The murders of Hinterkaifeck saw the death of six victims at a Bavarian
farmstead in Waidhofen, Germany, on the night of 31 March 1922. It's believed that the assailant(s)
lived with the corpses of their victims for three days before moving on. During the 3-day period,
the food in the house had been consumed, animals on th property had been taken care of, and the
fireplace had been lit. The bodies of all six victims were later found on the property, having all
been killed with a mattock.
Mysterious circumstances leading up to the murders have fuelled speculation on the perpetrator and
motive over the years, with theories ranging from the personal to the political. The case remains
unsolved, and is considered one of Germany's most harrowing and confounding crimes.
Due to the case taking place in 1922, as well as unreliable witness testimony, improper handling of
the investigation and loss of evidence, the exact timeline of events can only be pieced together
from a mosaic of often contradictory sources, rumours and speculation.
The ominous events leading up to the Hinterkaifeck murders began sometime around August,
1921. The maid at the time, Kreszenz Rieger was the first to notice strange happenings taking
place at the farm. She experienced tapping sounds coming from within the walls of the farmstead
house; strangers speaking to her from her window at night; footsteps heard coming from the attic;
and her chamber door opening around the same time each night, despite it being locked.
[1]
[2]
After mentioning these incidents to Andreas, he reluctantly investigated the attic but found no
signs of anyone having been up there. A few weeks later, Rieger told the Gruber family
that she was resigning, warning the family that she felt she was being watched and that someone
sinister was hiding on the farm, or that it was haunted.
[3]
Over the next 6 months, the family failed to find a replacement maid. Andreas eventually admitted
during this time that he could also hear the strange tapping sounds and footsteps in the attic.
[3]
Unnerving activities began to escalate, with Andreas' set of house keys disappearing, and a
copy of the "Munchner Zeitung" newspaper from Munich being found on the property, one that
none of the family, nor any neighbours subscribed to.
[3]
[2]
Of note, Pastor Haas, the local parish priest found 700 gold marks in the church confessional.
Reluctantly, Viktoria eventually admitted to the pastor that she was the one who had left the
money, but never explained why.
[4]
On March 30 1922, Andreas awoke to the sight of footprints left in the fresh snow that trailed from
the forest up to the door of the farm's engine house, with no set of returning tracks to be found
all over the property. Upon further investigation, Andreas found the lock to the engine house had
been broken, while the lock to the tool shed had also been tampered with and showed signs of
heavy damage.
[5]
Andreas would go on to approach his neighbour, Lorenz Schlittenbauer and recounted the
mysterious happenings at the farmstead to him, though he refused any assistance and didn't report
anything to the police.
[3]
[6]
According to Sophie Fuchs, school-friend of Cäzilia Gabriel, a heated
dispute broke out between Andreas and one of the women in the family that evening, leading to
Viktoria fleeing the farm and disappearing into the surrounding woods. After hours of searching,
Viktoria was finally found and brought back to Hinterkaifeck.
[4]
[5]
On March 31, the family welcomed their new live-in maid, Maria Baumgartner to the farm.
[4]
The murders took place that same evening. It is believed that the family members were lured
one-by-one into the barn where they were systematically killed, laid in the corner, and
partially covered with hay. Once this had been done, the assailant(s) entered the house and killed
Josef Gabriel in his bassinett, and Maria in her bedchamber, whose body was found hidden beneath
her duvet.
[2]
On April 1, Simon Reißländer, a butcher and farmer, saw two mysterious figures loitering
at the edge of the forest around 3:00 am as he travelled past Hinterkaifeck on his way home. Upon
noticing the butcher, both figures turned to hide their faces. He reported his sighting to the
police only after hearing of the murders of Hinterkaifeck, days later.
[4]
Coffee sellers, Hans Schirovsky and Eduard Schirovsky arrived at Hinterkaifeck later that day, but
received no response, though they noticed that the door to the machine room was open before
leaving.
[4]
It was noted by her school that Cäzilia Gabriel failed to show up for class.
[1]
That evening, Michael Plöckl, a local artisan, passed by the farm and happened to notice that the
baking oven in the tool shed was lit, with the smoke from the fireplace emitting a foul odour. He
informed police that as he passed, someone carrying a lantern blinded him on their approach,
sending Michael hastily on his way.
[1]
[4]
On April 2, suspicions around the town began to rise, as it hadn't gone unnoticed that the family
missed church service. A neighbour to the Grubers, Michael Pöll would later state that he noticed
how quiet the house had been, noting in particular the dog's silence, which was known to bark at
most people.
[1]
On April 3, A local postman, Josef Mayer delivered the Gruber's post, but he was received by nobody
at the property, only noting that the baby's basinnett, which was usually in the kitchen, was
nowhere to be seen.
[4]
On April 4, a local mechanic by the name of Albert Hofner showed up at the property to repair a
feeding machine in the engine house. Though he received no answer from anyone, Hofner went about
fixing the broken machine anyway before departing.
[2]
Word quickly spread that Hinterkaifeck farm was empty, prompting neighbour, Lorenz Schlittenbauer
to send his sons, Johann (19) and Josef (9) to see if they could make contact with the Grubers at
Hinterkaifeck.
[4]
When his sons reported back that nobody was to be found at the property, Lorenz
Schlittenbauer, along with fellow neighbours, Jakob Sigl and Michael Pöll set out to investigate
the farm themselves. Upon their search, the bodies of the victims were discovered stacked inside
the barn, before they found the remaining two victims inside the house.
[2]
Police investigations were led by Inspector Georg Reingruber who was dispatched from Munich.
[6]
It was
deduced that the murders took place on March 31, and that based on evidence found around the
property, someone had lived in the house for the four days since. The attic space was searched
again, and showed signs of recent habitation, with feces and food scraps strewn throughout the
room, as well as hay that looked like it had been slept in.
[1]
The cows on the farm had all been milked, the animals had been tended to, and food had been
consumed by someone.
[3]
It was noted that some tiles had been missing from the barn roof, and the door
to the machine house was open. Additionally, Ropes were found hanging from beams in the barn,
theorized to be a way for the killer(s) to quickly lower themselves to the floor for a quick
escape.
[6]
[1]
On April 6, the victims' heads were removed on site and sent for forensic analysis, as was the
custom at that time. The skulls of the victims eventually went missing, presumed destroyed at the
outset of war, or simply lost due to negligence.
[7]
On April 8, the victims' torsos were transferred from Hinterkaifeck to Waidhofen for burial.
[4]
Less than a year after the murders took place, Hinterkaifeck partially burned down, and was later
entirely demolished.
[5]
A memorial was erected in its place on behalf of the deceased family.
[7]
It has been speculated that the early stages of the police investigation were handled
inefficiently and that the comings and goings of neighbours had muddied the crime scene.
[7]
[1]
A handmade mattock, identified as the main murder weapon, was located in the attic
above the main house, while a pen-knife was discovered in the barn, both only found after the site
had been razed.
[1]
Inspector Reingruber spent the rest of his career trying to solve the mystery of Hinterkaifeck, but
was never able to put the case to rest. The case was officially closed and deemed unsolved
after the final interrogations were conducted by Chief Detective Konrad Müller in 1986.
[7]
[4]
In 2007, an investigation was performed by students of the Fürstenfeldbruck Police academy using
modern methods. Though they
concluded that the case is unlikely to ever be definitively solved due to missing evidence and
mishandling of the investigation, they believed they had sufficiently narrowed the suspects down to
one person. In respect of living relatives, their findings have never been revealed.
[8]
Partriarch of the Gruber family. His body was found alongside his wife Cäzilia's, daughter
Viktoria's and granddaughter Cäzilia's, stacked atop one another in the farmstead barn. The body
was partially obscured beneath some hay and a door.
Upon autopsy, Andreas was found to have had the right side of his face smashed, with his cheek
bones showing and torn flesh. The cause of death has been attributed to bleeding out from a
wound found on his carotid artery, thought to have been caused by falling onto the tip of a
pickaxe that was later found in the animal feeding trough.
Wife to Andreas. Cäzilia's body showed signs of strangulation. Her body was found alongside
her husband Andreas', daughter Viktoria's and granddaughter Cäzilia's, stacked atop one another
in the farmstead barn. The body was partially obscured beneath some hay and a door.
Upon autopsy, Cäzilia was found to have shown signs of strangulation along with seven wounds to
the head, and an eighth in the shape of a triangle. The cause of death has been attributed as
bludgeoning to the head using a mattock.
Widowed daughter of Andreas and Cäzilia Gruber, as well as legal owner of Hinterkaifeck
farmstead. Her body was found alongside her father Andreas', mother Cäzilia's and daughter
Cäzilia's, stacked atop one another in the farmstead barn. The body was partially obscured
beneath some hay and a door.
Upon autopsy, Viktoria was found to have shown signs of strangulation, the right side of her
face had been smashed, an injury from a pointed tool was found on her skull, and nine
star-shaped wounds were found on her head. The cause of death has been attributed as bludgeoning
to the head using a mattock.
Eldest child of Cäzilia Gabriel. Her body was found alongside her grandfather Andreas',
grandmother Cäzilia's and mother Viktoria's, stacked atop one another in the farmstead barn. The
body was partially obscured beneath some hay and a door.
Upon autopsy, Cäzilia was found to have been wounded on the right side of her face with
the mattock, and her jaw had been smashed with an iron band. It was noted that clumps of her
hair were found in her hands having been pulled out by herself, leading investigators to believe
she had been alive several hours before succumbing to her wounds. The cause of death has been
attributed to bleeding out, having had her throat slit using a pocket knife that was found
hidden in the hayloft.
Youngest child of Cäzilia Gabriel. His body was found in his bassinett.
The cause of death has been attributed as bludgeoning to the head using a mattock, having been
found with a deep wound on the right side of his head, insinuating plenty of force was put into
the blow.
The newly-hired live-in maid. Maria suffered multiple injuries to her face before being
killed. Her body was found in her bedchamber.
The cause of death has been attributed as bludgeoning to the head using a mattock, having been
found with a singular hole on her skullcap.
Hinterkaifeck was a self-sufficient, rural farmstead located roughly 43 miles north of Munich.
Nearby surroundings included dense woodland known as Kaifeck,
The farm was separated out into five main locations:
The House
The house consisted of a large, communal kitchen; a bedroom for Andreas and Cäzilia Gruber; a
bedroom for Viktoria, Cäzilia and Josef Gabriel; and a bedchamber for the live-in maid. The
house also contained an upper attic space.
The Barn
Connected to the house was the barn. The barn contained stables for the various livestock on
the farm; storage for hay and straw; and a narrow feeding aisle that connected the house
kitchen, through the stable, on into the deeper parts of the barn.
The Machine Room
The machine room was a large area attached to the barn which housed a majority of the
machines used on the farm.
The Engine House
The engine house was a small, shed-like structure attached to the exterior of the barn. It
likely housed a machine used for cutting hay and straw for the cattle to consume, called a
'feeding machine'.
The Tool Shed
The tool shed was a separate structure built away from the rest of the farm. It contained
most of the farm's tools, was used for laundry purposes and housed the family's baking oven.
As the case remains unsolved, a number of theories have been posed over the identity of the murderer(s) at Hinterkaifeck:
It was no secret that Andreas Gruber was something of a tyrannical patriarch. His incestuous
relationship with his daughter, Viktoria, was common knowledge throughout the community. Despite
the belief being that Viktoria was an unwilling victim to Andreas' incestual abuse towards her,
they were both jailed for sexual offences prior to the crime. The scandal brought much shame to
the family, and the Grubers were disliked by many of the region's locals.
[9]
No money or riches were taken from the household after the crime was committed, suggesting the
murders were a crime of passion as opposed to a crime of opportunity.
According to the timeline, an intense fight broke out between Andreas and Viktoria the night before
the murders took place, causing Viktoria to flee into the woods, where she disappeared for hours.
It was thought that the murders could be part of a suicide/murder pact between Andreas and
Viktoria, though it was ruled out due to the wounds inflicted on the victims not matching those of
a suicide.
[10]
It is of note that Andreas' cause of death was substantially different to the other murder victims.
It is believed he died from falling onto the tip of a pickaxe, later found in the animal feeding
trough. This in contrast to being killed with the mattock, as most of the other victims were. The
only other differentiation between the murders was Cäzilia Gabriel's throat had been cut with a
pen-knife, supposedly belonging to Andreas Gruber.
[11]
Lorenz Schlittenbauer, neighbour to the Gruber's, provided much of the information regarding the
Gruber's experiences leading up to the incident, recounting to the detectives what Andreas had told
him about the strange sounds heard around the property, the mysterious newspaper appearing, and the
footprints in the snow. Despite being forthcoming with detectives, none of Schlittenbauer's claims
have been corroborated by any other witnesses.
[7]
It was known by locals that both Andreas Gruber and Lorenz Schlittenbauer clashed
over several grievances. Gruber refused to allow Schlittenbauer to marry
his daughter, Viktoria, though Viktoria had admitted to having sexual encounters with
Schlittenbauer, leading him to believe that Josef Gabriel was his son.
[2]
It was speculated that
Schlittenbauer was bitter over being asked by Viktoria to revoke his testimony regarding Andreas'
incestuous proclivities, as well as to pay alimony for the child, despite being denied
access to him.
[7]
As a direct neighbour to the Gruber family, he also would have had extensive knowledge of the
layout of Hinterkaifeck. Schlittenbauer was part of the group to find the bodies of the
family at the farm, and fellow neighbours reported that not only did Schlittenbauer seem unphased
by the bodies upon their gruesome discovery, but he also moved the bodies from where they were
initially found, disturbing the crime scene.
[11]
[1]
It has also been stated that Schlittenbauer was able
to unlock doors due to having a key belonging to the farm. How he came
into possession of the key is unknown, but it's worth noting that Andreas had mentioned a key
vanishing prior to the murders.
[2]
Another interesting detail is that Schlittenbauer broke off from the search group while searching
and entered the house alone, with no regard to his own safety. His excuse for this was that he was
looking for his son, Josef.
[2]
In 1925, a local teacher, Hans Yblagger spotted Schlittenbauer at the site of the demolished farm.
Upon asking why
he was there, he went on to state that it was his belief that the perpetrator's attempt to bury the
bodies of their victims was hindered by the ground being too frozen.
[4]
With both means and motive, Lorenz Schlittenbauer has long been considered a prime suspect, but
authorities ruled him out due to their belief that he wouldn't have been able to murder six people
in a row due to his asthma.
[11]
Viktoria Gabriel's husband, Karl Gabriel, was believed to have been killed by a mine in France 1914
as he was fighting in World War I, though his body had never been recovered.
[9]
It has been theorised
that upon finding out about claims of an incestuous affair between Andreas and Viktoria, Karl may
have returned to exact revenge on the family.
[7]
Closer examination of Karl and Viktoria's
relationship reveals that he was treated poorly by Andreas and Cäzilia Gruber, receiving only
little amounts of food while at the farm, and decided to return home to his family shortly after
the marriage took place.
[6]
Gabriel was ruled out as a suspect in 1923 with the confirmation of his death during the war by the
Central Prosecution Office for War Losses and War Graves.
[6]
As an outspoken Nazi sympathiser, Andreas Gruber was said to have yearned to see nazism take a
foothold in Bavaria, in stark contrast to the liberals that made up a large consituent within his
community. A man named Adolf Gump who had connections to The Freikorps Oberland: a paramilitary
organisation made to root out communism who later turned their attention to nazism, was believed to
have a hand in the murders.
[7]
A deathbed confession to Pastor Anton Hauber, made in 1951 by their sister, Kreszentia Mayer,
claimed that both Adolf and brother, Anton Gump, committed the murders, and it had been stated
that she had aired this belief at least two other occasions prior to this. A public prosecutor,
Andreas Popp investigated the Gump brother's involvement and determined that despite a lack of
evidence, he was sure that Adolf Gump was the legitimate father of Josef Gabriel, implicating Adolf
in the murder of the family as revenge for Viktoria and Andreas' incestuous relationship.
[6]
Adolf had already died by this time, but Popp tried catching Anton in a confession when questioning
him, though Anton denied everything on realising what the prosecutor's intentions were. Anton
was later taken into custody, but a case couldn't be made against him as it was impossible to prove
he participated in the crime.
[6]
A woman named Therese T. penned a letter in 1971 that claimed that at the age of 12 she recalled seeing her mother receiving a visit from the mother of Karl and Andreas Schreier. During this visit, the woman had mentioned how her sons had committed the murders at Hinterkaifeck, mentioning that "Andreas regretted that he lost his penknife", referencing a weapon found at the property. Some sources say the knife belonged to Andreas Schreier, while others point to Andreas Gruber being the owner of the weapon. [6]
A man named Josef Betz testified in court that Peter Weber had suggested murdering the Gruber family for their money. Betz and Weber had worked together as labourers in 1919 to 1920. Betz recalled Weber mentioning the secluded Hinterkaifeck farm and the family that lived there. When Betz didn't respond to the suggestion, Weber dropped the subject and never spoke of it again. The case against Weber was ultimately dropped. [4]
Kreszenz Rieger, the former maid of Hinterkaifeck, made a statement to officials during an
interrogation that it was her belief that Anton and Karl Bichler were likely suspects for the
murders. Anton had intimate knowledge of the farm from having worked there prior to the incident,
and it was during this time that he had proposed to Rieger, though the Grubers dissuaded her on the
grounds of Anton being accused of theft.
Rieger mentioned that in response to her refusal to wed him, he had made the statement that the
"Kaifeckers should all be killed".
[2]
Rieger went on to claim that a stranger had been speaking to her through her window at night during
her time on the farm, and that this could have been Anton or his brother, Karl.
[6]
A former worker at Hinterkaifeck, Georg Siegl was a suspect brought to the authorities'
attention by former maid, Kreszenz Rieger. Reiger made mention in her statement that she believed
Siegl may have helped the Bichler brothers, as he too knew of the family's fortune. Rieger went on
to state that Siegl had previously broken into the home in 1920 to steal some items.
[6]
On questioning, Siegl denied breaking into the Gruber's home, though he admitted that while working
at Hinterkaifeck, he had carved the handle of the mattock later used in the murders, and knew where
the tool was kept. It was noted that based on the wounds on the victims' bodies, the assailant(s)
would require experience with such a tool.
[6]
[7]
While she was being interrogated, Kreszenz Rieger, the former maid at Hinterkaifeck, made it known
that Josef and Andreas Thaler could have committed the murders. She claimed that Josef
Thaler spoke to her through her window at night, making mention of several of the
family members before walking to the machine house where he was joined by another figure,
supposedly Andreas. Both figures then turned their eyes towards the roof of the barn.
[9]
The Thaler brothers were known to have committed break-ins in the area, and some information claims
that they had been chased out of the Gruber's barn two years prior by Andreas with his rifle.
[5]
It has been pointed out that Andreas had noticed that the machine house lock had been damaged
leading up to the crime, and the area of the roof the brothers looked up towards was the same that
detectives noticed had been missing tiles. Neither of the Thaler brothers were ever charged.
[4]
A rumour spread around the time was that one of the Thaler brothers was
looking to divorce his wife, but changed his mind when she threatened to reveal their crime at
Hinterkaifeck.
[5]
It was initially believed a drifter may have happened upon the family, murdered each
of them, and left when the time was convenient. However, due to large sums of money and useful
goods being left at the scene ruled out the possibility of theft.
[7]
In 2017, author Bill James penned a true crime book, The Man from the Train, that suggests
Paul Mueller of committing the murders. Mueller was a German immigrant who was living
in the United States, and was suspected of murdering a family in Massachusetts in 1898 among other
crimes. With Mueller's suspected modus operandi of murdering an entire family with a farm tool in
their isolated home, stacking the bodies of the victims, and ruling out robbery as a motive all
coinciding with those of Hinterkaifeck, James believed that the similarities between Mueller's
crimes and the Hinterkaifeck murders were more than coincidence.
James goes on to summarise his belief that Mueller may have fled the United States for his homeland
of Germany around 1912 as investigators began piecing together and publicizing patterns in family
murders that may have led to his eventual arrest.
[4]
A mental patient named Joseph Bärtle had escaped from an asylum at Günzburg in 1921. There is a possibility he was in hiding around Bavaria at the time of the murders, and so was considered a suspect. [7]
One theory posits that the Nazi Party had eliminated the Gruber family in an attempt to use
Hinterkaifeck as a remote, isolated hideaway or weapons cache. During this time period, many rural
locations throughout the Bavarian region were found to have been occupied by Nazis.
[7]
Evidence
suggests military aircrafts may have been stored at Hinterkaifeck in the months leading up to the
murders, and theory speculates that Andreas may have stolen incriminating documents in order to
extort the party, despite his fervor towards the Nazis. This could explain the family's wealth,
especially in such a time of austerity.
[5]
If this was the case, the Nazis may have seen the Grubers as a risk,
and may have committed fememorde (the condemning and murdering of a party member or
ally for treason).
[13]
