Guido Zingerle

Guido Zingerle (3 September 1902 – 9 August 1962), known as The Monster of Tyrol , was an Italian murderer and possible serial killer who killed at least two women in the 1940s and raped another three. In his murders, Zingerle had specially-equipped caves in the Tyrolean mountains, where he would abduct and then rape his victims. He killed by burying his victims under a pile of stones to let them die in days of agony, which he often observed. After the Second World War, he moved to Innsbruck in Austria.

Early life Zingerle was born in 1902 in Tschars in the Vinschgau Valley. His mother, a labourer, was unable to cope with the demands of raising her illegitimate child and placed him in the care of a farming family in the village of Vals in Mühlbach. Already during his time at primary school, he stood out for his violent and cruel behaviour and failed to fit in with his peers. At the age of 15, he was charged with theft for the first time and placed in a youth care home; in the years that followed, he repeatedly came to the attention of the criminal justice system.

After being conscripted into the Italian Army’s Alpini in 1923, Zingerle deserted after just one year and fled to France, where he signed a five-year contract with the Foreign Legion. In 1929, he also deserted from this post in North Africa, but was apprehended in what was then Spanish Morocco and transferred to Italy, where a court sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment for desertion. After his release in 1932, he married in Pawigl near Lana and became the father of a daughter in 1934. Shortly afterwards, he left his family and went to Abyssinia as a labourer; Italy had subjugated the region militarily in 1935. However, he returned to South Tyrol as early as 1936.

Arrest and detention

In August 1950, after five weeks of prosecution by the police from both North and South Tyrol, Zingerle was apprehended in an alpine hut near Vals in Mühlbach. He confessed in his first interrogation. After trials in Bolzano and Innsbruck, he was sentenced to multiple counts of life imprisonment. In a psychiatric report, he was described, among other things, as a “socially destructive, instinct-driven individual” („gesellschaftsfeindlicher Triebmensch“ in German).

On 9 August 1962 Zingerle died from liver cancer in the Turi prison.

Aftermath Guido Zingerle was known as the epitome of evil in the region for decades, with parents often using the educational formula "If you are not good, then Zingerle will get you." against rebellious children.

On the Patscherkofel, a memorial cross marks the spot where Helen Munro was murdered by Zingerle. In 2015, the play "Fliegende Hitzen", written by Lorenz Gutmann and Veronika Eberl, was premiered at the Tyrolean folk plays in Telfs. With dark humour included, Zingerle's life story is retold.

In the 40-minute feature film Zingerle, directed by Eric Marcus Weglehner, Roland Silbernagl plays the role.

Literature Heinrich Schwazer: Der Zingerle: Geschichte eines Frauenmörders. Raetia, Bolzano 2002. Artur Oberhofer: Die großen Kriminalfälle: Der Frauenmörder Zingerle - Die Geschichte des Ungeheuers von Tirol,