March 31, 1922, five members of the Gruber family, and their maid were murdered on their farm. Over the next four days, the killer remained in their home, using the fireplace, cooking and eating the family’s food, and even fed and milked the cattle. To this day, no one knows for sure who is responsible for the Hinterkaifeck murders.
The Hinterkaifeck farmstead was located near the woods outside the Bavarian town of Gröbern, and a half-mile behind, or “hinter,” the town of Kaifeck, thus its name, Hinterkaifeck. This farm was home to 35 year old Viktoria Gabriel, her two children, Cäzilia (7), Josef (2), and her elderly parents, Andreas and Cäzilia Gruber. Viktoria’s husband was said to have perished in the war (WWI).
While the family had a tendency to keep to themselves, neighbors became concerned when, on Saturday, April 1, 1922, Cäzilia failed to show up for school and the family did not attend church, where Viktoria was a member of the choir. When Monday came and Cäzilia still did not show up at school, people began to talk. That’s when they discovered that mail was beginning to pile up at the local post office, which was very unusual.
On April 4, Lorenz Schlittenbauer, a farmer who lived close to the Gruber family, led a search party, and what they discovered was a grisly scene.
Four members of the Gruber family were found inside the barn, brutally beaten and covered with hay. Upon investigating inside the home, they found the body of 2 year old Josef, and the maid, Maria Baumgartner. Maria’s body was covered with a sheet, while the body of Josef, was covered with one of his mother’s dresses.
Autopsies were conducted by court physician Dr. Johann Baptist Aumüller. Andreas Gruber’s face was caked with blood, and his cheekbones protruded from the marred flesh. His wife, Cäzilia showed signs of strangulation in addition to having sustained seven blows to the head, which left her with a cracked skull.
Viktoria’s skull had also been smashed, and the right side of her face had been struck with a blunt object. She also had nine “star-shaped” wounds on her head. Viktoria’s daughter, 7 year old Cäzilia had a shattered lower jaw. Upon further investigation, gaping circular wounds were found covering her face and neck.
Based upon the wounds sustained, the physician was able to determine that Andreas, his wife Cäzilia , and daughter Viktoria likely died instantly. The murder weapon? A mattock; a pickax-like tool with a broad adze (horizontal blade) on one end, and a pick or axe on the other end, that was used for chopping.
7 year old Cäzilia was not as fortunate as her mother. She likely remained alive for several hours after her attack, cold, beaten, and laying in the barn among her dead family. Her hair had been ripped out in large clumps, which were found clutched in her hands.
Maria Baumgartner, the maid, and little Josef were also killed with blows to the head; Maria with crosswise strikes to the head, and Josef with a heavy blow to the face. No harm came to the farm animals, or the family Pomeranian watchdog. In fact, the animals had been taken care of and fed for several days after the murder.
Who would carry out such a brutal act of violence? Police initially suspected vagrants, however this theory was quickly thrown out as large sums of money were found inside the house, and nothing else appeared to have been taken, aside from food the killer ate, and firewood the killer burned.
Neighbors reported that Andreas had confided in them about strange happenings just before he was killed. He found a newspaper, that he did not purchase, in his home. He also found a set of footsteps set in pristine and unmarked snow, leading in only one direction – from the forest and to the farmstead. One set of the family’s keys disappeared, and strange sounds came from the attic. Even Viktoria reported seeing a stranger in an army coat watching their farmhouse. When she tried to approach him, he disappeared into the woods. Combine all of these with the fact that the killer remained in the home for days after the murder, and police began to suspect that an intruder had taken up residence in the house prior to killing the family.
With no suspects, police began to look at several men who were in some way connected to the family. Viktoria’s husband had died during WWI, yet she still had a son, Josef. No one knew (or even now knows for certain) who the father of this child was. Some suspect it was Lorenz Schlittenbauer – he and Viktoria had both publicly referred to Josef as their child. They were in a relationship and planned to get married, until Viktoria’s father, Andreas, interfered.
Lorenz went on to make a formal statement declaring that Andreas was Josef’s father, and Andreas was arrested and held in custody for two weeks. Lorenz withdrew his statement, causing Andreas to be released. He later claimed he only did so because Viktoria’s family paid him to do so. Lorenz went on to marry another woman who gave birth to his baby, but that child died just weeks later.
Lorenz was also the nearby neighbor who happened to lead the search party that discovered the bodies. Those with him during the initial search found his behavior to be suspicious and reported it to authorities. They claimed he acted nonchalant. He was able to view and handle the bodies of the dead without any signs of repulsion. It was also suspicious that he knew his way around the farm. Taking this lead, police began to theorize that Lorenz was traumatized by the death of his own child and had gone to the farm to murder Viktoria and her family.
Police questioned Lorenz extensively but were never able to place him conclusively at the scene of the crime and explained away his odd behavior as him being in shock. They also reasoned that he knew the farm well because of his relationship with Viktoria.
Another theory was that little Josef was the child of Viktoria and her father, Andreas, and that one of them had killed the entire family before turning the mattock on themselves. It was no secret that Andreas and Viktoria had had an incestuous relationship. From the time Viktoria was 16, Andreas had repeatedly raped her. In 1914, she attempted to escape her father’s clutches by marrying Karl Gabriel, but her father insisted that the couple continue to live at Hinterkaifeck.
In August of that year, Karl Gabriel went on to join the army, and by December the family was informed that Karl was missing in action, and presumed dead as his body was never recovered. Viktoria gave birth the following month, and while Karl was officially the father, Andreas took it upon himself to be named Cäzilia’s legal guardian. Many suspect he was truly responsible for that little girl.
In May 1915, a servant caught Andreas raping Viktoria, and she went to the police. Both Andreas and Viktoria were charged with incest, Andreas serving a one year prison sentence, Viktoria serving one month. After his release, Andreas continued on, as though nothing had ever happened. Viktoria was still her father’s sexual slave and she tried to escape it with her relationship with Lorenz Schlittenbauer. When Viktoria came up pregnant, Lorenz insisted the child couldn’t be his, that it was her father’s child. Andreas and Lorenz got into a heated argument, where Andreas ultimately threatened Lorenz with a scythe. Andreas forbade the marriage, and Lorenz agreed.
This theory was convincing, until it was determined that none of the injuries sustained by any member of the Gruber family, or even Maria Baumgartner could have been self inflicted.
Police moved on to yet another suspect – Karl Gabriel. They theorized that Karl hadn’t actually died in the war, and came back to find his wife had had another child, that was clearly not his. In a jealous rage, he killed the entire family, including his daughter, Cäzilia, believing she wasn’t even his.
Police threw this theory out when it was reported that Karl Gabriel had been slain in France, and many of his fellow soldiers claimed to have seen his body. However, to this day, no body has been produced as having been Karl Gabriel.
The final theory was that their deaths were caused by a ghost. The maid, Maria Baumgartner had just started work on the day she died. She was hired to replace the Gruber’s former maid, who had quit unexpectedly. The former maid believed the house had been haunted.
The former maid reported hearing constant sounds coming from the attic, yet no one was up there. She said she felt as though she were being watched, yet she never saw anyone when she looked.
The heads of the Gruber family, and the maid, we’re all cut off and sent to Munich for further examination. Clairvoyants were called, yet the skulls refused to speak to them. No new metaphysical clues were produced, and this theory was thrown out as well.
In 1923, the farm was demolished, a shrine left in its place. All six victims were then buried without their heads (unfortunately, their skulls were lost during the chaos of WWII), in Waidhofen. There, a memorial stands to remember the tragedy at Hinterkaifeck.
In the years since, the case has been reopened multiple times, most recently in 2007. Students of the Polizeifachhochschule (Police Academy) in Fürstenfeldbruck examined the case using modern criminal investigation techniques. They concluded that it is impossible to definitively solve the crime after so much time had passed. The primitive investigation techniques available at the time of the murders yielded little evidence, and in the decades since the murders, evidence has been lost and suspects have since died. Despite these setbacks, the students did establish a prime suspect, but did not name the suspect out of respect for still‑living relatives.
