The innocent murderer whom no one believed

Johann Evangelist Lettenbauer suffered this cruel fate: he spent almost 18 years behind bars, innocent, and was ostracized by society as the murderer of his own daughter and grandson. It was not until August 11, 1965, that the then 83-year-old man was acquitted. By that time, he had already spent 10 years in prison, followed by three and a half years in a mental hospital and, most recently, three and a half years in a nursing home. But how could such a miscarriage of justice have occurred? Johann Evangelist Lettenbauer lived with his wife, his 23-year-old daughter Maria, and her two-year-old son Arthur, a child born from a relationship with a French prisoner of war, in a farmhouse in Oberreitnau. Johann Lettenbauer worked as a railway maintenance worker for the Ludwig-Süd-Bahn. On the morning of July 16, 1947, he had mowed grass for his three goats. Then he went home, where his daughter had usually already made breakfast for everyone. Since this was not the case, an argument ensued and Lettenbauer left the house again to mow grass. When he returned home a short time later, he found his daughter lying dead on the sofa. His grandson Arthur was lying on the floor. He held him close, as he still seemed to be breathing slightly. Lettenbauer, who now had his grandson’s blood on his shirt, panicked. What if he became a suspect in the murder of Maria and his grandson? So he first washed his shirt and had breakfast. When police officer Rietzler arrived at Lettenbauer’s house, he, like the court later, found Lettenbauer’s calm demeanor suspicious. The 19-year-old neighbor girl had seen two vagrants at the Lettenbauer house when she arrived by bus from Lindau. However, they were dismissed as vagrants. The murder weapon, an axe, bore only the fingerprints of Johann Lettenbauer, who finally confessed after being persuaded by the officers. Later, he repeatedly insisted that he was innocent. But no one believed him, which is why Johann Lettenbauer was sentenced by the Lindau Regional Court on November 27, 1947, to 10 years in prison for the murder of his daughter and the manslaughter of his grandson. After serving his sentence, he was to be placed in an institution and then in a retirement home, as the expert opinion was that Lettenbauer was likely to commit further crimes. But in 1965, the tide turned and Lettenbauer’s innocence was finally proven. This was because 37-year-old Manfred Jung confessed that he had killed Maria Lettenbauer and her two-year-old son in their home in Oberreitnau on July 16, 1947. Manfred Jung, who was 19 at the time, was traveling with his friend Wilhelm Schwall, who was the same age, when they arrived at the Lettenbauer house. They saw that Maria Lettenbauer was home alone and asked her for a bottle of water so they could wash themselves outside. Maria Lettenbauer gave them the water. When Manfred Jung returned the bottle, he stole a pocket watch, bacon, and bread. Maria Lettenbauer noticed this and attacked him with a beer bottle in her hand. Manfred Jung then knocked her down with the bottle and grabbed an axe. He killed Maria Lettenbauer and then her two-year-old son, the only witness. Since Manfred Jung had been wearing gloves, he left no fingerprints on the axe. Only the fingerprints of the owner, Johann Lettenbauer, were found there. After the murder, Manfred Jung continued his journey with his friend. Manfred Jung only made this confession because the police in Eitorf had received a confidential tip from a friend of Jung’s on March 23, 1965. This man had told the police that he had committed burglaries in 1948 together with Manfred Jung and his friend Wilhelm Schwall. He and Schwall were caught and convicted, while Jung joined the Foreign Legion. In prison, Schwall confessed to him that Jung had killed a young woman and her child with an axe in the Lake Constance area in 1947. The man had already given this tip to the Eitorf police in 1950, who then asked the Lindau criminal investigation department, which forwarded the request to the Ravensburg criminal investigation department. The latter responded to the inquiry by stating that there was no unsolved crime of the described nature, as Johann Lettenbauer had already been convicted. After Manfred Jung’s confession, Johann Lettenbauer had to wait four months for his retrial in 1965 before he was acquitted by the Kempten Regional Court on March 28, 1965, on the grounds of proven innocence. Lettenbauer received compensation for his imprisonment of DM 50,000 from the state of Bavaria in 1965 and damages of DM 60,000 from the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1967 due to an official error by the Baden-Württemberg criminal investigation department. The latter had handled the request from the Eitorf police station on January 9, 1950, in a manner contrary to official duties, thereby preventing Johann Lettenbauer’s release for 15 years. Manfred Jung, who was 19 years old at the time of the crime, had to answer to the juvenile court in Kempten and was in fact acquitted. The public prosecutor’s office appealed, which was upheld, and Manfred Jung was sent to prison for seven years.