Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Cannibalism: Armin Meiwes

Armin Meiwes (German: [ˈmaɪvəs];born 1 December 1961) is a German former computer repair technicianwho achieved international attention for killing and eating avoluntary victim in 2001, whom he had found via the Internet. AfterMeiwes and the victim jointly attempted to eat the victim's severedpenis, Meiwes killed his victim and proceeded to eat a large amountof his flesh. He was arrested in December 2002. In January 2004,Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years andsix months in prison. In a retrial in May 2006, he was convicted ofmurder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Because of his acts,Meiwes is also known as the Rotenburg Cannibal or Der Metzgermeister(The Master Butcher).

Biography

Early life

Armin Meiwes was born on 1 December1961, the only child of Waltrud Meiwes (1922–1999). He had twoolder half-brothers from his father's previous relationship withanother woman. His father abandoned Armin when he was eight, leavinghim to be raised by his mother. During sessions with police experts,Meiwes had explained that his desire for cannibalism related to thefairytale Hansel and Gretel had developed during his adolescentyears. He had also described himself feeling "very lonesome"after "the family had fallen apart".

Killing and cannibalism

Looking for a willing volunteer, Meiwesposted an advertisement on the then-active website The Cannibal Cafe(a defunct forum for people with a cannibalism fetish). Meiwes'sadvertisement stated that he was "looking for anormally-built 18- to 25-year-old to be slaughtered and thenconsumed." Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes, an engineer fromBerlin, answered the advertisement in March 2001. Many other peopleresponded to the advertisement but backed out; Meiwes did not attemptto force them to do anything against their will.

The two made a videotape when they meton 9 March 2001 in Meiwes's home, in the small town of Wüstefeld,west of Rotenburg an der Fulda, showing Meiwes amputating Brandes'spenis (with his agreement) and the two men attempting to eat ittogether. Before doing so, Brandes swallowed twenty sleeping pills,and a bottle of cough syrup, likely causing an effect of slowedbreathing and extreme tiredness. Brandes initially insisted thatMeiwes attempted to bite his penis off. This did not work, andultimately, Meiwes used a knife to remove it. Brandes apparentlytried to eat some of his own penis raw but could not, because it wastoo tough and, as he put it, "chewy". Meiwes then fried thepenis in a pan with salt, pepper, wine, and garlic; he then fried itwith some of Brandes's fat, but by then it was too burnt to beconsumed. He then chopped the penis up into chunks and fed it to hisdog. According to court officials who saw the video (which has notbeen made public), Brandes may already have been too weakened fromblood loss to eat any of his penis.

Meiwes then ran Brandes a bath, beforegoing to read a Star Trek book, while checking on Brandes everyfifteen minutes, during which time Brandes lay bleeding in the bath.Brandes continued to drift in and out of consciousness before finallycollapsing again. After long hesitation and prayer, Meiwes killedBrandes by stabbing him in the throat, after which he hung the bodyon a meat hook. The incident was recorded on a four-hour videotape.Meiwes dismembered and ate the corpse over the next ten months,storing body parts in his freezer under pizza boxes and consuming upto 20 kilograms (44 lb) of the flesh. According to prosecutors,Meiwes committed the act for sexual pleasure.