Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
A series of heinous murders of prostitutes took place on highways in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia between 2003 and 2006. During this period, not only were three women killed, but their bodies were also desecrated when their murderer had sex with their dead bodies. The first victim was 32-year-old prostitute Nicole U. from Oberhausen, better known as Sammy. Her half-naked body was found on November 15, 2003, in some bushes on the grounds of a hardware store in Dormagen. According to the autopsy, she had been strangled. Her upper body had several cuts. Sammy had been picked up by her killer in the evening at her workplace on Cologne’s streetwalking zone on Militärringstraße. Just one year later, her killer chose his next victim there again. On October 19, 2004, 25-year-old Asta Jurkat from Lithuania was looking for her next client there when she was approached by a truck driver. Shortly after she got into his truck, he wrapped a rope around her neck, intending to strangle her. But she managed to pull her head out of the noose, open the passenger door, and jump out of the truck. She ran for her life, but the truck driver followed her and soon caught up with her. This time, he strangled her with both hands so hard that Asta lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, she found herself in the truck driver’s sleeping berth, who was on his way to Düsseldorf. When he noticed that Asta was awake, he stopped at a remote location near Neukirchen, where he raped her. She begged him for her life, but the truck driver pulled out his knife and stabbed her in the chest without saying a word. Asta collapsed briefly, but pulled herself together and sought refuge in a cornfield. This time, the truck driver did not follow her. With her last ounce of strength, she made it to the nearby highway, where she was found by a car driver. She was taken to the hospital, underwent emergency surgery, and survived the attempted murder. A composite sketch was made. But this did not deter the long-distance truck driver from committing further murders. On November 1, 2005, another half-naked female corpse was found. This time on the A 45 highway near Siegen. The woman was 31-year-old Aneta Budz from Dillenburg, Poland, who had been strangled. Six months later, on June 8, 2006, the perpetrator struck again. He attacked 18-year-old schoolgirl Anna S. in Kassel as she was on her way home. First he strangled her, then had sex with her dead body. He disposed of her body at a rest stop on the A 49 motorway between Kassel and Fritzlar. Just two months later, the brutal series of murders finally came to an end when the police were able to apprehend the perpetrator. He was 29-year-old long-distance truck driver and family man Marco Metzler, who was arrested by the special commission “Eisern” in his parents’ house in his hometown of Haiger on August 30, 2006. Three citizens recognized him from the published composite sketch. That same evening, the surviving prostitute Asta identified him as her attacker and rapist. In addition, it was clearly proven that the DNA traces found on Anna S.’s body matched those of Marco Metzler. Due to the overwhelming evidence, he made a full confession. Until his arrest, Marco Metzler had led a completely normal life. He grew up in Haigern, where he graduated from secondary school and then completed an apprenticeship. After four years with the railway, he retrained as a long-distance truck driver. He got married in 2003. Shortly after the wedding, his child was born. A few months before his arrest, his marriage had broken down due to visits to prostitutes and his alcohol problem. But soon after, he had found a new partner. According to his own statements, he was in a happy relationship. Marco Metzler was diagnosed with disturbed sexual behavior and was unable to explain the murders and subsequent desecration of Anna S.’s corpse to himself. The Limburg Regional Court sentenced Marco Metzler to life imprisonment with subsequent preventive detention due to the particular severity of his crimes. With that, the prostitute killer Marco Metzler was finally history.
