Casefile True Crime - Case 205: Bernd Brandes

Episode Date: April 2, 2022

On March 9 2001, 43-year-old computer engineer Bernd Brandes disappeared from his home in Berlin, Germany. Although his absence was extremely out of character, investigations into his whereabouts proved unsuccessful... --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Jessica Forsayeth Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn This episode's sponsors: The Detective’s Dilemma – New podcast from Casefile Presents Babbel – Get 6 months free with a 6-month subscription. Use promo code ‘CASEFILE’ BetterHelp – Get 10% off your first month of professional counselling with a licensed therapist ShipStation – Try ShipStation FREE for 60 days with promo code ‘CASEFILE’ For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-205-bernd-brandes

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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. Reinhold sat stunned in the soft glow of his computer screen. It was approaching dawn on Tuesday, July 9, 2002 and the 23-year-old medical student had been up all night on the internet. What he had witnessed had disturbed him measurably and Reinhold had to tell somebody. He opened up a new email template and began typing. Ladies and gentlemen of the Federal Criminal Bureau, my name is Reinhold.

He went on to describe his experiences online the night before. Seeking horrifying thrills, Reinhold had used widely popular search engines to explore the darkest recesses of the internet for content that would shock him. They led him to a forum where a small but active group of users interacted excitedly over their shared interests in taboo and all forbidden fetishes. Reinhold thought that what he was reading was just erotic roleplay based entirely in fantasy. His attention was soon drawn to an advertisement posted by a user named Frankie. Titled, Boys Sort for Butchering, the accompanying text read, Hi, I'm Frankie from Germany. I'm looking for young men between 18 and 30 to butcher. If you have a normal build, then come to me. I'll butcher you and eat your delicious flesh.

Driven by curiosity, Reinhold sent Frankie an email. In it, he mentioned his age and that he lived in the Austrian town of Innsbruck. How many boys have you butchered and eaten Reinhold tight before clicking sand? He received a prompt response. Well, let's say I have experience, Frankie wrote back. In any case, you wouldn't be the first. Reinhold continued reading the email from Frankie. In reference to Reinhold's age of 23, Frankie had written,

That's an optimal butchering age. The body has just matured and is still very tender. He requested that Reinhold tell him more about himself, specifically his height and weight, Before signing off his email with, Your master butcher, Frankie. Reinhold was shocked. The lines I have experienced and you wouldn't be the first, implied Frankie wasn't just pretending. Wanting no part in what he had planned, Reinhold replied, I don't want to be butchered, I want to live.

He then asked Frankie what compels someone to kill and eat other people. The question is as old as humanity itself, Frankie answered. For myself, I'm not interested in killing someone in cold blood, Because then I would be simply grabbing somebody and eating him, and I would be just a common killer. I'm looking for people who have a desire to die, for whatever reason. Some of them dream of being butchered, others simply want to end their lives because they have no future prospects. I then prepare for them a death such as they desire for themselves. My wish since childhood has been to have someone entirely to myself and then to absorb him into me by eating him.

Reinhold's response was swift and blunt. You are not doing these people any favor by killing them. You look exclusively for young men and exploit someone's life crisis. Everyone sometimes reaches a point where he can't cope with life. Sometimes they have no friends and no family and no one they can talk with. No, what you do is not admirable, but pathologically perverted. People who come to you and whose fate you seal would have done better to go to a psychologist. And you too should go to a psychologist, for even if you won't admit it to yourself, you are a cold-blooded murderer.

By the time their correspondence had ended, the sun was beginning to rise. Reinhold had spent a sleepless night glued to his computer, emailing back and forth with Frankie. Concerned by what he had uncovered, he reached out to Germany's Federal Criminal Bureau via email. After detailing his interactions with Frankie, Reinhold ended his email by stating, I don't know how to handle it. At 5.49am, Reinhold clicked sand. It took 19 days before anyone at the Bureau addressed Reinhold's email. A chief criminal commissioner eventually looked into the matter by going undercover online and contacting Frankie directly.

Feigning interest in the topic of cannibalism, they emailed Frankie to obtain information that might lead to his real-world identity. The message read, I stumbled on your post where you're looking for boys to butcher. I find it fascinating. Please write to me about how you imagine it. Frankie sent a long and detailed reply later that night that began. Now, as I say it, you will come to me, live with me for a week, and during that time, I'll really get to know you. One wants to know whom one is eating. Frankie then explained that during the final two days of their encounter,

he would place his victim on a liquid diet to keep their intestines empty for the butchering process. That would begin on the last day, or day X, as Frankie called it. He'd wake his victim early, wash and shave them in the bathroom, then take them to his slaughter room. He offered to kill the undercover commissioner in whatever way they'd like, fully conscious or drugged. Their choice. I'll carve you up to prepare many delightful dishes from your delicious flesh, Frankie told the commissioner, who he thought was a 26-year-old that lived in the German state of Hesse. Incidentally, Frankie wrote, I am also from Hesse, near Castle. He ended the email as he had with Reinhold weeks prior.

Your master butcher, Frankie. At this point, there was nothing to prove that Frankie had killed or devoured anyone. With no evidence of a crime having taken place, the Federal Criminal Bureau cast the case aside. What he spoke of was so outrageous and inconceivable, it was easy to believe that he was just some imaginative deviant dramatizing his gruesome and violent kink online. But Reinhold felt otherwise. He remained convinced that he had interacted with a real-world killer. Five months after his interactions with Frankie and upon realizing authorities were no longer pursuing the matter, Reinhold filed a criminal complaint for the suspicion of murder. He addressed how the accused had expressed experience in the field of cannibalism, which gave Reinhold the well-founded suspicion that, at least in one case, he had killed a person. It took another 44 days before any further action was taken.

By now, the Bureau had obtained Frankie's internet provider address. This allowed them to locate the computer where he sent his emails, as well as the device's internet service customer information. The computer was pinpointed to a residential address in the medieval town of Roltenborg in Hesse. Specifically in the hamlet of Wusterfeld. The internet service it used was contracted to a Mr. Armin Mivus. The suspicion of murder complaint filed by Reinhold was delegated to the District Court of Roltenborg. Even though Reinhold's accusations were based solely on text on the internet, the court ruled that Frankie's online confessions constituted suspicion of presentation of violence. This was enough for them to issue a search warrant for the Wusterfeld address where Frankie had sent his emails.

The three-story, 36-room, Tudor-style Wusterfeld home was an impressive residence, but it had seen better days. Built in the Middle Ages, around 900 AD, the manor sat on a 3,000 square meter plot of land of mostly meadows, with an outbuilding that was previously used as a stable. Its half-timbered facade looked slightly askew, as the doors, windows and dormers were positioned without any sense of symmetry. The property was owned by the Mivus family who had purchased the decrepit manor with the intention of renovating it into a functioning boarding house. Having failed that, the manor had been permanently stuck in an unfinished, worsening state. Of the five family members who had settled in the home, only one remained. The front iron gate was open when the police arrived at the Wusterfeld manor on the morning of Tuesday, December 10, 2002. They made their way up the gravel drive, and upon reaching the house, banged the bronze lion's head knocker on the front door.

A tall, lean man with thinning dark blonde hair and pale eyes soon appeared. It was the sole homeowner-occupier, 41-year-old Armin Mivus. He was in the process of getting ready for work and was surprised to see the officers, who handed him their search warrant. The inside of the house was dark and musky. Dust covered almost every surface, wallpaper was peeling, the carpets were stained, cobwebs hung from the walls, and dead rodents were spotted in the corners. Most rooms were filled to the ceiling with furniture, appliances, clothing, and or computing equipment. Some were so crammed with junk that the officers couldn't even get into them. The bathrooms were equally filthy.

Only a few rooms appeared lived in and semi-maintained, including a kitchen, dining room, and two computer work rooms that contained a plethora of tech equipment, including a large collection of videotapes and computer discs. On the top floor of the building was a traditional smoke room once used to store and cure meat and fish. Little remained from when the room was used in this manner, aside from an old oil stove and a thick layer of soot that covered the walls. The metal frame of a single bed had since been brought in and was rusting in one corner of the room. Against the back wall was a large wooden cross in the shape of an axe, and in the center was a long table adorned with three knives, a meat cleaver, and an axe. A butcher's apron also lay nearby. Patches of a dark red substance stained the concrete floor. In a kitchen downstairs was a freezer that at first glance held nothing more than a few frozen pizzas.

Upon closer inspection, an officer noticed the freezer had a false bottom. When she lifted it up, she uncovered large amounts of meat stored in several bags, some of it minced and some cut into steaks. The police officer held the bags up to Armin Marvis and asked him what they were. Wild pig meat, he answered. She looked at him incredulously. She did a lot of cooking and the meat looked like nothing she had ever seen before. The bags were labelled with the word Kator. Hello Kator, the email began.

I read your ad. I'll slaughter you, but only if you really want me to. Let me hear from you. Your master butcher, Frankie. It was Monday, February 5, 2001, and Frankie had just stumbled across an ad on one of the online cannibal forums he frequented. Titled Your Dinner, a user going by the name Kator had written, I offer to let myself be eaten alive. Kator was pleased to receive Frankie's offer. I hope you're really serious about it, he emailed back. I really want it and have already met enough cyber cannibals. Frankie had experienced similar disappointment.

Several men had expressed eagerness for him to eat them online, only to back out once they met in person. Unlike them, Kator was committed. He was very clear about his expectations, telling Frankie that he wanted his genitals to be bitten off. Then, I'll be ready for slaughter, he declared. The pair settled on a date. On the ninth day in the following month of March, Frankie would eat Kator. The act would take place at Frankie's home, in a sound-proofed room he had designed for this sole purpose. As March drew nearer, the frequency in which Kator and Frankie communicated online increased, as did their level of excitement.

They showed little interest in talking about the mundane parts of their lives, such as their jobs or relationships. Instead, almost every night, they chatted excessively about the upcoming slaughter in gory and sexually explicit detail. Offline, neither man spoke a word of what they had planned to anyone. No one among their family, friends or colleagues even knew of their forbidden sexual fetish. They had become masters at living a double life. In reality, both men lived unassuming lives and worked in the tech sector. Frankie was considered a nice fellow who mowed his neighbour's lawns without payment and happily watched his friends' children. Kator dutifully looked after his grandmother and paid the bills for friends who were struggling with money.

Both men were known to have an avid interest in computers, though they only logged into the cannibal forums when those around them were asleep. As to how Frankie and Kator came about, the paths were different, but the destination was the same. The man behind the username Frankie felt his cannibalistic urge to develop as a child and it turned sexual by the time he was a teenager. The underlying cause was abandonment issues. In his own words, his goal was to bind to someone in a way that they would always be with him and to fill the hollow, empty feeling he had inside. For the man behind the username Kator, the longing to be eaten coincided with puberty. A masochist, Kator derived sexual gratification from his own pain or humiliation. As an adult, he had explored this side of himself consensually with sex workers, but none were willing to eat him like he wanted.

The desire has lasted a long time, Kator wrote to Frankie, and will last until it finally comes true. 28 hours before the slaughter was scheduled to take place, Kator and Frankie messaged each other for the final time. They tied up the loose ends of their plan, including what would become of Kator's quote, unprocessed fleshy parts, like his tendons, skin, organs and bones. Giddy with excitement for their meeting, Kator ended their communications by typing, I'll bring myself as breakfast. Frankie replied, I'll have an appetite. It was a drizzly winter morning on Friday, March 9, 2001, as Frankie stood on a platform at the Castle Wilhelmsfuhr train station.

The 10-14 train arrived and Frankie's attention was drawn to one of the first passengers to disembark. He was a slender man of average height with grey-green eyes. He was wearing dark clothing and a baseball cap, which partially hid his streaked grey and balding black hair. It was Kator. The men recognized each other immediately from the photos they had traded online. They exchanged a brief hello. Let's get off the platform, Kator said. There are too many people around. Frankie led him to a nearby lot where he had parked his car.

Driving away from Castle City, Frankie tried to keep his focus on the road, but Kator started caressing him from the passenger seat. Stop it, Frankie told him. Wait until we're in my home. It's only 60 kilometers. They arrived in Wusterfeld an hour later. Frankie pulled up to his expansive, though severely neglected manner, and the two headed inside. Upon returning from the kitchen with coffee, Frankie was confronted by a stark-naked Kator, who said, I want you to be able to admire your food. Within minutes he was ready to get started. Come on, show me the room, he demanded.

Frankie then led him upstairs to his slaughter room. Inside, Kator remained in a heightened state of arousal. He ordered Frankie to tear the flesh off his body with his teeth, but Frankie was reluctant. This was not how he envisioned their encounter. Firstly, he hated violence. Secondly, he expected it to be a week-long affair, allowing time for the men to get to know each other before any blood was spilled. The slaughter process wasn't supposed to be frenzied, it was meant to be slow and methodical. Kator's vision was far more spontaneous and savage. He wanted to die that very day.

Unable to go through with Kator's demands, Frankie left him disappointed. You're too soft, Kator remarked. You can't inflict pain the way I'd like it. You can't slaughter me at all. He asked to be taken back to the train station. The men hardly spoke during the drive. Once they reached the station, Frankie apologised. He reiterated that it was his life's wish to consume someone, but they wanted different things from their experience. It just wasn't going to work. Kator purchased a train ticket intent on going home, then suddenly he had a change of heart. If I go back to Berlin now, I'll be facing a showdown, he said.

While Frankie didn't know what that meant, whatever was playing on Kator's mind had led him to compromise. He still wanted to die that day, but he was willing to prolong the experience and scale back the violence. Frankie would no longer have to literally eat him alive, though he still wanted his genitals to be removed. Kator came up with a new plan. He would be drugged, then once he was drowsy enough, Frankie could go through with a far more intricate slaughter. Frankie was glad Kator had reconsidered and headed to a nearby pharmacy where he purchased liquid cold medicine and sleeping pills. Kator took ten of the pills and washed it down with the entire bottle of cold medicine. The potent combination took effect on the drive back to Wusterfeld. The two men returned to the slaughter room. Kator removed his clothes, laid on the bed in the corner and guzzled down half a bottle of schnapps to become tipsy as well as drowsy.

By now, it was just past 6pm. I can't stand it any longer, Kator barked. Do it. Now. Cutting off Kator's penis was a painful and messy process as the initial knife used was found to be too blunt. It took several slashes of a larger sharper knife to completely sever the organ from Kator's body, all the while he screamed in agony. Though once it had been removed, Kator was astonished and thrilled, and within minutes he reported feeling no pain at all. He sought to eat the organ, but the raw flesh was too tough to bite into. After patching up Kator's wound, Frankie headed down to the kitchen where he proceeded to blanch and broil the organ in two halves. He seasoned the halves and served them on a plate with fresh tomatoes.

By the time he returned to the slaughter room, the mattress beneath Kator was soaked in blood. Kator attempted to eat the cooked flesh, but it was rock hard. Not even a fork could penetrate it. Deeming it inedible, Frankie threw the pieces into a bucket as waste. Kator laid back on the bed, disappointed. All he wanted to do now was sleep. Frankie stroked his face to soothe him. Before Kator drifted off, the pair finally revealed to each other their real names. Up until this point, they had only known and referred to each other by their online usernames from the cannibal forums. I'm Armin, Frankie said.

Decades before police came knocking on his door, an eight-year-old Armin Mivus wondered his family's Wusterfeld manner feeling incredibly lonely. His mother, Veltraud Mivus, had moved Armin and his two older half-brothers to the expensive property shortly after Armin's father had abandoned them to pursue a relationship with his girlfriend. Armin had loved his father, but when he ran desperately after his father's car, howling for him not to leave, his father didn't even glance at the rearview mirror. Armin despised him after that. Armin's brothers didn't stick around long either. They moved out, leaving Armin alone with his mother. To Veltraud Mivus, men were not independent individuals with their own interests and needs. They were malleable things that she could shape and control. Once his father and brothers were gone, Armin was the only man left in Veltraud's life, and she began to shape him accordingly. Veltraud didn't do any housework, so the extensive upkeep of the manor fell to Armin.

Referring to him as her little servant, Veltraud ordered Armin around the home, expecting him to cook and clean when he wasn't at school. When he was, Armin was teased for his relationship with his domineering mother. Other students called him a mother's boy and made fun of the traditional leaderhosen he wore at her insistence. In the aftermath of her failed marriage, Veltraud withdrew from society, fearing further rejection. This fear led her to foster a sheltered and oppressive life for Armin, at times sabotaging his relationships with others so he'd only have her. She had him live in the room across from her own and would summon him by banging the end of her walking stick on the hard floor. Despite going to great lengths to keep Armin in her life, Veltraud was very rarely affectionate towards him. She treated Armin downright coolly, with the amount of times she hugged him each year countable on a single hand.

Veltraud also feigned illness as a means to control. One day, a 15-year-old Armin was helping his mother get downstairs after she had complained of leg pain. He thought to himself, one good shove and it's finally over. Instead of unleashing his rage, Armin internalized it. He hated his own cowardice and how his devotion and eagerness to please overrode his ability to express his true feelings. The problem was, even though his mother was a burden, she was the last meaningful person in his life. Armin feared losing her and he suspected she felt the same about him. Still, she couldn't feel the place of the male role model that Armin desperately sought.

From a young age, Armin relied on his imagination to escape his reality. He would lose himself in books with the dark fairy tales written by German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm becoming treasured fantasy worlds he could revisit over and over. Some days, Armin would track the mountainous countryside at the rear of his home with a brother's grim book in hand, looking for somewhere to read in private. On one such occasion, a ten-year-old Armin sat beneath a tree and opened his book to his favorite fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. One of the most popular stories in the brother's grim collection, the narrative follows two children lost in a forest. Eventually, they stumble across a house made of gingerbread with an old woman inside who promises to help them. She is actually an evil witch who captures Hansel and Gretel. Armin would have a physical reaction whenever he read this story.

His heart rate would increase, with each page turned bringing him closer to the part that truly delighted him. The old woman had only pretended to be so kind. She was in reality a wicked witch. Armin would read with excitement. When a child fell into her power, she killed it, cooked it, and ate it, and that was a feast day with her. Early in the morning before the children were awake, she was already up, and when she saw both of them sleeping and looking so pretty with their plump and rosy cheeks, she muttered to herself, that will be a dainty mouthful. Armin considered how lovely it would be to read another person. In doing so, they would assimilate into him, and he would never again feel the hollow sting of loneliness. As these thoughts fermented in the privacy of Armin's mind, he sought the opinion of the only person he could trust, an imaginary brother he had formed in response to the overwhelming isolation he experienced. Armin had given his imaginary brother the name Frankie.

Decades later, Rottenborg police left Armin's house after executing a search warrant. They didn't leave empty-handed. They had confiscated his computer equipment, among other things, and a book of his titled Flesh and Blood. Most significant was the three bags of meat they had taken from his freezer. Once the police were gone, Armin Mivus paced nervously, wanting someone to talk to. He couldn't speak with his mother, as she had died several years prior from a heart attack. Armin had lived alone in the house since. He picked up the phone and called one of his half-brothers. His sister-in-law picked up and immediately sensed something was wrong.

Armin admitted that he was in trouble with the police. Do you have a corpse lying in the cellar or something, his sister-in-law jokingly asked. He replied, No, in the freezer chest. She laughed, assuming he was joking. Armin then called the office where he worked as a computer technician. He told his boss that he needed to leave and that he might never come back. At 3.30 that afternoon, a call was placed to the Rottenborg police. The caller was Armin Mivus's attorney.

He said that Armin was with him and was ready to make a full confession. Throughout his life, Armin Mivus sought gratification for his cannibalistic desires where he could. As a child, he'd watch his neighbors slaughter hogs for meat to sell. In his teens, he shadowed his friend to the butcher shop where he worked to observe him dismembering animal carcasses. It wasn't an unpleasant sight to Armin. He felt joyful to witness a once-living being serving a profound and important purpose. Whenever someone ate that meat, that animal was with them forever. He became more creative in his adult years.

He barbecued Barbie dolls and took delight in the way their plastic bodies melted and warped. He modelled limbs and organs out of marzipan before devouring them as if they were the real thing. He studied serial killer cannibals such as Jeffrey Dahmer and researched recipes ideal for human flesh. He constructed a cardboard diorama of a slaughter room before replicating it in the old smoke room upstairs. No one knew what stirred deep inside Armin Mivus's mind. He once told a schoolmate about his desire to eat human flesh, but they laughed in response, assuming he was making it up. Once Armin got a computer, he was able to indulge in his fantasy in new, shocking ways. He digitally altered images of men he had cut from pornographic magazines to appear butchered and bloodied.

He did similar alterations to photos he took of himself. The internet led to Armin discovering that there were many others in the world that had the same morbid interests as him. In time, he became Frankie. The imaginary brother from his childhood had now become a digital persona he used to interact with other cannibal fetishists online. Many years later, he crossed virtual paths with a user named Kator. It wasn't until Kator lay drugged and bleeding in his slaughter room that Armin finally learned his real name. Many signals providing fast, effective pain relief for up to eight hours. Conquer headaches fast with the dual action pain fighting relief of new Advil Plus Acetaminophen, now available across Canada.

Sleepyans were rare for Renee Yasnik. The 21-year-old baker was used to getting up early for work but a week-long holiday in early March 2001 provided him the opportunity to be lazy. Friday, March 9 marked the final day of said holiday and Renee wasn't planning on switching up his routine. He stirred at around 6.40am needing to use the bathroom and immediately afterwards, he slipped back into bed alongside his sleeping boyfriend, Björnt Branders. Renee didn't wake up again until almost three hours later. The remainder of his day would be spent relaxing at the apartment he shared with Björnt in the city of Berlin, Germany. Renee had the apartment all to himself as Björnt had already left for work. Later that night, Renee's feelings of relaxation had dissipated.

It was nearing 7.40pm and Björnt was usually home by now. At first, Renee was annoyed. He thought Björnt had gone for an after-hours drink with some colleagues and not bothered to inform him. But by 10pm, Renee's irritation gave way to concern. Björnt was reliable and it was out of character for him not to contact Renee to let him know why he wasn't home on time. Strangely, not only did Björnt's mobile phone go unanswered but it continued to play an automated voice message that said, This connection is temporarily disconnected. When Björnt failed to come home that night, Renee spent the weekend reaching out to all of Björnt's friends and acquaintances trying to track him down.

No one had seen the 43-year-old. Renee called Björnt's office at the Technology Corporation where Björnt worked as a computer engineer. He was met with the answering machine. Björnt, it's Renee here, the machine recorded as Renee spoke pleadingly. I need to talk to you. I'm worried. Please come home. Whatever has happened, I'm sure we can work it out. Just come home. Please. Desperate for answers, Renee phoned Björnt's employer and was surprised to learn that Björnt had taken the Friday he disappeared off. He had told his supervisor that he needed to do so for personal reasons as there was something he wanted to take care of. He gave no other details.

Renee was confused. Björnt had told him he was going into work on Friday. He even stated that he had a lot to do that day and would not be reachable on his mobile phone or in the office. Thursday night had passed normally, with no hints that Björnt was hiding something. When Björnt had left the apartment on Friday morning, he had taken his apartment keys, wallet and mobile phone. Renee was under the impression that he had indeed gone to work. Unable to uncover any clues as to where Björnt had really gone, Renee reported him missing to the police. He told them of their stable long-term relationship and of Björnt's commitment to his job. Although he worked a long hours, Björnt earned enough for them to live a good life together that was marred only by infrequent arguments over everyday problems.

In recent months, Björnt had spent his work bonus to spruce up their apartment with expensive furnishings, and he and Renee had been eagerly planning an overseas holiday to take later in the year. Renee maintained that Björnt was happy and ruled out the possibility that he had gone somewhere to take his own life. Any hope that Björnt would resurface to attend a work conference on Monday March 12 was lost when he failed to show up for the event. Three days had now passed since anyone had seen or heard from him. He hadn't accessed his bank accounts over the weekend, nor had he used company funds which were also available to him. To those who knew Björnt, his sudden disappearance was perplexing. Police had a little luck locating him in the following weeks. With no word from his missing boyfriend, Renee Yesnick reached out to former journalist Nina Herrmann, who had previously worked for a local newspaper, hoping she could track Björnt down using her investigative skills.

After questioning employees at Björnt's work, Nina made a small discovery. One of Björnt's colleagues had seen him on the morning of his disappearance at Bahnhof Zoo train station in Berlin. He thought nothing of the sighting as he knew Björnt took a train to work each day. Armed with a photograph of Björnt, Renee and Nina scoured the train station for clues and questioned staff, shop owners and travelers to determine where he might have gone to next. No one recalled seeing Björnt, so Renee posted his photo in the local newspaper, hoping that it would generate some leads. It didn't. He had seemingly vanished into thin air. In truth, he was bagged up in pieces at the bottom of Armin Mivus's freezer. Armin Mivus maintained that he didn't know Björnt Brandus was in a relationship when they met.

In his confession, Armin said he knew very little about Björnt's personal life. Although Björnt as Kator mentioned having a friend, Armin didn't know that this person was a romantic partner with whom Björnt had lived with. In hindsight, it offered an explanation for a remark Björnt had made to Armin when they returned to Castle Wilhelmsfuhr train station following their failed first attempt at the slaughter. Describing his recollections from the station to author Gunther Stampf for his book Interview with a Cannibal, Armin explained that Björnt was intending to go home until he said, If I go back to Berlin now, I'll be facing a showdown. Armin queried the cryptic remark, but Björnt didn't elaborate. Could he have been agonizing over having to explain his abrupt disappearance to his boyfriend, Renee? It could have led to the unraveling of his double life, simultaneously ruining both.

Author Gunther Stampf noted that Björnt faced a literal life or death impasse. Between returning home and slaughter, between reason and madness, Björnt chose death, slaughter and madness. The reasoning behind Björnt's decision, including why he sought to be eaten, died with him. He didn't pen a suicide note or record a goodbye message. Comments and behavior in the lead up to his fateful day ex were otherwise normal. Right before he left to meet with Armin Mivus, Björnt did a clean sweep of his personal computer, eradicating all trace of their communications. It was obvious that he didn't want anyone in his life to know about Ktor. Medical professionals retroactively examined Björnt's life to uncover what might have led him on his path of self-destruction.

At age 5, Björnt's mother ended her own life. Björnt was forbidden to talk about her death to his father, and as an only child he had no one else to turn to. Their relationship soured from then onwards. Björnt's father was a cold tyrannical man who was never impressed by Björnt, despite his successes in life. By the time Björnt was an adult, the pair were practically estranged. Then, Björnt was cut off from his father's life entirely when he revealed he was in a relationship with a man. Doctors speculated that Björnt's masochism stemmed from feelings brought on by his father, either the hatred Björnt had for him, or the hatred Björnt had of himself as a result of his father's disapproval. Björnt's father was reluctant to speak about his son after learning what he had done.

In a brief conversation with a physician, he said that Björnt's childhood and youth development were uneventful. Björnt had a string of failed relationships both with men and women which linked to the overarching theme of rejection. Yet, there was nothing to prove that any of this was the catalyst for his actions. If he had any depressive moods or other mental disorders, Björnt hid them well. March 9 was not a significant date in his life, and the word kator wasn't found to be relevant either. The only person who could offer any true insight into Björnt's cannibalistic desires was the person who carried them out. Armin Mivus said being consumed was Björnt's ultimate ecstasy, his life goal. His death was his, quote, ultimate sexual climax.

The slaughter didn't play out that way. Björnt didn't get to experience the euphoric feeling of being eaten alive that he had longed for. His day ex had ended disappointingly with him bleeding out in Armin Mivus' slaughter room. Dressing the wound did little to stem the flow, and Björnt was insistent that an ambulance not be called. He turned to Armin and said, As soon as I'm asleep, cut my throat. With a potent mix of blood loss, cold medicine, sleeping pills and alcohol impacting Björnt's body, Armin suspected he would pass out soon. Yet, half an hour later, Björnt was still awake. Armin, I'm so cold, he said, before requesting to be put in a warm bath to expedite his bleeding.

Armin obliged. He removed Björnt's bandages as Björnt lowered into the warm water. Seeing the blood spurred from his open wound uplifted him. At this point, Björnt wanted to go to sleep in the bathtub and bleed to death. Armin went to his bedroom and read, stopping every quarter hour to return to the bathroom and check if Björnt had died. Two and a half hours passed and Björnt remained conscious. As Björnt went to lift himself out of the tub, he blacked out and his body crumbled to the floor. Armin began carrying Björnt's limp body back upstairs to the slaughter room, at which point Björnt stirred awake.

With the sudden burst of energy, he tried to walk by himself. He believed that by doing so, his blood would flow out better and he would pass out faster. Then you can finally do it, he told Armin. Armin got Björnt back into the slaughter room and returned to checking on him every quarter hour. Then, at 3.30 am, he heard Björnt stirring about and went to see what he was up to. He found Björnt sprawled out on the floor. He had managed to pull himself out of bed, but had tripped over in the darkness. Armin roused Björnt, who remarked,

I've got to piss. Armin dissuaded Björnt from moving. If you stand up now, you'll be dead. You have no blood left in you. Delirious, Björnt insisted he needed to go to the toilet. He stood up, but within seconds his legs gave way and he fell to the floor. This time, Armin couldn't wake him. Armin donned a plastic apron. He placed Björnt's naked body on the table in the center of the room where he tied it down.

After a farewell kiss and a brief prayer, Armin hesitated. The feeling passed quickly. He tilted Björnt's head slightly, then inserted a knife into his neck. It had been 10 hours since Björnt's ordeal had begun. When speaking of the killing to Orthogunterstaff, Armin recalled having an indescribable feeling of anger and joy at the same time. I hated myself for wanting to do it and I hated Björnt because he had come to me. On the other hand, I had an unbelievable feeling of happiness.

It all went the way Björnt wanted. For years, Armin had studied medical textbooks and searched the internet for the ideal slaughter technique. Now, he put his knowledge into practice. After an hour of intense work, Armin switched his butcher's apron for a pair of pajamas and slept peacefully. The mutilation of Björnt's body continued the following day of Saturday, March 10. On Sunday, Armin sat alone at the end of his dining table. He had dressed it for the occasion with his finest tablecloth, a black porcelain dining set, polished cutlery and a glass of his favourite red wine. The table's centrepiece, a candelabra, created a warm ambience.

On a plate before Armin was a piece of Björnt Brandis' upper back, cooked, seasoned and served with the sauce. As detailed in the book Cannibal by Lois Jones, Armin said a short prayer that ended. Lord God, thank you for providing me with a friend for life and for sacrificing Björnt's life on Earth for me. I hope I won't be lonely anymore. As Armin ate, he said, this is the most tasty meal I've ever had. Nothing is so delicious. His words were directed to Björnt's decapitated head, which Armin had positioned on the dining table next to him. He eventually buried Björnt's head in his backyard, along with Björnt's arms, legs and feet. In the months that followed, Armin ate 45 out of the 65 pounds of human flesh he had stored in his freezer.

He even ate it at work in the form of rissoles, with his colleagues none the wiser. Armin believed that through this process, he was absorbing Björnt's characteristics and talents. Björnt had a decent grasp of the English language, and Armin felt his English speaking was improving with each meal. Despite having got exactly what he had wanted, Armin wound up back online, scrolling through cannibal forums as Frankie. Emboldened by having done what other users only fantasized about, Armin started bragging about his real-life cannibalism experience. He also posted gory pictures he had taken when he butchered Björnt's remains. Yet, his taste for human flesh had not been satisfied. 18 months after Björnt brandishes slaughter, Armin received an email.

Someone had responded to his ad titled, Boys Sort for Butchering. It was a 23-year-old man from the Austrian town of Innsbruck, named Reinhold. From there, Armin Mivus' double life completely unraveled, leaving those who knew him as a seemingly harmless, friendly and helpful man, utterly shocked. Following Armin's confession, police returned to his Wusterfeld manner to undertake a more thorough search. Björnt's head and limbs were uncovered in the backyard, just as Armin had forewarned. Inside the house, officers discovered a collection of VHS tapes concealed in a bookshelf. What they contained caused many of those who watched them to seek psychological counseling. At just over eight hours long, Armin had videotaped everything that had occurred in the slaughter room between him and Björnt brandish.

This included the severing of Björnt's penis, his eventual death, and the butchering of his remains. A meticulous record keeper, Armin had also kept copies of all the interactions he had online with Björnt brandish. There were pages upon pages of email and chat correspondence between the pair, in which they discussed the upcoming slaughter in gory and gratuitous detail. As the act of cannibalism was not a crime in Germany, lengthy deliberations were held to determine what exact charges Armin Mivus would face. Armin's attorney felt he should have been charged with killing on request, as Armin had acted only to fulfill Björnt's wish to die. The prosecution disagreed. While they accepted that Björnt's consent was a condition for his killing, it was not the motivating reason. They argued that Armin killed Björnt in order to butcher him and to satisfy his own fetish to consume male flesh.

They sought a conviction based on the charge murder for sexual satisfaction. As per German law, in a criminal case involving the death of a person, the jury was composed of three professional judges and two members of the public. 71 seats in the public gallery were awarded at random by lottery, as citizens and journalists vied to witness the macabre spectacle in person. The trial itself began one year after Armin Mivus was arrested. A number of self-confessed cannibals gathered outside in support of Armin, with one telling a reporter, There are lots of us out there. We admire Armin because he had the guts to see this thing through. Armin appeared calm and collected in a suit and tie. One onlooker told a New York Times reporter that Armin looked like the nicest cannibal you could ever meet.

When Armin took the stand, he spoke for hours. At no point did he show any emotion or express any remorse. Show me the statute that says what I've done is against the law, he said pointedly at the prosecution. He reiterated that Björnt wanted to die and that he was merely assisting him. My friend enjoyed dying. For him it was a nice death. Björnt came to me of his own free will to end his life. I accept this is taboo, but I can justify what I did to God and the world. He denied killing Björnt for sexual satisfaction, saying, I didn't want to have sex with the partner I chose to slaughter. That had nothing to do with it. One has sex with a partner in bed, not with a piece of meat. It had nothing to do with sexual arousal.

By eating, I wanted to make this person become part of me. At one stage, the courtroom was emptied so only the jury could watch the videos Armin had recorded of him and Björnt in the slaughter room. The footage had been heavily edited to remove imagery deemed too graphic, but what remained still greatly disturbed those who viewed it. Please do it this way, Björnt was recorded telling Armin. Get another knife. The footage conveyed what Armin had hoped. Björnt was a willing participant who prompted, consented and encouraged everything Armin did to him. But it also showed something that was not favourable to the defence. Analysis of the footage revealed Björnt was still breathing when Armin had killed him. Björnt's body was also shown to be restrained to the table, as if to keep him still.

This contradicted Armin's testimony, in which he said he thought Björnt was dead before he inserted the knife through his throat. The nearly 500 emails and messages between Frankie and Kator were also read out to the court. These favoured the defence as it showed a, quote, willingness agreement between the two men, in which Björnt Brandus fully consented to being slaughtered by Armin Mithus. In his closing statement, Armin spoke of his correspondence with Austrian student Reinhold, which ultimately led to his arrest. If I hadn't been so stupid as to keep looking on the internet, Armin said, I would have taken my secret to the grave. Armin Mithus appeared at ease when it came time to hear the court's verdict. The preceding judge acknowledged that after viewing the slaughter video, it was clear that Armin took no pleasure in the actual killing of Björnt Brandus. He went on to say, Both Mithus and Brandus were looking for the ultimate kick.

This was an act between two extremely disturbed people who both wanted something from each other. The courtroom fell silent when the verdict was read. The judge explained that while Armin had committed a behaviour which is condemned in our society, there was an express request by Björnt Brandus to be killed. As such, the court found that what Armin had done was killing a person without being a murderer. Armin Mithus was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight and a half years imprisonment. With good behaviour, he was up for release in under four and a half years. Despite receiving a somewhat favourable outcome, Armin Mithus appealed the verdict, insisting his actions fell under killing on request. He wasn't the only one to appeal.

The state attorney was horrified by the light sentence and believed he should have been found guilty of murder. Fifteen months later, the initial trial's outcome was reversed. Armin Mithus was to be retried for murder. At the conclusion of Armin Mithus's retrial in May 2006, it was determined that the killing of Björnt Brandus did in fact fulfil all the requirements for murder. The court decided that Armin had motivating reasons that were in his self-interest to kill Björnt, namely sexual gratification. Therefore, it was not a one-sided mercy killing. The state prosecutor said, You wanted to record a film in your head, a hit film, a film you could play again and again so you could satisfy yourself sexually.

Armin rebuked the decision, saying, It was not a sex thing. Every bite I took of him brought me closer to my brother. I wanted to eat him. I didn't want to kill him. In his final courtroom speech, Armin stated, I believe everyone should be able to decide what he wants to do with his own body. Armin Mithus was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Armin Mithus's lawyer believed that the sentence handed down to his client was purposely excessive to deter any further aspiring cannibals to act on their impulses. Armin would later admit to author Gunther Stumpf that no punishment would have deterred him from slaughtering and eating Björnt Brandus, even the death penalty. Quote, The degree of punishment is unimportant. When someone like me has this desire and wants to carry it out, he'll go to any length to bring it about. I have had this desire with me for 30 years. Detectives have endeavored to track down all those who corresponded with Armin Mithus online to uncover a thriving cannibal network across Europe that Armin estimated had at least 800 members. Armin assisted the detectives who managed to identify 200 people and uncover several more possible cannibal killings.

Many of those involved were highly educated individuals in successful, well-respected careers such as dentists, teachers and government officials. In 2004, Armin Mithus sued German heavy metal band Rammstein upon the release of their controversial single, Mindtile. Referred to as the cannibal song, Mindtile, which is slang for my penis, contained lyrics inspired by Armin Mithus' crimes. Considered one of the band's most notable live performances, Mindtile sees a band member performing in a giant cooking pot that is set alight by lead singer Till Lindemann, who dons a blood-stained chef's apron while holding a microphone with a large real knife attached to the end. Armin Mithus claimed the band had no right to make a song about his story without his permission. The suit never reached court. Armin was able to get a 2006 film based on his crimes, titled Rotenborg Butterfly, a grim love story, temporarily banned in Germany after complaining it infringed on his personal rights.

The ban was overturned in 2009 after Germany's Federal Court of Justice ruled that the producer's right to artistic freedom trumped that of Armin's personal rights. Recent reports state that Armin Mithus is a model prisoner, who is described by fellow inmates and guards alike as popular, friendly and polite. As a result, he is allegedly allowed to leave prison with two escorts and in disguise to wander around the local town. He also professes to have become a vegetarian. Armin applied for parole in 2017, but was unsuccessful. Further parole bids have been denied because of his poor social prognosis in the community and his lack of remorse for his actions. While Armin was diagnosed with schizoid personality by criminal psychologists, they have found him to have no signs of actual mental illness. A journalist for German newspaper Berliner Morgan Post once wrote of Armin Mithus.

The one who listens to him learns a lot about loneliness and alienation, and about the dark side of an otherwise iridescent medium, the Internet. It is opening up so many opportunities, but at the same time, it is providing invisible accomplices in countless dark chambers. Thank you for watching.