Karl Grossman (murderer)

Georg Karl Grossman, who commonly called himself just Karl Grossman, (13 December 1863 – 5 July 1921) was a German serial killer. He committed suicide while awaiting execution without giving a full confession leaving the extent of his crimes and motives largely unknown.

Biography

Karl Grossman was born in Neuruppin near Berlin in 1863. Not a great deal is known about his early life, except that he had sadistic sexual tastes and soon picked up a number of convictions for child molestation.

In August 1921, Grossman was arrested at his apartment in Berlin after neighbours heard screams and banging noises, followed by silence. The police burst in and searched the place, finding a young woman's freshly murdered body on the bed.

Grossman was taken into custody and charged with murder. Neighbours reported that he seemed to have had a steady supply of female companions, mostly destitute-looking young women, over the last few years. Many went into the apartment but few emerged from it. During World War I, Grossman sold a lot of meat on the black market, and even had a hot dog stand at the nearby train station. It is believed the meat was the remains of his victims, their bones and other inedible parts being thrown into the river. How many victims Grossman claimed is not known. Only the body of his final victim was found, along with bloodstains in the apartment that indicated at least three other persons had been butchered in the recent weeks. Some have suggested as many as 50 young women entered Grossman's apartment and ended up being murdered, dismembered and eaten by unwitting customers of Grossman's meat business.

Convicted of murder, Grossman was sentenced to death. Before his sentence could be carried out, he hanged himself in his cell.