- The suspect allegedly killed 12 women and 3 men between 2021 and 2024.
- Doctor arrested in August, and prosecutors link him with four deaths.
- 96 additional cases are still being investigated, says the spox prosecution.
A German doctor will go to trial on Monday for killing 15 patients with lethal injections, in which researchers fear that it may be the tip of a mortal iceberg.
The 40 -year -old palliative care specialist, appointed by the German media such as Johannes M, is accused of killing 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 while working in Berlin.
He allegedly injected the victims, between 25 and 94, with a mortal sedative cocktail and, in some cases, set fire to their homes in an attempt to cover up their crimes.
A co -worker gave the alarm for the first time about Johannes M last July after suspecting that many of his patients had died in fires, according to Die newspaper.
He was arrested in August, and prosecutors initially link him with four deaths.
But the investigations presented a large number of other suspicious cases, and in April the prosecutors accused Johannes M of 15 positions of murder.
96 other cases are still being investigated, said a prosecutor’s spokesman. AFPincluding the death of the mother -in -law of Johannes M.
She had been suffering from cancer and mysteriously died the same weekend as Johannes M and her wife went to visit her in Poland in early 2024, according to media reports.
Muscle relaxant
According to the reports, the suspect, called “death of the doctor” by the German media, was formed as a radiologist and general practitioner before specializing in palliative care.
According DieHe presented a doctoral thesis in 2013 investigating the reasons behind a series of murders in Frankfurt, who opened with the words “Why do people kill?”
Prosecutors say that in the 15 cases, Johannes M “administered an anesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients … without their knowledge or consent.”
The relaxing “paralyzed the respiratory muscles, which led to respiratory arrest and death in a matter of minutes.”
In five cases, Johannes M allegedly burned the victims’s apartments after administering the injections.
On one occasion, he is accused of killing two patients the same day.
On the morning of July 8, 2024, he allegedly killed a 75 -year -old man at his home in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg.
“A few hours later,” it is said that he attacked again, killing a 76 -year -old woman in the neighboring district of Neukoelln.
Prosecutors say that a fire began in the woman’s apartment, but went out.
“When he realized this, he allegedly informed a relative of the woman and said he was standing in front of his department and that no one was responding to the bell,” prosecutors said.
In another case, Johannes M “falsely said the resuscitation efforts” on a 56 -year -old victim, who was initially kept alive by rescuers but died three days later in the hospital.
‘There is no reason beyond killing’
Johannes M has not commented the accusations against him.
Prosecutors say “had no reason beyond killing” and looking for a life imprisonment.
The case recalls that of the well -known German nurse Niels Hogel, whom he received a life imprisonment in 2019 for killing 85 patients.
Hoegel, who is believed to be Germany’s most prolific serial killer, murdered hospital patients with lethal injections between 2000 and 2005, before he was finally caught in the spot.
More recently, a 27 -year -old nurse received a life imprisonment in 2023 for killing two patients deliberately managing non -described medications.
In March, another nurse was judged in Aachen accused of injecting 26 patients with large doses of sedatives or analgesics, which resulted in nine deaths.
Last week, the German police revealed that they are investigating another doctor suspected of killing several mainly elderly patients.
The investigators are “reviewing” the deaths linked to the doctor of the city of Pinneberg in northern Germany, on the outskirts of Hamburg, police and prosecutors said.
