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In the trial surrounding the brutal killing of a married couple in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district, the verdict has been reached: the perpetrator must serve a life sentence.
Fulda/Wildeck – Almost a year after the killing of a couple from Richelsdorf (municipality of Wildeck), the Fulda regional court handed down the verdict: The 51-year-old defendant from Thuringia must go to prison for life. The chamber convicted him of the dastardly murder of his 67-year-old husband and the manslaughter of his 63-year-old wife. The court also noted the particular gravity of the guilt.
51-year-old in Fulda sentenced to life imprisonment for murder
The act shocked the region in the summer of 2025. The defendant knew his later victims. He was not a stranger, but a craftsman who had already carried out work for the couple on several occasions. On the evening of June 28th he was a guest in her house. We ate together, talked about planned renovation work and measured windows. What happened next has occupied the Fulda Regional Court over a total of 18 days of hearings over the past few months.
One thing is clear: In order to cover his tracks, the defendant is said to have transported the bodies to a forest on the same night with a motor scooter and trailer. There they were covered with branches and leaves. It wasn't until two days later that emergency services discovered the dead.
According to the court's findings, there had previously been a massive “excess of violence” in the house. The presiding judge Dr. In his 80-minute justification for the verdict, Jörg Weddig spoke of a “multiple number of powerful stabs”. However, the defendant initially denied any involvement. He later admitted the killings, but spoke of a self-defense situation. As the story progressed, his portrayal changed several times.
The defendant initially denied the actions, then spoke of self-defense
The chamber is convinced that the defendant killed both victims alone. The defendant's various statements – a total of three clearly contradictory versions of what happened – were “completely unbelievable,” said Judge Weddig. The chamber is certain that he killed both the man and the woman. The wealth of detail in his descriptions also shows that he is able to “lie in detail”.
In the case of the murdered husband, the chamber considered the murder characteristic of treachery to be fulfilled. The man was innocent and defenseless and the attack hit him unexpectedly from behind. Eight knife stabs in the neck area occurred suddenly, and no defensive injuries were found. The wife was also a victim of the attack, but the trait of insidiousness could not be determined with absolute certainty. The court therefore classified her killing as manslaughter.
Regarding the motive, the court found that the defendant knew the couple well and knew that money might be kept in the house. However, a robbery-murder that was planned from the start could not be proven with certainty. Accordingly, the motive for the double murder is unclear. Although the defendant was apparently looking for money after the crime, it could not be determined that this was his goal before the crime. The murderous characteristic of greed was therefore not accepted.
The court justified the particular severity of the guilt, among other things, with the extraordinary brutality of the crime and the killing of two people. In addition, it was taken into account that the couple's mentally disabled son lost his entire family environment as a result of the crime and now lives in a nursing home.
Defense attorney Christian Celsen announced immediately after the verdict that he would appeal. In particular, he considers the assessment as a dastardly murder and the determination of the particular gravity of the guilt to be open to attack. The judgment is therefore not yet legally binding.
Another A few months ago, the double murder was the topic of the true crime podcast “Murder on Sunday.”. At the center of the mysterious incident was a man from Burghaun.
