The Hinterkaifeck Murders

On a remote farm in Bavaria, six people were brutally murdered with a pickaxe sometime around March 31, 1922. The bodies weren’t discovered for four days. In that time, someone—presumably the killer—had stayed on the farm, feeding the animals, eating the food, and living among the corpses. The Hinterkaifeck murders remain Germany’s most infamous unsolved crime, a horror story that seems too grotesque to be real.

The Farm

Hinterkaifeck

The farm sat isolated in the Bavarian countryside, about 70 kilometers north of Munich:

• Remote and difficult to access
• Home to the Gruber family
• Self-sufficient and private
• Known locally for the family’s strange behavior

The Residents

Andreas Gruber (63): Patriarch, known to be difficult and violent Cäzilia Gruber (72): His wife Viktoria Gabriel (35): Their widowed daughter Cäzilia (7): Viktoria’s daughter Josef (2): Viktoria’s son Maria Baumgartner (44): The new maid, arrived that day

The Dark Secret

Andreas and Viktoria were engaged in an incestuous relationship. Young Josef was likely Andreas’s son/grandson. The relationship was known locally but tolerated in the isolated community.

The Days Before

Strange Events

In the days before the murders, Andreas Gruber reported disturbing occurrences:

• Footprints in the snow leading from the forest to the farm—but not back
• Strange noises in the attic
• A newspaper from Munich that no one had bought
• A set of house keys that had gone missing months earlier

The previous maid had quit, claiming the farm was haunted.

March 31, 1922

Maria Baumgartner arrived as the new maid on March 31—the day of (or just before) the murders.

The Discovery

April 4, 1922

When no one from Hinterkaifeck appeared in town for days, neighbors went to investigate:

In the Barn: Andreas, Cäzilia (elder), Viktoria, and young Cäzilia were found piled together, killed by blows from a mattock (a pickaxe-like farm tool). Evidence suggested the family had been lured to the barn one by one.

In the House: Maria lay dead in her bedroom. Two-year-old Josef was dead in his crib, killed in his bed.

The Horror Details

• The little girl had torn out clumps of her own hair before dying
• Andreas had been attacked from behind
• The victims had been covered with hay
• The animals were healthy—recently fed
• Food in the kitchen had been eaten
• Someone had been living in the house after the murders

The Investigation

The Evidence

The Mattock: Found in the barn, covered in blood and hair.

The Timeline: Based on the last time family members were seen and mail delivery, the murders occurred around March 31.

The Aftermath: Whoever killed the family spent 3-4 days on the farm afterward. They:

• Fed the livestock
• Ate food from the kitchen
• May have slept in the beds
• Started fires in the stove

The Suspects

Over 100 suspects were considered:

Lorenz Schlittenbauer: A neighbor who had been in a relationship with Viktoria. Possibly Josef’s father. He was part of the group that discovered the bodies and behaved suspiciously at the scene. Never charged.

Andreas’s Enemies: He had made enemies through disputes and lawsuits. But the personal nature of the crimes suggested intimate knowledge.

Viktoria’s Former Suitors: Several men had courted her. Rejected lovers sometimes kill.

Robbery Gone Wrong: Money was reportedly missing from the farm. But the killer’s extended stay argues against simple robbery.

A Vagrant: The footprints suggested someone had been watching the farm. Perhaps a drifter who attacked after staying hidden.

Why It Was Never Solved

• The crime scene was badly contaminated before investigators arrived
• Neighbors trampled through the house
• The bodies were moved
• Key evidence was lost or destroyed
• The skulls were removed for analysis and later lost during World War II

The Questions

Why Did the Killer Stay?

This is the most disturbing element. Possible explanations:

• Waiting for someone else to arrive
• Couldn’t leave due to weather or circumstances
• Psychological compulsion
• No fear of discovery
• Enjoyed being there

Who Lured Them to the Barn?

The family was killed in the barn one by one. This required planning—someone had to bring them there separately. This suggests either:

• Someone they knew and trusted
• Someone already in the house (hiding)
• Coordination with an insider

What About the Footprints?

Someone was watching the farm before the murders. Were they casing it? Stalking the family? Hiding in the attic?

Legacy

Cultural Impact

Hinterkaifeck has inspired:

• Numerous books and documentaries
• Films including “Hinter Kaifeck” (2009)
• True crime podcasts
• Ongoing amateur investigation

The Farm Today

The farm was demolished in 1923. A memorial marks the site. The murders remain officially unsolved.

What We Know

Six people were killed with a farm tool on a remote Bavarian farm in March 1922. The killer stayed for days afterward. They were never caught. And despite a century of investigation, we still don’t know who walked out of the forest, murdered a family, fed their animals, ate their food, and then vanished forever.

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In March 1922, someone walked across a snowy field to an isolated farm in Bavaria. They killed six people with a pickaxe—an old man, his wife, their daughter, two children, and the maid who’d arrived that same day. Then they stayed. For days, they fed the animals and ate from the kitchen while corpses lay in the barn and bedrooms. When they finally left, they took their secrets with them. A century later, we don’t know who they were. We don’t know why they killed. We only know they were never caught—and never will be.