Terrifying & True | Barn Butchery - The Hinterkaifeck Murders

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A well liked family in rural Germany
goes missing, but it turns out they

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were actually near their home all along. But after their bodies were found,

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many more surprises would reveal themselves.
We're telling that story tonight. What you

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were about to be ispur to based
on witness accounts, testimonies and public record,

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this is terrifying and truth. Tonight
we take a look at a particularly

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interesting and gruesome case from Germany that
has remained unsolved since nineteen twenty two.

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It's a case that is so baffling
that it had investigators at the time and

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even to this day, unsure as
to what exactly took place. But like

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many unsolved cases, it is that
uncertainty that attracts attention. After all,

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how exactly does a family of five
plus they're made die in such a brutal

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manner then to be displayed in a
gruesome manner? And what about the case

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has left police stumped for one hundred
and two years. This is the case

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of the murders at the hinter Koffek
farm. Right after these quick words,

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unsolved cases remain a topic of extreme
care curiosity in the public eye. While

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anything related to crime is always going
to garner interest. Those that go without

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any resolution have a tendency to spark
the imagination and hook people in. More

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so, in the United States alone, there are well over two hundred thousand

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cases, with close to six thousand
being added every year that are labeled unsolved.

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But what about the rest of the
world. With podcasts and online journalism

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growing more and more every year,
those that live in the United States and

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other countries in general have the ability
to learn about new crimes that either are

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or are not solved. On the
afternoon of March thirty first, nineteen twenty

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two, Maria Baumgartner arrived at the
hinter Kaffek farm to act as a maid.

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She was to work for the family
of Andreas Gruber sixty three, Kazilia

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Gruber seventy two, Victoria Gabriel thirty
five, Kazalea Gabriel seven, and Joseph

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Gabriel just two years old. On
April first, coffee selling brothers Hans and

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Edward Skarovsky arrived at hinter Kofek to
take the family's order. Upon arriving,

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they found nobody present to answer their
knocks on the doors and windows. The

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brothers walked around the property and found
nobody, only noticing that the gate to

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the machine house was open. Finding
the family absent, they left the farm.

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Kazilia Gabriel was noted as having missed
school for the next few days,

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with no reason given. Along with
this, the entire family was absent from

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Sunday worship services. On April fourth, assembler Albert Hofner went to hinter Kafek

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to do repair work on an engine. Hoffner would later say that while at

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the property, he saw nobody and
that the only sounds he heard were of

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the farm animals and the family dog. The worker waited for an hour until

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he decided to go ahead and start
the repairs on the engine. Four and

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a half hours later, Hoffner left
the farm with his job complete, Noticing

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the family's absence and hearing about the
few people to try and find them there

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to no avail. Lorenz Schlittenbauer sent
his sons Jonah and Joseph to visit the

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farm and see if they could make
contact with the family or gain any insight

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on where they might have gone off
to. When they returned later that day

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and reported they had found nothing,
Lorenz went to hinter Kafak himself, accompanied

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by Michael Pohle and Jacob Siggle.
Once at the farm, the trio went

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into the barn and discovered the bodies
of Andrea grueber Kezalia Gruber, Victoria Gabriel,

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and the younger Kazalia. Horrified,
the group then checked in the house,

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where they discovered the bodies of Maria
Baumgartner and Joseph Gabriel. As they

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and the authorities would later report,
the bodies in the barn were stacked on

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top of one another and were covered
with hay. Once the police arrived at

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hinter Kofek, the investigation was under
way and several facts became certain about the

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grisly crime. While the murder weapon
was never found, court physician Johann baptist

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A. Mueller was able to deduce
that the weapon was more than likely a

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mattic. A mattic is an agricultural
tool shaped like a pickaxe with an adze

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and a chisel edge as the ends
of the head. Other evidence that the

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scene was able to show that the
younger Kazilia lived for several hours after the

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attack and had ripped hair out of
her head while laying in the hay.

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The police later sent the skulls of
the victims off to Munich for further examination.

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Initially, the authorities believed the motive
for the crime was to rob the

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family. Due to this, they
had interrogated several groups of traveling craftsmen,

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vagrants, residents of nearby villages,
and any other persons that would have been

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moving through the area. However,
after finding a large sum of money in

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the house, the police abandoned this
idea. Adding to the decision to let

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go of the robbery theory was the
fact that someone had fed the cattle in

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the time after the murders and before
the discovery of the bodies. There was

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also evidence that whoever had done the
deed had eaten the entire supply of bread

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from the kitchen and had recently cut
meat from the pantry. With these facts

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in mind, authorities were able to
put together the theory that whoever committed the

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murders had on the property for some
considerable time before moving on. Unfortunately,

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despite multiple arrests and suspects, the
police were unable to determine a motive for

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the murders, and with no leads
on the case, authorities, seeing no

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other options at the time, reluctantly
halted their investigation. In nineteen fifty six,

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the files for the murders were officially
closed. The last time officials took

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a look at the case and attempted
to put it to rest was in nineteen

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eighty six, before Detective Chief Superintendent
Conrad Mueller retired. From the time the

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murders were being investigated to the present
day, there have been several theories as

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to what happened and who did the
gruesome and unspeakable deed. Initially, it

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was believed by the police that those
who were found in the barn were drawn

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there by their animals being restless and
making loud noises. However, after attempting

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to recreate the event's authorities came to
the conclusion that not even the screams of

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a human could be heard from inside
the house, let alone the animals,

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thus putting an end to that theory. According to an artisan named Michael Plokel,

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he was passing by hinter Kofek the
night after the murders had taken place

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and noted that the oven had been
heated up by somebody and that there was

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a foul odour emanating from the smoke
that came out of the stove. Having

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been noticed that person approached Plokel and
blinded him with a lantern before running off.

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Investigators never followed up with Plokel or
determined what had been burned in the

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oven. Later on, another report
was made by a neighbor of the area,

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Simon Ricelander, that on April first, at around three in the morning,

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he was on his way home near
Brunnin when he came across two strangers.

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When the strangers noticed Ricelander, they
covered their faces and headed into the

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forest. After Ricelander heard of the
murders, he thought immediately of those two

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masked strangers. While the investigation was
ongoing, several strange facts about the farm

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came to light. Six months prior
to the murders, the maid the family

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employed at the time suddenly quit after
claiming to have heard strange noises from the

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attic and stated that she believed the
house to be haunted. There was also

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an instance in March of nineteen twenty
two when Andreas found a Munich newspaper on

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the property but could not remember buying
it. Additionally, in relation to that

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was the fact that no one in
the area was subscribed to that particular paper.

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Shortly before the murders, Andreas told
various neighbors that he had discovered tracks

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that, when followed, went from
the forest to a door for the farm's

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machine room, where there was a
broken lock. Later that same night,

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the family heard footsteps coming from the
attic. When Andreas went to investigate,

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he found nobody there, and after
continuing his search to the whole building once

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more, he found no one.
According to a school friend of the seven

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year old Kazalia, it was reported
that her mother, Victoria, had fled

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the farm the night before the act
after a violent quarrel, and only hours

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later had been found in the forest. In regards to the suspects authorities interviewed

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and even arrested, there were several
people whom they believed were responsible for the

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crime, or at the very least
knew who the murderer was, but all

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of those were left to be simply
theories. The most accepted one is that

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Lorenz Schlittenbauer was the killer. Community
gossip suggested that after his wife died in

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nineteen eighteen, he began a relationship
with Victoria Gabriel and that it was he

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who fathered Joseph, though others rumored
that Joseph was a product of rape or

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an incestuous relationship between Victoria and her
father. Aside from the rumors of his

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relationship with Victoria, he garnered suspicions
due to some of his actions after the

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murders took place. When Schlittenbauer and
his friends arrived to investigate, they had

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to break a gate to enter the
barn because all of the doors were locked.

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However, immediately after finding the four
bodies in the barn, Schlittenbower apparently

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unlocked the front door with a key
and entered the house alone. While it

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is reasonable that as their neighbor and
potentially Victoria's lover, he would have a

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key, it was known that the
family had lost a about a week before

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the murders took place. When asked
by his companions why he had gone into

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the house alone when it was unclear
if the murderer might still be there,

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Schlittenbauer allegedly stated that he went to
look for his son, Joseph. It

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is known that Schlittenbauer had disturbed the
bodies at the scene, thus potentially compromising

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the investigation. For years after the
murder's, suspicion remained on Schlittenbauer and before

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his death in nineteen forty one,
Schlittenbauer conducted and won several civil claims for

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slander against persons who described him as
quote murderer of hinter Kothak. Other theories

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include a wild speculation that Victoria's dead
husband Karl Gabriel, was responsible, citing

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that he never really died in World
War I one, returned to Germany and

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committed the murders. Multiple theories even
suggest that it was two people who committed

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the crime, although generally speaking most
people have leaned into the idea that Lorenz

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Schlittenbauer had committed the heinous act.
Like many things from over one hundred years

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ago, there are elements lost to
time in regards to the hinter Kafek farm.

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However, like modern day unsolved mysteries, people find themselves fascinated by the

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crime and spark debate and independent investigations
to see if they can figure out the

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bloody affair. In two thousand seven, fifteen students of the police Academy in

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Firstenfeldbruck examined the case using modern criminal
investigation techniques. In their final report in

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German, they confirmed the meticulousness of
the investigation at the time, but criticized

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the lack of professional forensics. In
particular, the failure to take fingerprints was

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criticized as this was already common practice
at the time. Although it is almost

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certain that the murderer can no longer
be identified, all authors of the report

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independently agreed on who the main suspect
in the case was. However, his

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name was not mentioned out of consideration
for his descendants. Whether the crime is

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solved in the future is up for
debate. What isn't up for debate,

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though, is that it will continue
to attract attention both in its native Germany

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as well as around the world.
But until the day comes that it is

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possibly solved, the hinter Kofack Farm
murders will remain an unsolved mystery of a

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remarkable vintage. What do you think? Do you have any thoughts on who

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committed the hinter Kofackfarm murders, Send
us your thoughts at Weekly Spooky at gmail

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dot com and we'll get right back
to you. Also, if you have

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an unsolved mystery or a particularly fascinating
crime you'd like us to deep dive into,

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send us an email at Weekly Spooky
at gmail dot com and, as

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always, after listening to something grotesque
and gruesome and sad. Take a deep

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breath, tell someone you love them, and appreciate every day you're gifted because

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tomorrow is never promised, but hopefully
it'll be waiting for us. Terrifying and

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True is narrated by Enrique Kuto.
This episode is written by Morgan Moore.

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It's executive produced by Rob Fields and
Mark Shields. Produced by Daniel Wilder,

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with original theme music by Ray Maddis. If you have a story you'd like

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us to cover on the program,
send us an email at Weekly Spooky at

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gmail dot com. And if you
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thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters, folks who pay us a little bit

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Karen Wee, met Jack Kerr,
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much, and we'll see you next
time right here on weekly Spooky and Terrifying and True