Source: International Academy of Forensic Sciences (IAFS), Meeting in Montpellier, France, OC316

M. BENECKE, A. MÄTZLER, A. ZABECK

Objectives: Report on a fully confessing, very young serial killer who exactly detailed his crimes und intentions to the police, und several psychiatrists. Documentation of an intelligent serial killer's comments, views, and behavior. Introduction of the case into the English speaking forensic community.

Nature of the study: Case report, collection of photographs, files, and letters.

Materials and methods: Research into the complete court, police, und psychiatric files, and into numerous letters written by the offender. Direct observation by head of the investigation (Armin Mätzler).

Results and Conclusion: In 1966, then 19-year old homosexual serial killer Jürgen Bartsch was arrested after an unsuccessful attempt to torture, kill and dismember a young boy. The victim, left in an unused airraid shelter, had been able to free himself by burning his ties with a candle name while the offender had gone home to eat, und watch TV with his parents as he used to do every evening.

Before, i.e., between 1962 und 1966, Bartsch had killed four young boys. He estimated to have undertaken more than one hundred further homicidal attempts. The method of actual murder was beating und strangulation. He dismembered most or the bodies, pricked out the eyes, decapitated the bodies, and removed the genitals. He also tried but failed to perform anal intercourse with the victims. His actual goal was to slowly torture the final victim to death. His wish for dominance, control, and sexual gratification but also his strategies of avoiding prosecution were topics that were openly discussed with Bartsch from the start of the investigations on.

The role of the (loving) parents who owned a butcher shop and who had adopted Bartsch as a baby is discussed, too. Under the influence of psychiatric consultations, Bartsch's views on his parents, as much as memories of sexual abuse performed by a teacher, seemed to change. lt is not clear if these were true memories, or fabrications of a very intelligent, learning juvenile person who received nearly unlimited attention after his confessions.

After two trials, Bartsch lived in a psychiatric hospital where he could not receive psychological assistance due to a lack of personnel. He nevertheless managed to marry a woman who had written letters to him. During a voluntary castration operation, Bartsch died due to an error in the anaesthetic procedure (the medical doctor was sentenced to nine month on probation). Month before the operation, Bartsch fought vigorously against castration. Later, he believed that this might be the only way towards a possible healing, and fought as vigorously for it.

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