The cat-and-mouse game

A nerve-wracking criminal case occurred on Pentecost 2012. Maria Baumer, 26, had been missing since May 26. She was about to marry her fiancé Christian F., who worked as a nurse and was studying medicine. That morning, Maria, who was 1.90 meters tall, had left their shared apartment to go jogging. After that, all traces of Maria were lost. After waiting for some time, her distraught fiancé and Maria’s twin sister reported Maria missing to the police. When there was still no sign of life from Maria even after months, her fiancé Christian F. and her twin sister appeared on the TV show “XY Spezial – Wo ist mein Kind?” (XY Special – Where is my child?) in November 2012 in order to find Maria. But the search for Maria remained unsuccessful. It was not until 16 months later, in September 2012, that her body was found in a wooded area near Bernhardswald. It had been buried there and covered with quicklime to accelerate decomposition. The spade used to dig her grave was still lying next to it. This spade was a so-called Gardol spring spade, which could be bought at a hardware store not far from where the body was found. It had been purchased there on May 23, 2012, at checkout 6 of the hardware store for €17.95 and paid for with an EC card. The hardware store receipt contained an account number that belonged to none other than Maria’s fiancé, Christian F., whose apartment, basement, and attic were searched. However, the purchased spade was not found until a spade suddenly appeared in the attic, which had probably been deposited there by Christian’s brother, who owned the house where Christian and Maria had an apartment. However, this spade was a successor model to the spade found at the scene of the crime, which had not yet been produced at the time. In addition to the spade, Christian F. was incriminated by keywords such as “the perfect murder” and “lethal dose of lorazepam,” which he had searched for on Google on his PC. Christian F. was remanded in custody on September 12, 2013, but was released again in November 2013 due to a lack of clear evidence. Now a real cat-and-mouse game began with the police, who were certain that Christian F. had murdered his fiancée. In the course of the investigation against Christian F., it emerged that he had sexually assaulted underage members of the Regensburg Cathedral Choir for years and that on April 22, 2014, he had drugged Valerie S., whom he had met in April 2012 as a patient at the district hospital, with the drug lorazepam so that he could spend the night with her. Shortly before Maria’s disappearance, he had fallen in love with Valerie S., whom he now stalked relentlessly, sending her 535 messages via Facebook, SMS, and WhatsApp alone. The sexual assaults led to a trial in 2016, in which Christian F. was given a suspended sentence for child abuse and bodily harm. Investigators also found lorazepam in Christian F.’s apartment, which came from hospital stocks. Thanks to new laboratory methods, this was detected in Maria Baumer’s remains in 2015. Eight years after Maria Baumer’s death, Christian F. was charged with her murder by the 2nd Criminal Chamber of the Regensburg Regional Court. Christian F. had poisoned his fiancée with a lethal dose of lorazepam and then buried her body in the forest near Bernhardswald. Christian F. confessed to the latter on August 18 in Courtroom 104. But he denied any knowledge of murder. After a visit from his brother to the riding stable, Maria had complained of back and stomach pains and helped herself to his medicine cabinet on the night before Pentecost Saturday. When he noticed her death the next morning, he wanted to get rid of Maria’s body because he feared that the death investigation would reveal his theft of medication from the Regensburg district hospital. So he wrapped Maria’s body in a blanket and took it out of the house the following night. He drove to a wooded area near his brother’s riding stable and buried Maria there. Before doing so, he took off her nightgown and removed her engagement ring. He then poured two bags of cement over the hole in the ground. He tried to cover up her disappearance for a few days with fake Facebook messages. Christian F. always had a suitable answer for all the accusations. He had entered the search term “lethal dose of lorazepam” because he feared patients would commit suicide. He also wanted to watch the ZDF documentary “Ein fast perfektes Verbrechen” (An Almost Perfect Crime) on YouTube and therefore googled the search term “perfect murder.” He had only sought contact with Valerie S. because he wanted to test his market value with other women. He insisted that Maria was the love of his life. But no one believed these adventurous versions that Christian F. presented in court. Christian F. simply wanted to get rid of his fiancée Maria Baumer. So he administered a lethal dose of lorazepam to her in order to finally be free for Valerie S., with whom he was obsessed, but who had no interest in him whatsoever. In addition, Christian F. did not want to admit to Maria that he had failed his medical studies. He had created his own idealized fantasy world, which was threatening to collapse. Christian F. was sentenced to life imprisonment with particular severity by the 2nd Criminal Chamber of the Regensburg Regional Court for the murder of his fiancée Maria Baumer. This finally put an end to Christian F.’s years of playing cat and mouse.