Peter K端rten: Serial Killers

Description of Background
Biological Background Peter Kürten was believed to have a “different” brain according to Charlie Hintz, a writer who viewed the decapitated head of Kürten at a museum in Wisconsin, United States (2017). In fact, the doctor assigned to observe Kürten before his execution, Dr. Karl Berg, believed Kürten had an altered brain chemistry (Ramsland, 2014). He believed his brain was composed of “’90 [percent] sadism’” and “’10 [percent]’” evil, stemming from the injustices done to him in his early years (Ramsland, 2014). Berg would later go on to write Sadist, a book detailing Kürten and his atrocities which was known as one of the first psychological studies of a serial killer based on sexual deviancy (Origjanska, 2018).

By happenstance, Kürten met a dog catcher who lived in the same building who taught him how to catch animals (Duncan, 2018). However, the dog catcher served as a conduit between Kürten and his transition into violent sex. The dog catcher educated Kürten on not only how to catch animals but also torture them (Duncan, 2018). To make matters worse, Kürten would then practice bestiality on the animals, originally starting with dogs (Duncan, 2018). This all occurred before Kürten would have his tenth birthday. With time, Kürten learned how to capture other animals, and he began to practice his sexual misconduct with these animals including goats, sheep, and pigs (Duncan, 2018). As he matured, he began to stab the animals or cut them in some way. He did this so he could see the blood, serving as his signature (Duncan, 2018). Katie Serena, writer for the website allthatsinteresting, cites that Kürten “formed” a partnership with a lady when he was around 13 (Serena). However, she refused to have sex with him, leading him to continue his bestiality practices until he was discovered mutilating a hog (Serena).
Description of

Her murder occurred on May 25th, 1913 (Townsend, 2017). Originally, Kürten went into the home of Klein after believing that the property was vacant (Blanco). The home was situated above a pub that Klein’s parents ran, but Kürten went in through a window to rob the area (Blanco). When Kürten saw the young girl asleep, he strangled her then used the knife he carried in his pocket to slice her throat twice across (Townsend, 2017). After seeing her blood drop to the floor and the sounds that it made, Kürten claimed to have orgasmed (Townsend, 2017). Kürten then left the scene (Blanco). However, Kürten was never suspected for the murder of the girl (Duncan, 2018). Instead, Otto Klein was suspected (Blanco). He was suspected to be the killer because he had gotten into a large fight with the family prior (Blanco). Eventually, the uncle was acquitted thanks to the evidence not being enough (Duncan, 2018). However, Kürten followed the case closely and was sure to gain his sadistic satisfaction of hearing the remarks of locals (Duncan, 2018). Soon after, Kürten began to commit a string of attacks in Düsseldorf by method of strangulation and axe, however these were not well documented (Blanco).
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