49 Facts About Armin Meiwes

In January 2004, Armin Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison.

Armin Meiwes was born in Essen as the third child of Waltraud Meiwes ; the pair married the year following the birth.

Armin Meiwes dropped out of Hauptschule and attended commercial training without completion.

Armin Meiwes held misandrist views due to her failed romantic relationships and sought to make her youngest son fully dependent on her.

Former girlfriends and colleagues of Armin Meiwes recalled that she would always accompany him to dates and work trips, with Armin Meiwes stating that he was raised to believe this was normal.

Essen police recorded that Waltraud Armin Meiwes had filed a false murder accusation against a female acquaintance of her then-husband in 1965.

Armin Meiwes kept the door to his room adorned with the words "children's bedroom" until Meiwes was 20 years old.

Armin Meiwes described himself as being closer to his father growing up, finding his mother "eccentric", but that after their separation, she was his closest contact for almost all his life.

Between 1981 and 1993, Armin Meiwes served as a contractual soldier in the German Army, largely spent stationed at the Alheimer barracks outside of Rotenburg, and became a non-commissioned officer of the 52nd Panzergrenadier Brigade.

Between 1984 and 1985, he was engaged to a woman, but Armin Meiwes ended the relationship because he found her too similar in character and appearance to his mother.

Armin Meiwes claimed to have met his ex-fiancee, as well as other women, through a matchmaker and that after the break-up, he focused more on his career, finishing administrative training in Sonthofen and Unna in 1986.

Armin Meiwes had originally planned to run a computer teaching school with his brothers, but following his discharge with the rank of Oberfeldwebel, Armin Meiwes instead found work as an IT specialist for the data center of a bank in Kassel.

Armin Meiwes was known to be entrusted with children, babysitting the children of his neighbours, annually acting as Santa Claus for Christmas and giving a teenager driving courses, often voicing his wish to settle down and have children of his own.

Armin Meiwes named the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel and a film adaptation of the novel Robinson Crusoe as early influences, with the latter standing out to him for featuring a scene where the character Friday voiced interest in "showing his reverence" for a fellow tribesman by consuming his remains.

Armin Meiwes had described himself feeling "very lonesome" after "the family had fallen apart", referring primarily to the abandonment by his father, but the poor relationship to his older brothers, as well as the deaths of his grandmother and first pet cat by the time he was eight years old.

Armin Meiwes only attempted to live this fantasy out once before, having wanted to ask a male classmate who bore a close resemblance to "Franky" to "cut off a piece of him", but decided against it for fear of being denied and ostracised.

Armin Meiwes stated that as he grew older, his fantasies would "fade into the background" whenever he was in a relationship, but the death of his mother on 2 September 1999 caused him to focus more intensely on it.

Armin Meiwes filmed amateur fetish videos for personal usage, wherein he would cover himself in ketchup while pretending to cut himself, hang himself up by his feet via pulley to resemble a slaughtered animal carcass, or eat marzipan and minced meat he had formed into human or phallic shapes.

Armin Meiwes kept collages of cut-out body parts from pornographic magazines on a grill and copies of the videos locked in a safe, after he stopped producing additional footage when his mother questioned an uncleaned kitchen Meiwes left behind after one nightly filming.

Armin Meiwes voiced interest primarily in killing, dismembering and cannibalising another person, but fantasised about being cooked and eaten by someone else.

In June 2000, Armin Meiwes met Jorg Buse, a 31-year-old hotel cook from Fussen, going by the username "Meatboy".

Armin Meiwes's father was a physician and his mother was an anaesthesiologist, working at clinics in Berlin-Zehlendorf.

Armin Meiwes graduated with average grades from Erich-Hoepner-Gymnasium and studied at Technische Universitat Berlin, finishing with degrees in control engineering and electrical engineering on 3 November 1983.

Armin Meiwes's worsening relations with his father ended with the elder Brandes cutting off contact with his son for coming out in 1990.

Between their first online communications and their in-person meeting, Brandes and Armin Meiwes had near daily e-mail exchanges for a month discussing their plans and paraphilias in detail.

Armin Meiwes initially planned to live together and get to know each other for a few days, but Brandes insisted the "slaughter" should take place that day.

Armin Meiwes had prepared six knives, a hatchet and a meat grinder for the act.

Armin Meiwes asked to use a knife instead and had Brandes drink a 180 ml bottle of alcoholic Vicks MediNait cough syrup to induce slowed breathing and extreme tiredness to ease the process.

Armin Meiwes had difficulty cutting into the flesh, so he used a sharper blade to cut off Brandes' penis.

Armin Meiwes then chopped the penis up into chunks and fed it to his dog.

Armin Meiwes then ran Brandes a bath, before going to read a Star Trek book, while checking on Brandes every fifteen minutes, during which time Brandes lay bleeding in the bath, drifting in and out of consciousness.

Shortly after, between 3:00 and 4:00, Brandes attempted to get up to use the restroom, despite Armin Meiwes saying that he didn't mind if Brandes urinated on the mattress.

When Brandes stood up, he immediately collapsed from blood loss and believing Brandes had died, Armin Meiwes tied him to a table and cut off parts of his body.

Armin Meiwes dismembered and ate the corpse over the next ten months, storing body parts in his freezer under pizza boxes and consuming up to 20 kilograms of the flesh.

Between 2001 and 2002, Armin Meiwes arranged between 30 to 40 "slaughter meetings".

The majority backed out from more drastic practices suggested by Armin Meiwes, being only interested in role-playing scenarios, but some participants with BDSM or submission fetishes allowed themselves to be tied up and strung up on the block and tackle.

Armin Meiwes voiced a preference for young, lean males with blond hair, but pursued every offer he received.

At least four men had agreed to be slaughtered; all but one backed out after realising that Armin Meiwes was serious about his offer.

Armin Meiwes did not go through with this because the victim was "too indecisive and fat" for his liking.

In June 2001, Armin Meiwes again met with Jorg Buse, who sent Armin Meiwes photos of his colleagues and repeated his offers of bringing them over to be eaten.

Armin Meiwes specifically refused these requests because he insisted on knowing and willing people.

Buse was shaved of his armpit and pubic hair in the same tub Brandes had bled out in before Armin Meiwes consensually tied him up and strung Buse upside down in the "slaughter room".

Armin Meiwes repeatedly asked Buse if he would like to be slaughtered in place of his acquaintances, which he repeatedly denied.

Armin Meiwes was arrested on 10 December 2002 and following a house search on 11 December, police recovered body parts in the yard and personal belongings of Brandes.

When speaking to a German newspaper, Armin Meiwes admitted to cannibalising Brandes and expressed regret for his actions.

Armin Meiwes added he wanted to write a biography with the aim of deterring anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps.

Websites dedicated to Armin Meiwes started appearing after his 2002 arrest, with people advertising for willing victims.

The court ruled that the original trial had ignored the significance of the video in disproving the argument that Armin Meiwes only killed because he had been asked to kill.

In January 2004, while Armin Meiwes' trial was still ongoing, an American investor attempted to buy the property to turn it into a theme hotel called "Cannibal World", complete with shuttle service, photoshoots, and a "Cannibal Cafe".