Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
The Bellwinkel trial is considered one of the most gripping criminal cases in Germany. At its center was 61-year-old senior building inspector Ludwig Bellwinkel from Kempen on the Lower Rhine, who had been charged with the murder of his first and second wives. Bellwinkel was a short man with a receding hairline whom, at first glance, no one would suspect of murder, let alone two murders. The trial took place in the circular Courtroom 143 of the Krefeld Regional Court in early 1960, with 10 expert witnesses and 4 psychiatrists in attendance. On September 25, 1958, a loud argument had broken out between the couple Ruth and Ludwig Bellwinkel during dinner, as Ruth had discovered Ludwig’s extramarital affairs with other women. Ludwig Bellwinkel had been seeking these women in daily newspapers under the “Friendship” section for recreational purposes since 1954 and had found what he was looking for there four times. Ruth did not take this well at all; she was found dead in her room that very same evening. According to Ludwig, she had committed suicide with his 6.35-millimeter Walther pistol. During questioning by Kempen Criminal Investigation Division Chief Best, Ludwig Bellwinkel stated that he had been working on official documents in his room that evening until he heard a loud bang. He immediately ran to his wife’s room, where she lay dead in her bed. As he reached to check her pulse, the pistol fell onto the bedside rug. He immediately called Dr. Roberg, who issued the death certificate around midnight. Whether it was actually a suicide was a matter for the criminal police to determine. A few months after Ruth’s death, on his 60th birthday, October 15, 1958, Ludwig Bellwinkel was arrested on suspicion of murdering his first wife, Alma, and his second wife, Ruth. During their investigation, the criminal police had come across the suspicious suicide of Bellwinkel’s first wife. Furthermore, forensic experts had determined that the shot fired at his second wife, Ruth, had been fired from a distance of half a meter, which did not really support the theory of suicide. It was also suspicious that there were no fingerprints on the pistol. Ruth had not been wearing gloves and could not possibly have cleaned the pistol after her alleged suicide. Ludwig Bellwinkel confessed that his first wife, Alma, was dying when he entered her room. He naturally wanted to do her a favor, which is why he fired a coup de grâce to end her suffering. Ludwig Bellwinkel’s first wife, Alma, had committed suicide in Berlin on December 30, 1944. Like his second wife, Ruth, she had shot herself. Could this be a coincidence? After the experts’ report, Ludwig Bellwinkel changed his statement again. He claimed that he had intended to take the gun from under Ruth’s pillow when a shot suddenly went off. He then confessed to having shot her during an argument. Ultimately, Ludwig Bellwinkel confessed to the murder of his first wife, Alma, in 1944, as well as the murder of his second wife, Ruth, in 1958, and the poisoning of the dancer Hansi Sterner in 1928 following an attempted abortion. However, the latter had actually died of natural causes in 1942. After his confession, Ludwig Bellwinkel recanted it. On February 13, 1960, the Krefeld Assize Court sentenced Ludwig Bellwinkel to life imprisonment for the double murder of his two wives in 1944 and 1958. The court found it proven that Ludwig Bellwinkel, a senior building inspector, had murdered both wives to conceal his affairs. Thus, justice had prevailed after all.
