Page 69 of Anatomy of a Killer
RECORDING 09
Berlin, 10 May 2021
Wrong. I’m sorry. They all died. Beginning with Laura and ending with Sophie.
That means Larissa wasn’t the first.
No, that was Laura, in summer 2001. One year later, in autumn 2002, came Miriam, and only then Larissa.
That’s what you meant when you said I was mistaken. My mistake was to think Larissa was the first victim. Correct?
Correct.
But they never connected Laura and Miriam to you.
No, but they couldn’t because those two girls were never found. As far as Laura is concerned. . . that was my first time, even though the idea had been fermenting in me for quite a while. But the impulse to actually do it came spontaneously when I saw her sitting by the road.
You say it was spontaneous, but you had the weapon on you.
I’d been carrying it around with me for some time. Like I say, the idea had been fermenting in me, and I’d often imagined doing it. So when I came across Laura, everything just slotted together.
What did you do with her body?
What would you have done with it?
I’ve never thought about that and nor do I wish to.
I heard about someone who once sawed up a body and then drove across the country, breaking into various farms and placing the parts in pigsties. Pigs are omnivores, you see, and because dead flesh just smells of carrion rather than humans, they’ll happily eat it.
Why are you telling me this?
Because I’d like to know your opinion on it.
What do you expect me to say? It’s disgusting!
I see.
What do you mean by ‘I see’? Please don’t tell me you’re that man! You didn’t feed Laura to pigs, did you?
What do you take me for? That sort of thing would never have crossed my mind. First, I put Laura in the boot of my car, then I drove home. Although I’d imagined killing, just like you it had never occurred to me what I’d do with a dead body. I had to spend some time thinking it through. That night I drove back to the Kuhlake with Laura in the boot, and a shovel, to bury her. The following year, when I killed Miriam, I had the shovel with me.
Where did you take Miriam?
To the Blumenthaler Wald. Very close to where Saskia later died.
Does this mean that the parents of Laura and Miriam still don’t know what happened to their daughters?
You’re right, they don’t. I suspect the girls are still officially classified as missing. It was only when it came to the third girl, Larissa, that I decided it would be better not to bury her. I’d allow the parents to do that.
You got a bad conscience?
No, it was more theoretical. I knew it was wrong to bury them and deprive the parents of the opportunity. The parents ought to find them and make a grave for them.
(laughs) With respect, it sounds strange to hear the word ‘wrong’ coming from your mouth. And this distinction you make: you thought it was right to kill the girls, but wrong to bury them?
I didn’t say I thought it was right. ‘Necessary’ would be more accurate.
Was it like a compulsion, then?
