Karl Grossman (Murderer)

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Georg Karl Grossman (who commonly called himself just Karl Grossman) was a German serial killer. He committed suicide while awaiting execution without giving a full confession leaving the extent of his crimes and motives largely unknown.

Grossman was born in Neuruppin near Berlin in 1863. Not a great deal is known about his early life, except that he was something of a sadist who soon picked up a number of convictions for child molestation.

In August 1921, Grossman was arrested at his apartment in Berlin after neighbours heard screams and banging noises, followed by ominous silence. The police had burst in and searched the place, finding a young woman's freshly murdered body on the bed.

Karl Grossman was taken into custody and charged with murder. Neighbours reported that Karl seemed to have had a steady supply of female companions, mostly destitute looking young women, over the last few years. Many went into the apartment but few emerged from it. During the First World War, Grossman sold a lot of meat on the black market, and even had a hot-dog stand at the nearby train station. It is believed the meat was the remains of his victims, their bones and other inedible parts being thrown into the river. How many victims Grossman claimed is not known. Only the body of his final victim was found, along with bloodstains in the apartment that indicated at least three other persons had been butchered in the recent weeks. Some have suggested as many as fifty young women entered Grossman's apartment and ended up being murdered, dismembered and eaten by unwitting customers of Grossman's meat business.

Convicted of murder, Grossman was sentenced to death. He cheated the executioner by hanging himself in his cell, having reportedly gone mad(der) after his arrest.

His crimes are very similar to those of his contemporary, Fritz Haarmann, although Haarmann preyed on young boys rather than women.