only later did it become clear that this had to be murder. The boy had been reported missing since September 1, 1983 by his parents.[8]
  • October 11, 1983: Oliver Tupikas (11 years), Niederrad. Another victim, whom the killed probably pushed down a manhole, was also found in Niederrad's sewage treatment plant.[9] Traces of fetlocks were found on the body. Oliver had run away from home and was no longer seen alive.
  • June 21, 1989: Daniel Schaub (14 years). Offenbach-Rosenhöhe. Bones and garments from the boy were found in a tributary of the drainage network. The teenager had been missing since 1983.[10]

Possible motive

The criminal psychologist Rudolf Egg suspected that the offender could be a single person at the age of about 50 years without family ties or friends. It is possible that the perpetrator himself had been a victim of sexual abuse and may therefore have a disturbed relationship with one's own homosexuality or had built up a "love-hate relationship" with same-sex people.[11] His inclinations apparently include sadistic bondage. Presumably, the culprit moved from the end of 1970s from Giessen to Frankfurt and lived out his inclinations in the local millieu, being very knowledgeable of area and highly mobile. The fact that he threw his victims into the sewerage after violating them is probably because of a deep-rooted human hatred.

Modus Operandi

The first murder is believed to have happened at the body's site of discovery. Only then could the offender have understood that throwing a body or dying victim down the sewers is a way to get rid of them. The rapid disappearance of the bodies allowed these acts to happen in the densely populated Frankfurt area, without a risk of being discovered. The victims were tied up, then the killer abused them and "disposed of them like garbage". For weeks or even months, the bodies in the sewers began to decompose. The dead usually remained undetected in the sewage system for a long time until they were eventually flushed into the sewage treatment plants, where they often blocked the screw pumps to separate the solid particles. The advanced decomposition of the bodies has made the identification and the clarification of the factual circumstances in the investigation much more difficult. Only 2.5 years after finding the body, the first victim was identified.

Investigation

Horst Kropp and the "Working Group (AG) 229" were entrusted with the investigation of sexually motivated murders of young people. For some time, a 40-year-old, multiple convicted[Anm 2] Lagerist from Offenbach was suspected, as he was known to entice homeless youth to his garden arbor in Riederwald to perform sadistic sex games with them. He is said to have acted very brutally, but on the other hand, he paid his victims good money to stay silent. The investigators found out that the suspect and the victim Markus Hildebrandt have visited the same homosexuals in Frankfurt. However, this was far from sufficient evidence for suspicion of crimes. The traces of blood in the gazebo[Anm 3] did not fit the serological blood test by Hildebrandt. In the suspect's home, who had known three of the victims, a gas pistol, several knives, including a butcher's knife and handcuffs, were secured. Due to lack of evidence, however, there are no charges.

Notes

  1. ↑ might be even longer
  2. ↑ mainly for sexual acts against minors and sexual coercion
  3. ↑ Splashes that could have been caused by beating, bleeding wounds or by cleaning bloodstained stabbing weapons

Literature

  • Stepthan Harbort: Murderous Profile: Phenomenon of a serial killer, Heyne Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3453878808.

References

  1. ↑ REFORGER maneuver in East Hesse
  2. ↑ Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung September 8,
  3. ↑ Police report Kripo Frankfurt in Harbort: Murderous profile: Phenomenon of a serial killer
  4. ↑ Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung, May 25,
  5. ↑ Langener Zeitung May 25,
  6. ↑ Langener Zeitung June 2,
  7. ↑ Harbort: Murderous Profile: Phenomenon of a serial killer
  8. ↑ Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung,
  9. ↑ Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung,
  10. ↑ Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung,
  11. ↑ Film contribution, Kriminalreport Hessen.
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