b: 1961
Summary
Name:
Armin MeiwesNickname:
The Rotenburg Cannibal / Der MetzgermeisterYears Active:
2001Birth:
December 01, 1961Status:
ImprisonedClass:
MurdererVictims:
1Method:
StabbingNationality:
Germanyb: 1961
Summary: Murderer
Name:
Armin MeiwesNickname:
The Rotenburg Cannibal / Der MetzgermeisterStatus:
ImprisonedVictims:
1Method:
StabbingNationality:
GermanyBirth:
December 01, 1961Years Active:
2001Date Convicted:
May 9, 2006“I wanted to eat him — I didn’t want to kill him.”
— Armin Meiwes
Armin Meiwes was born on December 1, 1961, in Germany. He lived a quiet public life and worked as a computer technician. Meiwes had a lonely childhood. His father left when he was young, and his mother was described in reports as controlling. Meiwes later said he created an imaginary brother and developed disturbing fantasies about keeping someone with him forever.
Meiwes served in the German army and later worked in computer repair. After his mother died in 1999, he lived alone in the family home near Rotenburg. Around that time, he became active in online forums connected to cannibalism fantasies. He used the Internet to contact men who shared similar interests and posted advertisements looking for a willing victim.
In 2001, Bernd Jürgen Brandes responded to one of Meiwes’s online ads. The two men communicated before arranging to meet in person.
In early 2001, Armin Meiwes posted online looking for a man who was willing to be killed and consumed. Bernd Jürgen Brandes, a 43-year-old engineer from Berlin, responded to the advertisement. On March 9, 2001, Brandes went to Meiwes’s home near Rotenburg, Germany. The events were recorded on video, which later became key evidence in court. Brandes took alcohol and medication, and Meiwes later killed him by stabbing him with a knife.
After the killing, Meiwes dismembered the body and stored remains in a freezer. He later consumed parts of Brandes’s body over the following months. The case was discovered after Meiwes posted online again, looking for another victim. Someone reported the post to authorities. In December 2002, police searched Meiwes’s home and found human remains and the video recording. Meiwes admitted what he had done.
On January 30, 2004, Meiwes was first convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 years and 6 months in prison. Prosecutors appealed because they believed the sentence was too lenient.
In May 2006, after a retrial, Meiwes was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Meiwes later tried to seek early release, but his request was rejected in 2018. As of the most recent reports, he remains imprisoned in Germany.
