Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
Arwed Imiela was a man whom women trusted blindly and who shamelessly exploited that trust to enrich himself at their expense. He was not only a ruthless con artist but also a cold-blooded serial killer. But let’s take it one step at a time. Arwed Imiela, born on October 7, 1929, in Schlawe, grew up in a broken home. When Arwed was 7 years old, his parents divorced, and Arwed became their pawn. After graduating from elementary school in Köslin, he began an apprenticeship in Berlin with the city administration, where his father lived after divorcing his mother. After the end of World War II, Arwed—who had previously been held in a military training camp and subsequently in a Polish labor camp—was active not only on the black market but also as an actor and journalist. In Düsseldorf, he acquired a new identity thanks to forged documents. From then on, he posed as Detlev-Klaus Holm-Menhardt. At that time, Arwed was just 17 years old; he made himself out to be eight years older and claimed to have a high school diploma and a teaching certificate. Arwed even got married. But his deception was exposed when he was arrested. Arwed was sentenced to two years in prison. In prison, he began to study astrology and passed an exam with the German Astrologers’ Association. From then on, he called himself a certified astrologer. Astrology became his livelihood. Using a typewriter, he produced mass horoscopes on demand, which earned him a lot of money and connections to wealthy women. In 1967, Arwed divorced his second wife, Ilse, after 17 years of marriage. In the years that followed, Arwed, who loved to speed around in his sports car, met the divorced Frankfurt businesswoman Annemarie Schröder and her mother Anna-Maria Kieferle through his work as an astrologer. The wealthy women fell for Arwed’s charm, and he became their financial and life advisor. They even moved to the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn, where Arwed was now living. When he received power of attorney over their assets, the women disappeared overnight. No one suspected that Arwed had killed them in his bungalow in Marienleuchte and presumably dismembered them to make disposal easier. He had rented the bungalow as a residence because he had leased a hunting ground. Arwed was a passionate hunter who was also a member of the local hunting club. The bodies of the two women were never found. Arwed, who had become engaged to a woman named Ulrike Roland, met Ilse Evels and her daughter Urte from Celle through her; he gained their trust by deceit, and according to Arwed, they had suddenly set off on a long journey overnight. But when Arwed tried to transfer 150,000 marks from Ilse Evels’ account to his own in Celle, the bank teller found this suspicious and notified the police. The police began searching for Ilse Evels and her daughter Urte, as no one knew where they were. During the investigation, the police received a crucial tip regarding the whereabouts of Ilse and Urte Evels. A gas station attendant had testified that he had dug a pit for Arwed. This was allegedly for the animal carcasses he had shot during his hunts. When the police visited the pit near Gahlendorf on Fehmarn, they found the remains of Ilse Evels and her daughter Urte there. Arwed Imiela, who vehemently denied all four murders, was charged with quadruple murder. On May 24, 1973, 43-year-old Arwed Imiela, who went down in German criminal history as the Bluebeard of Fehmarn, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Lübeck Regional Court. On June 3, 1982, just nine years after his arrest, Arwed Imiela died of heart failure at the Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel Correctional Facility. He was buried anonymously at the Fohnsdorf Cemetery. Until the very end, Arwed Imiela had denied murdering the women. He took his secret to the grave.
