Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
Thomas S., better known as the Cannibal of Koblenz, was a man-eater who cooked body parts with rice in the oven. The victim of the unemployed electrician was his 22-year-old cousin, Sabine L., with whom he lived in a flat in an attic near Koblenz. On 10 January 2002, Thomas S. strangled his cousin in her sleep. He then dismembered her body at an unknown location and disposed of some of the body parts, packed in bags, in a disused quarry and in his room. He had cooked his cousin’s upper body, along with her arms and one lower leg, in the oven together with red wine and rice. Sabine’s breasts and genitals were never found; it could not be established whether Thomas had eaten them. Thomas S. denied having murdered Sabine. In the first trial at Koblenz Regional Court in December 2003, Thomas S. was acquitted on the grounds of lack of criminal responsibility. He was admitted to a secure psychiatric unit. However, Thomas S. appealed against the order for his psychiatric detention, and the Federal Court of Justice quashed the judgement. In the second murder trial at Koblenz Regional Court, the judges found Thomas S. guilty. However, the court could not sentence Thomas S. to life imprisonment due to the prohibition on worsening the sentence. This rule stipulates that the sentence handed down in a second trial against someone who has appealed must not be harsher than that in the first. The Koblenz Regional Court had established that Thomas S. had killed his cousin and was criminally responsible for the act. Due to a high probability of reoffending, Thomas S. was once again placed in a psychiatric institution. This was also confirmed by the Federal Court of Justice. The verdict was thus final. The motive for the murder is said to have been jealousy. This is because Sabine had told Thomas that she might be pregnant by another man. That was probably her death sentence.
