The Chilling Crimes of Kurt-Werner Wichmann — Germany’s Worst Serial Killer
The life and crimes of Germany’s worst and most elusive serial killer.
After the 1989 disappearance of Birgit Meier, authorities suspected that the German mother had either committed suicide or run away; later, however, her disappearance was linked to the serial killings of a Lüneberg cemetery gardener named Kurt-Werner Wichmann. Several years after he committed suicide in a prison cell, police uncovered evidence that revealed his involvement in the murder of Birgit Meier and the Göhrde Murders.
The Making of a Serial Killer
Kurt-Werner Wichmann was born on July 8, 1949. He grew up in temporary housing set up for low-income families, and lived with an uncompassionate mother and a physically abusive father. He was a socially isolated individual, owing largely to his domestic life, which drove him to find some sort of refuge and peace of mind in a forest close to his house. He started displaying violent tendencies at the tender age of ten: he would spend much of his time in the forest torturing, killing, and burying innocent animals (mostly birds and frogs).
While he was still very young, his parents decided that they did not have the funds to raise a child and gave him up to…
