Bio

Juergen Hein was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1939. He was the eldest of eight children raised in an impoverished and highly unstable household. His father was an abusive, alcoholic tailor, and his mother suffered from severe intellectual disabilities. Enduring years of chronic neglect and physical abuse, Hein left the family home immediately upon reaching legal adulthood.

Psychiatric evaluations later indicated that Hein harbored intense, repressed hostility stemming from his childhood trauma. This manifested as severely stunted sexual development and violent sadistic impulses. He married Edith Dzillak in Berlin and fathered two children, but his domestic life rapidly mirrored the instability and volatility of his own upbringing.

Murder Story

Jürgen Hein’s first known killing happened on March 3, 1967, in Berlin. During a domestic argument, he strangled his wife, Edith Hein. He was later convicted of manslaughter in November 1967 and sentenced to eight years in prison. He was paroled on November 24, 1972. After his release, he lived in the Neukölln district of Berlin. On April 4, 1973, six-year-old Sonja Kleber disappeared while walking home from school. She was found that night in a wooded park. She was unconscious, naked, and badly injured from a sexual assault. Sonja survived and was able to give police a description of her attacker. Officers traced the attack to Hein, and he confessed. He was returned to prison and received an additional 10-year sentence.

Hein was released again in July 1985. Berlin was difficult for him because authorities knew his background, so he later moved to Baden-Baden. Around October 30, 1985, he arrived in the city. On October 31, 1985, Hein met 50-year-old Elvira Kaszuba outside her home. He invited her to dinner, and she accepted. Over the next few days, they became close, and Kaszuba gave him a key to her apartment.

On November 6, 1985, Hein cooked dinner for Kaszuba at her apartment. He then attacked her with a hunting knife, killed her, mutilated her body, and hid her remains in a closet. A few days later, Theresia Hoog, a 55-year-old friend of Elvira Kaszuba, disappeared after going to the Black Forest Clinic for rheumatism treatment. Clinic staff later remembered that a man had called her away before her treatment. He told her that her friend Elvira had been badly injured in an accident.

Police circulated the licence number of Hoog’s missing car and a description of the man seen at the clinic. A traffic officer later found the car parked outside an apartment building. As the officer went to report it, he saw a man matching the suspect description leaving the building. The man was Jürgen Hein. He was arrested without resistance. Police searched the building and found Theresia Hoog alive in a second-floor apartment. She had been stripped, tied to a bed, sexually assaulted, and cut with a hunting knife. She later described how Hein had lured her away from the clinic using the false story about Elvira Kaszuba.

After finding Hoog alive, investigators went to Kaszuba’s apartment and discovered her mutilated body in a closet. Police then sought more information from building manager Ruth Tschantscher. They discovered that she had also been killed. Her body was found in a bathroom, stripped, strangled, and slashed. Reports stated that her body had been undiscovered for about 11 days. Hein confessed after his arrest. Investigators learned that Ruth Tschantscher’s son had previously been Hein’s cellmate in Berlin and had once suggested that Hein contact his mother in Baden-Baden if he ever needed lodging.

On June 27, 1986, Jürgen Hein was convicted of double murder for the killings of Elvira Kaszuba and Ruth Tschantscher. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. His final confirmed legal status is imprisonment.