Franz Josef Ludy

Franz Josef Ludy (born 1933) is a German serial killer who killed four people between 1952 and 1968, and was later sentenced to life imprisonment plus 15 years a total of 3 times. The Bild has described him as "one of the greatest lust killers in German criminal history". After the body was discovered, the boy's killer was arrested only four days later.

Trial The investigation, acting upon Ludy's confessions, revealed that he had suffered from a traumatic brain injury following the 1948 accident. He himself said before the assizes: "Since the accident, everything went wrong with me". He also stated that he could only remember fragments of his actions. The court therefore considered the insanity defence, because of Ludy's mental incompetence. However, he was still convicted of murder in three cases, three cases of attempted murder and four cases of child sexual abuse coinciding with deprivation of liberty. The evidence gathered during the investigations disclosed that Ludy had sought sexual contact with at least a hundred boys. The first and foremost defence by the auditors, the insanity defence, was unsuccessful. Similarly, a preliminary injunction aimed at the Axel Springer SE fell through, as Ludy was described by the Bild as "one of the biggest sex killers in German criminal history".