The 1922 Hinterkaifeck murders, in which six people were killed on a Bavarian farm, remain one of Germany's most infamous unsolved crimes.
Key Facts
- Date of murders
- 31 March 1922
- Number of victims
- 6
- Murder weapon
- Mattock
- Distance from Munich
- 70 kilometres
- Days perpetrator remained on-site
- 3 days
- Case status
- Unsolved
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In the weeks before the killings, members of the Gruber household reported strange noises from the attic and other unexplained disturbances on the farmstead. These incidents prompted the family's maid to resign her position shortly before the murders, and their cause and connection to the perpetrator have never been established.
On the evening of 31 March 1922, an unknown assailant murdered six people at the remote Hinterkaifeck farmstead in Bavaria: Andreas Gruber, his wife Cäzilia, their daughter Viktoria Gabriel, Viktoria's two young children, and the new maid Maria Baumgartner. All six were killed with a mattock, and four of the bodies were found stacked in the barn, suggesting the victims were lured there one by one.
Following the murders, the unidentified perpetrator remained on the farm for approximately three days, consuming food, feeding livestock, and using the fireplace before disappearing without detection. Despite extensive investigation and numerous suspects over the decades, no one was ever charged. The case remains unsolved and is widely regarded as one of the most baffling murders in German criminal history.