The murderous Porsche driver

A criminal case in which no fewer than 4,600 Porsche drivers in Munich were investigated and which led to the Federal Constitutional Court issuing a landmark ruling on mass testing is the murder of 24-year-old Andrea Bergmaier in Nehren. On December 31, 1992, Andrea’s boyfriend Dietmar U., a computer specialist from Munich, had planned to pick her up to celebrate the end of the year together. When he arrived at the apartment building in Nehren, he immediately saw that the patio door of Andrea’s one-room apartment on the ground floor was open. When he entered the apartment and called out to Andrea, he found her lying dead on her bed, wearing only a negligee. He immediately alerted the police. The autopsy revealed that Andrea had been stabbed several times in the neck with a knife before her killer slit her throat. Andrea bled to death in agony. Andrea had had sexual intercourse beforehand, as semen was found on her clothes and in her mouth. Since Andrea had no injuries in her genital area, the police assumed that the sex was consensual. There were no signs of a break-in, nor had any valuables been stolen; only a book with Andrea’s acquaintances’ phone numbers was missing. The killer had probably stolen it so as not to be traced. The only clue Andrea’s killer left behind was his semen. Investigators initially focused on Andrea’s circle of acquaintances, as she had worked as a technical draftsman at a mechanical engineering company. Witnesses reported that Andrea had recently been visited often by a very handsome 25- to 35-year-old Porsche driver with Munich license plates. Andrea, who had been with Dietmar U. since her school days, was an extremely attractive woman who was an avid aerobics fan. Every day she visited the “Pegasus” fitness club in Dußlingen, where she also helped out as a bartender from time to time. On the day of her murder, Andrea was at the fitness club when, at around 9 p.m., an unknown man entered the club, stopped at the door, and made eye contact with Andrea. An employee handed him a flyer, thinking he was interested in the fitness club. The man then disappeared again. Andrea was quite upset afterwards and left the gym at around 10:15 p.m., driving away from the parking lot in her Peugeot. At around 10:30 p.m., a motorist saw a Porsche with Munich license plates parked in front of Andrea’s apartment. Since there was no frost on the windows, he had only parked his Porsche there recently. Investigators focused on the mysterious Porsche driver, with whom Andrea had probably been leading a double life. Her boyfriend Dietmar, with whom Andrea had vacationed in Tenerife just 10 days before her murder, knew nothing about a second man in Andrea’s life who wanted to move to Munich. Andrea, who had often visited the Bavarian capital, had applied for a job at a Munich company and had already had a job interview. On September 10, 1993, Andrea’s murder was featured on the TV show “Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst” (File Number XY … Unsolved). Although there were some leads after that, they came to nothing. For this reason, the police launched a perpetrator exclusion procedure in which more than 3,500 Porsche drivers were questioned by 1996 and in 900 cases the men were asked to provide a blood sample. All but one man cooperated. This was 30-year-old Porsche driver Rolf M. from Munich, who was ultimately forced by the court to give a blood sample, but even he could be ruled out as the murderer after genetic analysis. The case caused quite a stir, as it involved the largest mass DNA test ever conducted at that time. Since Andrea had also cultivated contacts among Munich’s high society, celebrities and red-light district figures were also asked to take a genetic test. But again, there were no clues as to Andrea’s murderer. After seven years, there was nothing that led to Andrea’s murderer. The Tübingen criminal investigation department, which had previously focused on the Porsche driver but whose trail led nowhere, once again scrutinized Andrea’s environment. In the process, they came across a cleaning lady who had regularly cleaned the stairwell in Andrea’s apartment building. During questioning, the police learned that her husband, Holger M., had taken over this task for her because she was still working in a butcher’s shop. Holger M. was an early retiree due to a broken hip and had attended a special school because of his poor writing skills and speech impediment. He had then successfully completed an apprenticeship as a mechanic until his health thwarted his plans. From then on, he was a stay-at-home dad who took care of their son. The couple lived in a house in Ofterdingen. Shortly before Christmas, he had met Andrea while cleaning the stairwell for his wife. She had asked him if he could repair her roller shutter. Holger M. did so, but denied any further contact. However, the results of his saliva sample left no doubt that the semen came from Holger M., who was therefore Andrea’s murderer. It was not a Porsche driver from Munich, but an early retiree who drove a Golf who had killed Andrea. During questioning, he confessed to having had an affair with Andrea. On the night of December 30 to 31, he had visited Andrea at her apartment in Nehren, where they had sex. Afterwards, he wanted to return to his wife’s house. An argument ensued. When Andrea threatened to confess his wife’s infidelity, he lost control. He grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Andrea. He then left the apartment through the patio door. Holger M. was charged with murder and rape, but denied the rape. After seven days of hearings, the verdict was handed down on May 23, 2003, at the Tübingen Regional Court. Holger M. received 11 years in prison for manslaughter; there was no evidence of rape or a cover-up of the crime. To this day, the mystery surrounding the mysterious Porsche driver with whom Andrea had led a kind of double life remains unsolved. However, Andrea’s murderer, who turned out to be a simple cleaner, was finally caught.