Hinterkaifeck Murders

Six people—Andreas and Cäzilia Gruber, their widowed daughter Viktoria Gabriel, her children Cäzilia and Josef, and newly arrived maid Maria Baumgartner—were killed at the isolated Hinterkaifeck farmstead in Bavaria on the night of March 31, 1922. Four victims were found in the barn and two in the residence on April 4. Investigators concluded that severe head injuries caused the deaths; a Reuthaue, a mattock-like farm tool believed to be the weapon, was recovered during the farm’s demolition in 1923. Reports that animals were fed and the property used after the killings suggest post-crime activity, but do not establish who remained or for how long. Extensive investigations and a 2007 police-academy review did not produce charges, and the murders remain unsolved.