Michael Wolter

Case record: Michael Wolter

Status

Michael Wolter was sentenced to life in prison in 1984.

The offence

Twentieth-century German police dealt with a series of attacks on females that began in spring of 1980 and continued for the next three years. The attacks involved rape, and victims were attacked, raped, and then strangled and/or stabbed to death.

The first victim was Gabriele Roesner, 25, a resident of Langen. On the night of May 7, 1980, while sleeping in her own bed, she was attacked and raped by an intruder and strangled with her own pajama bottoms.

On June 14, Regina Barthel, a 14-year-old student in the town of Dietzenbach near Langen, failed to make it home for dinner after strolling in the nearby forest. Searchers found her body late that night; she had been raped and stabbed to death.

In Offenbach, prostitute Annedore Ligeika was raped in her apartment and strangled with a pillow case. Semen samples matched the killer's blood type from the first two murders, but there appeared to be no common pattern in the crimes.

On February 7, 1981, the murderer invaded Frankfurt proper and attacked prostitute Fatima Sonnenberg. She was raped and stabbed to death at home. Police discovered her after an anonymous caller—thought to be her pimp—reported the crime.

On December 20, 1981, 16-year-old Beatrix Scheible was raped and stabbed to death in a Frankfurt park. She had been attacked on a short walk home from the movies, and officers discovered her body while it was still warm on routine patrol.

The slayer shifted back to Dietzenbach on May 9, 1982. Regina Spielman, a 17-year-old who was picking flowers for her parents, was attacked in the same wooded area where Regina Barthel had been killed eleven months earlier. She was raped and stabbed to death.

Eighteen months elapsed before the killer struck again. On the third day of November 1983, the latest victim had been Ilke Rutsch, age 21. She was attacked and raped, then stabbed to death, while hiking in the woods near town in the area around Babenhausen, south of Frankfurt.

The killer stopped in Offenbach a second time on November 26 and claimed 22-year-old Simone Newin. Simone Newin was raped and strangled with her own sweat pants while running through the woods; she was found a short time later by other joggers.

Three days later, a 19-year-old Frankfurt woman was accosted by a man who ripped her clothes off, threw her to the ground, and tried to rape her while she was walking home from work. A group of party-bound municipal employees interrupted the attack. Her assailant tried to flee, but he was overpowered and held for the police.

Investigation

Homicide investigators typed the killer's blood from semen samples collected from crimes. They had no other clues to his identity at the time of the first two murders.

Police later agreed upon a pattern in the crimes, but they feared the killer might have slipped away and could practice elsewhere.

Police got an opportunity to identify the assailant after the attempted rape of the 19-year-old Frankfurt woman. He was held for police after he tried to flee and was overpowered.

Police announced Wolter's detailed confession after further interrogation.

Arrest and charges

Michael Wolter was initially confined on charges of assault and attempted rape.

Michael Wolter was 25 years old and was an electrician from Neu Isenburg, southeast of Frankfurt.

Background

A look at his record revealed two convictions for indecent exposure, in 1979 and 1982. Wolter had escaped with payment of small fines on each occasion for the indecent exposure convictions.

Trial

On March 5, 1984, police announced Wolter's detailed confession to five of the serial slayings, with further interrogation in progress.

Sentencing

The statements in hand were sufficient to earn him a sentence of life imprisonment.

Outcome

Michael Wolter received a life term based on his confession to five counts related to the serial slayings.

Other details

Michael Wolter was tied to the serial murders through semen samples typed for blood type and through his confession to five serial slayings.