Friedrich Paul Honka was born on July 31, 1935, in Leipzig, Germany. He was the third of ten children in his family. His father, Fritz Honka Sr., worked as a joiner, and his mother, Else Honka, was employed as a cleaner. Tragically, three of his siblings died shortly after birth.

During his youth, Honka faced many challenges. He later described his early experiences by stating that his father had been in a concentration camp and that he himself had been held in a children's concentration camp. He said he was freed by the Russians, along with his father. After the war, Honka's family struggled. His mother struggled to take care of all nine children. As a result, Honka grew up in children's homes in Leipzig. His father, who worked as a stoker, died in 1946 from alcoholism and health issues related to his imprisonment.

In the early 1950s, Honka started an apprenticeship to become a bricklayer. However, he had to quit this job due to an allergy. In 1951, he left East Germany and moved to West Germany. He began working as an unskilled farm worker in the village of Brockhöfe. While living there, he had an affair with a woman named Margot, which resulted in a son named Heinrich. Honka was required to pay alimony of 3000 Deutschmarks, leading him to leave the village.

By 1956, Honka had moved to Hamburg, where he got a job as a harbor worker at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft. That same year, he was involved in a serious traffic accident that severely injured him, resulting in a damaged nose and a noticeable squint. In 1957, he married a woman named Inge, and they had a son, also named Fritz. However, the marriage ended in separation in 1960, after neighbors reported instances of violence in their home. Honka and Inge tried to reconcile, but they ultimately separated again in 1967.

After moving to the Ottensen neighborhood of Hamburg in 1967, Honka began living with Irmgard Albrecht in 1972. Their relationship faced issues, including an incident on August 15, 1972, when Honka attempted to assault a woman named Ruth Dufner. She escaped and reported him to the police, and she received hospital treatment. At the time of the incident, Honka was very intoxicated. In April 1975, a court fined him 4500 Deutschmarks, but the more severe charge of rape was dropped. Following this, Honka struggled with alcohol abuse, which made it difficult for him to maintain relationships. As a result, he turned to prostitutes in bars and on the Reeperbahn for companionship.

In December 1970, Friedrich Paul Honka committed his first proven murder. He strangled Gertraud Bräuer, a 42-year-old hairdresser. Honka then cut her body into pieces and hid the remains in various nearby locations. The police found the body parts, but they could not identify the murderer at that time.

Four years later, in August 1974, Honka murdered Anna Beuschel, a 54-year-old sex worker, in his flat. He claimed that she was not passionate enough during their encounter. In December of the same year, he killed Frieda Roblick, a 57-year-old woman. The next month, in January 1975, he murdered Ruth Schult, who was 52 years old.

In each of these cases, Honka dismembered the bodies and kept the parts in his apartment and the attic of the building. The disappearances of these women went unreported. Neighbors noted a foul smell coming from Honka's flat, but their complaints were ignored. To cover up the stench, he used many pine-scented perfume blocks.

On July 15, 1975, a fire broke out in Honka's apartment building. Firefighters found a decomposed female torso in a plastic bag during their efforts to extinguish the fire. This led police to search Honka's apartment, and he was arrested when he returned home.

On July 29, Honka confessed to the murders but later retracted his confession. He claimed not to remember the events. While in custody, he stated that he killed the women after they laughed at him or mocked his sexual preferences. The court found him guilty of one murder and three counts of manslaughter. He was sentenced to 15 years in a psychiatric hospital due to his heavy alcohol use affecting his mental capacity.

Honka was released from prison in 1993. He spent his later life in a nursing home under the name Peter Jensen. He died on October 19, 1998, in a hospital in Langenhorn, Hamburg.