Stephan Harbort Ich liebte eine Bestie—Die Frauen der Serienmörder Vice: Mr. Harbort, what kind of person would date a serial killer? Stephan Harbort: Hmm, so pretty much every woman I’ve ever met? So it’s not at all about the whole charismatic Manson-kind of charm that’s driving women crazy? Sounds like Bridget Jones somehow. Anyways, did these couples commit murders together too? There’s one thing I always wanted to know. Are there crucial experiences that will trigger people and make them kill for the first time? Yeah, there’s a vast variety of those, but if you look at serial killers, especially the sadist kind, then it seems like witnessing the slaughter of animals sets many of them off. Can you give us an example of something that made one of these guys start his killing spree? That sounds pretty twisted. Do you find this kind of logic in these people a lot? I talked to this one guy who’d routinely kill elderly women who looked well off. He’d follow them to their apartments, pretend he’s a mailman or something, and then kill and rob them. He said it was like a “job.” You mean, just like I go to the office that guy set out to stab women? And he never had any qualms? So he left her in peace? So what should I do when I meet a lunatic like that? Having met so many of these sick people, do you sometimes stop and think, “Wooow, there’s something wrong with this person…” when you meet people in your private life? I beware of utilizing all of that experience in my private life. That’d be too much. It’s a pretty heavy burden and sometimes you just need a break. I kind of imagine your job like that of Clarice Starling. Do the murderers play games with you like that? Creepy. So what did the guy do? He kept jumping up and taking away my pen and saying stuff like, “Look, I’ll ram it through your eye, right into your brain.” I felt like a rabbit in front of a snake. What really made a lasting impression was when he tried to laugh and his face contorted into this scary grimace. Completely void of emotion, cynical, evil. That was 12 years ago, but I still can’t come up with the right words to describe this. Do they release serial killers in Germany? It’s not like you can’t redeem serial killers at all. I’m in touch with a couple of killers like that, who have been released a couple years ago and their behavior is flawless so far. But what they all say is that “the first time is relatively difficult, the second time is easier already, and then the third time is not that big of a deal anymore.” Those who’ve crossed the killing boundary once can do it again and again. How do the German killers kill? That’s a broad spectrum. There’s like five to six ways of killing, with each representing about 15% of the murders, like choking, strangling, stabbing, shooting, and slaying. There’s no difference to the normal murderers, really. What about cannibalism? That happens, but only in one percent of the cases, which is literally nothing. That Hannibal Lecter kind of scenario doesn’t really happen in real life. And if it does happen, then it’s usually not cannibalism in the original sense, but it’s more like they’re trying something out. Like the “Ruhr Cannibal” ? Did he try to eat people from the very beginning? So then in year 20 it “worked out”? He lured a four-year-old into his apartment. Then he boiled parts of the child, her hands and slices from her thighs, in a broth with carrots and potatoes. Basically preparing a meal. “I just wanted to know what human flesh tastes like,” he reasoned. It was a morbid sort of fascination, the culmination of his perverted development. Everything he had done up to that day didn’t fulfill him any more and he was looking for new facets. I read that he was incredibly dumb. How high was his IQ? 76, which means he was like borderline retarded. So this completely dumb person just thought to himself, “If I make sure I’m far enough from my hometown and the victims don’t know me, then how on earth are they supposed to connect the murders to me?” And this simple strategy saved him from being arrested for like 20 years. What about the victims? Is there anything that makes you especially prone to becoming a victim? There’s six types of victims; for example the killer and victim just meet by chance. Being “available” is what makes these victims attractive. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man, a woman, or a child—as long as it’s just “there.” Then there’s victims who die because they’re in some kind of relationship with the killer, for example a newborn who’s a threat to its mother. These people die because of what they represent to the killer. Then there’s also the rare cases where the killer has an actual pattern, like for example Jürgen Bartsch who said, “You know, I was always after the boys aged 8 to 10 with fair hair and they had to be slim and only if they looked exactly like that, I was attracted to them.” I have this theory of Armin Meiwes being a serial killer too, but he just killed one guy. What do you think about that? Photos by Christoph Voy