German cannibal murders: two men sought death, ending in brutal killings

In 2001, telecommunications engineer Bern Brandes responded to a posting on the defunct "The Cannibal Cafe" and met computer technician Armin Meiwes in Kassel. After ingesting sedatives, Brandes allowed Meiwes to castrate him and later dismember his corpse, portions of which were stored and consumed over months. Meiwes was apprehended in 2002 after an Austrian student reported the case and was eventually convicted of murder.

A decade later, Polish businessman Wojciech Stempniewicz, using the alias "LongpigHeszla," arranged a meeting with forensic specialist Detlev Guenzel, who called himself "Caligula." Guenzel lured Stempniewicz to a remote Erzgebirge cabin, strangled him, and cut the body into pieces while music played, hiding remains in a garden. The victim's fiancée alerted police, leading to Guenzel's arrest and a 2015 murder conviction. Both cases highlighted the dark side of online cannibal-fetish communities in Germany.