Christoph Bulwin

Christoph Bulwin was a German man who died on 9 May 2012, of complications related to mercury poisoning. He had allegedly been poisoned a year earlier with a syringe attached to an umbrella by an unidentified perpetrator.

Christoph Bulwin

Christoph Bulwin was 40 years old at the time of the events and was married with two children. The family lived in the Celle area about from Hanover where he worked as a software engineer and database administrator for IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie, a trade union for miners, chemical and energy workers.

Attack According to Bulwin's testimony, on 15 July 2011, at 03:55pm he was walking from his office to his car on Fischerstraße when he passed a man waiting with an umbrella in his hand. Bulwin perceived the man as suspicious and crossed the road, but the man started following him. When he was passed, Bulwin felt a sting in his left buttock. He approached the man and saw that he was holding an umbrella with a pointed object attached to its tip. According to public TV broadcaster ZDF, Bulwin grabbed the umbrella and got hold of a syringe that seemed to have been attached with tape to the umbrella. According to the magazine Focus, the syringe fell out of the umbrella. The unidentified man fled the scene in the direction of Jägerstraße.

Bulwin first suspected an attack with HIV. An ambulance took him to a near hospital where he was checked but no abnormalities were found. He requested prophylactic medication against HIV but soon stopped taking it due to the strong side effects. Besides that, he did not have any symptoms for the first days after the incident. MercuryMethylmercuryThalliumEDTA Blood

(initial measurement)4255 μg/l (< 2 μg/l)not tested< 0,2 μg/l (< 0,6 μg/l)EDTA Blood

(DMPS treatment)2929 μg/l (< 2 μg/l)1538 μg/l (< 1 μg/l)not testedVenous blood (autopsy)6,4 μg/l (< 2 μg/l)3,6 μg/l (< 1 μg/l)< 0,2 μg/l (< 0,6 μg/l)Liver (autopsy)7100 μg/kg (< 490 μg/kg)not testednot testedKidney (autopsy)2100 μg/kg (< 9,1 μg/kg)not testednot tested (clinical reference values in parentheses)

However, the diagnosis came too late for an effective therapy. Bulwin did not wake from his coma, and died on 9 May 2012, from an epileptic shock. He was in a nursing home at the time. The attacker was described as:

about 45 years old wearing a dark baseball hat and a black, shiny faux leather jacket about tall and slim tanned and dry complexion wearing a large band-aid on his right cheek

During the investigation at the scene several witnesses reported sightings of a man who matched this description. According to the witnesses, this man had waited close to the office building where Bulwin worked and had been seen there days and even weeks before the attack. One witness described an encounter during which the suspect complained about the witness's dog.

Theories about the attacker's motive Due to the lack of a plausible motive, the attack was speculated to be due to mistaken identity. A possible connection to the victim's employer, a major trade union, was also proposed. However, neither theory could be substantiated.

Pausenbrotmörder In 2018, a 57-year-old man in Bielefeld was arrested under the suspicion of having poisoned several coworkers by spreading poisonous compounds on their lunch sandwiches (German "Pausenbrot") and into their beverages. The alleged crimes happened between 2015 and 2018 and were discovered using surveillance footage. One victim died, several others were seriously injured. A possible connection between the cases was investigated because the sandwich murderer used dimethylmercury among other substances. However, no DNA match could be established.