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-In October 1989, the body
of a woman was found in a forest
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on the outskirts of the village
of Deetz in East Germany.
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She'd been hit by a hammer,
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strangled,
and sexually assaulted.
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Scattered around her body
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was her underwear,
stolen from a washing line.
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Police had no idea at the time,
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but this was the work
of a perverted serial killer.
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-He did know what he was doing.
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He did know that it was wrong,
and he chose to do it anyway,
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regardless of whatever drives
or desires he had.
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-The murderer was a 23-year-old
man named Wolfgang Schmidt.
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He'd been roaming the local
woods in search of prey
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to satisfy his depraved
sexual fantasies.
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He became known as
the Beast of Beelitz.
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-I was on call day and night,
and when my phone would ring,
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I would sit up
straight in my bed
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because I thought
he had struck again.
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-Over the next two years,
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he would kill a further
four women and a baby,
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all to fulfill his own
grotesque form of sexual urges.
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-You have a man who is
completely possessed
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by the desire
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that he's now feeding
the frenzy of his own addiction.
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-Wolfgang Schmidt,
the Beast of Beelitz,
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had become one of
the world's most evil killers.
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Wolfgang Schmidt had
brutally killed five women
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and an infant during his near
two-year-long killing spree.
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He committed his crimes
in and around the forest
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near the town of Beelitz
in East Germany,
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but when he was finally
captured in 1991,
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it was after the fall
of the Berlin Wall,
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and so he faced the courts
of the new unified Germany.
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The trial began on
the 20th of October, 1992,
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just two weeks after
Schmidt's 26th birthday.
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-The public gallery
was jam-packed.
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Not one more person
could fit in.
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Everyone wanted to see
Wolfgang Schmidt.
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This, of course, has to do
with the sensationalism.
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It's also clear
the more difficult,
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the more terrible the crime,
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the more people are fascinated.
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-Schmidt had murdered
five people
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and attacked three other women
in an attempt
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to get sexual gratification
from his unique perversion --
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stealing and soiling
their underwear.
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The only way he could do this
was if they were dead.
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-There are some elements of
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the most extraordinary
humiliation
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in Schmidt's acts towards women,
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and there can be
no forgiveness for that.
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He was literally out of control.
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He was quite literally
fulfilling his own fantasies
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at the expense of whomever
might get in his way.
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-It moved the whole country --
all of Germany,
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not only the vicinity
of Berlin and Brandenburg.
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It was on the national news.
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Germany was moved.
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-Despite the extreme violence
and sexual elements
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to his crimes,
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when he was found guilty and
sentenced to 15 years in prison,
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Wolfgang Schmidt showed
little remorse for his actions.
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-I think he was embarrassed,
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but he was not ashamed
about anything,
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least of all the murders.
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00:04:02,727 --> 00:04:05,177
-During the trial,
it became clear
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Schmidt's motive for killing
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was to indulge his fantasies
for wearing women's underwear
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and defecating in them
to reach sexual satisfaction.
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He was diagnosed with a fetish
called coprophilia.
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-Coprophilia is a very rare
paraphilia,
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and it's basically
a sexual arousal
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around human waste,
around excrement --
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people becoming sexually excited
around this substance.
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So it's very, very rare
to see this,
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even amongst serial killers.
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-Any kind of major fetish
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almost always
becomes uncontrollable.
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The same is true of someone who
gets an intense satisfaction,
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as in this case,
from wearing women's clothes.
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That satisfaction
along with coprophilia
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is a very dynamic mixture.
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-In time, Schmidt's bizarre
and murderous acts
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would earn him two monikers.
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He was called
the Beast of Beelitz
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00:05:07,681 --> 00:05:12,951
and was also labeled by some
as the Pink Giant.
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-He became known as
the Pink Giant
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because he grew to be
a 6-foot-1-, 6-foot-2-tall man,
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and he loved pink underwear --
ladies' pink underwear --
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which was part of his fetish.
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-This killer's story begins
just over 50 years ago.
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Wolfgang Schmidt was born
on the 5th of October, 1966,
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in the small town of Lehnin,
near Potsdam,
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in the former
German Democratic Republic.
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He, along with
his younger brother,
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grew up in a rural area
just outside the town.
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-Well, the family is
the first institution
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in which we start to learn about
men and women's roles in society
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and about their relationships
with one another,
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so what we see in our family
in our early years
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we take to be
our benchmark for normal.
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-According to
a psychologist's report,
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Schmidt's unusual desires
began early.
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-Wolfgang Schmidt discovered
his fetish by coincidence
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when he went through
his mother's closet
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as a 6- or 7-year-old boy
and discovered lingerie.
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And then he put
that lingerie on.
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He had the need for a loving,
symbiotic relationship
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with his mother...
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-...which he was able
to establish
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by wearing her lingerie.
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-At first, Schmidt says
he felt a childlike pleasure
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from wearing
his mother's underwear,
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and it became a substitute for
a close maternal relationship.
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-Well, many children
are going to experiment.
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They're gonna play
when they're youngsters.
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They're gonna try on the clothes
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of their parents,
their siblings.
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This isn't something that is
completely out of the ordinary,
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but the real key for me here is,
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it's the reaction
of other people
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when a child engages
in this behavior.
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Is this something
that the parent is gonna
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make them feel bad about?
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Is it something that
the parent's going to
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make them feel ashamed of?
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Or is it something that's
just going to be brushed off
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and, "Okay, it's fine.
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They're just playing.
They're just experimenting"?
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00:07:25,407 --> 00:07:30,877
-According to Schmidt,
his mother reacted with horror,
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and she started to
lock her underwear away,
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but Schmidt had already
developed a fondness
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for wearing
his mother's undergarments.
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When he discovered that
defecating and urinating in them
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increased the overall
pleasurable sensation,
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he could not stop.
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-The thing about him starting
to soil the underwear --
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it could have been maybe
he was wearing the underwear
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when everybody
was outside the house,
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and then he heard a noise.
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He's a kid.
He gets scared.
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You can't really control it,
and it just happened.
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Right there,
he didn't intend to,
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and as he did,
something else came over him
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that he don't know what it is.
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But it was something
that made him go,
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"Wow. I like this."
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Not a sexual thing.
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He just simply felt
a different excitement,
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and when a kid likes something,
they will go back to it.
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-By the time
Schmidt reached puberty,
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defecating in
his mother's underwear
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added a whole different level
of enjoyment.
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-To get pleasure out of
destroying something
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that belongs to her,
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something that is intimate
for her --
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that's really meaningful for me
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looking at this
from the outside.
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And to see him getting pleasure
in doing this,
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in soiling this underwear --
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that's something
that signifies to me
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he's enjoying getting
a little bit of power back.
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-He ritualized that behavior
over the years
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so that it didn't only become
the central element
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of his sexuality,
but of his entire life.
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That means that he really
only lives to experience
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that kind of sexuality.
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-With all the underwear
locked away,
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Schmidt started to look
elsewhere to satisfy his urges.
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This was the beginning
of his double life.
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Ulrich Bauschulte was
Schmidt's defense lawyer.
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-Often, with his father,
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he cleared things from the house
to be put in trash heaps,
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or as they were called then in
the German Democratic Republic,
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mullhaufen.
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Then he noticed that women's
underwear was also thrown away,
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and so he began to collect
these undergarments.
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-Schmidt regularly went
into the forest
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near the village of Deetz
that was near to his home
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in search of underwear
on makeshift landfills.
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He would then defecate
with the underwear on,
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satisfy his sexual urges,
and clean up after
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as if nothing had happened.
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As he grew to be an adult,
however,
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this routine
would not be enough for him.
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He needed an actual woman
to fulfill his fantasy.
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00:10:25,821 --> 00:10:28,961
-That means the woman has to be
draped with lingerie.
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There has to be
mutual defecation,
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and then there
will be intercourse.
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And it became clear to him
at some point
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that in order to
live out this fantasy,
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he needed a woman
to be entirely at his disposal.
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-And the only way Schmidt
was going to satisfy his needs
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was to murder.
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But living in such a remote
and sparsely populated area,
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the opportunities for Schmidt
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to fulfill his unusual fantasies
were limited.
198
00:11:05,261 --> 00:11:08,131
-He lived in
a very rural community --
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00:11:08,201 --> 00:11:11,221
lots of forests,
lots of lakes, woods,
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00:11:11,294 --> 00:11:13,784
so there weren't
countless washing lines
201
00:11:13,854 --> 00:11:17,804
with ladies' underwear
hanging on them out to dry.
202
00:11:17,874 --> 00:11:21,114
It was quite
a complicated search,
203
00:11:21,187 --> 00:11:24,167
but search he did,
and he searched rubbish dumps.
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He searched as much as he could.
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He got pleasure from
putting the underwear on,
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00:11:29,407 --> 00:11:32,677
taking it off, urinating in it,
defecating in it.
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00:11:32,754 --> 00:11:34,514
It was all mixed into this
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00:11:34,581 --> 00:11:38,441
bodily-function,
sexual-arousal dynamic.
209
00:11:42,667 --> 00:11:46,267
-In 1985,
Schmidt's life changed.
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00:11:46,347 --> 00:11:48,347
He signed up to
10 years of service
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00:11:48,427 --> 00:11:52,597
with the riotant,
anti-insurgency police force.
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00:11:52,674 --> 00:11:54,694
Around that time,
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00:11:54,201 --> 00:11:58,591
he also met a young woman
from a nearby village.
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00:11:58,661 --> 00:12:00,451
-He develops a double life.
215
00:12:00,527 --> 00:12:02,997
He has this young woman
who he's devoted to
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00:12:03,074 --> 00:12:06,204
and eventually
becomes his fiancée.
217
00:12:06,274 --> 00:12:11,134
-At this time, Schmidt appeared
to be leading a regular life.
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00:12:11,208 --> 00:12:14,868
-And he has this
very ordered life in the police.
219
00:12:14,947 --> 00:12:17,947
Perhaps he thinks
something about the uniform
220
00:12:18,027 --> 00:12:20,507
or the discipline will --
well, how can I put it? --
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00:12:20,581 --> 00:12:23,141
"Help me control my urges.
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00:12:23,081 --> 00:12:25,041
Perhaps there's something about
that disciplined environment
223
00:12:25,114 --> 00:12:27,134
which will calm me down."
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It's a very male,
macho environment.
225
00:12:31,954 --> 00:12:35,614
-But when, in April 1989,
he got drunk
226
00:12:35,687 --> 00:12:39,907
and publicly celebrated
Adolf Hitler's 100th birthday,
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00:12:39,981 --> 00:12:42,791
he was dismissed from the force.
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It led to
catastrophic consequences.
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00:12:46,874 --> 00:12:48,594
-Well, when we look at
the offending behavior
230
00:12:48,661 --> 00:12:49,641
of serial killers,
231
00:12:49,714 --> 00:12:52,164
often we identify
particular stressors,
232
00:12:52,234 --> 00:12:55,264
particular things that would
have made the difference
233
00:12:55,334 --> 00:12:57,684
between offending
and not offending
234
00:12:57,754 --> 00:12:59,334
at that particular
point in time,
235
00:12:59,401 --> 00:13:00,671
and I think for Schmidt,
236
00:13:00,741 --> 00:13:03,551
losing his job
as a police officer
237
00:13:03,627 --> 00:13:06,207
was very, very significant
for him
238
00:13:06,287 --> 00:13:10,867
'cause this was quite central
to his sense of identity.
239
00:13:10,941 --> 00:13:15,331
-Schmidt, now 23, got a new job
at a local steelworks,
240
00:13:15,407 --> 00:13:18,317
but without the discipline
of the police force,
241
00:13:17,761 --> 00:13:20,791
his strange urges grew stronger.
242
00:13:20,861 --> 00:13:21,961
-I'm not in any doubt
243
00:13:22,034 --> 00:13:26,444
that Schmidt was
increasingly unraveling
244
00:13:26,514 --> 00:13:29,544
from the moment
he lost his job with the police
245
00:13:29,614 --> 00:13:30,514
until the first killing,
246
00:13:30,321 --> 00:13:33,591
which was not
all that much later.
247
00:13:33,667 --> 00:13:37,287
It was that ticking time bomb
within him
248
00:13:37,367 --> 00:13:39,567
that led inevitably,
unfortunately,
249
00:13:39,647 --> 00:13:41,607
to the first killing.
250
00:13:41,681 --> 00:13:46,741
By the autumn that year,
he is about to explode.
251
00:13:46,814 --> 00:13:50,014
-Schmidt was on his way to work
when he was sidetracked
252
00:13:50,087 --> 00:13:53,917
by his desire to indulge
in his deviant fantasies.
253
00:13:53,994 --> 00:13:57,404
He ended up on the outskirts
of the small village of Deetz,
254
00:13:57,474 --> 00:13:59,924
where he hid
at the edge of the forest
255
00:13:59,994 --> 00:14:01,934
to watch a row of houses.
256
00:14:02,007 --> 00:14:05,727
He was hoping to find
women's underwear.
257
00:14:05,801 --> 00:14:08,791
-He goes to the house
on the end of the little road
258
00:14:08,867 --> 00:14:11,207
and discovers
that there's a tool shed,
259
00:14:11,288 --> 00:14:13,868
and he presumably started by
looking for the washing line,
260
00:14:13,947 --> 00:14:16,827
but he goes into the tool shed,
and he discovers a hammer.
261
00:14:16,901 --> 00:14:20,291
He then spies the owner
of the property,
262
00:14:20,367 --> 00:14:22,867
and I think at that point,
263
00:14:22,947 --> 00:14:28,067
the detonation went off
in his head.
264
00:14:28,147 --> 00:14:31,437
-When Schmidt saw
Edeltraut Nixdorf
265
00:14:31,081 --> 00:14:32,761
tending to her garden,
266
00:14:32,834 --> 00:14:35,254
he was overcome
by an intense urge
267
00:14:35,327 --> 00:14:39,437
to violently assault
the 51-year-old woman.
268
00:14:39,514 --> 00:14:42,894
-And probably
in the first instance,
269
00:14:42,761 --> 00:14:46,441
without very much premeditation,
he simply hit her on the head
270
00:14:46,514 --> 00:14:50,294
with the hammer
he'd found in the tool shed.
271
00:14:50,367 --> 00:14:55,077
-The woman screamed and tried to
defend herself with a rake,
272
00:14:55,154 --> 00:14:57,604
but Schmidt dragged her
into the house,
273
00:14:57,241 --> 00:15:01,661
hit her again with the hammer,
and strangled her.
274
00:15:01,734 --> 00:15:04,604
He then proceeded
to have intercourse with her.
275
00:15:04,674 --> 00:15:07,964
However, not getting
the satisfaction he craved,
276
00:15:08,034 --> 00:15:10,594
Schmidt wrapped her body
in a blanket
277
00:15:10,661 --> 00:15:13,381
and started to carry her
towards the forest.
278
00:15:13,454 --> 00:15:16,764
Wolfgang Schmidt had killed
his first victim,
279
00:15:16,834 --> 00:15:20,184
but it had not gone to plan.
280
00:15:20,254 --> 00:15:22,814
-In terms of his first killing,
281
00:15:22,881 --> 00:15:25,161
that reality didn't quite
live up to the fantasy
282
00:15:25,234 --> 00:15:26,704
that he had in his head,
283
00:15:26,774 --> 00:15:29,034
so of course he was
going to continue
284
00:15:29,107 --> 00:15:35,087
to try and create that fantasy
and make it a reality.
285
00:15:35,161 --> 00:15:36,661
-Schmidt had been spotted
286
00:15:36,734 --> 00:15:39,334
when he carried his victim
into the forest,
287
00:15:39,407 --> 00:15:41,947
and the police
were called to the scene.
288
00:15:42,021 --> 00:15:43,811
The witness gave a description
289
00:15:43,887 --> 00:15:48,277
of a very tall, strong,
and athletic man.
290
00:15:48,354 --> 00:15:51,354
When detectives searched
the crime scene in Deetz,
291
00:15:51,427 --> 00:15:55,907
they found underwear scattered
around the victim's body.
292
00:15:55,981 --> 00:16:00,251
One of the investigating
officers was Volker Kelm.
293
00:16:03,794 --> 00:16:05,474
-These clothes were lying
in the area
294
00:16:05,547 --> 00:16:07,317
very close by to the victim.
295
00:16:10,848 --> 00:16:13,528
From this, we concluded
that it was a break-in
296
00:16:13,601 --> 00:16:15,811
and that the perpetrator had
been disturbed by the victim,
297
00:16:15,887 --> 00:16:17,197
and so he killed her.
298
00:16:20,581 --> 00:16:23,891
-Police also found a vital clue
in the house --
299
00:16:23,967 --> 00:16:26,287
a large footprint.
300
00:16:25,961 --> 00:16:29,361
The boot was military-issue
and similar to ones worn
301
00:16:29,434 --> 00:16:33,214
by some police units,
but in 1989,
302
00:16:33,121 --> 00:16:37,601
the German Democratic Republic
was on the brink of collapse.
303
00:16:37,674 --> 00:16:40,224
Attempts to identify
the owner of the boot
304
00:16:40,294 --> 00:16:44,224
from an official list of
police recruits proved futile.
305
00:16:44,294 --> 00:16:49,504
For Schmidt, however,
this was just the beginning.
306
00:16:49,574 --> 00:16:54,984
-This is a man who is now
literally searching for prey.
307
00:16:55,054 --> 00:16:57,914
He wants nothing more
than victims,
308
00:16:57,981 --> 00:17:00,931
and he doesn't really mind which
shape and form they come in.
309
00:17:01,007 --> 00:17:01,837
They could be older.
310
00:17:01,914 --> 00:17:03,854
They could be younger.
311
00:17:03,927 --> 00:17:07,247
What's important
is they are submissive.
312
00:17:06,961 --> 00:17:09,171
-On the 24th of May,
313
00:17:09,248 --> 00:17:12,838
Schmidt was riding his bicycle
to meet friends in Ferch,
314
00:17:12,914 --> 00:17:15,834
about eight miles from
the town of Beelitz,
315
00:17:15,908 --> 00:17:18,918
when he saw a sign
pointing to a landfill.
316
00:17:18,994 --> 00:17:23,024
-Although there weren't copious
washing lines for him to search,
317
00:17:23,094 --> 00:17:26,654
there were increasing numbers
of illegal landfills
318
00:17:26,728 --> 00:17:28,368
in which were deposited
319
00:17:28,441 --> 00:17:31,521
underwear of all sorts of
shapes and sizes,
320
00:17:31,594 --> 00:17:35,894
be it slips, bras, knickers,
all kinds,
321
00:17:35,967 --> 00:17:40,777
and that became
Schmidt's happy hunting ground.
322
00:17:40,854 --> 00:17:44,244
-While Schmidt searched the
landfill for women's underwear,
323
00:17:44,314 --> 00:17:47,954
he was disturbed by a noise.
324
00:17:48,021 --> 00:17:51,401
He spotted a 55-year-old woman,
Christa Naujoks,
325
00:17:51,474 --> 00:17:54,004
who lived in a caravan
next to the landfill.
326
00:17:57,727 --> 00:18:00,437
-He did not care about the age
of his victims at all.
327
00:18:00,281 --> 00:18:03,381
In the fantasies of
a perpetrator like that,
328
00:18:03,454 --> 00:18:07,754
the victims appear faceless
and ageless a lot of the time.
329
00:18:07,827 --> 00:18:09,347
So it's not about
who I do it with,
330
00:18:09,421 --> 00:18:11,751
but rather about what I do,
331
00:18:11,827 --> 00:18:14,397
and with him, the central
element of experience
332
00:18:14,474 --> 00:18:18,094
was his fetish.
333
00:18:18,161 --> 00:18:21,561
-As Schmidt approached
his victim, she screamed.
334
00:18:21,401 --> 00:18:27,031
He put his arm around her neck
and started to tighten his grip,
335
00:18:27,107 --> 00:18:29,907
but Christa managed to get away.
336
00:18:29,981 --> 00:18:32,471
Schmidt then picked up
an electric cable
337
00:18:32,547 --> 00:18:34,677
and caught up with her.
338
00:18:34,754 --> 00:18:37,154
He strangled Christa to death,
339
00:18:37,221 --> 00:18:42,961
dragged her into the forest,
and sexually abused her.
340
00:18:43,034 --> 00:18:46,104
-The first two murders
were really spontaneous.
341
00:18:46,041 --> 00:18:49,041
Wolfgang Schmidt didn't intend
to kill anyone.
342
00:18:49,114 --> 00:18:51,044
That's not why he was out there.
343
00:18:53,627 --> 00:18:56,507
But he learned by committing
the first two murders
344
00:18:56,587 --> 00:18:58,557
firstly that he was capable
of doing it...
345
00:19:00,834 --> 00:19:05,334
...and, secondly, that when
he had sex with corpses,
346
00:19:05,401 --> 00:19:07,361
it was especially arousing
to him.
347
00:19:09,754 --> 00:19:13,114
-By the time police arrived
at the crime scene,
348
00:19:13,187 --> 00:19:15,087
Schmidt had already left.
349
00:19:15,167 --> 00:19:18,817
Having now found a way to get
his deadly needs met,
350
00:19:18,761 --> 00:19:23,441
it wasn't long until Schmidt
tried to overcome another woman.
351
00:19:23,514 --> 00:19:27,164
-By now, you have the classic
behavioral trait
352
00:19:27,234 --> 00:19:29,794
of escalation.
353
00:19:29,561 --> 00:19:33,111
First murder --
the autumn in October 1989.
354
00:19:33,187 --> 00:19:37,387
Second murder in May 1990.
355
00:19:37,461 --> 00:19:42,251
Not much longer,
again in the summer of 1990.
356
00:19:42,327 --> 00:19:44,427
-In July,
Schmidt was at a landfill
357
00:19:44,507 --> 00:19:47,477
just outside the city
of Brandenburg.
358
00:19:47,554 --> 00:19:50,774
He had already found underwear
and pornography
359
00:19:50,847 --> 00:19:53,597
when he realized
he was not alone.
360
00:19:53,674 --> 00:19:58,694
He spotted his next victim,
a 58-year-old woman.
361
00:19:58,761 --> 00:20:02,921
This time,
Schmidt was carrying a knife.
362
00:20:02,994 --> 00:20:06,594
He approached and stabbed her
but did not kill her.
363
00:20:06,667 --> 00:20:11,357
He then dragged the woman
to a more secluded place.
364
00:20:11,434 --> 00:20:13,724
-He renders her unconscious,
365
00:20:13,794 --> 00:20:17,454
and he's about to rape her,
but he gets interrupted,
366
00:20:17,527 --> 00:20:19,827
so he's nearly got to the point
367
00:20:19,907 --> 00:20:21,767
where he's fulfilled
his fantasy,
368
00:20:21,841 --> 00:20:24,151
where he's made
his fantasy reality,
369
00:20:24,221 --> 00:20:26,281
but he's been stopped
in doing so.
370
00:20:26,354 --> 00:20:28,474
-Schmidt fled the scene.
371
00:20:28,541 --> 00:20:32,031
The woman was found in time
to call an ambulance.
372
00:20:32,101 --> 00:20:35,681
She survived but was unable
to give a description
373
00:20:35,754 --> 00:20:38,734
of her attacker
to the local police.
374
00:20:38,801 --> 00:20:41,421
With no formal identification
made,
375
00:20:41,494 --> 00:20:43,964
the police could take the case
no further.
376
00:20:44,034 --> 00:20:46,634
At this point, they did not
make a connection
377
00:20:46,701 --> 00:20:48,891
with the previous killings.
378
00:20:48,761 --> 00:20:51,251
Schmidt laid low
for eight months,
379
00:20:51,327 --> 00:20:53,607
but he could not control
his urges,
380
00:20:53,681 --> 00:20:57,481
and it would not be long
before he struck again.
381
00:20:57,554 --> 00:20:59,794
-When he gets to
the fourth victim,
382
00:20:59,867 --> 00:21:01,317
he goes prepared, essentially.
383
00:21:01,394 --> 00:21:03,224
He's got a knife.
384
00:21:03,294 --> 00:21:04,964
He's absolutely determined
'cause he's nearly reached
385
00:21:05,034 --> 00:21:06,714
the point
that he wanted to reach.
386
00:21:06,781 --> 00:21:09,471
He's nearly managed to have
sexual relations
387
00:21:09,547 --> 00:21:12,977
with a woman who is submissive,
who is unconscious,
388
00:21:13,054 --> 00:21:14,804
and he's absolutely determined
389
00:21:14,874 --> 00:21:16,514
that he's gonna
make this happen,
390
00:21:16,581 --> 00:21:19,471
so there's a real sense
of urgency in him now,
391
00:21:19,547 --> 00:21:22,317
and he's a very,
very dangerous man.
392
00:21:22,394 --> 00:21:25,884
-On the 13th of March, 1991,
393
00:21:25,954 --> 00:21:28,934
Schmidt attacked Inge Fischer.
394
00:21:29,007 --> 00:21:30,767
The 34-year-old woman
395
00:21:30,841 --> 00:21:34,591
was walking home
through the forest near Beelitz.
396
00:21:38,367 --> 00:21:42,467
-She was stabbed by the killer
with a knife from behind.
397
00:21:42,547 --> 00:21:44,867
And here, too,
based on the way it was done
398
00:21:44,947 --> 00:21:48,437
and in the circumstances,
399
00:21:48,514 --> 00:21:50,294
we couldn't establish
connections
400
00:21:49,961 --> 00:21:52,041
with any previous incidents.
401
00:21:55,774 --> 00:22:00,634
The modus operandi, the way
it was done, was different.
402
00:22:00,707 --> 00:22:02,867
One was struck with a hammer.
403
00:22:02,941 --> 00:22:04,071
One was strangled.
404
00:22:04,147 --> 00:22:07,627
One was stabbed.
405
00:22:07,701 --> 00:22:10,801
Two were older women,
this time a younger woman,
406
00:22:10,874 --> 00:22:15,974
on a forest path,
a cottage, a rubbish dump.
407
00:22:16,041 --> 00:22:19,031
Because we didn't have
any matching clues until then,
408
00:22:19,101 --> 00:22:21,141
it was hard for us
to see any connections.
409
00:22:26,921 --> 00:22:30,571
-After four attacks,
three resulting in murders,
410
00:22:30,647 --> 00:22:32,647
it was still impossible
for police
411
00:22:32,561 --> 00:22:37,641
to make a conclusive connection
between the crimes.
412
00:22:37,481 --> 00:22:39,931
That meant Schmidt's
killing spree
413
00:22:40,001 --> 00:22:42,281
continued unabated.
414
00:22:46,381 --> 00:22:48,701
In the spring of 1991,
415
00:22:48,774 --> 00:22:51,714
Wolfgang Schmidt
was leading a double life.
416
00:22:51,781 --> 00:22:56,031
He was engaged to be married and
worked at a local steelworks.
417
00:22:56,101 --> 00:22:59,451
At the same time, he was
a dangerous sexual predator
418
00:22:59,527 --> 00:23:01,477
who was still on the loose.
419
00:23:01,554 --> 00:23:04,554
One thing had become clear --
it was dangerous for women
420
00:23:04,621 --> 00:23:07,541
to venture into the forest
on their own.
421
00:23:07,481 --> 00:23:10,951
Police handed out leaflets
and warned local communities,
422
00:23:11,021 --> 00:23:13,271
but the message had not
reached a community
423
00:23:13,347 --> 00:23:17,157
of former Russian military
families living in the area.
424
00:23:21,954 --> 00:23:25,874
-They had very little contact
with the people in the area
425
00:23:25,941 --> 00:23:28,081
and so probably didn't notice
what was happening.
426
00:23:30,447 --> 00:23:32,227
One should add that, tragically,
427
00:23:32,301 --> 00:23:34,601
that they were just about
to go back home.
428
00:23:39,641 --> 00:23:42,651
-Just nine days after
killing his last victim,
429
00:23:42,521 --> 00:23:46,181
Schmidt was prowling
the forest behind a hospital.
430
00:23:46,121 --> 00:23:49,991
He spotted a Russian mother,
Tamara Petrowskaja,
431
00:23:50,067 --> 00:23:54,887
and her infant son
walking home through the woods.
432
00:23:54,561 --> 00:23:56,511
-He's been fantasizing
about this --
433
00:23:56,581 --> 00:23:59,361
this sexual encounter --
for so many years.
434
00:23:59,434 --> 00:24:01,184
It's something that
he really wants.
435
00:24:01,254 --> 00:24:03,714
Now the possibility
is in front of him,
436
00:24:03,781 --> 00:24:05,361
and there's this one barrier
in the way,
437
00:24:05,434 --> 00:24:08,084
and that barrier is the baby.
438
00:24:07,921 --> 00:24:12,081
So he's very instrumental
in removing this obstacle
439
00:24:12,154 --> 00:24:14,254
to getting what he wants.
440
00:24:14,321 --> 00:24:17,111
-Schmidt attacked his victim,
beat her,
441
00:24:17,187 --> 00:24:19,787
and started to
pull her into the forest.
442
00:24:19,867 --> 00:24:23,187
To silence the baby,
Schmidt picked up the infant
443
00:24:23,261 --> 00:24:25,221
and threw him to the ground
444
00:24:25,294 --> 00:24:29,154
and then callously kicked him
in the chest.
445
00:24:29,227 --> 00:24:33,597
-The most horrific, the most
terrifying of Schmidt's crimes,
446
00:24:33,674 --> 00:24:39,554
was the killing
of a Russian doctor's wife.
447
00:24:39,621 --> 00:24:41,311
The woman was 44.
448
00:24:41,387 --> 00:24:46,147
Imagine how much she must have
prized the child,
449
00:24:46,227 --> 00:24:49,137
particularly at that age.
450
00:24:49,214 --> 00:24:52,794
Unfortunately for her
and for her child,
451
00:24:52,861 --> 00:24:55,011
Schmidt comes across them
452
00:24:55,087 --> 00:24:59,557
and is absolutely determined
to attack the woman.
453
00:25:06,687 --> 00:25:10,807
-At the crime scene where
the baby and the woman died,
454
00:25:10,481 --> 00:25:15,621
there was women's lingerie lying
right there at the scene,
455
00:25:15,694 --> 00:25:18,564
and it was clear that it had
something to do with the crime.
456
00:25:22,447 --> 00:25:27,957
That's when it occurred to us,
"What about the others?
457
00:25:28,034 --> 00:25:30,164
Could this case be linked
with the others?"
458
00:25:34,301 --> 00:25:37,451
-Police found women's underwear
at the crime scene.
459
00:25:37,527 --> 00:25:39,787
They had now established
it was crucial evidence
460
00:25:39,867 --> 00:25:41,267
in all these murders,
461
00:25:41,347 --> 00:25:44,367
and that was
a major breakthrough.
462
00:25:44,447 --> 00:25:46,777
The investigators believe
the perpetrator
463
00:25:46,854 --> 00:25:49,984
must be someone
with a dangerous fetish.
464
00:25:50,054 --> 00:25:52,094
They were coming under
increasing pressure
465
00:25:52,167 --> 00:25:55,487
to capture the killer who was
now hitting the headlines
466
00:25:55,567 --> 00:25:59,497
as the Beast of Beelitz
and the Pink Giant.
467
00:25:59,574 --> 00:26:03,314
Could this be the missing clue
that would finally lead them
468
00:26:03,381 --> 00:26:07,011
to this extremely dangerous
sexual predator?
469
00:26:09,781 --> 00:26:12,671
-After we were able
to establish the relationship
470
00:26:12,741 --> 00:26:16,671
between the underwear
and the perpetrator,
471
00:26:16,741 --> 00:26:21,451
naturally, we went to search
this angle in particular.
472
00:26:21,521 --> 00:26:23,531
And at the surrounding area
of the crime scenes,
473
00:26:23,608 --> 00:26:25,398
we found lairs
474
00:26:25,474 --> 00:26:29,384
where he basically
collected the underwear
475
00:26:29,454 --> 00:26:33,864
and where he satisfied himself
with it.
476
00:26:33,934 --> 00:26:36,484
And there were bags of underwear
that we found.
477
00:26:38,941 --> 00:26:42,581
-Marianne Bohm, then a young
prosecutor from West Berlin,
478
00:26:42,654 --> 00:26:46,834
was sent to Potsdam
to head up the investigation.
479
00:26:48,727 --> 00:26:51,377
-The case of Wolfgang Schmidt
was especially distinguished
480
00:26:51,454 --> 00:26:55,134
by the variety of cases
to deal with.
481
00:26:55,001 --> 00:26:56,891
It was because of this anxiety,
482
00:26:56,967 --> 00:26:59,057
because we couldn't catch
the perpetrator,
483
00:26:59,134 --> 00:27:02,454
I was on call day and night,
484
00:27:02,521 --> 00:27:03,881
and when my phone would ring,
485
00:27:03,954 --> 00:27:05,254
I would sit up straight
in my bed
486
00:27:05,327 --> 00:27:07,037
because I thought
he had struck again.
487
00:27:09,841 --> 00:27:12,961
-Schmidt would have known that
police were closing in on him,
488
00:27:13,034 --> 00:27:14,654
but he was still free
489
00:27:14,727 --> 00:27:18,777
and still indulging in
his now deadly fantasies.
490
00:27:18,854 --> 00:27:20,644
-The main reason why it was
tricky for the police
491
00:27:20,714 --> 00:27:25,654
to put all the clues together
to go after Schmidt is,
492
00:27:25,728 --> 00:27:26,808
there are two types
of serial killers,
493
00:27:26,888 --> 00:27:28,288
or two main types
of serial killers.
494
00:27:28,361 --> 00:27:30,511
One is the victim-based
serial killer,
495
00:27:30,321 --> 00:27:32,081
and the other one
is action-based serial killer
496
00:27:32,154 --> 00:27:33,634
or the violence-based
serial killer.
497
00:27:33,707 --> 00:27:37,367
The victim-based goes after
a specific kind of victim.
498
00:27:37,447 --> 00:27:39,797
The other kind of serial killer
is one that the victim
499
00:27:39,874 --> 00:27:41,514
makes zero difference to them.
500
00:27:41,581 --> 00:27:43,761
What they are after
is something else.
501
00:27:43,834 --> 00:27:45,574
Either the violence --
502
00:27:45,641 --> 00:27:49,741
that is what excites them,
is killing the person --
503
00:27:49,814 --> 00:27:51,994
or some kind of sexual pleasure.
504
00:27:51,561 --> 00:27:54,781
In the case of Schmidt,
he didn't care about the victim.
505
00:27:54,854 --> 00:27:57,914
He wanted the sex.
506
00:27:57,981 --> 00:28:00,191
-But as yet,
the police had no idea
507
00:28:00,267 --> 00:28:02,367
who they were dealing with.
508
00:28:03,547 --> 00:28:05,707
-The whole problem was that
Wolfgang Schmidt
509
00:28:05,787 --> 00:28:09,077
was not known to the police
as a sexual perpetrator.
510
00:28:14,301 --> 00:28:16,191
The investigators back then
already had
511
00:28:16,267 --> 00:28:22,227
a pretty clear picture
of what made this predator tick,
512
00:28:22,301 --> 00:28:24,451
that his way of acting
was fetishistic
513
00:28:24,521 --> 00:28:26,151
and that he went into
a situation
514
00:28:26,227 --> 00:28:28,077
with an intent of killing.
515
00:28:32,081 --> 00:28:34,001
-It was also clear early on
516
00:28:34,074 --> 00:28:35,804
that they were dealing with
a serial killer.
517
00:28:39,354 --> 00:28:42,074
And since there were no leads
to Wolfgang Schmidt
518
00:28:42,141 --> 00:28:45,351
that came from
the general public either,
519
00:28:45,427 --> 00:28:49,877
it was basically impossible
to catch him
520
00:28:49,954 --> 00:28:53,524
unless he was caught
in the act at some point.
521
00:28:57,887 --> 00:29:02,697
That means they were looking
for a needle in a haystack.
522
00:29:02,774 --> 00:29:05,224
-Two weeks after
his last assault,
523
00:29:05,294 --> 00:29:07,594
Schmidt was on the prowl again.
524
00:29:07,667 --> 00:29:10,447
He came across
two 12-year-old girls
525
00:29:10,521 --> 00:29:13,161
who were looking for
a dead deer in the forest.
526
00:29:13,234 --> 00:29:16,414
-The escalation is
very, very common.
527
00:29:16,487 --> 00:29:17,847
So now he escalated.
528
00:29:17,921 --> 00:29:22,151
Maybe he thought,
"To have my kind of fetish sex
529
00:29:22,227 --> 00:29:25,827
with two women instead of one."
530
00:29:25,907 --> 00:29:27,637
Maybe he had already
been fantasized
531
00:29:27,714 --> 00:29:31,154
about that for awhile.
532
00:29:31,227 --> 00:29:33,597
I'm certain that the reason
why he went after that
533
00:29:33,674 --> 00:29:36,984
is because he had done
everything prior to that,
534
00:29:37,054 --> 00:29:40,134
and he was always escalating
and escalating and escalating
535
00:29:40,207 --> 00:29:42,777
until the day he gets caught.
536
00:29:42,854 --> 00:29:47,154
-Schmidt attacked the girls
dressed up in women's clothes,
537
00:29:47,227 --> 00:29:49,727
wearing an apron.
538
00:29:49,801 --> 00:29:52,871
What the girls must have thought
almost defies belief.
539
00:29:52,941 --> 00:29:55,001
There's this presumably huge man
540
00:29:55,074 --> 00:29:58,114
dressed up in women's clothes
with an apron on.
541
00:29:57,721 --> 00:30:01,201
It is truly bizarre.
542
00:30:00,841 --> 00:30:03,951
This time, they both survive.
543
00:30:04,027 --> 00:30:08,297
This time, they can describe
the man who's attacked them.
544
00:30:08,374 --> 00:30:10,374
-Schmidt's disappointment
at failing
545
00:30:10,447 --> 00:30:13,577
to fulfill his sexual needs
with the two girls
546
00:30:13,654 --> 00:30:16,524
was so intense
that the following day,
547
00:30:16,594 --> 00:30:21,114
on the 5th of April, 1991,
he struck again.
548
00:30:20,681 --> 00:30:24,461
He broke into the house
of a 66-year-old woman,
549
00:30:24,534 --> 00:30:26,964
Talita Bremer, while she slept.
550
00:30:27,034 --> 00:30:31,374
Schmidt found her underwear
and became highly aroused.
551
00:30:31,441 --> 00:30:36,561
He strangled her to death and
then sexually defiled her body.
552
00:30:36,634 --> 00:30:38,304
-What we've got to remember is,
553
00:30:38,374 --> 00:30:41,274
here is a man that did have
some control over his behavior.
554
00:30:41,341 --> 00:30:42,811
Everybody has fantasies.
555
00:30:42,887 --> 00:30:45,427
Everybody has things
that they would like to do,
556
00:30:45,501 --> 00:30:48,271
but they know that these things
are socially unacceptable
557
00:30:48,341 --> 00:30:50,511
or they are deviant
or that they are illegal,
558
00:30:50,581 --> 00:30:54,101
so most people choose
not to act on them,
559
00:30:54,174 --> 00:30:55,244
but he did.
560
00:30:58,294 --> 00:31:00,214
He knows what he's doing
is wrong,
561
00:31:00,081 --> 00:31:01,981
but he's choosing
to do it anyway
562
00:31:02,054 --> 00:31:04,934
because he wants that fantasy
that he's created in his head
563
00:31:05,001 --> 00:31:07,331
to become a reality,
564
00:31:07,408 --> 00:31:09,058
and he's always making
the decision
565
00:31:09,134 --> 00:31:10,454
that he's gonna try again.
566
00:31:10,521 --> 00:31:11,601
He's gonna try again
567
00:31:11,674 --> 00:31:13,244
'cause, "I've not quite
achieved it this time.
568
00:31:13,314 --> 00:31:15,244
I'm gonna do it again."
569
00:31:15,314 --> 00:31:18,894
-The hunt to capture Schmidt
was gathering pace.
570
00:31:18,961 --> 00:31:20,371
Thanks to the description given
571
00:31:20,447 --> 00:31:23,487
by the two surviving
12-year-old victims,
572
00:31:23,568 --> 00:31:26,298
police were able to issue
an Identi-Kit,
573
00:31:26,374 --> 00:31:28,584
and the prosecution offered
a reward
574
00:31:28,654 --> 00:31:33,744
of 20,000 Deutsche Marks
for information.
575
00:31:33,814 --> 00:31:35,524
-We received hundreds of bits
of information
576
00:31:35,594 --> 00:31:37,914
after we went public with it.
577
00:31:39,881 --> 00:31:41,311
-There were several things
578
00:31:41,387 --> 00:31:43,797
that pointed towards somebody
that lived in the area,
579
00:31:43,874 --> 00:31:46,274
that was out and about,
that had some sort of occupation
580
00:31:46,347 --> 00:31:47,797
that made him wander
the forests,
581
00:31:47,874 --> 00:31:49,524
but that was all we knew.
582
00:31:52,241 --> 00:31:54,191
All of that really became
more focused
583
00:31:54,267 --> 00:31:56,337
when the girls
were able to tell us
584
00:31:56,414 --> 00:31:58,014
who we were
actually looking for.
585
00:32:02,227 --> 00:32:06,707
-By the summer of 1991,
East German Wolfgang Schmidt's
586
00:32:06,781 --> 00:32:11,491
deviant fantasies had spiraled
completely out of control.
587
00:32:11,568 --> 00:32:14,118
In his extraordinary search
for sexual fulfillment,
588
00:32:14,194 --> 00:32:16,524
Schmidt had attacked nine people
589
00:32:16,594 --> 00:32:19,474
and murdered five women
and a baby.
590
00:32:19,547 --> 00:32:23,107
But his lust for a bizarre form
of gratification
591
00:32:23,181 --> 00:32:25,221
showed no signs of stopping.
592
00:32:25,294 --> 00:32:27,894
On the 1st of August, 1991,
593
00:32:27,967 --> 00:32:30,687
nearly four months
after his previous murder,
594
00:32:30,767 --> 00:32:33,677
Schmidt returned to the woods
surrounding his home
595
00:32:33,754 --> 00:32:38,324
to try and satisfy his desires.
596
00:32:38,394 --> 00:32:42,764
-With Schmidt, it's not simply
about ending his victims' lives
597
00:32:42,834 --> 00:32:45,254
and then sexually abusing them
and raping them
598
00:32:45,327 --> 00:32:46,967
after they've died.
599
00:32:47,041 --> 00:32:50,381
It's also about
continuing in this behavior
600
00:32:50,454 --> 00:32:53,844
of wearing women's underwear,
of soiling this underwear.
601
00:32:53,914 --> 00:32:56,514
He has this routine,
he has this ritual,
602
00:32:56,581 --> 00:32:59,431
and he has to have every stage
of this ritual
603
00:32:59,241 --> 00:33:01,981
in order to gain
sexual satisfaction,
604
00:33:02,054 --> 00:33:04,014
and it's becoming
all the more elaborate
605
00:33:04,087 --> 00:33:08,057
and all the more complex
with several stages in it --
606
00:33:08,134 --> 00:33:10,824
wearing women's underwear,
soiling the underwear,
607
00:33:10,561 --> 00:33:14,251
identifying a victim,
and assaulting that victim.
608
00:33:14,327 --> 00:33:16,367
And all of those elements
need to be there
609
00:33:16,447 --> 00:33:20,147
for him to have
satisfaction from it.
610
00:33:20,221 --> 00:33:23,781
-Alert to his perverse
and murderous activities,
611
00:33:23,854 --> 00:33:27,234
the police were now determined
to catch the serial killer
612
00:33:27,307 --> 00:33:29,877
known as the Beast of Beelitz.
613
00:33:34,774 --> 00:33:36,234
-We carried out searches
in the woods
614
00:33:36,307 --> 00:33:38,517
for these types of
clothing sites...
615
00:33:42,127 --> 00:33:45,037
...because we firmly believed
that there must be more to find.
616
00:33:47,414 --> 00:33:50,284
And we were able to find
several of them in the forests
617
00:33:50,354 --> 00:33:53,084
around Beelitz-Heilstatten,
at Neuendorf and so on.
618
00:33:56,454 --> 00:33:58,324
We staked out
two of these sites.
619
00:34:01,654 --> 00:34:04,484
To do this, we used
special observation forces
620
00:34:04,554 --> 00:34:09,104
who were trained for this,
621
00:34:09,174 --> 00:34:13,774
who lay hidden in the woods,
who watched,
622
00:34:13,841 --> 00:34:17,081
and then, if they saw him
either putting the clothes on
623
00:34:17,154 --> 00:34:20,114
or engaging
in any type of sexual act,
624
00:34:20,181 --> 00:34:22,641
they could catch him in the act
and arrest him.
625
00:34:24,874 --> 00:34:27,004
-While the police lay in wait,
626
00:34:27,074 --> 00:34:29,394
Schmidt,
wearing a bra under his jacket,
627
00:34:29,461 --> 00:34:31,581
was spotted gratifying himself
628
00:34:31,654 --> 00:34:34,674
at another site
by two passersby.
629
00:34:34,747 --> 00:34:39,167
When the shocked witnesses
reported his abhorrent behavior,
630
00:34:38,681 --> 00:34:43,001
Schmidt was promptly arrested
and taken into police custody.
631
00:34:43,074 --> 00:34:47,094
There he was charged
with the murders he'd committed.
632
00:34:49,174 --> 00:34:53,094
-He was a very shy, reluctant
young man back then who,
633
00:34:53,168 --> 00:34:57,918
as is often the case with sexual
killers or killers in general,
634
00:34:57,994 --> 00:35:02,014
he didn't have it written on his
forehead that he was a murderer.
635
00:35:02,087 --> 00:35:04,917
He was often described
as the nice kid next door.
636
00:35:07,514 --> 00:35:10,274
-His defense lawyer
was Ulrich Bauschulte.
637
00:35:13,274 --> 00:35:15,694
-In contrast to
his physical size --
638
00:35:15,767 --> 00:35:19,797
he was well over 1-meter-90 --
639
00:35:19,874 --> 00:35:22,174
I found, when I spoke to him,
640
00:35:22,247 --> 00:35:27,677
he seemed very small, very shy,
641
00:35:27,754 --> 00:35:31,074
which is astounding
when you read and learn
642
00:35:31,147 --> 00:35:33,357
how violently
the deaths occurred.
643
00:35:36,174 --> 00:35:37,994
-When confronted
with the details
644
00:35:38,061 --> 00:35:39,561
of the murders he'd committed,
645
00:35:39,634 --> 00:35:43,474
Schmidt seemed to show
scant remorse for his actions.
646
00:35:44,634 --> 00:35:46,414
-I think it was
embarrassing for him,
647
00:35:46,487 --> 00:35:49,187
but he was not ashamed
about anything,
648
00:35:48,961 --> 00:35:51,841
not even about the murders.
649
00:35:51,914 --> 00:35:54,134
He was probably embarrassed that
he was seen in women's lingerie
650
00:35:54,208 --> 00:35:55,318
and with an apron on.
651
00:35:59,427 --> 00:36:04,117
-The trial was set to begin
on the 20th of October, 1992,
652
00:36:04,194 --> 00:36:08,434
just two weeks
after Schmidt's 26th birthday.
653
00:36:08,501 --> 00:36:09,741
The interest in the killer
654
00:36:09,814 --> 00:36:11,554
the German tabloids
have dubbed as
655
00:36:11,621 --> 00:36:15,001
the Beast of Beelitz
and the Pink Giant,
656
00:36:14,641 --> 00:36:17,541
after his fascination
with pink underwear,
657
00:36:17,614 --> 00:36:19,174
was immense.
658
00:36:20,707 --> 00:36:23,397
-So there was an unbelievable
press hype back then.
659
00:36:26,281 --> 00:36:29,271
We had far too little room
in the court for all the press.
660
00:36:29,341 --> 00:36:33,621
Everyone was following it
on the news.
661
00:36:33,694 --> 00:36:36,884
-Gisela Friedrichsen was
the court reporter
662
00:36:36,954 --> 00:36:39,694
for a renowned
West German magazine.
663
00:36:41,947 --> 00:36:43,747
-At the beginning,
everyone knew
664
00:36:43,828 --> 00:36:45,558
that Wolfgang Schmidt
killed many women.
665
00:36:48,021 --> 00:36:50,631
And then, gradually,
all the details
666
00:36:50,701 --> 00:36:53,841
came out into the open
through reports in the tabloids.
667
00:36:58,634 --> 00:36:59,874
-And it became very clear
668
00:36:59,947 --> 00:37:01,637
that he must be
a very disturbed person.
669
00:37:04,648 --> 00:37:06,188
-The East German press,
however,
670
00:37:06,261 --> 00:37:09,151
were less understanding
of Schmidt's problems.
671
00:37:09,227 --> 00:37:12,017
-They would have, ideally,
wanted to execute him.
672
00:37:12,094 --> 00:37:14,234
They would have cut off
everything that could be cut off
673
00:37:14,307 --> 00:37:16,157
from his body and so on.
674
00:37:18,474 --> 00:37:20,694
-Schmidt's mental health
was assessed
675
00:37:20,761 --> 00:37:24,021
by Professor Wilfried Rasch,
who was the leading
676
00:37:24,094 --> 00:37:27,404
German forensic psychiatrist
of his time.
677
00:37:29,974 --> 00:37:33,104
-Professor Rasch explained it
brilliantly to the court
678
00:37:33,174 --> 00:37:37,794
how Wolfgang Schmidt developed
throughout the years.
679
00:37:37,861 --> 00:37:40,851
It began during his childhood
in the search
680
00:37:40,921 --> 00:37:44,551
to have a closer relationship
to his mother,
681
00:37:44,621 --> 00:37:49,351
and that naturally evolved into
something else as time went by.
682
00:37:49,427 --> 00:37:53,637
That was fetishism
and also transvestism.
683
00:37:58,787 --> 00:38:00,817
A combination of these,
684
00:38:00,894 --> 00:38:05,634
which together with inclinations
toward coprophilia,
685
00:38:05,701 --> 00:38:07,921
changed and became established.
686
00:38:11,227 --> 00:38:13,407
-Even when we look at cases
of serial killers,
687
00:38:13,481 --> 00:38:15,491
we only come across
a handful of cases
688
00:38:15,561 --> 00:38:18,851
where people have engaged in
this type of behavior,
689
00:38:18,927 --> 00:38:20,987
and, unfortunately,
if something like this
690
00:38:20,601 --> 00:38:24,151
isn't nipped in the bud,
isn't recognized early on,
691
00:38:24,221 --> 00:38:26,161
it's something that's
only going to get worse.
692
00:38:29,914 --> 00:38:32,734
-Schmidt had shared
his most intimate secrets
693
00:38:32,601 --> 00:38:34,591
with the psychiatrist,
694
00:38:34,401 --> 00:38:37,211
including revelations
about his habit
695
00:38:37,288 --> 00:38:39,148
of defecating
in women's underwear
696
00:38:39,227 --> 00:38:41,567
and then wearing it
back-to-front
697
00:38:41,641 --> 00:38:43,591
while pleasuring himself.
698
00:38:43,661 --> 00:38:47,571
Professor Rasch concluded
that Schmidt's sexual fantasies
699
00:38:47,648 --> 00:38:49,128
began to grow,
700
00:38:49,208 --> 00:38:51,658
and at some point,
the balance tipped over,
701
00:38:51,734 --> 00:38:55,404
and he decided to try
to do this with a woman.
702
00:38:55,474 --> 00:38:59,194
But when Schmidt failed
to achieve sexual gratification,
703
00:38:59,267 --> 00:39:00,257
he snapped,
704
00:39:00,334 --> 00:39:04,924
and that's when
his killing spree began.
705
00:39:04,761 --> 00:39:07,441
-When the desire got stronger
and stronger,
706
00:39:07,514 --> 00:39:09,674
it ended in those murders.
707
00:39:09,747 --> 00:39:11,687
That's where he got
his first kick
708
00:39:11,768 --> 00:39:13,708
and where he noticed that there
was a chance for him to move on
709
00:39:13,787 --> 00:39:17,117
to a level that may
give him sexual satisfaction.
710
00:39:19,547 --> 00:39:22,547
-Schmidt was cooperative
from the beginning,
711
00:39:22,621 --> 00:39:24,841
but when he was confronted
with the Identi-Kit
712
00:39:24,914 --> 00:39:26,594
that led to his capture,
713
00:39:26,667 --> 00:39:29,947
his response
was rather startling.
714
00:39:32,194 --> 00:39:34,164
-When he saw the picture,
he said to me,
715
00:39:34,234 --> 00:39:35,604
"That looks a lot like me,
716
00:39:35,674 --> 00:39:37,764
but it can't be me
because I didn't kill anybody."
717
00:39:40,801 --> 00:39:42,761
I didn't really know how to
interpret that statement
718
00:39:42,834 --> 00:39:47,254
back then until Professor Rasch
conducted the examination
719
00:39:46,961 --> 00:39:48,481
in order to see what it was
720
00:39:48,554 --> 00:39:50,604
that was really wrong
with Mr. Schmidt.
721
00:39:52,967 --> 00:39:54,807
The results stated repeatedly
722
00:39:54,887 --> 00:39:56,867
that when he lived out
his fantasies,
723
00:39:56,941 --> 00:39:59,521
in his mind,
the women had lived.
724
00:40:01,827 --> 00:40:03,667
-All throughout the trial,
725
00:40:03,747 --> 00:40:06,917
Schmidt continued to claim that
in his head,
726
00:40:06,994 --> 00:40:09,044
all his victims
were still alive.
727
00:40:09,114 --> 00:40:13,364
-So Schmidt's fantasy was all
about dominating alive women.
728
00:40:13,001 --> 00:40:15,571
He says, "In my head,
they were alive."
729
00:40:15,641 --> 00:40:17,801
Well, in his head,
they had to be alive
730
00:40:17,874 --> 00:40:19,314
'cause that was
the only way in which
731
00:40:19,387 --> 00:40:23,137
he could get pleasure
out of the situation.
732
00:40:23,214 --> 00:40:25,644
-The prosecution had
vast amounts of evidence,
733
00:40:25,714 --> 00:40:29,404
such as clothes, undergarments,
and the murder weapons,
734
00:40:29,474 --> 00:40:31,524
but they did not play
a significant role
735
00:40:31,594 --> 00:40:33,294
during the trial
736
00:40:33,367 --> 00:40:36,907
because Schmidt
had confessed to everything.
737
00:40:36,988 --> 00:40:38,708
-Everybody agreed
that Mr. Schmidt
738
00:40:38,781 --> 00:40:41,591
belonged in
a psychiatric facility.
739
00:40:41,667 --> 00:40:45,187
-Schmidt was sentenced
to 15 years in prison
740
00:40:45,267 --> 00:40:47,447
and was admitted
to a psychiatric clinic
741
00:40:47,527 --> 00:40:51,847
in Brandenburg,
where he remains to this day.
742
00:40:51,927 --> 00:40:55,847
Adding to the price he's paid,
Schmidt's fiancée has,
743
00:40:55,521 --> 00:40:59,521
since his incarceration,
left him.
744
00:41:01,921 --> 00:41:05,311
-Wolfgang Schmidt
is very sexually deviant,
745
00:41:05,387 --> 00:41:09,827
and he most certainly has
a personality disorder, as well.
746
00:41:09,901 --> 00:41:13,571
As long as he does not
confront what he has done
747
00:41:13,647 --> 00:41:17,927
and gets the appropriate means
to help him,
748
00:41:17,441 --> 00:41:21,081
he will always pose a threat
to others.
749
00:41:20,921 --> 00:41:24,371
And since, to this day,
that has not changed,
750
00:41:24,041 --> 00:41:27,121
there is no chance for him
to ever be set free again.
751
00:41:30,334 --> 00:41:32,194
-Many people have issues
seeing him
752
00:41:32,261 --> 00:41:36,901
as a typical serial killer
because of his modus operandi
753
00:41:36,974 --> 00:41:40,444
varying from one victim
to the other,
754
00:41:40,514 --> 00:41:43,484
but essentially,
his drive, his motivation
755
00:41:43,121 --> 00:41:45,531
is the same
as many other serial killers.
756
00:41:45,401 --> 00:41:47,581
He wants to have power
over other people
757
00:41:47,654 --> 00:41:49,454
and to dominate other people.
758
00:41:49,527 --> 00:41:51,547
He shared with
other serial killers
759
00:41:51,621 --> 00:41:54,331
a callous disregard
for the rights of other people,
760
00:41:54,407 --> 00:41:57,797
for the lives of other people,
and for their suffering.
761
00:42:02,334 --> 00:42:04,994
-In a final twist
to this story,
762
00:42:05,068 --> 00:42:08,878
in 2009,
courts allowed Wolfgang Schmidt
763
00:42:08,721 --> 00:42:11,881
to change his name
to Beate Schmidt
764
00:42:11,954 --> 00:42:15,784
when he revealed his desire
to transition into a woman.
765
00:42:15,854 --> 00:42:19,924
Schmidt has been undergoing
hormone treatment since 2010
766
00:42:19,994 --> 00:42:23,834
but has so far been refused
gender-reassignment surgery.
767
00:42:23,907 --> 00:42:27,337
Regardless of his current
or future gender,
768
00:42:27,414 --> 00:42:29,644
the bizarre and callous killings
769
00:42:29,714 --> 00:42:31,914
committed by
the Beast of Beelitz,
770
00:42:31,981 --> 00:42:33,401
Wolfgang Schmidt,
771
00:42:33,474 --> 00:42:36,634
makes him one of
the world's most evil killers.
62766
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