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Killing to test if he was able to kill?
I found this story of a “triple event” in a book about serial killers and will just quote it.
The original text was in German. Translation © me. Excuse the mistakes.
[…] His wife Cornelia wanted to break up with him – for good, irrevocably. He had beaten her too often. On February 3rd, 1969, she filed for divorce. Her husband didn’t want to accept it. Leave her to someone else? Never! For the 34-year-old former autopsy diener there was only one solution: He wanted to kill his wife. His plan was to stab her in court, just before the judge would deliver the divorce decree. But doubt bothered him. Will I manage that? Stab with a knife? Kill a human being? To be sure, he wanted to test it.
A victim was quickly found. Erika Bechthold, 49. A former friend, with whom he also had been intimate. On February 14th, shortly after midnight, Dammer rang her doorbell. “I’ve got trouble with Conny, may I sleep here?” She just nodded. Not much later he killed her.
The basic results of the autopsy: “(…) Punctual bleedings at the inner side of the scalp and at the area of both temporal muscles. (…) Cut across the neck with transection of the soft parts down to the spine. Two stab injuries in the area of the heart. (…) Longitudinal section through the abdominal wall with opening of the abdomen. (…)”
Dammer had first choked his victim until unconsciousness, then cut through her neck, set several stabs to the heart and finally slitted her belly open. He looked at the corpse. No pity. But he wasn’t totally sure if he could do this to his wife whom he still loved. The consequence: a second “test murder” – to “be totally sure”.
It hit Josefa Schiller. He knew her, too. The same case history like with his first victim. Just the same night he also killed the 39-year-old – by proven pattern: Choking until unconsciousness, deep cut through the neck, stab to the heart, opening of the abdomen. This time he went one step further. “Collar section and longitudinal section of the body with direction of the cut down to the right knee”, would later be written in the autopsy protocol. He went through the deed again – in his thoughts. Calm and composed he had choked and cut, exterminated the life of his former friend. Just so – so easy. Now there was no doubt anymore, he believed it. I’ll manage it.
Dammer had perfected his modus operandi, he had erased his natural inhibition to kill. The very same day he massacred his wife. In their flat in Berlin-Lichtenberg. The gruesome scenario can be reconstructed by some findings of the autopsy: “(…) Deep cut through the neck with incomplete transection of the cerval spine, spinal marrow completely cut. (…) Five stab / cut injuries on the left side of the chest, two of them opening the chambers of the heart, 100 millilitres of blood inside the left chest cavity. High degree exsanguination.”
A supposedly unique case in German criminal history. Still at the crime scene Dammer was arrested, the victim’s eldest daughter had called the police. Too late. Dammer explained to the dismayed officers: “There she lies. Dead as a dodo. I dissected her. Bad work for an autopsy diener. Hadn’t the right tools. And no right table with blood drain. Botch work. What a pity.”
From:
Harbort, Stephan: “Mörderisches Profil – Phänomen Serienkiller”
The killer’s name, „Bernd Dammer“, probably is a pseudonym given to him by the author.
I found this story of a “triple event” in a book about serial killers and will just quote it.
The original text was in German. Translation © me. Excuse the mistakes.
[…] His wife Cornelia wanted to break up with him – for good, irrevocably. He had beaten her too often. On February 3rd, 1969, she filed for divorce. Her husband didn’t want to accept it. Leave her to someone else? Never! For the 34-year-old former autopsy diener there was only one solution: He wanted to kill his wife. His plan was to stab her in court, just before the judge would deliver the divorce decree. But doubt bothered him. Will I manage that? Stab with a knife? Kill a human being? To be sure, he wanted to test it.
A victim was quickly found. Erika Bechthold, 49. A former friend, with whom he also had been intimate. On February 14th, shortly after midnight, Dammer rang her doorbell. “I’ve got trouble with Conny, may I sleep here?” She just nodded. Not much later he killed her.
The basic results of the autopsy: “(…) Punctual bleedings at the inner side of the scalp and at the area of both temporal muscles. (…) Cut across the neck with transection of the soft parts down to the spine. Two stab injuries in the area of the heart. (…) Longitudinal section through the abdominal wall with opening of the abdomen. (…)”
Dammer had first choked his victim until unconsciousness, then cut through her neck, set several stabs to the heart and finally slitted her belly open. He looked at the corpse. No pity. But he wasn’t totally sure if he could do this to his wife whom he still loved. The consequence: a second “test murder” – to “be totally sure”.
It hit Josefa Schiller. He knew her, too. The same case history like with his first victim. Just the same night he also killed the 39-year-old – by proven pattern: Choking until unconsciousness, deep cut through the neck, stab to the heart, opening of the abdomen. This time he went one step further. “Collar section and longitudinal section of the body with direction of the cut down to the right knee”, would later be written in the autopsy protocol. He went through the deed again – in his thoughts. Calm and composed he had choked and cut, exterminated the life of his former friend. Just so – so easy. Now there was no doubt anymore, he believed it. I’ll manage it.
Dammer had perfected his modus operandi, he had erased his natural inhibition to kill. The very same day he massacred his wife. In their flat in Berlin-Lichtenberg. The gruesome scenario can be reconstructed by some findings of the autopsy: “(…) Deep cut through the neck with incomplete transection of the cerval spine, spinal marrow completely cut. (…) Five stab / cut injuries on the left side of the chest, two of them opening the chambers of the heart, 100 millilitres of blood inside the left chest cavity. High degree exsanguination.”
A supposedly unique case in German criminal history. Still at the crime scene Dammer was arrested, the victim’s eldest daughter had called the police. Too late. Dammer explained to the dismayed officers: “There she lies. Dead as a dodo. I dissected her. Bad work for an autopsy diener. Hadn’t the right tools. And no right table with blood drain. Botch work. What a pity.”
From:
Harbort, Stephan: “Mörderisches Profil – Phänomen Serienkiller”
The killer’s name, „Bernd Dammer“, probably is a pseudonym given to him by the author.
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