Berthold Wehmeyer was born on 7 June 1925 in Germany, growing up during the rise and collapse of the Nazi regime and enduring the chaos of post-war reconstruction. By trade, he became a trained locksmith, a profession suggesting technical skill but offering little insight into his mental or moral development.

Wehmeyer's troubled background included a prior conviction for robbery at the young age of sixteen, which hinted at an early tendency toward violent or antisocial behavior. A psychiatric evaluation later described him as a “coarse violent offender” with “unusual sexual drive”, indicating underlying behavioral and psychological problems that had gone untreated or unnoticed in his youth.

Little is known about his family life or formal education, but postwar Germany, especially Berlin, was a landscape of extreme hardship. Food shortages were rampant, and citizens often went on what were known as “hoarding trips”.

On 22 April 1947, Berthold Wehmeyer and an unnamed companion set out on a hoarding trip to the Prignitz region of northern Germany. A day later, on 23 April, in the town of Wusterhausen, they encountered Eva Kusserow, a 60-year-old woman also from Berlin-Weißensee, who was on a similar trip.

The three met again that evening. Kusserow and Wehmeyer’s companion were able to successfully barter their goods for potatoes, a highly valuable resource at the time. Wehmeyer, however, was unsuccessful in his own trade, and it appears that envy or desperation led to a deadly plan.

In a premeditated act of violence, Wehmeyer and his companion strangled Kusserow to death, seeking to take her 20 kilograms of potatoes. The motive wasn’t just theft—the assault also included rape, a fact that greatly intensified the moral depravity of the crime.

After the murder, the two men hid her body in a field near Wusterhausen, where it remained undiscovered until 28 April 1947. The Berlin criminal police identified the suspects shortly after the body was found and arrested them.

Although forensic science in 1947 was limited, both suspects were soon under investigation. Each blamed the other, making the assignment of guilt difficult. Wehmeyer’s partner eventually recanted his own confession and, alongside his wife, accused Wehmeyer of being the main perpetrator.

Psychiatric reports provided additional weight against Wehmeyer, describing him as having aggressive tendencies and abnormal sexual behavior, while his co-defendant was considered to have “normal sexuality.” This difference, along with the testimony shift, led the court to conclude that Wehmeyer bore primary responsibility.

On 5 July 1948, the Berlin jury court sentenced Berthold Wehmeyer to death for murder and imposed an additional five years in prison for rape. His unnamed co-defendant received a six-year prison sentence for being an accessory to murder.

Wehmeyer's appeal was denied. A plea for clemency was also rejected. An execution scheduled for 10 May 1949 was briefly postponed when his lawyer introduced a new witness in an effort to reopen the case. That motion was rejected swiftly, and on 11 May 1949, Wehmeyer was executed by guillotine in the Lehrter Straße prison in West Berlin.