Trials in which clerics are judged have always attracted a lot of attention. On the one hand, they are not frequent, on the other - the position of the accused is always a guarantor of publicity. It was the same with Hans B. Schmidt, whose outrageous crimes shook the United States and echoed in Germany. What did this priest do to receive the death sentence?
Hans B. Schmidt was born in 1881 in Bavaria. He connected his adult life with the Catholic Church, being ordained a priest in Mainz in 1906. However, his ministry in Germany did not last long. The parishioners very quickly began to complain about the strange and inappropriate behavior of the young priest. There were various rumors of his love affairs with women, the use of prostitutes, and his obscene contacts with young boys. Three years after his transition to the clergy, Hans had to leave the country in search of a new parish.
It was decided that he would move overseas, to the church of St. John in Louisville, Kentucky. Unfortunately, he didn't stay there for long either. He got into a conflict with another priest. The case ended with a shooting and Hans Schmidt's departure to St. Boniface in New York in 1912.
In love to death
In the new parish, Hans met Anna Aumüller, an immigrant from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who worked as a housekeeper in the presbytery. As he would later say, God spoke to him and told him to love her. Unfortunately, no higher force spoke to Anna, which sparked her feelings for the priest. The woman resisted his intrusive advances for a long time, but eventually succumbed . However, this relationship was not enough for a jury clergyman.
In the new parish, Hans met Anna Aumüller, an immigrant from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who worked as a housekeeper in the presbytery. As he would later say, God spoke to him and told him to love her.
In late 1912, he established a second relationship with New York dentist Ernest Muret. This romance was supposed to meet his needs better than the (still continued) relationship with Anna. However, this did not prevent Hans from entering into a marriage with her. He celebrated the wedding himself. The idyll was soon to end with a tragedy that shook New York and the rest of the country.
The affair with the housekeeper began to raise rumors very quickly and led to another transfer of Hans. This time, however, he did not leave the city. The church of St. Joseph in Harlem. There he was also to hear from God that he should sacrifice Anna as a sacrifice, which he finally did when he found out that the woman was expecting a child.
Sacrificial murder
On September 2, 1913, Hans visited Anna in a rented apartment. Unfortunately for the woman, this night turned out to be the last night of her life. A priest attacked her and probably cut her throat. Then he had sex with the corpse several times and drank Anna's blood. Then he dismembered her body and threw it into the Hudson River, hoping that the remains would settle to the bottom forever. After all, he returned to the church and celebrated Mass.
Fate was that three days later, on the banks of the Hudson, a woman's torso wrapped in a pillowcase with a tag was discovered . Thanks to her, the police contacted the manufacturer of the bedding, and then the mail-order store indicated by him, offering this model. It turned out that only two sets of this set were sold and the investigators ended up in Anna Aumüller's apartment, rented in the name of Hans Schmidt.
There they found a freshly scrubbed floor, traces of blood on the wall and a bloody knife on the kitchen counter. The caretaker told the police where they would find a tenant. The arrested Schmidt immediately confessed to the crime committed. He stated that he killed Anna out of love and detailed the murder. However, time has shown that it was not the only crime he committed.
Crimes of the clergyman
After Hans was arrested, more shocking facts began to emerge. The man rented another apartment in the city where, pretending to be a doctor, he performed abortions and forged documents . Before he entered the seminary, Schmidt studied medicine for a short time - later he used the knowledge he had acquired in his illegal activities. The police found blank death certificates at the premises. As it turned out, Hans planned to commit a series of murders to extort money from insurance companies.
After Hans was arrested, more shocking facts came to light.
As news of the arrest of the murder priest began spreading in the press, other gruesome revelations surfaced. While in Louisville, Schmidt killed and buried 9-year-old Alma Kelmer in the church's basement. There was also a case of a pedophilic murder from Bavaria, unfortunately it has already been discontinued.
In court, the accused tried to cover up with mental illness, referring to his conversations with God. However, this line of defense turned out to be useless when compared with the testimonies of witnesses. The words of Bertha Zech, whom Hans asked to pretend to be his wife, Anna Aumüller, turned out to be particularly damning. The woman took out life insurance for $ 5,000 on her behalf, and the only beneficiary of the policy was Schmidt.
Ultimately, the clergyman was sentenced to death in the electric chair. The sentence was carried out on February 18, 1916 at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Hans Schmidt remains to this day the only priest sentenced to death by the American judiciary.