- 2 days ago
World's Most Evil Killers S01E05
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00For three decades, a relentless serial killer was targeting women across the industrial heartland of West Germany.
00:16Between 1955 and 1976, he confessed to killing at least 14 victims, the youngest of them a four-year-old girl.
00:26But the authorities had no idea.
00:28The fact that he got away with this for so long, I think we should really ask ourselves a lot of questions.
00:34How does somebody like this go under the radar for that long?
00:36He killed with such stealth that others were blamed for his murders.
00:42Everyone kept saying he was the alleged child murderer, and that drove my father to his death.
00:48In 1976, the police captured the actual killer, a 43-year-old man named Joachim Kroll.
00:58He demonstrated how he killed his victims in a series of chilling reconstruction pictures.
01:04In my view, Kroll is among the most depraved serial killers we've seen in Europe in the 20th century.
01:15Joachim Kroll, the man dubbed the Kewsberg cannibal, had carved his place in history as one of the world's most evil killers.
01:24It was a series of murders that shocked the whole of Germany.
01:50For 21 years, between the mid-1950s and the mid-70s, Joachim Kroll murdered at least 14 people by strangling them to death.
02:01His youngest victim, Marion Ketter, was just four years old.
02:05The discovery of her dismembered body in the summer of 1976 left the nation in a state of complete disbelief.
02:13For years, Kroll took care to strike away from his home in Duisburg, a town in the Rugerbeet, West Germany's industrial heartland.
02:23But Marion Ketter lived right on his street.
02:27Police were knocking on doors, searching for the missing four-year-old girl in July 1976, when they made a gruesome discovery.
02:37Bernd Jägers was a young detective on the Duisburg murder squad.
02:41The whole thing was only discovered because Achim took a girl from the neighborhood.
02:51Before that, he would travel further and the crime scenes were far away from Duisburg.
02:56That is the reason why it took us so long to catch him.
03:00This time, he took a girl from the neighborhood who he knew by sight.
03:04He took her to his flat, sexually abused her and then killed her.
03:07When a four-year-old goes missing, the alarm bells go off everywhere.
03:15Of course, you use a lot of personnel to try and find this girl.
03:20And when we got there, other colleagues were already on the scene.
03:23And we then went inside the flat and experienced something terrible.
03:26The story of this twisted killer begins more than 80 years ago.
03:38Joachim Kroll was born on April 17, 1933, the sixth of nine children.
03:45His family lived in Upper Silesia, in the far east of Germany,
03:49until they got driven out at the end of the Second World War.
03:55Joachim Kroll was the son of a coal miner, born in East Germany, weakly, unprepossessing child.
04:04Barely intelligent. He had an IQ of 79.
04:06They lived in very cramped circumstances.
04:12Only two rooms for a family of 11, always in financial difficulties.
04:18And also his relationship with the family weighed heavily on him,
04:21because he was hardly able to develop any kind of close relationship with his siblings.
04:30Joachim Kroll was lonely in his own family,
04:33because he learned that he didn't matter much as a human.
04:36He didn't experience any motherly or fatherly love at home,
04:44and therefore couldn't develop a feeling of self-worth.
04:49He was withdrawn and shy.
04:53He was afraid to even speak, because he was physically abused.
05:01He was a bit of a victim, a bit of an outcast, even within his own family.
05:05And then when he went to school, he didn't really fit in there either.
05:09He had quite a low IQ.
05:11He wasn't particularly bright.
05:13He was a bit slow.
05:14So that made him a bit of a target there.
05:16And then later on, he was drafted into the Hitler Youth.
05:21You know, perhaps his father thought this was a way of sorting him out
05:25and making him, you know, a real man.
05:27But that didn't really work out either,
05:30because he didn't fit in with that particular culture.
05:33So here's somebody who's always been something of an outsider,
05:37somebody who doesn't always fit in, who isn't really accepted anywhere.
05:43When the Red Army came, all the Germans were driven out.
05:47And for the Kohl family, it was an odyssey,
05:50because they went from place to place to find another home somewhere.
05:54Kohl had to watch women being raped, people being killed,
05:58how small boys played with explosives and blew themselves up in the process.
06:03So, as a young man, Joachim Kroll had already been badly traumatized.
06:12You have to bear in mind that Achim had always been teased and bullied.
06:17Even in his own family, he was always the loser.
06:19When one of them did something, his siblings would always say,
06:23Achim did it, so he would be beaten again.
06:26There's quite a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle
06:29falling quite neatly into place here for Kroll.
06:33So he started off life as an outsider,
06:36not really got many decent social relationships.
06:39He's quite isolated.
06:41And he's somebody who is becoming increasingly introverted,
06:45and that's always a dangerous thing.
06:47While working on farms as a teenager,
06:50Kroll was regularly beaten by his superiors
06:53whenever he made a mistake.
06:55He went to work on a farm, quite a tough environment.
06:59He didn't get on particularly well socially in this environment.
07:03He worked with people on the farm.
07:05This included women, who he would make inappropriate passes at,
07:09because he just didn't have the social skills
07:11to form normal relationships with the opposite sex.
07:14He was quite aggressive in his approach to them.
07:17So he was often rejected by the women
07:20that he would try and develop relationships with.
07:23And I think that served to just isolate him even further.
07:27During his time on the farm,
07:29Kroll also developed a morbid fascination
07:32with the butchery of animals.
07:34Back in those days, slaughtering animals on farms
07:37isn't the kind of cold clinical approach that's taken today.
07:41It was incredibly brutal.
07:43It was incredibly bloody.
07:44He wasn't repulsed by these scenes of gore and blood
07:49and violence that the other people might be.
07:52When he saw a pig being slaughtered for the first time,
08:00it had a lasting effect on him.
08:03He started sweating.
08:04His pulse was racing.
08:05It was basically a very positive and almost ecstatic experience
08:09that he didn't expect to feel.
08:10He was completely overwhelmed by these sensations
08:14that were totally unknown to him.
08:16So he's a bit different,
08:24and he's developing a tolerance to violence and to death.
08:28Kroll's delight in the blood and gore of the slaughterhouse
08:32even manifested into sexual acts with animals.
08:36If fantasies of sexual violence developed during puberty,
08:44and he was in puberty, when he was working on farms,
08:47then you can never get rid of them.
08:50There he experienced these sexual things which aroused him,
08:53the warm blood and where he satisfied himself.
08:55Then afterwards he lived out his fantasies on the animals,
08:58with sexual acts, with cows and anything that was available,
09:01and something like that will never go away.
09:05When we look at sex, we look at what is it, what does it represent.
09:09Essentially it represents power.
09:11Now here's somebody who hasn't had a lot of power,
09:13who hasn't had a lot of control over the things
09:15that have been happening in his life,
09:17but when he's involved in the slaughtering of animals,
09:18he's fully in control in this situation.
09:21This is something that he quite enjoys.
09:23It's the first time, I think, in his life
09:25that he's got control over what's going on.
09:28Kroll's fantasies translated into behaviour
09:31that was becoming more and more grotesque.
09:35When he lived in a hostel for single men
09:37and he took a cat into his room,
09:39he had this idea that he wanted to see
09:41what the insides looked like.
09:44He took a hammer, struck the cat and skinned it
09:48and took a closer look at its intestines.
09:52And that really does show this kind of childlike curiosity
09:56that he's got and the complete lack of boundaries
09:59around how to behave appropriately.
10:02His violence towards animals took a more human-like turn
10:06when Kroll began experimenting with blow-up dolls.
10:13Because Kroll didn't manage to get access to women,
10:16he procured himself several rubber dolls instead,
10:19which he draped with clothing,
10:21but then also hanged them with a rope
10:23and imagined that the women would then die.
10:26He got a particular kick out of that.
10:33It was only a matter of time
10:35before Kroll's perverse behaviour would lead him to kill.
10:40When he was arrested three decades later
10:43for the gruesome murder of four-year-old Marian Ketter
10:46in July 1976,
10:49the police found communication with Kroll
10:51extremely difficult.
10:55Well, we just simply thought,
10:57if someone does something like this,
10:59other things or fantasies must have played a part.
11:04Kroll was so withdrawn,
11:05the police decided he might open up more
11:08if just one detective tried to form a rapport with him.
11:11I said to our boss,
11:15I would like to talk to Aki Malone.
11:17So the two of us sat down in the interview room
11:19and I tried,
11:20with absolute mundane and trivial subjects,
11:22to get through to him.
11:24To get through to this man now
11:26was, of course, not easy.
11:30I then tried with something we found out
11:32through interviews with his neighbours,
11:34that he would often work on the moped that he owned,
11:36that he would fix it and adjust it,
11:38that he also repaired his own television.
11:39And so I tried to go down this route
11:42and all of a sudden I noticed that he realised,
11:44someone's listening to me.
11:47When I talk about myself
11:48and is actually asking questions.
11:50And that was the moment
11:51when trust was gradually built up,
11:53where I was fortunate enough
11:55to kindle a spark of trust
11:56and so he also discussed other things with me.
11:59Kroll was ready to talk to the police.
12:08They had no idea
12:10that the quiet man sitting before them
12:12was responsible for the barbaric killing
12:15of at least 14 people
12:16over the past 21 years.
12:19His confession would stun
12:20the whole of West Germany.
12:24As detectives continued
12:26with their interrogations,
12:28Kroll began to open up.
12:30My colleague Bernd Jägers
12:32did it all the right way.
12:38He's the one who broke the ice.
12:40Because without his special relationship with Kroll,
12:43all these murder confessions
12:45would probably never have been possible.
12:48So therefore,
12:48he deserves the very highest respect.
12:50He gave Kroll the feeling,
12:56I don't see you as a beast or man-eater,
12:59but just as a human being.
13:01And that's exactly how I'll treat you.
13:04Let yourself go.
13:05Do that.
13:05And Kroll did that.
13:07And then day after day,
13:08he confessed to new murders.
13:09Kroll told detectives
13:14he'd committed his first murder
13:16when he was 21 years old
13:18in February 1955,
13:20just three weeks
13:22after the death of his mother.
13:30Joachim Kroll's murderous career
13:32started when the only person
13:34he could relate to,
13:35his mother, died.
13:37His mother was, above all,
13:39the most important person
13:40in Kroll's life,
13:42in contrast with his father,
13:43who beat him regularly.
13:45She was the only positive figure
13:47in his life.
13:48He looked up to her
13:49and didn't have to be afraid.
13:51So when this pillar broke,
13:53there was no hope
13:54to his sexual pathological development.
14:04The victim was 19-year-old
14:07Ermgard Striel.
14:08Kroll had attacked her
14:10in the town of Ludinghausen,
14:12an hour's drive northeast
14:13of Duisburg.
14:15So he sees this woman
14:16and he tries to make a pass at her,
14:19to grab her and kiss her.
14:21And understandably,
14:22she doesn't react well to this.
14:24That rejection stunned him so much
14:27that he thought,
14:29I'm a human being
14:30and I want to live my sexuality,
14:32so I have to find another way.
14:33And so violence was the only solution.
14:37As a result,
14:38he kind of shuffles her off
14:40into the woods
14:41where he sexually assaults her
14:43and he kills her
14:44and then he mutilates her body.
14:46So this is somebody
14:48who appears to be,
14:50you know,
14:51kind of subhuman in a way.
14:53When we put his first murder in context,
14:56the only way that he's felt powerful
14:58and that he's felt in control
14:59is when he's been killing animals
15:00on the farm.
15:01So when he kills his first victim,
15:04this is another exercise of power.
15:06It's another exercise of control.
15:08But what's particularly important
15:09about this one
15:10is that he's crossed a line.
15:12He's killed a human being.
15:14He's killed an individual.
15:16And I think this is a line
15:17that he will cross time and time again.
15:20Kroll began to confess
15:22to a murderous career
15:23that had lasted
15:24for the previous 21 years.
15:27He had developed a familiar M.O.,
15:29sneaking up behind people
15:31and strangling them to death.
15:34Kroll was one of the few people
15:37who almost fulfilled
15:39the stereotype
15:40of a serial killer.
15:43He did have slightly staring eyes
15:45and a small,
15:47rather weaselly, rat-like face.
15:50He tended to be furtive
15:52in all his movements.
15:54He targeted women,
15:55but they had to be inert.
15:57Well, the only way
15:58that Kroll could be assured
16:00that his female victims
16:02were inert
16:03was to kill them.
16:05He would strangle them rapidly,
16:10often by surprise.
16:13Usually in isolated places,
16:17he was the sort of chap
16:19you probably would have wanted
16:20to cross the street to avoid.
16:22The main effect of strangulation
16:25is that it blocks the blood supply
16:27to the brain
16:28and it blocks the blood
16:29coming back from the brain
16:30to the body.
16:31That's far more immediately damaging
16:34than pressure on the windpipe
16:36or blocking off the air supply.
16:38So once you've blocked
16:39the blood supply to the brain,
16:41once the arteries
16:42aren't supplying it with blood,
16:43you've literally got about
16:45ten seconds
16:45before you lose consciousness,
16:47so it's quick.
16:49As Detective Bernd Jagers
16:51continued with his daily
16:52interrogation of Kroll,
16:54the story began to captivate
16:56the German press,
16:57who dubbed the killer
16:58the Duisberg cannibal.
17:01His nickname at one point
17:03was the Ruhr cannibal
17:04or the Ruhr hunter
17:05because he regularly boasted
17:07in the wake of his capture
17:08that he ate the victims.
17:13He said it was the only meat
17:16he could eat.
17:19You have to explain
17:20that back then
17:21there were all kinds of stories
17:22published in the press,
17:23wild stories,
17:24none of which were true.
17:26Let's say that Bill Zeitung
17:27published interviews
17:28word for word
17:29in the newspaper,
17:30but we never actually
17:31talked to the Bill Zeitung.
17:33They published such things as
17:35now Achim Kroll
17:36is being given cake
17:37or potato fritters,
17:38so they will confess
17:39to the next murder.
17:40This is, of course,
17:41total nonsense.
17:44Now we were there every day,
17:45also at the weekends,
17:47in order to keep
17:47Joachim's spirits up.
17:49So I just asked him
17:50what would you like to eat,
17:52which is quite normal.
17:53He would say,
17:54I would like a piece of cake.
17:56Then, of course,
17:56we would go and get cake.
17:58But that was just about
17:59being human
18:00and not to get
18:01a murder confession.
18:03No one would confess
18:04to murder because of that.
18:11You have to imagine,
18:13Kroll is built up
18:14in the media
18:14as a monster,
18:15a man-eater,
18:16a cannibal,
18:17and then the police
18:18go and serve him
18:19with his favorite food.
18:20In the end,
18:22it was also just
18:23a tactic
18:24to get Kroll to talk.
18:26And using these means
18:27has to be allowed.
18:32Having gained
18:33the confidence of Kroll,
18:34the police got
18:35a clear insight
18:36into the perverse fantasies
18:38that ultimately
18:39motivated him
18:40to commit
18:41his appalling crimes.
18:43He needed this killing.
18:45He needed this
18:46seeing how to kill,
18:47and that gave him
18:48sexual gratification.
18:50But the corpses
18:51in themselves
18:52no longer interested him.
18:53He just left them.
18:55He did not cover them up,
18:56nothing at all.
18:58And then he got the bus
18:59or train or whatever
19:00home in a completely
19:01normal way.
19:03Kroll tended to
19:04minimize his behavior,
19:06and as criminologists,
19:07we call this
19:08techniques of neutralization.
19:10So rather than describing
19:12them as the horrendous
19:13things they are,
19:14he described them
19:14as his funny feelings,
19:16you know,
19:17something that was
19:17a bit of a quirk,
19:19something that was
19:20a bit odd.
19:21So he's minimizing
19:22what he's doing
19:22by describing it
19:23in that way.
19:27Between 1955
19:28and 1976,
19:31Kroll told detectives
19:32that he'd killed
19:33at least 14 people
19:34and that he could take them
19:36to some of the crime scenes.
19:38Officers decided
19:39to drive him
19:40to a series
19:41of cold case locations
19:42throughout the Rugerbeet region.
19:44They hoped by allowing
19:46him to reenact
19:47the murders,
19:48it may help them
19:49identify his unknown victims.
19:52The police captured
19:53photographs
19:53of these macabre
19:55reconstructions.
19:56We as interrogators
20:02had no files,
20:03nothing at all.
20:04We drove behind them,
20:05they stopped somewhere,
20:07then Achim got out
20:08and we asked,
20:08Achim,
20:09have you been here before?
20:10And if you recognize
20:11something,
20:12then he said,
20:13yes,
20:13I have been here before.
20:15He then looked at it all
20:16and went with us
20:17into the forest,
20:18depending on what crime
20:19scene it was.
20:20He then could describe
20:21how he had looked
20:22at that time.
20:23That was incredible,
20:23he had a photographic memory.
20:25He did not know
20:26where he was,
20:27but he just had
20:28this photographic memory.
20:31Kroll would try
20:32and identify
20:33a specific tree
20:34or shrub,
20:35but he couldn't always
20:36find what he was
20:37looking for.
20:40We would find
20:41a few places
20:42where a forest used to be,
20:43but now there were
20:44high-rise buildings.
20:46Then he didn't know
20:46anymore and he said,
20:47I'm sorry,
20:48I can't say if I was here,
20:49I don't know.
20:51Of course,
20:51this was sometimes frustrating,
20:52but you have to live
20:53with that after such
20:54a long time.
20:55Kroll took the police
20:57to the town of Essen,
20:59half an hour's drive
21:00from his home
21:01in Duisburg,
21:02where he told them
21:03how he killed
21:0461-year-old Maria Hetken
21:06outside of her house
21:07in 1969.
21:11He walked around
21:12the lake all day.
21:13It was nice weather
21:14and had this feeling.
21:16It slowly turned to dusk
21:17and he wanted to go home,
21:18but then he saw
21:19the old lady
21:20whom he immediately
21:20addressed and said,
21:22do you want to have
21:23sex with me?
21:23She did not want to,
21:25of course.
21:26He snatched her
21:27and pulled her
21:27into a wooded area
21:28and then he killed her there.
21:32He doesn't seem
21:33to have a particular
21:34victim type,
21:35which is something
21:36that we do tend to see
21:37in serial killers.
21:38So this could suggest
21:39that his crimes
21:40are completely opportunistic,
21:42that he's not consciously
21:43targeting a particular
21:45group of people.
21:46Using the information
21:48gathered in these
21:49fact-finding missions,
21:50the police were able
21:51to piece together
21:52Kroll's history of murder.
21:55We could only use
22:01what Achim Kroll
22:02told us during
22:03the reenactment,
22:04during the interrogation
22:05and we would ask
22:07a few questions
22:07about whether or not
22:08anything more
22:09had occurred
22:09or we asked,
22:10Achim,
22:11what did you do then?
22:12What happened then?
22:13Questions like that.
22:15These answers convinced us
22:16that he's not inventing
22:17this stuff
22:18and that he really wants
22:19to get it off his chest.
22:24After spending
22:25three months with Achim
22:26and looking into
22:27more than 100 cases
22:28at some point,
22:29the defense said,
22:31that's enough.
22:32Achim Kroll will no longer
22:33go into the car
22:34with the police.
22:35So we could not continue
22:37to go to all
22:38the unsolved crime scenes.
22:40This may have also resulted
22:41in solving other
22:42unsolved cases.
22:43As new crimes
22:49were revealed
22:50to detectives,
22:51they soon realized
22:52that Kroll was
22:53confessing to murders
22:54that had already
22:55been solved.
22:57Some of these
22:58innocent men
22:58who had been
22:59wrongly accused
23:00were in prison
23:01and some
23:03had even ended up
23:04dead.
23:05He had confessed
23:06to the murder
23:07of 14 people
23:08and led detectives
23:10to the location
23:11of many of the crime scenes.
23:13One of these victims
23:14was 13-year-old
23:16Jutta Rahn.
23:17Kroll had strangled
23:18and killed her
23:19in the town
23:20of Breitscheid
23:21in 1970,
23:23six years
23:24before his arrest.
23:25But in a time
23:27before DNA evidence
23:28existed,
23:29the police
23:30had focused
23:30their investigation
23:32on Jutta's boyfriend.
23:36For the police
23:39and also for the prosecutor,
23:40the matter was resolved.
23:42And because of that,
23:43it was not on the list.
23:45And then Achim
23:46went with us
23:46into the forest
23:47and explained
23:48what he had done.
23:48This was the first story
23:51where we then said,
23:52hey,
23:53we have somebody here
23:54who is in the know.
23:55We're not here
23:56with somebody
23:56who is not quite
23:57so clever.
23:59He wants to show us
24:00what he's done.
24:01And now we have a crime
24:02for which someone else
24:03has almost been sentenced.
24:05And he has another
24:0620 to 30 people
24:07that he might have killed.
24:09A blood group
24:10classification expert
24:12later confirmed
24:13that Jutta's boyfriend
24:14could not have been
24:16the perpetrator
24:16and he was acquitted.
24:18But he was not
24:19the only man
24:20who had been
24:21mistakenly accused
24:22of a Kroll murder.
24:24One man had even
24:25made a false confession
24:26about killing
24:2716-year-old
24:28Manuela Connort,
24:30who was in fact
24:31murdered by Kroll
24:32in 1959.
24:40After some time,
24:42this man went to the police
24:43and told them
24:44that he killed this girl.
24:45He really went
24:46to prison for the crime
24:48but then said
24:48during his trial,
24:50it wasn't me.
24:51I only said that
24:51because I had financial
24:52problems, family problems.
24:54I was on the street.
24:55I needed somewhere
24:56to go and confess
24:57to this crime.
24:59It was, of course,
25:00no longer treated
25:00as an unsolved case
25:02by the police.
25:03The case had been closed.
25:05It had come to a trial
25:06and he had been convicted.
25:07following Kroll's arrest
25:11following Kroll's arrest
25:13in 1976,
25:15the convicted man
25:16wrote an astonishing letter
25:18which was published
25:19in the press.
25:20This man had already turned
25:24to our boss
25:25of the murder squad.
25:26He wrote a letter
25:27then saying
25:27that he was not
25:28the perpetrator
25:29and that the perpetrator
25:30must still be walking
25:31around free.
25:32We went to that scene,
25:33to the crime scene
25:34and Akim got out
25:35and said,
25:36yes, I was here too.
25:38He went into the forest
25:39and again looked
25:40for a very specific bush
25:41and a specific place
25:42and he said,
25:43here it was
25:44and we immediately
25:45did a reconstruction.
25:47So that was
25:48the second story
25:49where an innocent person
25:50had served time
25:51in prison
25:51and the matter
25:52was considered
25:53as solved.
25:57Another man
25:58who was falsely accused
25:59was Walter Kvicka,
26:01a farmer from Walsum,
26:03a suburb of Duisburg.
26:05He lived less than
26:07a mile from the spot
26:08where 11-year-old
26:09Monica Tafel
26:10was killed
26:11in June 1962.
26:12The young girl
26:17happened to be out
26:18and about that day
26:19and bumped into
26:20Joachim Kroll
26:21who was out looking
26:22for a new victim
26:23to kill and rape.
26:25Without the slightest hesitation,
26:27he kept turning around
26:28to check if anyone
26:29could see him,
26:30approached the girl,
26:32dragged her into a field,
26:34strangled her
26:34and then sexually assaulted her.
26:39But in 1962,
26:42Joachim Kroll
26:42was just a phantom.
26:44And a few days
26:45after the brutal killing
26:47of Monica Tafel,
26:48the police arrested
26:49Walter Kvicka.
26:51His daughter, Marlies,
26:52was just six years old
26:54at the time.
26:55My father was suspected
27:06of raping and murdering
27:08an 11-year-old girl
27:09150 meters
27:11from his family home.
27:12People who lived in the area
27:22and also from among
27:23his acquaintances
27:24made claims,
27:26expressed suspicions,
27:27which the police
27:28reacted to.
27:30And I think it was
27:31five days after
27:32the child's body
27:33was found,
27:34they arrested him
27:35at his workplace.
27:36No one could have seen him
27:44because on the day
27:45of the disappearance
27:46he was at work,
27:47so in that sense
27:48he also had a kind
27:50of alibi.
27:52He was accused
27:54and I know
27:55that some people
27:56who were very close
27:57to me
27:58made negative comments
28:00about my father.
28:05The murder of Monika
28:06had left the community
28:07in a state of shock.
28:09People were keen
28:10to keep their children
28:11within sight
28:12because no one knew
28:13where the killer lived
28:15or when he'd strike again.
28:24This created
28:26an oppressive atmosphere
28:27in the area
28:28and at the same time
28:29people voiced
28:30their suspicions.
28:32One person
28:32suspected the next.
28:34It was a hard time
28:35for everyone.
28:37And no one insisted
28:39that it wasn't him.
28:40The accusations
28:41were there.
28:43Apart from my mother,
28:45she always said
28:46it wasn't him.
28:52Walter was only held
28:54in police custody
28:55for a few days
28:56before being released
28:58without charge.
28:59but people in the area
29:01continued to see
29:02Marlise's father
29:03as the killer.
29:08So after he was released,
29:11people avoided him
29:12and people called out
29:13behind him
29:14murderer
29:15and stuff like that.
29:17It was the case
29:18that people really
29:19avoided him
29:20in the area.
29:22Just six months
29:23after his arrest
29:24the false accusations
29:26became too much
29:27for Walter to take.
29:30On the evening
29:38of the 10th of December
29:39he left the house
29:41and that was the last time
29:42he was seen.
29:43On the 15th of December
29:451962
29:46he was found hanging
29:48from a tree
29:49by some children.
30:03I was nine years old
30:06when I really
30:07grasped what had happened
30:08and it appalled me.
30:11It touched me inside
30:12and I often stood
30:14and looked
30:14at the spot
30:15where the girl
30:16was murdered.
30:20When Kroll
30:21confessed to the murder
30:23of 11-year-old
30:24Monica Tafel
30:25following his arrest
30:26in 1976
30:28it came as a huge
30:30relief to Marlise
30:31but in a way
30:32Walter Kovicca
30:33had become
30:34yet another victim
30:35of Joachim Kroll.
30:45My grandmother
30:46came out
30:47with the remark
30:48so it wasn't him
30:49after all.
30:51This remark
30:51affected me
30:52very deeply
30:53and I didn't ever
30:54discuss it
30:55with anyone else
30:55because I had
30:56to process
30:57the fact
30:57that the pressure
30:58of being the daughter
30:59of a suspected
31:00murderer
31:01had disappeared.
31:16My father
31:17had been rehabilitated.
31:19I don't know
31:20what other people
31:21said about that
31:22afterwards.
31:23I only know
31:24what I heard
31:25and what I felt
31:26myself
31:27and that's
31:28the only thing
31:28that counted
31:29for me.
31:30Before Kroll
31:35was arrested
31:36a whole series
31:37of other men
31:38came under suspicion
31:38as part of
31:39the investigation
31:40and that is
31:41of course
31:42particularly tragic
31:43because these
31:44were always men
31:45who, at the end
31:46of the day,
31:47had nothing
31:47to do with the crime.
31:50Kroll saw
31:50no problem
31:51with that.
31:52Oh, that's
31:53their problem.
31:54That would be
31:55their difficulty.
31:56I can get away
31:57with it.
31:57And to get away
31:58with it
31:58for 21 years
31:59so consistently
32:01with so many deaths
32:03in such a small area
32:04is horrifying
32:06but also remarkable.
32:08In total,
32:09two men
32:10were falsely accused
32:11or imprisoned
32:12and three men
32:13committed suicide
32:14in relation
32:15to Kroll's murders.
32:17Another five victims
32:19of the callous killer.
32:21After his arrest
32:22in July 1976,
32:24it appeared
32:24to detectives
32:25that Kroll
32:26was almost relieved
32:27to be captured.
32:30He wanted
32:30this sensation gone
32:32which had always
32:33led him
32:33to commit these crimes
32:34so he really
32:35felt the need
32:36and he thought
32:37that when he told
32:38his story
32:38that it would
32:39go away somehow.
32:40In terms of
32:41what Kroll expressed
32:42about his punishment,
32:44it is quite childlike
32:45and quite immature
32:46in a way
32:46because he thought
32:48that he would
32:48just go to hospital
32:49and his funny feelings
32:50would be cured
32:51and then he'd
32:52be able to go home.
32:53So this implies
32:54quite a kind
32:55of simplistic
32:56interpretation
32:57of his own problems.
33:00But Joachim Kroll
33:01could not make
33:02these murders
33:03simply disappear.
33:04He would have
33:05to face justice
33:06for his crimes.
33:07Kroll may have
33:08gone on to kill
33:09many more women
33:10but one costly mistake
33:12had led to his capture
33:13and a gruesome discovery
33:15in his home
33:16had stunned
33:17the country.
33:19He presented
33:20to the world
33:21as friendly,
33:24plausible,
33:26agreeable
33:26to his neighbours
33:28in Duisburg.
33:31The local children
33:32would visit him
33:33although I think
33:35sometimes their parents
33:36must have been
33:37a little suspicious.
33:38He was known
33:39as Uncle Joachim.
33:42We also tried
33:43to speak to those
33:44around the neighbourhood
33:45asked who knows him
33:47who had contact
33:47with him.
33:48People said he was
33:49a bit weird,
33:50a bit odd somehow
33:51but he was dear
33:52old Uncle Joachim
33:53and in reality
33:54he was a wolf
33:55in sheep's clothing.
33:56Behind this facade
33:58of Uncle Joachim
33:59and oh I like to look
34:00after you girls
34:00and I'm boys
34:01and they come round
34:02to see me
34:02and I'll give them sweets
34:03was this man
34:04who was very,
34:05very angry
34:05who wanted
34:07to make
34:07society
34:09well aware
34:11that they were
34:12living by a thread
34:13and he could cut it
34:14at any moment
34:15that he chose.
34:17Kroll usually
34:18did his killing
34:19miles away
34:20from his Duisburg home
34:21but in July 1976
34:24suffering with a bad leg
34:26he finally struck
34:28within his own community
34:29when he kidnapped
34:30and murdered
34:31four-year-old
34:32Marion Ketter.
34:33It was the mistake
34:34that led to his capture.
34:38His crime scenes
34:39got closer and closer
34:40and therefore
34:41it was the dumbest thing
34:42he could really do
34:43was take a girl
34:44from the direct neighbourhood
34:45but as I said
34:46his feeling was greater
34:48and if he had thought
34:49about it
34:49he should have said
34:50this, what I am doing now
34:52is nonsense.
34:54They will catch me.
34:56Door-to-door questioning
34:57throughout the neighbourhood
34:58led the police
34:59directly to Kroll.
35:01Inside his home
35:02was an horrific crime scene.
35:04Detectives found
35:05a saucepan on the stove
35:06with body parts in it.
35:08Worse still
35:09were the contents
35:10of the refrigerator.
35:12There was this girl
35:14completely dismembered
35:15upper arm
35:16forearm
35:17placed on corresponding
35:18shelves
35:19so that he only had
35:20to take something out
35:21and add it to the pan.
35:23That was unfathomable
35:24for us.
35:25When we look at cannibalism
35:27we're essentially
35:28looking at those
35:29who consume
35:30the bodies
35:31of other humans
35:32and this is
35:34something that we do
35:34see sometimes
35:36in cases
35:36of serial murder
35:38and it is about power
35:39and it's about
35:40control again.
35:41It's about completely
35:42possessing your victim.
35:44So not only
35:45have you taken away
35:46their life
35:47you're now
35:48mutilating their body
35:49and consuming it.
35:51Kroll disposed
35:52of other parts
35:53of the body
35:53by flushing them
35:55down the lavatory.
35:58But that blocked
35:59the toilet
35:59and that of his neighbour
36:00below as well.
36:02The neighbour
36:02approached him
36:03and said
36:03hey
36:04something is blocked here.
36:07One of the horrifying
36:08things of Kroll's crimes
36:10was that he took
36:12pleasure in
36:13taking out
36:14the intestines
36:15of his victims
36:15and he'd told
36:17a neighbour
36:18who was asking him
36:18what the smell was
36:20he said rather flippantly
36:21oh it's guts
36:22which it literally was
36:24intestines
36:25and the neighbour complained
36:27Kroll was nothing
36:29if not brazen.
36:31Kroll claimed
36:31he had butchered a rabbit
36:33and would make sure
36:34the remains
36:35were removed
36:35from the pipe.
36:38He did that too
36:39and he took it
36:40to the waste bins
36:41in the courtyard
36:42where he disposed of it.
36:44He was seen
36:45by this neighbour
36:46who then told
36:47our colleagues
36:47who were walking around
36:48asking questions
36:49who has seen
36:50this girl last?
36:52This neighbour
36:52told them
36:53of his observations
36:54and so they checked
36:55the waste bin
36:56and found
36:57that this was not
36:57from a rabbit
36:58but that they were
36:59human innards.
37:02Kroll had kidnapped
37:03and murdered
37:04the helpless
37:04four-year-old
37:05just days before.
37:11He felt particularly
37:13attracted to this young girl.
37:15He always stood up
37:16in the attic
37:17looking down
37:18into the playground
37:18saw Marion playing
37:20and got this funny feeling
37:22I want to have this girl
37:24and I will snatch her up
37:25at the next opportunity
37:26and the four-year-old girl
37:28did then come
37:30into his flat with him
37:31and then he strangled her
37:32and after that
37:33did all these awful things
37:35that one can scarcely
37:36bear to talk about.
37:41Well I was shocked
37:43because I had a son
37:44who was not that much older.
37:46I had not been
37:47in the homicide division long
37:48only for two years.
37:51That was something
37:51where you had to
37:52more than just swallow.
37:54I have seen many things
37:55but this was something
37:56completely new to me
37:57that a human being
37:58was able to do
37:59such a thing.
38:00What's the matter?
38:03Kroll had evaded
38:05detection for so long
38:06and had no remorse
38:08whatsoever
38:09for the suffering
38:10he'd caused.
38:12He was not capable
38:13of feeling
38:14any sort of empathy
38:15towards anybody
38:16especially his victims.
38:19They were simply
38:19objects to him
38:20that he wanted
38:21to manipulate
38:22and kill
38:23and then
38:24he was content.
38:29Akim Kroll
38:29never cared
38:30about what he did.
38:31He did not even
38:32ask what her name was.
38:34He did not care.
38:35His tingling feeling
38:36was gone.
38:37The body remained there.
38:39He got up
38:39possibly cleaned himself up
38:41and then the matter
38:42was done for him.
38:44There was not even
38:45a reaction like
38:46when I count them up
38:47you've been able
38:48to prove so many
38:49that is so bad.
38:50Such things
38:51we did not hear
38:52from him.
38:52In that regard
38:53he was totally emotionless.
38:57Although he had
38:59confessed to killing
39:00at least 14 people
39:01the police officially
39:03charged Joachim Kroll
39:04with 8 murders.
39:06On the 4th of October
39:081979
39:09Kroll's hearing
39:11began in Duisburg.
39:13As the details
39:14of Kroll's gruesome
39:15sexual deviants
39:16were revealed
39:17the case
39:18caught the public's
39:19imagination
39:20in a way
39:21few others have.
39:23The in some cases
39:26excessive media coverage
39:28obviously contributed
39:30to Kroll becoming
39:31a case of the century.
39:32But on the other hand
39:34from a criminologist
39:35perspective
39:35one has to say
39:37that there hasn't been
39:38a comparable case
39:39in Germany
39:40at least
39:40since the Second World War
39:42where so many people
39:43have been killed
39:44over such a long period.
39:47Over the next
39:48two and a half years
39:49the court was only
39:50in session
39:51151 times.
39:53But in April 1982
39:55Kroll was convicted
39:56of all eight
39:57murder charges
39:58against him.
39:59He was sentenced
40:00to life imprisonment.
40:02The 49-year-old
40:03was immediately sent
40:04to the Rheinbach prison.
40:11In my view
40:14Kroll wasn't mad
40:15or bad
40:16but was a human being
40:17who had failed
40:18in social terms
40:19sexually
40:20and in his work life
40:21and who on this basis
40:23committed the most
40:24terrible crimes.
40:25In my opinion
40:26Jürgen Kroll
40:27would not have become
40:28a serial killer
40:29if he had been valued
40:31as a human being.
40:34Whilst most of his victims
40:36were young
40:37there was somebody
40:38who was in their 60s
40:40so there was
40:41an array of victims
40:42there wasn't
40:43a particular type
40:44and the fact
40:45that he got away
40:46with this for so long
40:47I think we should
40:48really ask ourselves
40:48a lot of questions
40:49as a society
40:51how does somebody
40:52like this go under
40:53the radar for that long?
40:55On July 1st 1991
40:57nine years after
40:59being convicted
41:00Joachim Kroll
41:01died of a heart attack
41:02in Rheinbach prison.
41:04He was 58 years old.
41:07I think Kroll
41:08did some incredibly
41:09evil things
41:11which really do
41:12kind of breach
41:13not just legal codes
41:15but social
41:16and moral ones
41:16as well
41:17and what's interesting
41:19for me
41:19is what made him
41:21into this person
41:22that did these
41:23evil things.
41:24He didn't really
41:25have very much
41:26in the way
41:26of monitoring
41:27of his behaviour
41:28or any breaks
41:29on his behaviour
41:29so I think
41:30when you have
41:31a situation
41:31like that
41:32you can have
41:33somebody who
41:33turns into
41:34someone capable
41:36of real evil.
41:38The news of Kroll's
41:39demise was of
41:40scant consolation
41:41to Marlies
41:42Voivode.
41:43After I heard about it
41:58I felt hatred for Kroll
42:00and would have liked
42:01to wish on him
42:02that everything
42:02he did to the children
42:04and to the adults
42:05would be done to him
42:06and I'm sorry
42:08and I'm sorry
42:08that he died
42:08so early
42:09and this anger
42:12I have
42:13will probably
42:14never go away.
42:20Had he not
42:21kidnapped
42:22Marion Ketter
42:22close to home
42:24in one of his
42:25very few mistakes
42:26in this killing spree
42:28of 20 years
42:28or more
42:29then I'm absolutely
42:31sure he would
42:31continue to kill.
42:32If there is
42:33ever anyone
42:34who could be said
42:36to epitomise
42:37what the word
42:38evil means
42:39I would say
42:39it was Joachim Kroll
42:40a genuinely
42:42evil man
42:43who defiled
42:45the world
42:45he inhabited.
42:47For 21 years
42:48West Germany
42:49was haunted
42:50by an almost
42:51invisible killer.
42:52Joachim Kroll
42:53was so ordinary
42:54that he blended
42:55into the background.
42:57While other men
42:58were accused
42:59of his most
42:59vile crimes
43:00he continued
43:01to murder
43:02for his own
43:03gratification
43:04regardless
43:05of the consequences.
43:07His capture
43:07came as a shock
43:08to the whole country
43:09who will remember
43:10Kroll
43:11as one of the world's
43:13most evil killers.
43:14And I would like to
43:29thank you so much
43:30and thank you so much
43:32when I wish
43:32I would like to
43:32remember
43:33you
43:33had the
43:33love
43:33in a round
43:34you
43:34realized
43:34I could send
43:35you
43:36I could send
43:37somevu
43:37back to our
43:38Gentiles
43:38and we
43:41made hope
43:41you
43:41you
43:42you
43:42and I could make
43:42you
43:42have done
Recommended
42:34
|
Up next
45:15
44:02
44:02
44:30
43:32
45:14
44:32
43:30
41:11
41:19
43:25
42:53
42:54
46:10
46:44
39:02
44:32
46:43
18:57
23:56
40:18
43:02
49:08
48:48