Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
From February 1 to May 22, 1990, one of the most gruesome serial murder sprees in postwar German history took place in the Main metropolis of Frankfurt. During this time, a man hunted down the city’s homeless, brutally smashing their skulls with a locksmith’s hammer until they were disfigured beyond recognition. The perpetrator always struck at night. He would first observe his victims for a while, sneak up on them—usually while they were asleep—wearing quiet rubber boots, and then strike so brutally that blood spattered several meters. After his brutal slaughter, he vanished back into the darkness of the night. The first murder victim was 43-year-old Heinz Peter S., who had been living on the streets of Frankfurt for more than 10 years. He usually spent the night under the arcades on Weißfrauenstraße at the rear of the Frankfurter Hof. This was also the case on February 1, 1990, until a man struck him in the head with a hammer, shattering his skull and completely disfiguring his face. The second victim was 32-year-old Kurt-Helmut H., who was attacked at night on February 7, 1990, in some bushes at the Friedberger Anlage. He died of his injuries in the hospital two days later. At first, the police did not suspect a connection between the two murders, as Kurt-Helmut H. was not homeless but a vagrant who moved in gay circles. Moreover, unlike Heinz-Peter S., he was not murdered in his sleep, but dragged into the bushes after leaving a nightclub. But it soon became clear that both victims had been killed with the same hammer. The two murders plunged the people of Frankfurt into fear and terror. Who hated the homeless so much that he murdered them so cold-bloodedly and brutally? As early as April 2, at 5:40 a.m., a bus driver found another victim of the “hammer killer,” as the press had begun calling him due to his method of killing. The third victim was 32-year-old homeless man Helmut R. He had been living on the streets for five years and had been sleeping in the bus stop shelter. His skull, too, had been crushed with a hammer. Just one month later, on May 4, 1990, 46-year-old homeless man Hans Peter M. was found dead with his skull crushed at the Obermainanlage near the Rechneigrabenweiher. One day later, the skulls of homeless men Engelbert G. and Nicola Z. were crushed at the Eschenheimer Anlage while they were sleeping on a park bench. A passerby called an ambulance because Engelbert G. was still alive. He died a few hours later in the hospital. Who was the hammer murderer who was hunting down homeless people? The police launched the special task force “Berber” and investigated at full speed. Investigators disguised themselves as homeless people, and dummies were set out. Two weeks after the last murder, the body of 32-year-old cook Anderson S. S. was found in some bushes. The killer had first stabbed him and then smashed his skull with a hammer. Two days later, 59-year-old homeless man Heinrich O. was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in the Mainkai 38 park. A resident had discovered the body and seen a small, stocky man with a mustache running away. He immediately alerted the police. They spotted a man matching the suspect description at the subway exit leading to Konstablerwache. The police arrested the man and found both a butcher’s knife and a locksmith’s hammer on him. The police had indeed caught the hammer murderer. But who was this brutal serial killer? The Hammer Murderer was 50-year-old Arthur Gatter, a stocky, short man with a thick mustache, born on March 24, 1940, in Ravensburg. His parents lived apart due to his father’s alcoholism. His mother worked as a cleaning lady. Arthur Gatter was considered a loner whose only close friend was his classmate Dieter. After school, he successfully completed an apprenticeship as an electrician. At the age of 19, he wanted to emigrate to Australia with Dieter. In fact, the inseparable duo traveled around for several years, scraping by on odd jobs until their friendship fell apart. After that, Arthur lived mainly in Frankfurt am Main, where he worked as a technician on large construction sites abroad. Arthur trusted only his mother, whom he rarely saw, however. But in the mid-1980s, Arthur’s mental state changed drastically. He began hearing voices that commanded him to kill people. He struggled against this in his furnished one-room apartment on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße. He was no longer working and lived off his savings. Soon, the neighbors complained because Arthur Gatter was smashing window panes in the stairwell and simply throwing trash out his window, which led to his eviction. On July 9, 1988, Arthur Gatter was first recorded by the police. He was suspected of slashing car tires, for which he was arrested in Dornheim. The magistrate ordered Arthur Gatter to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The report concluded that Arthur Gatter posed no danger to the general public—a fatal misjudgment. Perhaps the murders could have been prevented back then. Arthur Gatter continued to eke out his existence day after day with no prospects. He spent his days wandering around for hours or even days on end. On February 19, 1990, Arthur Gatter stood trial for the slashed tires and cut wires. Based on the psychiatric report, he was deemed not criminally responsible and acquitted. After Arthur Gatter was arrested by the police, he made a full confession. He testified that voices had forced him to commit the murders. One day after his arrest, Arthur Gatter was admitted to a secure psychiatric facility. He was subsequently transferred to the forensic psychiatric hospital in Giessen, a treatment facility. On December 12, 1990, a nurse found him dead in his room there. Arthur Gatter had hanged himself using a gauze bandage from the skylight of his window. Why he killed homeless men of all people will likely remain his secret forever. The fact is that Arthur Gatter suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He is said to have heard voices commanding him to commit the murders since 1987. He felt no remorse or even empathy for his victims. This was the end of the cruel serial killer Arthur Gatter.
