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The investigation was picking up when, on 14 October, Poehlke requested, and got, some sick leave. Several days later police went to his home to ask him some questions regarding the murders and robberies. With no one answering, and fearing
Poelhke had fled, the police entered the house. What they
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program that they requested help from viewers. After the show, in which a movie was used to reconstruct the previous murders and raids, the criminal police did not receive any decisive information from the public. It is believed that
Poehlke's wife had seen the broadcast.
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Shortly thereafter, he began a series of robberies and bank robberies, three of which proceeded in the same pattern: First, he lured a random victim in a remote rest area to get into his vehicle. He killed his victims with his service weapon, a
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The subsequently formed SOKO "Hammer", whose headquarters were in the
Bottwar school centre, led the largest operation in West Germany's post-war period. In the next four months, 540 clues were investigated and 1,400 people were questioned.
242:, by shooting them in the head. After the crime, he would drive with the stolen vehicle to a bank to rob them. Masked, he smashed the windows of the ticket counter with a sledgehammer, robbed cash, and then escaped with the other vehicle.
273:. The assailant had smashed the teller window with a sledgehammer, and taken the money on the other side. Despite extensive police investigations, the initial search for the perpetrator was unsuccessful.
352:. Poehlke said it had been left there after a quick change for a family member's funeral. Police became suspicious when they discovered no recent family deaths, but that his daughter had died of
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230:, where he took care of the finances. After the construction of the family home, the family became heavily indebted. In March 1984, his daughter Cordula died from a
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for more than a year. The unknown perpetrator was soon dubbed in the media as the "Hammer-Killer", although the sledgehammer was not his preferred murder tool.
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On 3 May 1984, 47-year-old engineer and commercial traveller
Siegfried Pfitzer from Aschaffenburg was found dead, shot in the head, at a highway rest stop in
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who after he committed suicide in 1985 was found to have committed several bank robberies and related murders. He was tagged as the "Hammer-Killer" for his
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of killing drivers of cars and using a sledgehammer in later bank robberies in which he would use his victims' cars as getaway vehicles.
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from the lottery, he built a house for his family (consisting of his wife, two sons and a daughter) in the village of Strümpfelbach in
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found was
Poelhke's wife shot twice in the head in the bathroom and in one of the bedrooms was his son Adrian, also shot dead.
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broadcast an episode titled "Greed", leaning on details from the
Poehlke case; these include, for example, the killer's
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222:, employed from 1982 as a high-ranking sergeant of Mühlhausen am Neckar's canine division. After winning 36,000
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in 1986. A documentary novel was also written, and a play based on the case was made in 1989. A feature film
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550:. In: Klaus Schönberger (ed.): Vabanque. Bank robbery, theory, practice, history. Berlin/Göttingen 2000,
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Three days later, on 23 October, Poehlke and his other son, Gabriel, were found shot dead, a clear
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pistol, a common police-issue pistol. The victim's car was found at the scene of a bank robbery in
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series, which reconstructed the case based on investigation files and numerous witness accounts.
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379:. Poehlke's pistol was confirmed as the murder weapon in the murders, and the case was closed.
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269:. His car, found a quarter-mile from his body, was linked to a bank robbery the same day in
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On 22 July 1985, 26-year-old
Wilfried Scheider was found shot dead in a parking lot in
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officers found a police uniform in one of the lockers. The uniform was traced to
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On 5 July 1985, the lead police station in
Stuttgart publicly announced on the
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being stealing vehicles and the main suspect being an investigating officer.
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The case of the hammer murderer in the
Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg
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595:. The First of May 24, 2001 (WH April 23, 2013 SWR, 3sat) on YouTube
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broadcast a documentary about the
Poehlke case under the title
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291:. A week later, Wethey's car was used in a bank robbery in
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and Ulrike Kriener in the lead roles, was broadcast on
548:"The Hammer Killer" - Police master Norbert Poehlke
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The Hammer-Killer - blood trail of a police officer
391:, together with Elke R. Evert, wrote a book titled
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348:Norbert Poehlke, a veteran officer of 14 years in
245:The series of murders displaced the residents of
510:Bad Blood: An Illustrated Guide to Psycho Cinema
568:Norbert Poehlke killed six people 30 years ago
276:On 21 December, 37-year-old Eugene Wethey, an
593:The Hammer Killer - Bloodstain of a Policeman
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659:Serial killers who worked in law enforcement
536:. Factor publishing house, Stuttgart 1986,
287:, was found shot dead in a rest stop near
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336:On 29 September 1985, while searching a
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185:(15 September 1951 – 22 October 1985),
576:online, retrieved on October 20, 2015)
534:The Hammer Killer. A documentary novel
123:Committed suicide before apprehension
115:Committed suicide before apprehension
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532:Fred Breinersdorfer, Elke R. Evert:
480:""Greed" episode from Die Cleveren"
580:Lane 3799: Right track, wrong grid
295:by a man wielding a sledgehammer.
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591:Fred Breinersdorfer, Anne Worst:
527:Serial Killers True Crime Library
218:Poehlke was a police officer in
588:. No. 17, 1986, pp. 53–60
423:In 1999, the German TV series
387:Prominent German screenwriter
346:detective chief superintendent
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460:List of German serial killers
664:Suicides by firearm in Italy
654:Police misconduct in Germany
340:railway station for bombs,
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508:Fuchs, Christian (2002).
420:Award the following year.
16:German robber and murderer
644:Murder–suicides in Europe
529:. Retrieved on 2007-10-03
329:Aktenzeichen XY… ungelöst
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447:Die großen Kriminalfälle
634:German police officers
649:People from Stuttgart
639:German serial killers
524:POEHLKE, Norbert Hans
306:. He was shot with a
234:at the age of three.
416:in 1990 and won the
183:Norbert Hans Poehlke
35:Norbert Hans Poehlke
573:Stuttgarter Zeitung
522:Wetsch, Elisabeth.
393:The Hammer Murderer
389:Fred Breinersdorfer
142:Span of crimes
99:"The Hammer-Killer"
86:Cause of death
512:. Creation Books.
90:Suicide by gunshot
371:, a village near
220:Baden-Württemberg
187:The Hammer-Killer
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171:Baden-Württemberg
45:15 September 1951
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482:. Archived from
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200:(1971–1985) and
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120:Criminal penalty
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96:Other names
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410:Christian Redl
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365:murder-suicide
342:anti-terrorist
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207:modus operandi
198:police officer
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503:Bibliography
488:. Retrieved
484:the original
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426:Die Cleveren
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418:Grimme-Preis
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383:In the media
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304:Schmidhausen
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289:Grossbottwar
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267:West Germany
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232:brain tumour
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155:West Germany
65:(1985-10-22)
53:West Germany
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629:Familicides
619:1985 deaths
614:1951 births
585:Der Spiegel
408:, starring
401: [
369:Torre Canne
338:Ludwigsburg
312:Spiegelberg
251:Ludwigsburg
71:Torre Canne
608:Categories
490:6 December
466:References
308:Walther P5
283:living in
281:expatriate
271:Erbstetten
257:The crimes
240:Walther P5
214:Early life
41:1951-09-15
356:in 1984.
350:Stuttgart
300:Beilstein
293:Cleebronn
285:Nuremberg
247:Heilbronn
193:), was a
146:1984–1985
49:Stuttgart
454:See also
444:in the '
373:Brindisi
228:Backnang
166:State(s)
75:Brindisi
278:English
263:Marbach
151:Country
133:Victims
128:Details
582:. In:
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354:cancer
195:German
405:]
377:Italy
159:Italy
79:Italy
552:ISBN
538:ISBN
514:ISBN
492:2018
60:Died
31:Born
570:. (
438:ARD
414:ZDF
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403:de
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39:(
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