WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Bernd Brandes agreed to be killed and eaten by Meiwes in return for cutting off and eating his penis, in a deal which would horrify and confuse even the most seasoned criminal investigators
To those who lived near him in the quiet German village of Wüsterfeld, Armin Meiwes was a perfect neighbour. He kept himself to himself, looked after his front lawn, and even helped fix cars.
But behind closed doors, Meiwes was living out a sick fantasy that would, when uncovered, send shockwaves far and wide.
A computer technician from Rotenberg, Meiwes became obsessed with the idea of killing and eating men while young.
The obsession started, according to Meiwes himself, after visiting an abatoir as a boy, soon after which he considered asking school friends if he could cut off and eat parts of their body, only holding back out of fear of ostracisation.
As an tech-savvy adult, Meiwes gained access to a series of grotesque fetish forums, where users discussed eating and being eaten by others. It was on one of these forums that he first gained contact with his eventual victim.
Bernd Brandes, a 43-year-old engineer from Berlin, agreed to be killed and eaten by Meiwes in return for cutting off and eating his penis, in a deal which would horrify and confuse even the most seasoned criminal investigators.
Following a long, detailed discussion online, Brandes travelled to Meiwes’ home. Incredibly, the grotesque scenes that followed were filmed by Miewes, so investigators knew exactly what had happened.
Brandes consented to being drugged, mutilated and eventually stabbed to death, after having his penis cut off and eaten by the pair.
He was fed sleeping pills before the pair ate the sinister first course – Brandes’ penis.
The next gruesome course was Bernd’s back, telling a documentary called Docs: Interview With A Cannibal: “I took out my best dinner service, and fried a piece of rump steak – a piece from his back – made what I call princess potatoes, and sprouts.
“The first bite was, of course, very strange. It was a feeling I can’t really describe. I’d spent over 40 years longing for it, dreaming about it.
“And now I was getting the feeling that I was actually achieving this perfect inner connection through his flesh. The flesh tastes like pork but stronger.”
Bernd then took a bath as Meiwes read a Star Trek novel to him before he stabbed him in the neck, killing him.
Meiwes then dismembered the body, hanging parts of it on meat hooks before storing much of the flesh in his freezer. Over the next ten months, he cooked and ate large portions of Brandes’ body, consuming an estimated 20 kilograms of human flesh.
Police later revealed that Meiwes treated the meals with a terrifying degree of normality. He used his finest cutlery, and even lit candles and drank red wine as he ate.
Investigators reported finding frozen human remains stored alongside everyday food items, as if part of his day-to-day diet.
The case caused huge legal complications in Germany, where cannibalism itself had not yet been made a specific crime. Prosecutors instead looked to charge Meiwes with murder for sexual gratification and disturbing the peace of the dead.
During questioning, some of Meiwes explanations chilled even the the most hardened of police detectives.
Explaining how he felt while eating his victim, he uttered nine chilling words: “With every bite, my memory of him grew stronger.”
Psychiatric experts told the court that Meiwes had harboured violent fantasies since childhood, which intensified after his mother’s death. While he initially received a manslaughter conviction, he was eventually convicted of murder following a retrial.
He remains in prison, and his crime still regarded as one of the most grotesque and unsettling cases ever to come before a European court.
