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Berlin police have arrested a 41-year-old math teacher on suspicion of eating another man he met in an online chat forum.
Investigators identified the man, identified only as Stefan R, as part of their search for another man, identified as Stefan T, who has been missing since September 5.
The case was accelerated on November 8 when bystanders discovered a bone from a human leg, stripped of tissue, in a city park. DNA tests revealed that it belonged to the missing Stefan T.
Two teams, starting at two different points in the city, were led by sniffer dogs to the same apartment as Stefan R, in a high-rise building in the eastern district of Lichtenberg.
When they raided the apartment on Wednesday, they discovered a chest freezer with traces of human blood and a bone saw. In his basement room there were 25 kg of cleaning chemicals that the man claimed were for “making soap.”
After studying the transcripts of the online chat between the two men, in which they reportedly agreed to meet, police believe it is likely that Stefan R ate parts of the older man’s body and dissolved the rest in the bathroom.
“Based on the bone found, with its tissue completely absent, as well as other indicators, we strongly suspect that Stefan T was a victim of cannibalism,” said a police spokesman.
Martin Steltner, spokesman for the Berlin state prosecutor, described the events as a “missing person case that has taken a tragic turn.”
The two men met on an online platform popular with men and women and there was no indication that the dead man was a member of any Berlin fetishist group, Steltner said.
He said investigators were working on the assumption that Stefan T was killed in Stefan R’s apartment, given the equipment and traces of blood found by a forensic team.
Stefan R was brought before a judge on Thursday and detained on suspicion of sexualized murder. The state attorney said there were no leads pointing to other motives, such as revenge.
The case has echoes of the 2001 “Rotenburg Cannibal” case when a Berlin telecommunications technician, Bernd Brandes, was dismembered, killed and partially eaten by Armin Meiwes.
After two trials, Meiwes was sentenced to life in prison. Now 56, he applied for parole in August.
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