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notes for this episode on your app or on our website in late april 1972 a serious matter was
00:03:36
unravelling at the west friedhorf mortuary in noremberg germany several relatives of the
00:03:42
recently deceased had noticed a jury missing from their loved ones bodies the cadavers had been stored in the
00:03:50
facility's crematorium prior to burial where at some point the jury would vanish
00:03:57
the bereaved expressed to their concerns to the mortuary's night watchman 47 year old georg varmud
00:04:04
complaints like these weren't unusual the missing items would usually be found at the home of the deceased having never
00:04:11
been on their body in the first place other times mortuary staff would remove the high value items and store them in a
00:04:19
small chest for safe keeping it was only a matter of time before they reappeared
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this time however georg was beginning to suspect something was amiss upon entering the
00:04:33
mortuary's waiting room one day georg found a money box displaced on a table it had been forced open and emptied
00:04:43
finding no evidence of a break-in georg believed that the culprit was likely someone who worked at the mortrey
00:04:50
or the adjoining nuremberg west cemetery to avoid causing tension amongst his colleagues or tarnishing the reputation
00:04:58
of his workplace georg kept his suspicions to himself he began investigating the matter
00:05:05
discreetly with the intention to confront the perpetrator once he had identified them
00:05:11
a six-foot tall burly war veteran georg felt more than capable of handling any ensuing conflict
00:05:21
the following days were uneventful then a storm rolled in on the night of may five
00:05:28
georg varmud took shelter at his home next to the mortuary he was watching television and thinking
00:05:34
over the recent spate of thefts when the phone rang on the other line was one of his neighbours
00:05:41
a woman who lived opposite the cemetery she reported seeing a dark figure moving
00:05:48
quickly between the graves suspecting it was the thief georg rushed to the mortuary
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he hid patiently in the darkness on the mezzanine floor waiting for the thief to appear
00:06:03
when they failed to do so george sought them out his search led him to the crematorium
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georg turned out the lights and waited in the shadows he heard the door creek open
00:06:19
a slim short statured man with the jet black hair entered the secure area and slowly made
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his way to a nearby coffin it contained the body of a 15 year old girl who had arrived the previous day
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georg watched as the intruder lent into the coffin and kissed the corpse on the lips
00:06:52
[Music] this was one of many disturbing incidents that had occurred at a german mortuary or cemetery in recent times
00:07:17
a year earlier on april 14 1971 a staff member at the ulsdorf cemetery in hamburg
00:07:24
entered the mortuary and stumbled across a horrific scene the body of a girl had been removed from
00:07:32
her coffin and posed so that she was leaning against it she was naked and her lips and neck were
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bruised with visible bite marks placed beside her were two burnt out candles she was surrounded by the bodies of
00:07:48
other corpses that had also been removed from their coffins they were sitting up facing the girl
00:07:56
three days later 64 kilometers east of hamburg an undertaker was met by a similar scene
00:08:03
when he walked into his parlour the body of a recently deceased 40 year old woman
00:08:09
was sitting up outside of her coffin surrounded by burnt out candles then on the island of silt in the north
00:08:18
sea a pastor headed over to his church the body of a 52 year old man was lying in a coffin
00:08:26
inside ready to be laid to rest the pastor had made sure the coffin was closed when he left
00:08:33
the previous evening but as he entered the church that day the lid was open worse still protruding from the man's
00:08:44
chest was a hunting knife in may a woman named marion was walking through the moorland cemetery in the
00:08:53
town of flensburg as she drew closer to her mother's burial plot she noticed someone sitting on the
00:09:00
adjoining gravesite marion was shocked to realise that the grave had been dug up
00:09:07
the person sitting was the body of the man who'd been buried there he had been decapitated and his head was
00:09:15
missing months later on november 6 a man was visiting a cemetery in fight to pay his
00:09:23
respects to a deceased relative while walking through the grounds he spotted a grave that had been
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dug up the coffin within had been prised open and to the naked body of a young girl
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was sitting upright on the mound of dirt when west friedhorf mortuary knight watchman georg
00:09:47
varmud came across the intruder kissing the corpse he immediately leapt into action
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the perpetrator realizing he'd been caught in the act made a break for the exit georg
00:10:01
chased after him grabbing him by the collar as he reached the door he pulled the man into a nearby elevator
00:10:08
where the diffused light illuminated the man's face he was a strange-looking individual aged
00:10:15
in his thirties with spectacles and a bulbous nose he didn't utter a word a loud bang interrupted the pair's
00:10:26
altercation as georg was hit by a painful blow blood seeped from his upper abdomen into
00:10:34
his shirt he let go of the intruder who was holding a smoking 7.65 millimeter pistol
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and fell to the ground the gunman grinned at the wounded georg before taking off
00:10:50
gail crawled on all fours to the telephone in his office he called emergency services then
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dragged himself to the bathroom to tend to his injury the bullet had damaged his small and
00:11:04
large intestines as well as his bladder but george survived police arrived and sealed off the
00:11:13
mortuary but the gunman was long gone georg was able to provide a detailed description of his assailant
00:11:23
but the following day 50 detectives were chasing up the alibis of known gravediggers
00:11:28
robbers thieves and other criminals in the area all of them were accounted for [Music]
00:11:40
when 24 year old marcus adler met 19 year old ruth lissy it was love at first sight
00:11:48
the pair met three years earlier in yugoslavia and had been inseparable since marcus and his mother ran a
00:11:56
freight business in uberhausen while ruth was employed as a salesperson more than 470 kilometers away
00:12:03
in nuremberg every chance that he got marcus drove the long journey in his light grey mercedes to visit ruth
00:12:13
on may 6 marcus set out for the home where ruth lived with her parents after he arrived the two decided to go
00:12:23
for a drive together they farewelled ruth's mother at 6 00 pm and left in marcus's car the young couple
00:12:32
headed to a forest east of norrenberg a short drive from ruth's home after finding a scenic spot to park the
00:12:41
two dozed off with marcus in the front seat and ruth lying in the back nearby a short bespectacled man drove
00:12:51
through the forest on his red moped it was the perfect place for him to lay low until the heat of the vest friedhoff
00:13:00
mortary shooting dissipated he had spent the day exploring the wilderness where he
00:13:06
carried out target practice this particular forest was popular with hunters so the sound of his shooting at traffic
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signs trees and the occasional deer didn't attract any unwanted attention the man was still there at dusk riding
00:13:24
around aimlessly when he spotted the light grey mercedes with the sleeping couple
00:13:29
inside he pulled over and cautiously approached the car he reached over and opened the driver's
00:13:39
side door the noise woke marcus prompting the man to pull out his 7.65 millimeter pistol
00:13:48
he shot marcus in the head causing ruth to sit up abruptly the man shifted his attention to her
00:13:57
shooting her in the left side of her chest he then leaned into the car and shot both of them
00:14:03
execution style to make certain they were dead overwhelmed with impulse the man climbed
00:14:11
into the car and pressed his lips to marcus's wounds sucking the blood from them once he'd
00:14:18
had enough he clambered into the back seat he tore ruth's sweater off pushed up her bra
00:14:25
then licked the blood from her chest wound after 10 minutes he was overcome with a
00:14:32
calming sense of satisfaction he felt stronger than before the man pulled off ruth's engagement
00:14:41
ring and rummaged through her purse he found marcus's wallet in the glove compartment
00:14:48
as he examined its contents he noticed someone approaching the car a hunter was combing the edge of the
00:14:59
forest when he spotted the light grey mercedes parked up ahead somebody was standing nearby acting
00:15:07
nervously it was a small man wearing a leather hat and sunglasses he then rushed to a red moped parked
00:15:16
five meters away and sped off the hunter reached the mercedes and peered through its windows
00:15:24
finding the bodies of marcus adler and ruth lissy inside shocked by the grisly discovery
00:15:31
the hunter fired his shotgun into the air to alert nearby hikers and farmers that help was needed
00:15:39
there was no response left with no other option he was forced to track one and a half
00:15:46
kilometers to the nearest phone booth where he contacted police poster mortems revealed that marcus and
00:15:54
ruth's wounds had been sucked clean of blood the double homicide occurred less than
00:16:00
24 hours after the shooting of georg varmud and in the same city investigators wondered if the two incidents were
00:16:09
related they compared the bullets retrieved from both crime scenes they were a perfect match
00:16:20
the head of nuremberg's homicide squad called the disturbed perpetrator a madman we have to act fast he asserted
00:16:29
otherwise there will be more deaths a task force was swiftly formed to hunt down the killer
00:16:37
while the 6000 deutsche mark reward was offered for his capture his physical description was published
00:16:45
in newspapers along with an alert for the public to be on the lookout for his distinctive red
00:16:50
moped helmut kostan was employed with a transit company based in nuremberg four days after the
00:17:01
adler and lissy slayings helmut picked up a copy of a local paper the blood-sucking gun-wielding madman
00:17:10
terrorizing the city was still making headlines helmut was struck by the suspect's
00:17:16
description it reminded him of his colleague 41 year old kuno hoffman hoffman was a
00:17:24
short-statured black-haired man who wore spectacles and drove a red moped just minutes earlier hoffman had entered
00:17:35
the manager's office and abruptly resigned from his job he no longer wanted to work the docks
00:17:42
loading boxes into trucks instead expressing a desire to go to hamburg hoffman had just left when helmut kostan
00:17:52
came across his description in the local paper in relation to the recent killings
00:17:57
helmut rushed to a phone and called the police [Music] when the weather gets warmer the last
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you listen to podcasts kuno hoffman was a troubled individual following his birth in 1931 he was
00:21:41
violently beaten by his alcoholic father at age one kuna's father shoved him into
00:21:48
a sack and threw him away on another occasion young kuno was hung from a wooden window
00:21:55
frame and beaten kuno's mother claimed the brutal physical abuse had caused kuno to become
00:22:03
deaf and non-verbal however a doctor maintained that his permanent disabilities were the result of a middle
00:22:10
ear infection kuno's father remained an inconsistent presence throughout his childhood
00:22:17
often spending long stints in prison he served time for burglary child abuse and the attempted murder of a woman he
00:22:26
had raped when his father was home kuno isolated himself to avoid his wrath his parents
00:22:36
eventually divorced in 1940 kuno moved between eight different schools for deaf children
00:22:44
before taking on a shoemaker's apprenticeship he gave up on that in a fit of rage then
00:22:51
took up work on an agricultural estate in nuremberg although considered a diligent worker
00:22:58
kuno lost his job when he demanded a higher wage with an iq of 70 and the inability to
00:23:06
communicate options were limited for kuno his life from there on out was interspersed with odd jobs
00:23:15
and crime his first charge came in 1949 following the theft of a bicycle by the 1950s he was committing
00:23:26
burglaries and arson the courts tried to help hoffman he was placed into various medical and
00:23:34
nursing homes but the silent man remained an enigma to physicians in total he spent nine years in nursing
00:23:44
homes and another nine in prison [Music] sometimes he accepted treatment willingly
00:23:52
other times not so much he exploited lacked security measures in the homes where he was kept to escape
00:24:00
on 12 occasions by 1971 he had only spent five years of his adult life free of any type of
00:24:09
incarceration hoffman went to live with his sister and brother in nuremberg where he picked up work for the first
00:24:19
time in a long time kuno hoffman's life seemed to be on track however hoffman was an unappealing man
00:24:29
who was unable to form romantic relationships he developed an addiction to pornography
00:24:36
and took to visiting brothels in search of companionship yet he felt the sex workers only aimed
00:24:44
to get the job done and was left bitter by their expressions of disgust whenever they were intimate with him
00:24:52
he desired to be loved tenderly and permanently over time loneliness consumed him
00:25:01
at one stage his sister told him to buy a rubber doll but hoffman was determined to find
00:25:09
another way to improve his situation following the tip-off to police six officers in four patrol cars
00:25:20
quickly descended on kuno hoffman's workplace although he matched the description of
00:25:27
the shooter wanted in relation to the adler lissy murders his colleagues didn't actually believe
00:25:33
hoffman was responsible he was by their accounts a harmless guy when police came looking for him they
00:25:42
discovered hoffman had since left the premises a search commenced and by chance he was spotted hiding
00:25:50
behind a truck he took off but was quickly apprehended police would come to discover that kuno
00:26:00
hofmann was deaf and non-verbal and communicated using noiseless facial expressions and hand
00:26:06
gestures as such an interpreter was summoned to facilitate communications between him and homicide
00:26:14
detectives the interview began at 6 pm to enable more time for evidence gathering
00:26:22
the interpreter spoke on hoffman's behalf and his answers were recorded throughout the 50-minute interrogation
00:26:31
hoffman was caught lying and his version of events were contradictory at one stage police threatened hoffman
00:26:40
with a crowbar to get him to confess to the murders yet he only admitted to things he wanted
00:26:47
to meanwhile hoffman's room at the home he shared with his sister and brother was
00:26:55
being searched his red moped was found at the address along with the ruthless engagement ring
00:27:04
the human skull that had been cut from a corpse in moulin cemetery was also amongst hoffman's possessions as were a
00:27:12
set of duplicate keys to the vest freedof mortary and other items stolen from the
00:27:18
crematorium however the murder weapon was still missing shortly before 9pm an officer examining
00:27:28
hoffman's washing machine began unscrewing the appliance piece by piece hidden within he discovered a 7.65
00:27:37
millimeter pistol he contacted the detectives interviewing hoffman to inform them of the discovery
00:27:46
when hoffman was told of the find his face twitched and lips trembled he then began to motion
00:27:53
with his hands over the next 20 minutes he provided investigators with a confession
00:28:04
hoffman read extensively and in 1966 purchased a book titled the black magic by an occultist group in hamburg
00:28:15
the text fostered what would become a lifelong fascination of the dark arts hoffman read up on
00:28:23
various occult subjects like satanism and soon harbored an obsession to self-improve using their
00:28:31
teachings he became infatuated by two particularly taboo subgroups vampirism and necrophilia the sexual
00:28:41
attraction to or sexual acts involving corpses between 1971 and 72 hoffman forced entry into cemeteries and
00:28:53
mortuaries throughout germany he stole and duplicated building keys so he could move in and
00:29:00
out with ease under the cover of darkness he dug up fresh graves or entered crematoriums
00:29:08
and began violating the deceased he stabbed them with knives and razors and drank their blood
00:29:16
occasionally he'd chew their flesh cut off their heads remove their hearts or examine their
00:29:22
internal organs sometimes he'd manipulate several bodies at a single scene posing them around each other he'd also
00:29:33
sexually interfere with the bodies of women he found attractive he traveled to each location on his red
00:29:41
moped by may 1972 hoffman had desecrated the remains of 35 individuals obituary notices
00:29:54
published in newspapers helped him choose his victims at one stage his brother suspected he
00:30:01
was up to something he articulated to hoffman [Music] say are you crazy corno why are you
00:30:10
studying the obituaries in the papers why are you visiting the morgue for no reason
00:30:16
do you want to enjoy the dead women [Music] hoffman did not respond but the accusation made him
00:30:24
increasingly cautious hoffman believed that by carrying out his black magic rituals
00:30:31
and consuming the blood of his victims he would become handsome and strong he also thought it would give him back
00:30:39
his hearing and voice only then would he have power over women in the meantime he had to impose his
00:30:48
will on others through other means he developed a fascination with pistols and rifles
00:30:55
which led to the purchase of a 7.65 millimeter pistol for 500 deutsche marks hoffman had made duplicate keys to the
00:31:06
vest fried off mortary and entered the premises on four occasions to steal valuables from the
00:31:12
bodies stored there he intended to do so again on the night of may 5 1972 however
00:31:21
once inside his plans changed he wanted a pretty girl whose blood he could drink
00:31:31
hoffman was already in the morgue when georg varmud entered but because he was deaf
00:31:38
hoffman did not hear the night watchmen approach startled he rushed to the exit hoffman pulled out his pistol on the way
00:31:48
and shot georg to facilitate his escape once outside he scrambled over the wooden fence
00:31:55
surrounding the cemetery and climbed onto his red moped that he had hidden in nearby shrubbery
00:32:03
he then took off home at nine the following morning hoffman rode his moped to the forest east of
00:32:11
nuremberg where he hid for the duration of the day that evening he came across marcus adler
00:32:19
and ruth lissy he killed the couple and consumed their blood telling detectives that the pretty young girl
00:32:27
had been much better than the women in the graveyards as the passerby had seen him and his
00:32:35
distinct vehicle hoffman believed the police would track him down easily he hid his pistol in his washing machine
00:32:43
and promptly quit his job hoping to flee the city before authorities caught up with him
00:32:49
[Music] hoffman's former employers were shocked by his actions they issued a statement that described
00:33:01
hoffman as a nice person and questioned how the unassuming man could be capable of carrying out such
00:33:08
horrendous acts their character references were overwhelmingly positive hoffman hid his true nature well
00:33:18
this indicated that he was capable of maintaining a double life and in complete control of his behavior
00:33:26
realizing that his sanity would play a major role in his punishment hoffman changed tactics
00:33:34
he smashed the furniture in his cell and began writing bizarre letters in one addressed
00:33:41
to the homicide squad he claimed to have two times the amount of victims as martin rojak
00:33:47
a serial killer in the late 1500s rohack is believed to have the highest number of victims in the czech lands
00:33:56
allegedly killing over 59 people in a four-year span hoffman also claimed to be innocent like
00:34:05
vera bruna a woman famous throughout germany as a victim of miscarriage of justice
00:34:13
he also claimed he was the nephew of the british queen a member of a western german far left
00:34:19
militant organization red army faction and penned a letter to the pope requesting admission
00:34:26
into the strictest order of the catholic church he painted his cell walls with threats
00:34:32
including one that read i will cut off the head of the judge and throw it in a dog bowl
00:34:40
he demanded his murder weapon be returned so he could use it to bring the dead back to life
00:34:48
hoffman first appeared in court in august to 1974. the building was packed with onlookers
00:34:56
as hoffman via sign language tried to explain his motive he detailed his extreme loneliness
00:35:04
alienation and isolation and how that impacted his ability to have intimate relationships
00:35:11
these feelings then led him to commit the appalling acts the defense argued that hoffman was
00:35:18
insane but the prosecution thought differently it was the court's role to decide
00:35:25
whether he should face trial for murder or be judged unfit to plead and face confinement in a mental health
00:35:33
facility two psychiatrists who had studied kuno hoffman appeared in court the first believed
00:35:43
that the accused had lost touch with the world around him and was unfit to stand
00:35:47
trial his colleague disagreed telling the court that hoffman was responsible for his
00:35:55
quote hysterical condition the trial judge suspended court proceedings for two years
00:36:02
as psychiatric experts debated over hoffman's sanity during this time hoffman was moved
00:36:10
between specialist clinics and psychiatric wards where his psychosis was examined
00:36:16
and treated when he returned to court in july 1976 he appeared well though his recollections of his crimes remained
00:36:26
inconsistent he claimed he acted in self-defense in both the west friedhorf mortuary
00:36:33
and the nuremberg forest shootings he alleged that marcus adler had surprised him while he was practicing
00:36:41
shooting in the woods and knocked the gun out of his hand following this assertion questions were
00:36:49
once again raised as to hoffman's mental stability depending on the source kuno hoffman's
00:36:58
outcome varies some report that he never faced the full trial after being deemed criminally insane
00:37:07
this version ends with his indefinite detainment in a mental health facility other more reliable sources state that
00:37:16
he was ruled sane and faced court for at least the shooting attacks they claim that hoffman described by the
00:37:24
trial judge as a pitiful human being was sentenced to two life sentences for the murders of marcus adler and ruth
00:37:32
lissy with an additional 10 years for the attempted murder of georg varmud while awaiting transfer to a federal
00:37:41
penitentiary he taunted jailers requesting one final sip of a virgin's blood [Music]
00:37:49
there have also been reports that hoffman was released in 2004 for reasons if true we couldn't
00:37:57
ascertain this ending has hoffman returning to nuremberg to live these sources state that in 2008 the now
00:38:07
75 year old was working on a memoir though the status of the work is unclear [Music]
00:38:15
should you believe this to be the true ending to kuno hoffman's story it is important to note that no one
00:38:23
knows where he is today [Music] you