A German palliative care doctor, identified only as Johannes M under German privacy laws, has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 15 patients. The 41-year-old was convicted by a Berlin court of killing 12 women and three men during home visits between September 2021 and July 2024. His victims ranged in age from 25 to 94.
Presiding Judge Sylvia Busch described Johannes M as a "serial killer" at the center of an "unfathomable" and "extraordinary" case. The court found that he intentionally administered an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant that "paralysed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes." On at least five occasions, he set fire to the victims' apartments in an attempt to cover up the killings.
Life Sentence Without Early Release
The court ruled that the exceptional seriousness of the crimes meant there could be no review after 15 years to determine whether the remainder of the sentence should be suspended. The court also ordered preventive detention after his prison sentence has been served, and he was banned from practicing medicine again.
Prosecutors said the doctor had "a lust for murder" and "no other motive for killing these people than the act of killing itself." The mother of the youngest victim, a 25-year-old woman killed in 2021, wept as she told the court: "She never said she didn't want to live anymore."
Investigation into Additional Deaths
Judge Busch noted that the 15 murders may be only the tip of the iceberg. Prosecutors are currently investigating the deaths of 76 other people. German media report that if those deaths are proven to be murders and Johannes M is convicted, he could become one of Germany's most prolific serial killers.
Suspicions about Johannes M's activities were initially raised by care services, leading to a police investigation. He was remanded in custody in August 2024. Investigators first looked into four cases, but the number of suspicious deaths continued to grow.
Details of the Crimes
On the morning of July 8, 2024, Johannes M killed a 75-year-old man at his home in the central Berlin district of Kreuzberg. A few hours later, he killed a 76-year-old woman in the neighboring Neukölln district. Prosecutors said his attempt to burn the second crime scene failed when the fire did not catch.
On Monday, Johannes M confessed that he had "killed people" and told the court: "I despair at myself." He said he only now understood "the extent of the suffering" he had caused, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
