Göhrde murders

The Göhrde is an about 75 square kilometres large state forest in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district and to a small extent in the Lüneberg district. Both districts are located in the northeastern region of the federal state of Lower Saxony, about 60 kilometres away from Hamburg, 30 kilometres from Lüneburg and 20 kilometres from Uelzen. The Göhrde is the largest mixed forest in Northern Germany and is almost uninhabited. It used to be the hunting ground of the dukes of Brunswick and Lüneberg, which at the beginning of the 18th century the Jadgschloss Göhrde housing area was established. Later, the kings of Hanover and the German emperor went hunting there. In 1989, the Göhrde was still in the structurally undeveloped Zonenrandgebiet.

The two crime scenes (first and second double murder) are located near the B 216 in the forest sections hunting 138 and hunting 147.[3]

In the summer of 1989 there was a prolonged heatwave, as it had been for years. It was dry for weeks, so traces were not destroyed by weather condictions such as rain, hail or storms. On the other hand, it was exceptionally hot for a long time, which greatly accelerated the bodies' mummification process.

The crime scene is marked in green. The first victim came from Bergedorf, and their car was found in Winsen. The second couple came from Hanover or Uelzen; their vehicle was found in Bad Bevensen.

Parking near Forsthaus Röthen

Forest road from the parking lot to the hunts 147 and 138

On May 21, 1989, Ursula and Peter Reinold from Bergedorf drove to the Göhrde to go for a walk there. It is believed that the 45-year-old woman and her 51-year-old husband went to a glade in Hunt 147 to sunbathe or have a picnic. They were killed on the spot, but were not left on the crime scene. The culprit took his victims to a nearby depression and hid them there. The victims were undressed, although it is unclear if they were undressed before the murder or the murderer had undressed them himself. The offender then stole the victims' picnic basket and took the car keys. With their Honda Civic the culprit escaped from the Göhrde and left the car 300 meters away from the train station in Winsen an der Luhe, a small town in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The couple had meanwhile been reported missing. Only seven weeks later, on July 12, 1989, three blueberry collectors discovered their bodies. They were significantly decomposed due to the high temperature at the time, mummified and largely skeletized.[4]

After the three blueberry collectors had discovered the two bodies, they went to the forester to let the police know. On the way, they met a brown-haired, well-built, about 40 years old man with a bag on his hand. The Kriminalpolizei assumes that this was the perpetrator, who sought exactly on this day and this time more victims in the Göhrde.

The exact cause of death could not be clarified because of the condition of the two corpses, neither at the crime scene nor at the later autopsy. However, it was clear that was not suicide or an accident, and that a crime had occurred. Because of this, shooting, strangling or slaying were possible causes. The husband had an injury to his larynx. However, it could not be determined whether it was strangulation characteristics or injury from a foraging, trampling wild boar.

On July 12, 1989, the day of the discovery of the second murder, the 46-year-old housewife Ingrid Warmbier from Uelzen and a 43-year-old district manager of the Toto-Lotto Society, Bernd-Michael Köpping from Hanover, drove together to the Göhrde. They were lovers who came after lunch from nearby Bad Bevensen and apparently made a trip. Both were otherwise married, and their respective spouses did not know about their relationship. They parked along a small side street near the Forsthaus Röthen and walked more than two kilometers into the forest. There, in the forest section Hunt 138, they met the perpetrator, who apparently threatened them with a firearm and tied their hands and feet partially with a Leucoplast band. Both had to lie face down. The offender strangled the male victim and killed him with a headshot from a 5.6mm small caliber weapon. The woman had her skull smashed and received heavy chest injuries. Her blouse was at the level of the bra and cut the bra. Both of them were shot in the head. He then stole the male victim's Polaroid camera and the car keys to his Toyota Tercel, with whom he escaped from the Göhrde. The further investigation revealed that the perpetrator rode with this vehicle for about a week before he parked it in the vicinity of the spa clinic in Bad Bevensen.

Two weeks later, on July 27, 1989, police officers from the requested police unit in the context of a nationwide search for clues discovered the victims of the second double murder by chance. The date of death could certainly be dated July 12, 1989, the day the police began their investigation into the location of the first murdered couple. The scene was located 800 meters from the site of the first double murder. According to the investigators' reconstructions, the perpetrator committed the second double murder at a time when the Kriminalpolizei were at the scene of the first two victims and had just begun their investigation. Subsequent tests revealed that despite the close range, shots could not be heard because both sites of the bodies of the first double murder and the scene of the second double murder were in sinks.

The parallels between the two acts were that one middle-aged couple was murdered each time and that the crime scenes were in the same forest area of the huge forest. In addition, the offender stole in both cases victims' conspicuous technical items, although the investigation was not a classic robbery. The perpetrator took both victims' car keys to escape with their vehicles from the Göhrd, leaving the vehicle behind in small towns with railway connections. Both cities are located on the Hanover-Hamburg railway, and these parallels prompted the investigators to believe that the perpetrator was the same. It is believed that he got rid of the items he had taken, after the two double murders generated an extraordinary interest.[5]

The two double murders also had significant consequences for the Göhrde, as they frightened the entire region. Both in the press and on television, the state forest was designated "dead woods". Walkers and day-trippers avoided the forest for years.

The police of Lower Saxony formed immediately after the discovery of the first act a 40-member special commission with the detectives from the region and from Lüneberg. The Special Commission appealed 1,911 records and interviewed approximately 10,000 people. A facial composite was created and published for a reward of 50,000 Deutsche Mark. In December 1989, and again in January 1990, the case was broadcast in the television program Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst, but the wanted mailings did not lead to success.

The perpetrator was characterized as a result of further investigations by police psychologists as "brutal, aggressive, emotionally cold, a loner, sexually disturbed, mentally ill, choleric, overcorrect" and "introverted". The investigators assumed that he had been a non-smoker, that he could divide his own time and would be not have missed a day from work.

The examinations of a number of persons, for example patients of the closed psychiatry who had an exit at the time of the crime, as well as the guests of pensions, hotels and spas in the nearby Bad Bevensen did not lead further. Likewise, the review of all vehicle owners to license plates was unsuccessful, which had been recorded in any way at the time of the authorities. Also, the later identified Kurt-Werner Wichmann was checked. He was suspected due to his criminal record and was on sick leave at the time of the double murder (he also did not have to work at the time of the first murder on a Sunday).[6] One witness saw him, but because he had worn glasses, he claimed that Wichmann did not match the facial composite.

Also suspected was the husband of the victim in the second double murder, a baker. It was theorized that he had hired somebody to kill his unfaithful wife and lover, and that the hitman accidentally got the wrong couple first.[7]

After a short time there was a "clue". In Wales, a similar double homicide had occurred in June 1989: The Dixon couple were on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path during a camping trip when they were shot at close range at Little Haven. The corpses were found off-road, with the husband's hands tied behind his back. Witnesses had noticed a day before the double murders a 40-year-old man, his description was similar to that of the alleged Göhrde murderer. The witnesses also reported about a companion of about 20 years of age with a German or Dutch accent. In the Göhrde, police had found a Dutch coin near the first scene. Both crime scenes in Germany and Wales were each near a training ground for British troops. The investigation in Wales initially remained inconclusive until May 2009, when 64-year-old John Cooper was arrested.[8] Cooper, also accused of a double murder in 1985 and a rape in 1996, declared himself "not guilty".[9] The trial before the Swansea Crown Court ended after two months on May 26, 2011 with a guilty verdict in all charges and a life imprisonment sentence for Cooper.[10] His appeal against that judgment was rejected last instance on November 1, 2012.[11] No connection between the Göhrde Murders and Cooper has been made.

In 1993, a witness had heard a man threaten his wife with a quarrel that she should not forget about the Göhrde murders; that she might feel the same way if she continues to cheat on him. The witness reported their observations to the police. The first, superficial review was promising, because the suspect had a firearms card on a small caliber 5.6mm weapon. With such a weapon, the male victim of the second double murder had been shot. In addition, the appearance of the suspect fit, like brown hair and size, to the prepared facial composite. Finally, the suspect came from the area and had local knowledge as a forester. The local knowledge was important for the crime in such a remote area. After several months of further investigations, the state's attorney successfully applied for a search warrant at the Amtsgericht. The thorough house search of the forester whose weapons were confiscated, as well as hours-long interrogations of the suspect and his wife did not lead to success, as there were no incriminating circumstances. On the contrary, the suspect had an alibi for the second double murder, with which the track was lost. The investigation and accusations against him in 1995 bothered the man greatly, and in 2005, he shot himself.[12]

The special commission was later dissolved, as it did not find the culprit. The head of the special commission retired in 1997. After that, only two detectives from the former special commission sporadically worked on the case, namely an investigator from Lüchow and an investigator from Lüneberg. In 2009, only the detective from Lüneberg was incidentally entrusted with the case in such a way as to occasionally follow up on hints.

In July 2009, there was another, possibly last investigation approach: after the two hairs were secured in the vehicle of one of the victim pairs (the Reinolds), which were neither assigned to the victims nor the environment. The Kriminalpolizei now wanted to isolate DNA patterns from the two hairs with the help of the now advanced DNA analysis methods and compare them with the data stored at the Federal Criminal Police Office. The problem of DNA analysis was that the DNA pattern in old, failed, rootless hairs can only be completely isolated with a 60 percent probability.[13] The criminal investigation was still on the assumption that the two hairs were suitable to identify the perpetrators.[14] In 2014, however, it was stated that the case would not be reopened to capacity reasons.[15] In June 2017 it was announced that there is a DNA trace result from the crime scene of a murder case from a 2015 case in Hanover.[16] However, because of another murder and the conviction of a 27-year-old man named Leger, no traces were confirmed.[17]

Decisive evidence for the identification of the perpetrator of the Göhrde murders emerged from the case of the disappeared 41-year-old Birgit Meier from Lüneberg. She disappeared without a trace in 1989, shortly after she separated from her husband, and the police suspected murder. On the day of her disappearance, May 15, 1989, she had a notary appointment for the sale of her house in Brietlingen and had been happy the day before, with her mother on the phone about being able to move soon.[18] First, suicide or the husband was suspected, but later investigations on the Lüneberg Friedhofsgärtner focused on Kurt-Werner Wichmann, whom the disappeared had previously met at a party, according to the ex-husband's statements.[19] He had previously done gardening work for Meier's neighbours. As early as 1989, there were suspicions against Wichmann in the case of Birgit Meier and he was interrogated, but his alleged alibi was not examined closely. He concealed the fact that he was on sick leave at the time of Meier's disappearance and the police did not research thoroughly. Only with the establishment of a new prosecutor in Lüneberg further investigations got going. In 1993, charges of the murder of Meier were brought against the gardener and the police raided his house. The investigators found two small caliber rifles, a converted gas pistol, stun guns, a muffler, handcuffs, sedatives and sleeping pills, including a secret soundproof torture room that only he and his brother were allowed to enter. There was a buried, bright red Ford sports coupe in the backyard, with blood on the backseat. The body-tracking dogs struck several times, but no bodies were found.

Kurt-Werner Wichmann had fled from the search. He was arrested in Hesse when he was involved in a traffic accident and weapons were found in his vehicle. In the vehicle was his 10 years younger brother, who had a close relationship with him and was dominated by Wichmann.[20] Ten days after his arrest, the 43-year-old hanged himself in prison. He had attempted suicide before. He left strange farewell letters in which he asked, among other things, his brother to "clean the gutter". After his death, the murder series suddenly stopped, and further investigations against him were discontinued. His vehicle and items were disposed of by the authorities.

The investigations of the Göhrde murders were resumed due to the initiative of brother of the disappeared Birgit Meier, the retired former chief of the State Criminal Police of Hamburg, Wolfgang Sielaff. He continued his education in 2002 after retirement in self-direction. For this he formed his own team with the head of forensic medicine in Hamburg, Klaus Püschel, the defense lawyer Gerhard Strate and other professionals.[21] In 2013, Sielaff found during a search in a room belonging to Wichmann videotapes from Aktenzeichen XY's episode on the Göhrde murders and newspaper clippings related to it. In addition, he was able to make a new special commission set up from the police in Lüneberg in 2015, which investigated the case of Birgit Meier.[22] In 2016, handcuffs were found at Wichmann's home and the Hannover Medical School was investigated. On them was a trail of blood that showed a DNA match with the missing persons. Sielaff also received permission from the new owner of Wichmann's former garage in Bardowick to carry out excavations there.[23][24] Wichmann's house had been searched in 1993 by the Lüneberg police several times in vain, once even with sniffer dogs.[25] According to the presumptions of the investigators, Wichmann wanted to kidnap Meier to extort money from her husband, but failed.

In December 2017, 28 years after the killings, the police of Lower Saxony announced that they consider the former cemetery gardener Kurt-Werner Wichmann for the Göhrde Murders for probable cause and that an investigation was established.  In one of the stolen victims' vehicles a DNA trace of Wichmann was found. According to police, this was a new lead and not over the years examined hair.[26] The police assume that there is an accomplice, who may have committed other crimes. The essential clue for a second person involved in the case is derived from the fact that Kurt-Werner Wichmann had driven into the Göhrde with his own motor vehicle, but returned with the vehicle of the murdered. It is unclear if anybody brought back his own car. According to Sielaff's findings, there were 21 unsolved murder cases in Lüneberg and the surrounding areas, which could be attributed to Wichmann by the perpetrator profile and their respective whereabouts. Possibly, according to the assessments of the police, Wichmann committed murders in other areas on his account. Thus, after his release in 1975, he spent three years in Karlsruhe, where he lived with an elderly woman whom he had met through a personal ad during detention. During this time, there were several unsolved murders of hitchhikers in Karlsruhe.[27] Wichmann was very mobile and had five cars.

On January 19, 2018, it was announced by the Hannover Medical School that Birgit Meier had been shot.[28] The Lüneberg Police President Robert Kruse said it could have been a serial killer who has killed abroad.[29] He announced a thorough review of old cases, and without question pointing Wichmann as a perpetrator. As a result, analysts from the State Criminal Police Office of Lower Saxony have filtered 24 unclarified acts, in particular homicides and missing persons. In February 2018, the case was again featured in Aktenzeichen XY.. ungelost on television, as the investigators emanate from an accomplice, helper or at least a Mitwisser.[30]

In 2018, the police and 30 detectives, using sniffer dogs and metal detectors, searched Wichmann's former house and grounds for more than two weeks.[31] Approximately 400 items were secured, which are investigated by the State Office of Criminal Investigation of Lower Saxony on connections with other murders.[32] These include a Polaroid camera and binoculars, which may have belonged to the murdered Reinolds couple.[33][34]