Bavaria's scariest murders: "It's safer on the street than at home"

Created: 05/21/2022, 09:28

By: Cornelia Schramm

Killed with a hammer: Chief Inspector Ludwig Waldinger shows a weapon from a historic murder.

© Oliver Bodmer

Chief Inspector Waldinger has seen a lot in his professional life.

So much so that he even helps authors with their books.

Munich – Ludwig Waldinger is the Chief Inspector at the State Criminal Police Office.

A dream job for the 55-year-old, who is also a big crime thriller fan.

That's why he advises crime writers so that their novels are as realistic as possible.

Which case is keeping you up to this night?

Waldinger:

There are many cases that keep popping into my head.

The attack in the Olympia shopping center is still incomprehensible to me.

Everyone in Munich knows what they did on July 22, 2016, and the State Criminal Police Office has been dealing with the case for a long time.

I didn't investigate, but as part of the special commission I was responsible for the flood of press inquiries.

An absolute special case.

How many murders happen in Bavaria every year?

Waldinger:

Just over 100 homicides, which includes murder and attempted murder.

The number of knife crimes has been increasing for years.

There are more and more people who have knives with them in order to use them in a targeted manner.

However, knives are not among the most common murder weapons.

Neither do firearms.

However, one thing is certain: most crimes happen in the home.

To put it bluntly: It's safer on the street than at home - and that was the case a hundred years ago.

Do you have an example?

Waldinger:

On February 2, 1942, a maid named Cäzilie Bauer found a corpse on a farm near Wasserburg.

It was the 60-year-old servant Leonhard Eder.

He was covered in lacerations.

The 25-year-old stated that Eder had committed suicide.

But is that true?

Or did she murder her alleged lover?

What happened to her?

Waldinger:

As a result of a court decision, Bauer died in the same year from the guillotine.

We'll never know if that was legal.

Let alone her motive if she actually committed the crime.

But it's exciting to see what old files reveal.

Original sources such as witness statements, the indictment, the verdict and letters that Cäzilie Bauer wrote to her parents from prison.

I didn't go through the files myself, the Munich author Ulrike Claudia Hofmann dug them up and used them to write her book "The Investigation Files Cäzilie Bauer".

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Case of Cäzilie Bauer: "I wonder how the investigators proceeded in 1942"

What fascinates you about the Cäzilie Bauer case?

Waldinger:

I wonder how the investigators proceeded in 1942.

What was the police like back then?

There was the protection police and the security police, the latter consisting of the Gestapo and the criminal police.

Many police officers were at the front during the war to take action against "war crimes" such as desertion.

Why couldn't the autopsy at the time determine whether it was suicide or not?

Perhaps no one could make a name for himself by solving "such a simple murder case" in the country.

Hofmann's book is a factual report.

When you read it, shivers run down your spine - because you know that everything is real.

True crime from Bavaria!

As a reader, you feel like an investigator.

The Walter Sedlmayr case has been cleared up – why is it still affecting us?

Waldinger:

Just because we all know his face.

The Sedlmayr is the flagship Munich.

He had just laughed from the advertising poster - then he was suddenly dead. Beaten to death with a hammer.

But here too: Petra Cichos, the author of “Mordakte Walter Sedlmayr”, did not invent anything for her book.

Everything happened exactly like that.

Again, the side of the investigators is interesting again.

In such a case, the pressure from the public is enormous.

How did the investigators deal with it?

What has changed in the last 30 years?

Waldinger:

A lot.

When I started in 1984, there was no DNA in forensics.

Later, a five-mark bloodstain was needed to obtain DNA.

Today the smallest particles are enough.

In addition, we usually have video material, for example from mobile phones or surveillance cameras, at our disposal.

Devices can be located.

For capital crimes, surveyors come to the crime scene and create virtual 3D rooms that judges or witnesses can enter with VR glasses.

In the past there were only photo folders.

Crime stories have a long tradition in Germany.

Is there a Bavarian crime thriller culture?

Waldinger:

The more regional, the more popular it seems.

Those who know the filming locations will find the story much more relatable.

Dialect and love of home also play a role.

The cop from Tölz, the Rosenheim cops and Franz Eberhofer from Niederkaltenkirchen – figures that everyone knows.

I like to watch "Hubert with and without Staller" myself or read thrillers.

But these are not real cases...

Waldinger:

Of course not, I want to be entertained.

Realistically yes, true no.

I have already advised Rita Falk, the author of the Eberhofer thrillers.

Most authors want to know how investigators organize themselves.

Of course, the detective duo has to storm the building where the killer is staying at the showdown.

In reality, this is what the SEC does.

In addition, not two, but rather a 20-strong team determine.

But that's totally okay.

The Reading "Murder"

will take place on May 21, 2022 at 2 p.m. in the Munich State Archives.

Admission is free.

The actor Winfried Frey reads from the books "The Investigation Files Cäzilie Bauer" (2019) by Ulrike Claudia Hofmann, "Stenz - Die Lust des Meeres" (2013) by Thomas Grasberger and "Murder Files Walter Sedlmayr" (2018) by Petra Cichos.

Interview: Cornelia Schramm