Ondrej Rigo

Case record: Ondrej Rigo

STATUS / current legal standing

Ondrej Rigo was sentenced to life in prison in Slovakia on December 7, 1994 and later served a life sentence.

Timeline

• September 28, 1989 — Ondrej Rigo was last in police custody in Slovakia (then Czechoslovakia) because of unauthorised leaving of the Republic.
• December 9, 1989 — Ondrej Rigo was released from prison; on the same day he traveled to Vienna without any valid passport.
• December 7, 1994 — Ondrej Rigo was sentenced to life imprisonment by the City court of Bratislava.
• February 27, 1996 — The appeal process at the Highest Court of Slovak Republic started.
• February 28, 1996 — The senate of the Highest Court of Slovak Republic denied Ondrej Rigo’s appeal and confirmed his sentence.
• March 4, 1992 — Ondrej Rigo was arrested only hours after his last murder.

Background

Ondrej Rigo (born 1955) was a Slovak serial killer and necrophile who targeted women in Bratislava, Munich and Amsterdam from 1990 to 1992.

He was described as a dissocial and schizoid psychopath and as a necrophile who found pleasure in intercourse with women with mutilated heads. He was described as the Slovak murderer with the highest number of victims and the most prolific serial killer in modern Slovak history.

Family and early life

Ondrej Rigo had a brother who was angry with him because of the troubles he got him into in Germany. He had a daughter who sometimes visited him in prison.

An article in SME described Ondrej Rigo as being of Roma ethnicity.

When he was 14, he was taken into a youth corrective institution and later into an orphanage together with his siblings. They stayed there for a year, having been taken from their mother after their father’s arrest. Ondrej Rigo’s mother died in 2000 after being hit by a car. Ondrej Rigo said learning of her death was the one time he remembered crying in his life. His father died during a burglary.

Ondrej Rigo claimed he liked both parents and recalled:

“(My) parents were good, they didn't beat me, —Ondrej Rigo recalls his childhood in 2007.”

Legal occupation and criminal history

In Bratislava, Ondrej Rigo worked in Hotel Carlton, where he was arrested. Before that, he worked as a “kurič” in a heater room in Pravda newspaper and in a hospital on Bezručova street and a hospital on Šulekova street, having also completed his gas certificate (plynárske skúšky).

Before his first murder, Ondrej Rigo was already convicted 11 times and focused mainly on home burglaries.

The last time Ondrej Rigo was in police custody in Slovakia (then Czechoslovakia) was from September 28, 1989 to December 9, 1989 because of unauthorised leaving of the Republic. After the fall of the iron curtain and end of communism in Czechoslovakia, people were allowed to travel freely in Europe and Ondrej Rigo continued with his crimes abroad.

On December 9, 1989, the same day he was released from prison and three weeks after the start of revolution, he traveled to Vienna without any valid passport. There, he acquired a fake Yugoslavian passport on the name of “Nedo Ikic”. Later, he traveled to Germany to meet his brother. In Bavaria, he asked for asylum using his fake passport and was sentenced by German authorities to two months in prison for forging documents. He spent his sentence in a prison in Bad Reichenhall.

After his release from prison, he escaped from a refugee camp and traveled to Munich, where he continued his burglaries and started his killing spree.

The offence

Modus operandi

An important factor in Ondrej Rigo’s conviction was his consistent modus operandi:

• His attacks occurred during the night or very early in the morning.
• He wore his socks on his hands at all times during the attacks in order to not leave any fingerprints.
• He sneaked into apartments in the basements, on the ground floor or with easy access via the balcony, usually entering through a window.
• He picked women sleeping alone and beat them to death with a metal rod, wooden stick or a rock, always hitting the head.
• The murder weapon was always left at the crime scene.
• After killing the victim, he covered the victim’s upper body with a blanket.
• Then he copulated with the body both vaginally and anally.
• Sometimes he mutilated the body some more during intercourse.
• He smoked at the crime scenes and threw cigarette butts on the floor.
• He robbed the victims of some easy to carry valuables.

Investigation

After Ondrej Rigo’s arrest, criminal police of Germany, Netherlands and Czechoslovakia investigated his murders separately and then cooperated on the case.

Ondrej Rigo’s arrest was recalled by former investigator JUDr. Jozef Vachálek:

“He was still in trance, like a snake who just swallowed its prey. There were traces of blood on his shoes and trousers and inside his locker there were jewels belonging to the victim”

At trial, DNA evidence was presented to the court, consisting of blood analysis and analysis of semen from the victims’ vaginas, as well as testimonies of 194 witnesses (including witnesses from Germany and Netherlands).

Arrest

Ondrej Rigo was arrested by the Slovak criminal police on March 4, 1992, only hours after his last murder.

He was arrested by Vachálek and probably some other policemen in Hotel Carlton on Hviezdoslavovo Square in Bratislava, where he was employed as a “šatniar” in a cloakroom.

At the time of his arrest he was still without his socks on, which he used in the attack.

Later, Ondrej Rigo claimed:

• the blood on him was syrup;
• his sperm found on the victims was arranged by a prostitute from an erotic club;
• his footprints beneath the balconies and cigarette butts were explained by his claiming he was there by chance, had to pee, or was curious and took a look through some windows;
• his possession of jewelry was explained by saying that women often gave him gifts.

Jana B., the only survivor of his crimes, clearly saw Ondrej Rigo’s face because inside the apartment where she fought with him, there was some light from a streetlight outside. She later attended his trial wearing a wig to remain unnoticed.

Trial

Ondrej Rigo was sentenced on December 7, 1994 by the City court of Bratislava after a trial that lasted 10 days.

A senate headed by JUDr. Peter Šamko sentenced him to life imprisonment in the “third class”, meaning highest security prison in Slovakia.

When details of his crimes were read to him in court, Ondrej Rigo did not react in any way; he was sitting rigidly and leaning a bit forward and his face showed no emotion throughout the trial. His file consisted of 5500 pages.

As explained by Šamko, the sentence was chosen based on directly or indirectly proven 9 murders, the especially brutal way in which he committed the murders, and the fact that possibilities of his resocialization were quite limited and the prognosis was bad.

Ondrej Rigo never pleaded guilty to any of the murders and did not feel guilty.

Appeals

Ondrej Rigo appealed the first-order court’s sentence.

In his appeal, he claimed he was innocent, without giving any kind of proof.

His appeal process at the Highest Court of Slovak Republic started on February 27, 1996. During his finishing speech, the representative of the General Prosecutor Office of Slovakia JUDr. Ivan Segeš proposed to confirm the life imprisonment sentence because Ondrej Rigo’s guilt had been proven once again in the appeal process.

On February 28, 1996, the senate of the Highest Court of Slovak Republic denied Ondrej Rigo’s appeal and confirmed his sentence. There was no other appeal possible.

Outcome

Ondrej Rigo received a life imprisonment sentence in Slovakia on December 7, 1994.

After an unknown number of years in Ilava prison, he was transferred to Leopoldov Prison.

Personality and psychopathological profile

According to a court-appointed psychologist Anton Heretik, who authored Ondrej Rigo’s psychological profile during the trial, Ondrej Rigo was a psychopath.

Heretik said:

“He does not accept any social norms, he is lacking empathy and behaves very impulsively. In the same time he is a schizoid, unable to create relationships with others. He has strange thoughts and hobbies, he is a loner. He is a combination of dissocial and schizoid psychopath, creating a very dangerous type of criminal”

According to his psychological profile, the strangeness, lack of hospitality and language barrier in a foreign country could have influenced his later behavior.

Ondrej Rigo was found by the psychologists not to be a sadist.

According to Ondrej Rigo’s investigator JUDr. Jozef Vachálek, he had low IQ and seldom talked:

“(he) had low IQ and seldom talked”

While incarcerated in Ilava prison, Ondrej Rigo behaved according to norms most of the time, but according to pedagogist Daniel Blaško from Ilava prison, he would often react too aggressively:

“often react too aggressively”

Blaško stated:

“Chances for his correction are zero”

Blaško also said it was difficult to communicate with Rigo because he seldom said a coherent sentence.

Victims and attacks

Listed below were the names of victims who were murdered or wounded by Ondrej Rigo.

Victims (chronological)

• Helena S. (40) — Killed — June 8, 1990 — Munich
• Ilka Z. (28) — Killed — August 1, 1990 — Munich
• Maria van der W. (58) — Killed — September 27, 1990 — Amsterdam
• Terézia R. (88) — Killed — October 6, 1990 — Bratislava
• Anna P. (40) — Killed — January 3, 1991 — Bratislava
• Juraj N. (14-16 depends on the source) — Killed — January 3, 1991 — Bratislava
• Jana B. (31) — Survived — January 9, 1991 — Bratislava
• Helena N. (79) — Killed — late January or April 1991 — Bratislava
• Henrieta O. (22) — Killed — July 14, 1991 — Bratislava
• Matilda U. (67) — Killed — March 4, 1992 — Bratislava

First murder in Munich: Helena S. (40)

On the night from June 7 to June 8, 1990, Ondrej Rigo sneaked through a partially open window into the ground floor bedroom of Helena S. at an unspecified location in Munich.

He smashed her head with a 2.5 kilogram metal pipe, wrapped the upper part of her body in a blanket and copulated with her.

Anton Heretik, author of Ondrej Rigo’s psychological evaluation during investigation, was quoted:

“He killed her and got aroused sexually”

Before leaving, according to some sources he stole some easy to carry valuables, and according to others he stole nothing. He disposed of the murder weapon directly beneath the bedroom window.

Murder in Munich: Ilke Z. (28)

On the night between the last day of June and August 1, 1990, Ondrej Rigo sneaked through the partially open balcony door into the Munich apartment of Ilke Z. (28), murdering her using a metal pipe.

Probably during copulation, he stabbed her into the neck with a screwdriver. He performed both vaginal and anal intercourse with her.

Afterward, he covered up the body and searched the house for valuables including a golden necklace and an unknown amount of German marks, which he stole. The murder weapon and a men’s sock was later found by German police at the crime scene.

Amsterdam: Maria van der W. (58)

In October, Ondrej Rigo left Munich for Amsterdam to visit his sister Helena.

During the night of September 27, 1990, he sneaked into Maria van der W.’s ground floor apartment through a partially open balcony window and killed her with a stone weighing over 5.5 kilograms (probably a pavement cobblestone).

He stripped the body naked and copulated with it.

He robbed his victim, stealing a camera, a women’s wristwatch, two boxes containing coins and some other valuables. In the kitchen on a shelf he found some slivovica and drank it. Later in court, a witness testified that Rigo had a liking for this particular drink.

Ondrej Rigo left for Bratislava, Slovakia the day following the murder.

Bratislava: Terézia R. (88)

Ondrej Rigo killed Terézia R. (88) inside a retirement home in Bratislava on October 6, 1990. He murdered her with his fist while she was sleeping.

The retirement home reported prayer books, rosary and 4000 Slovak Crowns as missing. Underneath the balcony, the police found some Dutch coins and cigarette butts with Ondrej Rigo’s biological material on them.

January 3, 1991: Anna P. (40) and Juraj N. (14-16)

On January 3, 1991, early in the morning, the bodies of Anna P. (40) and her son Juraj N. (14-16 depends on the source) were found inside a ground floor flat in a dormitory, at an unspecified location in Bratislava.

Ondrej Rigo entered the apartment through a window around midnight. The son was sleeping beside his mother when Ondrej Rigo crushed their heads with a wooden stick. Anna P. tried to protect her son.

Afterward, Ondrej Rigo copulated with Anna P.’s body.

Anna P. had emigrated to Switzerland in 1982 with her son and husband. She was in Bratislava with her son only for a few days for New Year’s.

January 9, 1991: Jana B. (31) survived

Jana B. became the first person to survive Ondrej Rigo’s attack on January 9, 1991.

Her apartment was on Kutuzovova street in Bratislava, and she probably had an attack in her probably first-floor apartment. She managed to fight him off after being attacked in the night.

Ondrej Rigo gained access through a ventilation window above the door. Jana B. noticed that his light-blue pants were hand-sewn in the crotch area, which later helped identify him. The police found such pants in his closet.

The same night before this attack, Ondrej Rigo entered through another window in the neighborhood, but it led only into a small locked storage room.

Late January or April 1991: Helena N. (79)

Three weeks after Ondrej Rigo’s last kill and two weeks after the attack on Jana B., at an unspecified date, he murdered Helena N. (79) near Záhradnícka street in Bratislava.

This was on the same street as the last murder scene according to some sources, or very near the last murder scene according to others. Ondrej Rigo removed a net from the kitchen window of this ground floor apartment and killed Helena N. with a piece of concrete.

July 14, 1991: Henrieta O. (22) and survival then death 18 days later

Henrieta O. or A. (22) was attacked on July 14, 1991.

Ondrej Rigo gained access to her Bratislava apartment through the window, which she probably left open because it was a hot summer. She was playing on her guitar late into the night.

He smashed her head, raped her and robbed her, leaving her for dead. Henrieta O. survived the attack but died 18 days later.

Together with Henrieta O., her grandmother slept in another room of the apartment. The grandmother was practically deaf and did not hear Ondrej Rigo raping her fatally injured granddaughter.

March 4, 1992: Matilda U. (67)

The last victim, Matilda U. (67), was murdered on March 4, 1992, in the center of Bratislava in a “pavlač” house in Obchodná street.

That night, Ondrej Rigo was in the movie theater Dukla (today known as YMCA) on Šancová street together with his girlfriend.

They were returning home together when he told his girlfriend he had to take care of something and got off the trolleybus. He did not come home until morning.

Unnamed alleged additional victim

According to an article in Časopis Šarm, there was another unnamed victim from Bratislava, killed with a knife, which was never proved to Ondrej Rigo.

The victim was a woman found in the morning by her son sleeping in his child’s room. The murder was considered unsolved as of 2008.

Ondrej Rigo gave some of the items he stole from his victims to his unnamed daughter (12).

Survivor account: Jana B.

Jana B. was the only person to survive an attack by Ondrej Rigo.

She attended karate classes for several years. The attack occurred around 2:30 in the night while sleeping in her apartment on Kutuzovova street in Bratislava’s 3rd district on January 9, 1991. She returned home an hour after midnight and went to sleep.

A ladder was found leaning against the “pavlač”.

Jana B. described being woken up and said:

“I was woken up by a hit to the head and I saw a man standing by my bed. At first I thought I'm dreaming, because I was living alone but when I received another hit to the head I woke up and the wooden shaft from a hoe Rigo stole outside, on the building's yard, broke, because it was moldy,” she recalls.

Jana B. jumped from her bed and started defending herself immediately with the broken piece of wood. When Ondrej Rigo walked to the door, unlocking it from inside, she threw a chair at him.

In the kitchen, he wrestled Jana B. onto a hot gas oven and she said:

“The skin on my legs and stomach started to burn”

They fell on the ground wrestling, then Ondrej Rigo stood up and started punching her to the head. She said:

“At this moment Jana B. grabbed him by his genitals and squeezed them. "He was just trying to gouge out my eye", she remembers.”

She did not remember whether Ondrej Rigo screamed or not, but said the rest of the fight before was silent. She said he quickly fled the apartment while she alarmed the neighbor by banging on the wall and instructing him to call the police.

Another neighbor, woken up by her son who was alarmed by the noise, found Jana B. in shock and savagely beaten. The neighbor told the police he heard some weird noises but thought Jana B. was probably framing pictures in the middle of the night.

After the attack, Jana B.’s wounds required several weeks to heal.

According to Jana B.’s mother, the worst thing was that Ondrej Rigo was caught over a year after the attack, all the time knowing he might come back to finish the job.

Years later, Jana B. claimed she had no psychical trauma from the attack and was not interested in Ondrej Rigo, saying:

“Why should I move? Where is it safer? In Petržalka? Rigo is not interesting to me. I have no trauma from him, I don't feel anything, he doesn't mean anything to me. I don't want to talk about him, read about him or know anything about him.” —Jana B., the only survivor of Ondrej Rigo's attacks, when interviewed by Šarm in 2008

Jana B. never moved from the flat she was attacked in, and as of 2008 she continued to live there.

Other sources claimed she bought a dog and had to have lights on during the night for seven years after the attack, and afterward finally moved out from the apartment.

Sentencing details

On December 7, 1994, Ondrej Rigo received life imprisonment in the “third class” (highest security prison in Slovakia).

The sentence was based on directly or indirectly proven 9 murders and the especially brutal way in which he committed the murders, and on limitations for resocialization with a bad prognosis.

Aftermath

After his sentencing, he served time and was later transferred from Ilava prison to Leopoldov Prison.