Casefile True Crime - Case 124: Hinterkaifeck

Episode Date: September 14, 2019

The small rural property of Hinterkaifeck lay approximately 70 kilometres north of the German city of Munich. Members of the Gruber-Gabriel family could usually be seen milling about, but in early April 1922, locals noticed that the Hinterkaifeck farmhouse was unusually void of activity. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Episode researched and written by Erin Munro  Creative Director: Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-124-hinterkaifeck

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Today's episode contains violence against children that won't be suitable for all listeners. The small, rural property of Hinterkäifeck lay approximately 70km north of the German city of Munich. Set against Bavaria's flat, sweeping farmlands, meadows and pine forests, the acreage earned

its unofficial name from a nearby hamlet called Käifeck, with Hinter being German for behind. Built in 1863, the single-story stone farmhouse was shaped like the Lederl. The living quarters occupied the longer portion of the building, while a barn, stables and engine room were at the other end. Outside, the large yard featured a well, crop fields, livestock pastures and a tool shed that also functioned as a laundry room and bakery. It was an isolated spot, the closest neighbour was half a kilometre away, and the nearest village was even further.

In 1922, Hinterkäifeck was owned and operated by three generations of the Gruber-Gabrielle family, fronted by 63-year-old Andreas Gruber and his 72-year-old wife Cecilia. Their 35-year-old daughter, Victoria Gabriel, also lived at the farmstead along with her two children, two-year-old Joseph and seven-year-old Cecilia, who was named after her grandmother, but went by the nickname Ceeley. Ceeley attended primary school in the nearby municipality of Weidhofen, with classes scheduled six days a week, including Saturdays. On Saturday, April 1, 1922, Ceeley was absent from school.

It was not unusual, given she was prone to illness and was noticeably exhausted the day before. Her teacher led the class in the Lord's Prayer to help Ceeley recover before moving on with their studies. Later that afternoon, two coffee merchants delivering an order to Hinterkäifeck noticed all of the doors on the property were locked and nothing stirred within. They could hear a dog barking from inside the stables accompanied by the sounds of cattle. The merchants went up the road to a neighbouring property and informed the Schlittenbauer family

that Hinterkäifeck appeared deserted. Saturdays were typically busy for the Gruber-Gabrielle family, with members often sighted working around the farm. Yet, the pastures remained empty. The next morning, two friends of the household waited by the front gate to meet Victoria Gabriel on their weekly walk to Sunday Mass. She failed to appear, so the pair continued onwards without her. Other passes by were also beginning to notice the inactivity at Hinterkäifeck.

When no one greeted the postman on Monday, he peered through the kitchen window expecting to see people bustling about, but the room was empty. At 9am on Tuesday, April 4, a mechanic arrived for a scheduled appointment to repair a diesel engine. He too heard the cattle mooing and dog barking from within the stables, but his knocks to the front door went unanswered, and there was no smoke coming from the chimney. Thinking the family must have stepped out, he went to inspect the engine room and noticed the lock was broken and easily removable.

He carried the engine to the tool shed and spent the next 4 and a half hours fixing it. Afterwards, as he walked across the courtyard, he noticed the previously locked door to the barn was now wide open, and the family's pat, a German spitz watchdog, had been removed from the stables and was now tied up by the front door, snarling. The mechanic assumed someone had since returned home, but was confused as to why they hadn't approached him. He too visited the neighbouring Schlittenbauer residence to report on Hinterkäifeck's unusual stillness.

Concerned for the family, 48-year-old Lorenz Schlittenbauer sent his two young sons to check if anyone was home. They found the entire farmhouse locked with no lights on inside. All was silent, except for the cattle's loud, frantic-sounding mooing. Cecilia had inherited Hinterkäifeck at age 35, following the death of her first husband in 1885, with whom she had two children. The following year, she married the property's farmhand, 27-year-old Andreas Gruber. Generally viewed as helpful, Andreas was willing to lend a hand on his neighbour's farms,

but was otherwise a socially withdrawn person. He and Cecilia had three daughters, yet only their first-born, Victoria, survived infancy. The Grubers were a private family who rarely interacted with others. Gossop had dictated Andreas beat his wife, and that his two deceased children had passed away from mistreatment and starvation. Unsavory rumours about Andreas' unsettling relationship with his daughter Victoria gained validity when, at age 16, she admitted to her neighbour that her father was forcing himself on her, and she could not bear the sight of him.

Cecilia's two children from her previous marriage eventually moved out of Hinterkäifeck, leaving Victoria behind. Tall, slim and strong, Victoria did more than her fair share of labour on the farm. She had a serious disposition, but was the most social member of her family, performing as a leading member of the church choir and attending mass every Sunday. By the time she turned 27, Victoria was engaged to a man named Carl Gabriel, and the pair were married in April of 1914. Following their union, Victoria and Carl were granted the deed to Hinterkäifeck.

Andreas and Cecilia remained living at the property and working on the land. Married life was fraught for the newlyweds, primarily due to Andreas' dislike of his son-in-law. Carl complained to friends that Andreas bullied and tormented him, sometimes by depriving him of meals. He returned to his parents' home a few weeks after the wedding, but they insisted he made the relationship work. As Victoria was the gruber's only child, ownership of Hinterkäifeck would eventually

pass to the Gabriel family, should the couple have children. Less than four months into their marriage, Carl enlisted to fight in World War I. When he left for the front lines in France, Victoria was pregnant with their first child. Carl was killed in action before the year's end, and his daughter, Cecilia, was born one month later. Three-quarters of Carl's land title passed to his newborn, and the remainder went to his widow, making Victoria the sole adult owner of Hinterkäifeck. Six months after Carl's death, Victoria and her father Andreas were convicted of having

an incestuous relationship. The charges related to crimes occurring between 1907 and 1910, when Andreas was aged in his early 50s and Victoria in her early 20s. Victoria received a one-month prison sentence and Andreas one year. Both returned to Hinterkäifeck upon their release, and the family resumed their reclusive existence. In September 1919, Victoria gave birth to her second child, Joseph. Their birth certificate listed the initials LS as Joseph's father, which correlated with

a brief relationship Victoria had a year prior with her widowed neighbour, Lorenz Schlittenbauer. Regardless, Townsfolk suspected the child was a product of Victoria's incestuous relationship with her father. The 1920s were a time of political and social upheaval for Bavarians impacted by World War I, but the residents of Hinterkäifeck found themselves in a stable financial position. The family of five were well off tending crops and raising cows, oxen, piglets and chickens, although they had a reputation for being stingy with money. In November 1920, the family hired 23-year-old Kreschens Riga as their living maid.

While at the farm, Kreschens overheard Andreas order his daughter not to remarry, as he would be hers as long as he lived. Andreas once kept Victoria locked in a closet when a suitor arrived to ask for her hand in marriage. Then in late 1921, Kreschens entered the barn and witnessed Andreas and Victoria engaged in sexual activity. Victoria later explained that if she had known Kreschens was about to enter, she, quote, would not have surrendered to her father.

Kreschens resigned 10 months into her employment, and the family began searching for a replacement. The following year, in March of 1922, Hinterkäifeck was disturbed by a series of strange events. First, a set of house keys went missing. Then, a Munich-based newspaper was found on the property. No one in the area subscribed to the publication, or had recently travelled that far. Andreas queried the postman, but he had no idea how it got there. On the morning of Thursday, March 30, Andreas noticed the padlock on the engine room door was broken.

Nothing appeared to be missing, but snow had been tracked inside, indicating someone had entered. He noticed two sets of footprints in the snow heading from the rear fields to his farmstead. But there were no tracks leading away. Andreas encountered his neighbour, Lorenz Schlittenbauer, out in the fields, and mentioned the break-in, footprints and missing keys. Lorenz hadn't noticed anything suspicious, but offered to contact police and lend Andreas his revolver for protection.

Andreas refused. He didn't want police in his home, and felt capable of defending himself. Later, Andreas ran into a different neighbour, expressing his belief that rogues were inside his house. Andreas rejected his neighbour's invitation to search the property, claiming he was not afraid. When he returned home later, he noticed the cow was loose from the stables and running around in the yard.

That same day, Victoria Gabriel was out looking for a new maid. She visited a woman named Francesca to inquire whether her sister, 45-year-old Maria Baumgartner, would be interested in the role. Maria was a deeply religious and introverted woman who had worked as a maid since her mother's death in 1904. She often encountered discrimination due to her slight intellectual disability and a birth defect that left one leg significantly shorter than the other. As such, Francesca graciously accepted the hentakifec job on behalf of her older sister,

with Maria scheduled to arrive to the farm the following day. That evening, as members of the Gruber Gabriel family lay in their respective beds, they heard muffled footsteps pacing the attic above. Armed with a torch, Andreas made his way upstairs to investigate, but only found large amounts of straw scattered across the floor. At school the following morning of Friday, March 31, seven-year-old Sealy Gabriel was noticeably exhausted and fell asleep in class. The teacher woke her and asked if something was wrong.

Sealy made no mention of the attic noises the night prior. Instead, she said her family had spent the night searching for her mother, who had run into the woods after a violent altercation with Andreas. Fears that Victoria had drowned in a nearby river subsided at daybreak when she was discovered sitting on a tree stump. Meanwhile, at hentakifec, Andreas conducted another thorough search of the farmhouse, but was unable to determine the source of the noises the night before. He and Victoria left the farm in the afternoon to complete several errands in the nearby

town of Schrobenhausen. While there, Andreas told a hardware store clerk about the troubles on his farm, adding, I am not afraid, I have already prepared my rifle. Victoria mentioned the unsettling events to another shopkeeper, expressing fear that somebody was determined to break into their property. At five o'clock that afternoon, Maria Baumgartner arrived to Hentakifec, escorted by her sister Franziska. Cecilia and young Joseph were the only family members home at the time.

Maria was led to the maids' quarters tucked away off the kitchen, where she'd reside throughout her employment. Franziska stayed to help Maria get settled, but was eager to return home before dark. Though it was spring, the snowy weather had been remarkably cold, and storms were anticipated for later that night. Franziska farewelled her sister and exited the house. Franziska sensed Hentakifec was a nearly lonely place. As she approached the dirt road, she turned to see Maria running towards her.

Maria hugged her sister firmly, wanting to say goodbye again. Franziska wasn't particularly close to her siblings, but she returned to the odd embrace and promised to visit again soon. It was over the weekend that Hentakifec fell unusually quiet. Ceile failed to show up for her Saturday school class, and the remainder of the family were absent from the fields. The house was locked up and lifeless, with the only sounds coming from the animals secured inside the stable.

On Tuesday, April 4, Lorenz Schlittenbauer and his two young sons collected two other neighbors, Jacob Siegel and Michael Pell, and headed to Hentakifec, concerned that Andreas Gruber may have taken his own life. They arrived at around 5pm to discover all the animals were secured away, and the doors to the building were all locked, except for the one to the engine room. Inside, the group attempted to open a second interior door that led into the barn, but a wooden beam had been propped up on the other side, preventing entry. After some heavy pushing, the beam gave way, and the men entered the dim barn with flashlights

in hand. One of the stables was open, and a cow had broken loose from its pen. Lorenz climbed over a board, slipping on some hay as he went. Behind him, Michael shuffled his way through the dark. Suddenly, he yelled out, there's a foot. Lorenz looked down and saw a foot sticking out from a bale of hay. He pulled it towards him, uncovering the body of Andreas Gruber, dressed in trousers and an undershirt.

His face was covered in blood, and he had suffered significant head injuries. Lorenz could see three more bodies partially concealed under the straw. Jacob and Michael staggered out of the barn in shock, but Lorenz remained behind and inspected the three other corpses, finding Cecilia, Victoria and Ceeley with severe head wounds. Both Cecilia and Victoria were fully dressed, and Ceeley wore her nightgown. Lorenz dragged the seven-year-old towards a wall where the lighting was better. Jacob returned and asked him to stop and wait for the police. But Lorenz replied, I'm looking for my son.

Two-year-old Joseph was nowhere to be seen. Lorenz proceeded towards the adjoining stables, noticing a pickaxe leaning against the wall. The family dog was tied up inside, despite the mechanic having seen it restrained by the front door only hours earlier. The dog had a wound above its right eye and recoiled and shook when the men approached. The cattle were making a lot of noise, prompting Lorenz to order Jacob to throw them some hay. Lorenz continued to the door which connected the stables to the living quarters, finding it unlocked.

He entered the kitchen and searched the house, finding Joseph Stryler in a bedroom with a woman's skirt draped over the top. Lorenz pulled the skirt aside and saw the toddler, quote, with his head shattered. He then unlocked the rear door to let Jacob and Michael in. Jacob questioned where he had gotten the key from, to which Lorenz responded it had been in the lock. In the maid's quarters, a mattress had been pulled from the bed frame onto the floor. Two feet poked out from under a check to duvet on top, one wearing a shoe and the other bare.

Lorenz removed the blanket and revealed the body of Hintakifex recently hired maid, Maria Baumgartner, who had also endured a horrific attack. Jacob and Michael rushed to the nearby village of Groban to raise the alarm. Lorenz asked one of his sons to inform the local mayor while he stayed behind to look after the livestock. The mayor notified nearby authorities and placed a call to the police chief in Munich. News of the gruesome massacre spread quickly and by 6pm a crowd had gathered at Hintakifex. As authorities had yet to arrive, a notably calm Lorenz took it upon himself to escort

visitors through the property, pointing out the bodies as they went. One neighbor cautioned him against allowing anyone else in in case they disturbed the crime scene, but Lorenz replied that they were already there and there was nothing he could do about it. More people traipsed through the building, with one guest reportedly pausing in the kitchen to fix themselves a snack. Five investigators were dispatched from Munich along with two tracker dogs, but a slow journey meant they didn't arrive until 1.30am.

As it was too dark for them to inspect the crime scene, they rested at the mayor's home until first light. They arrived to Hintakifex at 5.30am the following morning, where they found Lorenz Schlittenbauer still watching over the farm. Lead investigator Detective George Reingruber entered the barn. The bodies of Cecilia and Victoria were beyond the threshold. Andreas and Cili were still positioned by the wall where Lorenz had left them. All four had sustained fatal blows to the skull, but there was no blood spatter anywhere,

except on the door that led to the stables. Upon inspecting the pickaxe propped against the wall, Detective Reingruber noted it was clean, but took red-brown spots on the handle for blood stains. Lorenz informed the detective he believed this was the murder weapon, and the cattle must have licked it clean. Investigators made their way into the kitchen, where they noticed a few blood spots on the threshold leading to the maids room. Inside, Mireia was fully dressed and lying in the fetal position on the floor, appearing

as though she had been attacked before she prepared for bed. There were also some small blood stains in the hallway leading to the family's bedrooms, but there were no bloody footprints. The room Victoria shared with her two children had been ransacked, with cupboard doors flung open and an empty purse, papers, a notebook, and a watch strewn across her bed. But no other areas in the house showed any signs of burglary. The roof of Joseph Stroller had been torn apart by a forceful blow, and the killer had used one of Victoria's skirts to conceal the boy's body.

In the attic above the barn, investigators noticed hay had been spread across the floor and featured several impressions, as though one or more people had lain there. Bacon rinds as well as human excrement were found in the corner. There were also some loose tiles on the roof that could be raised slightly to view the living quarters and yard outside. As all external doors to the property had been locked from the inside, investigators wondered how the perpetrator exited the building following the murders. Two police dogs were sent out into the woods to track down evidence, but nothing was found.

It had rained in recent days, and much of the snow that had previously covered the ground had since melted away. Detective Ron Gruber noted in his report, There are no tangible clues about the persons or offenders. Statements were taken from local residents, including the three men who discovered the crime scene, Lorenz Schlittenbauer, Jacob Siegel and Michael Pell. Lorenz insisted he hadn't let anyone else enter the property after finding the bodies, despite several statements to the contrary.

He claimed the family had 100,000 marks in cash stashed on the premises, yet investigators only found a five-mark bill tucked away in a prayer book. As such, robbery was the suspected motive for the massacre. However, the perpetrator ignored many valuables in the home, including jewellery, watches, and more than 2,200 marks worth of gold and silver coins. Witness statements were used to piece together a probable timeline of events. Given Sealy's absence from school on Saturday, April 1, the murders were estimated to have occurred between 8pm and 11pm on Friday, March 31.

Experiments concluded that screaming inside the barn could not be heard in the house. Furthermore, the internal door leading from the house into the barn was narrow, enabling only one individual to enter at a time. Thus, it seemed unlikely the entire family were killed at once inside the barn, as some would have had the opportunity to flee. It appeared as though they were lured in one at a time. Andreas Gruber's previous remarks to neighbours that a cow had inexplicably escaped into the yard led investigators to presume this was the technique used to draw the family out of the house.

Given that Lorenz Schlittenbauer moved two of the bodies, the order of the killings couldn't be confirmed. Police suspected Victoria and Sealy were the first victims, as they were both fully dressed. Next was Andreas, who was in the process of changing into his nightclothes, followed by Sealy, who was ready for bed. After that, the killer entered the living quarters and struck Maria from behind, before murdering Joseph. The family's entire bread supply and several pieces of smoked meat were missing. This, coupled with witness reports that the Hinterkäifeck livestock were quiet

immediately following the massacre, led to the belief that the killer remained at the property after the slaughter, possibly for several days, feeding themselves and the animals. The delay in discovering the bodies and disruptions to the crime scene hampered forensic evidence, but the investigation was minimal regardless. No fingerprints were collected, even though this method had been established more than a decade earlier, and only five photographs were taken of the crime scene. Autopsies were conducted on the grounds of Hinterkäifeck, overseen by a crowd of onlookers. A door was placed across two wooden trestles to function as a makeshift table.

The district court doctor confirmed all six victims had died from head injuries by the blunt edge of a farmyard tool, such as a pickaxe. The perpetrator appeared left-handed, as the majority of the wounds were inflicted on the right side of the victim's heads. Victoria had sustained the most injuries, including markings consistent with strangulation, and nine star-shaped wounds to her skull. Seven-year-old Sealy was the only victim who did not die instantly, enduring two to three hours of agony before finally succumbing to her injuries. It was believed had she received immediate medical attention, she would have survived.

The heads of all six victims were sent to the Pathology Institute at the University of Munich for further examination, and their bodies remained at Hinterkäifeck to await burial. As two officers carried Sealy's body inside the barn, they noticed a rope hanging down from the loft above, which had not been there moments earlier. They climbed up and sighted handprints on the dusty beam the rope was tied to. Police dogs were dispatched in an attempt to capture whoever had been hiding above, but no trace of the individual was found. The funerals for the Hinterkäifeck household were scheduled for Saturday, April 8.

Word incorrectly spread that the service was taking place on April 7, resulting in an influx of visitors to the area a day early. They planned to use the extra time to examine the site of the murders, only to find that police had cordoned off the crime scene. The following morning, Weidhofen's Catholic Church struggled to accommodate the approximately 3,000 mourners who had gathered. The six matching coffins were carried to the church on a wagon. Father Michael Haas told the congregation that God viewed murder as a terrible abomination,

and only a man with no spark of faith in his heart could commit such a horrific act. The five members of the Gruber Gabriel family and Maria Baumgartner were buried together in a mass grave, with the adults' coffins flanking the children's tiny caskets. Police announced a reward of 100,000 marks for information about the killer's identity. The amount was soon increased to 500,000 marks, and posters were distributed throughout the region to publicize the investigation. The murders had shocked and terrified the local community, and made newspaper headlines across the country.

Fearful citizens began reporting their friends, neighbors and other individuals who they deemed suspicious. Rural residents were advised to be vigilant, especially at night, and to thoroughly search their properties each evening. They were also encouraged to keep large guard dogs for protection, look out for their neighbors, and avoid storing valuables or large sums of money in their homes. Tales of the strange events at Hinterkäifeck preceding the massacre spread, and several more bizarre incidents were reported.

Two weeks before the murders, Father Haass supposedly found an anonymous donation of 700 gold marks in his church, which he suspected had been left by Victoria Gabriel. When he queried her about it, she reluctantly admitted to making the sizeable donation. A local carpenter reported that on Saturday, April 1, he walked past Hinterkäifeck at around 11.30pm. More than 24 hours after the murders were believed to have taken place. He saw a light shining from the oven inside the farmstead,

and a curl of smoke coming from the chimney. He then noticed a figure holding a flashlight moving about in the yard. The figure began to approach, shining the light in his eyes. Somewhat spooked, the carpenter hurried home without stopping. In addition to robbery, other motives were also considered. The strangulation marks on Victoria hinted at it being a personal attack, and some speculated the murderer could be a scorned lover. Others believed the killings were a form of retribution for Andreas

and Victoria's incestuous relationship. Following the murders, victims' relatives embarked on a legal battle over ownership of Hinterkäifeck. As Sealy was the last to die, she had been the farm's sole owner for a brief period. Therefore, the Gabriel side of the family believed possession of the property should pass to her paternal grandparents. The matter was resolved out of court, with the Gabriels purchasing Hinterkäifeck from the Grubers for 3 million marks.

In late February 1923, they decided to demolish the entire property. They commissioned an artist to paint a watercolour picture of the property beforehand, capturing the white farmhouse in a field of green, framed by budding trees. The next day, carpenters dismantling the roof trusses noticed several loose floorboards in the attic next to the staircase. They pried them up, revealing a small nest of hay underneath, along with a blood-stained mattock, a hand tool commonly used for clearing small trees and shrubs. It had a blunt horizontal axe head and a long wooden handle.

Alongside it was a small metal hoop coated in dried blood. The tool had previously belonged to Andreas Gruber, as neighbours recognised the distinctive screw protruding from the handle that he had fitted during repairs. The screw perfectly matched the star-shaped injuries to Victoria's skull, and police declared the mattock as the murder weapon. Several days later, while clearing out the barn, excavators found a bloody penknife close to where the bodies had been found. Maintaining they had conducted a thorough search of the crime scene, investigators believed the killer returned to the farm to hide the mattock

and penknife once the heat of the investigation had died down. No fingerprints were recovered from either item. Given the social and cultural climate of Bavaria at the time, political motivations for the murders were also considered. The region was a hotbed for paramilitary organisations and extremist groups, and it was theorised that Andreas Gruber had belonged to one and either embezzled funds or committed treason. Investigators sought to question an individual associated with one such extremist group, 33-year-old former soldier Adolf Gump. After World War I, Gump joined a Bavarian paramilitary faction and eventually formed a commando unit within the group. In 1921, he participated in the massacre of nine farmers, which he often boasted about.

Unsubstantiated rumours accused Gump of having been romantically involved with Victoria Gabriel. However, he could not be found. Three weeks into the investigation, police in Munich received a letter requesting they look into Carl Gabriel, Victoria's former husband. Carl had been reportedly killed in action during the war eight years earlier, yet his body was never returned to Germany, and stories circulated of soldiers who faked their death to live under assumed identities. The theory was that Carl had done exactly that, but upon learning of the incestuous relationship between Victoria and Andreas, returned to hinder Kyfek to murder the entire family.

Police spoke with several of Carl's fellow officers who confirmed they had seen his body after his death and revealed he was buried in a war cemetery in France. Other theories centered on Carl's family that they carried out the murders for financial gain or revenge for their son's unhappy marriage. Several locals expressed suspicion towards brothers Carl and Anton Bikler, well-known thieves who had worked at Hinder Kyfek during the harvest seasons. One witness claimed Carl Bikler had proposed the idea of robbing Hinder Kyfek, while another noticed the brothers had recently been spending a significant amount of money, despite being unemployed. Hinder Kyfek's former maid, Crescent's Riga,

explained that the brothers were familiar with the layout of the property, and Anton was one of the few people whom the family dog never barked at. According to Crescent's, Anton once remarked that the family needed to be killed. When she informed her employers of his comment, they dismissed the threat. This incident prompted Crescent's to quit as she feared the Bikler brothers were planning an attack. Carl Bikler was taken in for questioning, during which he professed his innocence and was able to provide an alibi for himself and Anton. The brothers had been drinking in a bar 51km south of Hinder Kyfek at the time of the murders. Months later, on August 2, the mother of another set of brothers Carl and Andreas Schreyer

confessed to a neighbour that her sons were responsible for the crime. The Schreyer brothers were arrested and a hearing took place the following month, but both men were released due to a lack of evidence. Other suspects included a former soldier who had escaped from a Bavarian mental health hospital a year before the murders. He was believed to have burgled properties in the vicinity of Hinder Kyfek, though there was no evidence linking him to the farm, and his whereabouts remain unknown. Suspicions were also cast on Lorenz Schlittenbauer, the neighbour who discovered the bodies at Hinder Kyfek. Lorenz had resided in the same farmhouse on the fringe of Groben his entire life.

He also served as the village guide, collaborating with the local council and acting as a spokesperson for the community. Two weeks after his wife passed away in 1918, Lorenz commenced a brief romantic relationship with Victoria Gabriel, who was 13 years his junior. In late 1918, he asked Andreas for permission to marry Victoria on the condition that Andreas ceased having sexual relations with her. Andreas reportedly replied, we will see. When Lorenz next saw Victoria, she said she was pregnant with his child. He refused to accept this, convinced that Andreas was really the father. Three days after Joseph was born, Lorenz reported Victoria and her father to the authorities

for incest, and once again Andreas was taken into custody. Victoria begged him to withdraw his statement, offering to reimburse the child support he would be required to pay if he claimed paternity. Lorenz agreed, and the charges were dropped. He was named as Joseph's father, a relationship he occasionally acknowledged, but more often denied. He maintained a polite, though tense relationship with Andreas and Victoria, while gossiping and criticizing them around town. Upon discovering the brutalized bodies of his neighbors, including his alleged son, Lorenz was remarkably calm. Witnesses commented on his apparent eagerness to disrupt the crime scene, with Detective George Ryan Gruber noting in his initial report, quote,

it should not be left unmentioned that the head of the district, Lorenz Schlittenbauer, showed a somewhat excited behavior. He talks a lot and also makes himself otherwise important, took care of everything, and was also well acquainted with the domestic circumstances of the murdered. Although Detective Ryan Gruber also noted in his report that there was no known motive for Lorenz to commit the killings. Jacob Siegel was also present when the bodies were found. He had been suspicious of Lorenz since he opened the farmstead's front door with the key he claimed was already in the lock. Jacob openly referred to Lorenz as the Kyfecker murderer, prompting Lorenz to sue him for defamation and publish an article in the local paper that read,

I warn anyone who spreads rumors that I was involved in the murder in Hinterkijfek. From now on, I will go against anybody spreading such rumors, whether wealthy or not, with a lawsuit. Four years after the murders, the Schlittenbauer's home burned down. Villages gathered to help extinguish the flames, but the damage was severe, and many of Lorenz's important documents, including some relating to Joseph Gruber's paternity, were destroyed. That same year, Detective George Ryan Gruber stepped down from the Hinterkijfek case, and criminal inspector Martin Riedmeier took over. On the nine-year anniversary of the crime in 1931, Riedmeier reopened the case and re-interviewed key witnesses, including a tearful Lorenz Schlittenbauer

who continued to profess his innocence. He attributed reports of his suspicious behavior to his, quote, helpful actions at the crime scene. Riedmeier concluded, clues for further action are no longer available. A decade after the murders took place, an article in a German newspaper reflected on their lasting impact on the quiet rural community, quote, the gruesome atrocity still holds the residents of the Schrobenhausen area far and wide in terror. The case is still much talked of today. The relatives of the Gruber and Gabriel families were also investigated as possible suspects, with financial benefit considered a motive, as Cecilia's daughter from her first marriage

had lent Victoria her substantial amount of money for farm repairs. Yet, this line of inquiry didn't progress far. In 1937, the two brothers of Victoria's deceased husband, Carl Gabriel, allegedly confessed to their maid of committing the Hinterkäfek murders for monetary gain. Both men were arrested but subsequently released without charge three weeks later, after proving they had purchased the Hinterkäfek estate with their own savings. By the end of the 1930s, the investigation was set aside completely as the Second World War commenced. During the 1940s, bombings by Allied forces on German cities such as Nuremberg and Munich destroyed much of the evidence relating to the case, including vital documents and the skulls of the victims.

Six years after the war, interest in the cold case was revived when a series of long-form articles about the murders were penned by journalist Joseph Ludwig Hecker and published in a Bavarian newspaper. As a result, several German prisoners of war came forward, alleging to have been released by a Bavarian-speaking Soviet officer who claimed responsibility for the Hinterkäfek murders. These assertions reignited rumors that Carl Gabriel was indeed alive and carried out the crime, but were later dismissed when the men revised their statements, reducing their credibility. In May 1952, longtime suspect and extremist group member Adolf Gump was once again implicated. Adolf had passed away eight years earlier, but according to statements his sister later

made to a priest, he confessed on his deathbed to carrying out the killings with his brother Anton. Following this revelation, Anton was arrested, only to be released weeks later, and the Gump brothers were eventually ruled out of the investigation entirely. In 1955, the Hinterkäfek case was shelved indefinitely. Despite going cold, Germany's fascination with the mystery ensured theories and conjecture endured throughout the years. In 1971, Carl and Andreas Schreier, the brothers who were briefly arrested in 1922 after their mother reportedly confided in a neighbour about their involvement in the murders, were cast back into the spotlight. A woman claiming to be the daughter

of the neighbour penned a letter to the Attorney General, had explained that during the visit, Mrs Schreier reportedly remarked, quote, Andreas regretted that he lost his penknife. Curiously, the discovery of the bloody penknife at Hinterkäfek had been kept under wraps by investigators. Police interrogated the woman who wrote the letter, but with no evidence to support her claims, the investigation faltered once again. In 1978, journalist Peter Leuchner published the first book on the murders, titled Hinterkäfek, Germany's most mysterious murder case. The book was such a success that it sold out for extended periods. In 1981, film director Hans Fiegel adapted the book into a documentary called Hinterkäfek, symbol of the young canny.

Other documentaries on the case followed over the years, as well as a play, a radio program, and a fictionalised film. Twenty years after the release of Leuchner's book, he published a second edition after gaining access to further documents from Munich. In the mid-1980s, final interviews were conducted with several of Sealy Gabriel's former classmates. Detective Conrad Mueller of the Ingolstadt police assisted and found himself fascinated by the unsolved case. He continued looking into the murders well after his retirement in the 1990s, collecting a total of 12 binders worth of evidence. Teaming up with criminal profiler Klaus Wiest, the pair theorised that the slayings were personally motivated,

with the strangulation marks on Victoria indicating she had been the prime target. In 2007, 15 students from a Bavarian police academy looked into the case to see if it could be solved using 21st century techniques. They compiled 200 pages of documents and critiqued the shortcomings of the original investigation, including how police neglected to interview the mechanic who had visited the property the day the bodies were found, until three years later. Like Conrad Mueller and Klaus Wiest, the students suspected the killer was personally motivated due to the manner in which they had concealed the victim's bodies. They concluded it wasn't possible to solve the crime due to the lack of forensic evidence,

the significant loss of documents, and the death of key witnesses. They did establish a prime suspect, but declined to name the individual out of respect for surviving family members and descendants. The Hinterkleifek murders captivated armchair sleuths and independent investigators in Germany and around the world. In 2017, American crime writer Bill James and his daughter Rachel McCarthy James co-authored a book titled The Man from the Train, which chronicles their attempt to solve Iwer's Voliska Racks murders, in which six members of the Moore family and two guests were murdered during a brutal home invasion in 1912. After studying the case and similar

contemporary murders all over the United States, the father-daughter team concluded that the unsolved crimes were the work of a single perpetrator, a German-born farmhand named Paul Mueller, who fled Massachusetts after he was suspected of murdering the family that employed him. They theorized he returned to his homeland, where he later murdered the Gruber-Gabriel family in the same manner, though no concrete evidence supports these allegations. In 2018, former Detective Conrad Mueller finally parted with the evidence he had collected on the Hinterkleifek case and gave it to the Bavarian Police Museum in the city of Ingolstadt. Mueller's documents now sit alongside a range of other displays at the museum's Hinterkleifek

exhibit, which aims to highlight the evolution of police methods over the past century. The exhibition has attracted thousands of visitors over the past several years and will close on October 6, 2019. Hinterkleifek remains one of Germany's most talked about unsolved crimes. Over the years, police have considered a total of 105 potential suspects, but despite several arrests, no one has ever been charged. Myths have sprung up around the case, including that former maid, Crescent's Riga, left Hinterkleifek after repeatedly hearing someone in the attic at night, although nothing in her police statement indicates this is true. In recent years, a local guide began offering ghost tours of the site, with participants meeting in

the town of Weidhofen and proceeding on foot through fields and forests to the empty property. For the relatives of those connected to the crime, Hinterkleifek continued to cause suffering long after the murders. Lorenz Schlittenbauer, considered by many to be the prime suspect, died in 1941. His descendants have spoken of the negative impact the Association had on their own lives. In 2010, his daughter Regina told the media she and her siblings were ostracised throughout their lives, commenting, at some point, there must be peace. After the Hinterkleifek farmstead was demolished in 1923, a wayside shrine was erected on the land and still stands today. Marked with a crucifix, the small white memorial is framed by a tiny fence

and neatly manicured plants. An inscription reads, Godless murderer's hand fell the Gruber Gabriel family here on March 31, 1922. This inscription is followed by the name of each victim and their year of birth. The former land of Hinterkleifek is now used for agriculture. Over at the Whitehofen Cemetery, a tall, dark grey obelisk marks the resting place of Andreas, Cecilia, Victoria, Sealy, Joseph and Maria. It bears a similar message to the shrine, but has also been engraved with a brief verse from the Bible's Book of Psalms. God remembers those who suffer, he does not forget their cry, and he punishes those who wrong them.