Karl Hopf (serial killer)

Karl Hopf attended the Musterschule and left after the Untersekunda. He began work as a pharmacist in London, and lived temporarily in Casablanca and India. There he trained in fencing, which he mastered to perfection. At the turn of the century, he ran a kennel in Niederhöchstadt, today part of Eschborn. For one of his dogs, he scored a high amount of 10,000 gold marks for sale at one time.[1]

In 1902 he married his first wife, Josefa Henel, from Niederhöchstadt. She died the same year on November 28 after a short illness. From her life insurance he received 20,000 gold marks. He then married Auguste Christine, née Schneider, who also began suffering from health problems. She divorced Hopf, left him and died soon afterwards. However, Hopf was unable to collect the insurance of 30,000 gold marks on her. His daughter, Elsa, died in 1906.

In the following years Hopf appeared in variety shows under the pseudonym "Athos" as a champion in fencing.[2]

In 1912 he married Dresden native Wally Siewec in London. They insured themselves with 80,000 gold marks "on mutuality". His third wife soon became ill with severe gastrointestinal disease. She was treated at the Deaconess Hospital in Frankfurt, where she began to feel better. The toxicology specialist, Dr. Rossmann, recognized symptoms of severe poisoning and consulted forensic physician Georg Popp.[3]

As a result, a search of Hopf's home revealed large amounts of various highly concentrated poisons, including arsenic, digitalis and live cultures of typhoid and cholera bacilli. He was arrested on April 14, 1913. Hopf had brought a bottle of cyanide with him, but police seized it from him.

The trial in front of the jury in Frankfurt and lasted from January 9 to 19, 1914, and was very well received by the public. More than 64 witnesses and experts were invited and heard. At the trial it came to light that Hopf had murdered his father, first wife, illegitimate child and his daughter Elsa from his second marriage with poison. He secretly, partially over long periods of time, poisoned all the murdered, mostly hidden in foods and drinks.

In an exhumation of the bodies of all his deceased relatives, Popp succeeded for the first time in criminal history to scientifically lead the poison detection in the bones and body parts.

After he was sentenced to death, Karl Hopf was guillotined on March 23, 1914 in the courtyard of the Royal Prison Preugesheim.[4]

• List of serial killers by country

• Historical Society Eschborn about Karl Hopf
• City of Frankfurt about Georg Popp