Matej Čurko

Matej Čurko (1968 – May 12, 2011), known as The Slovak Cannibal, was a Slovak murderer, cannibal and suspected serial killer. He was killed by police after attempting to entice a Swiss man to his death. Upon investigation, it was discovered that he had killed and eaten two suicidal women who had volunteered themselves to be murdered. Soon afterwards, police from Italy announced that the killer could be responsible for the disappearance of an Italian woman aged 25 to 28.

Early life Matej Čurko was born via C-section as one of two sons to a fairly average family, but his parents divorced at a young age. Čurko and his brother, who were not close, were looked after by their mother and grandmother, although they kept in regular contact with their father. Čurko had no recorded illness or injuries at preschool age and passed kindergarten without complications. He even attended a school for mathematically gifted pupils since he was skilled in technical areas.

He was not popular at school, but neither was he bullied or humiliated. Čurko's hobbies were mostly solitary ones, including cycling, playing guitar or drums, using computers and programming them. He was described as a rebel and provocateur by his teachers, as he had trouble keeping respect for the authorities. At age 13, he attacked his 11-year-old neighbor with a knife, causing the boy serious injuries. This incident got the young Čurko transferred to a psychiatric clinic in Košice, where he spent more than a month. After that, he was treated at the Children's Psychiatric Hospital in Hraničné, where intellectual tests showed that he had an above-average IQ of 116.

Modus Operandi and proven murders At the time of the murders, Čurko lived in Sokoľ, and regularly traveled to the Kysak forest, where he would meet and subsequently kill the victims. He met them mainly through suicide forums, using the handle "Orion218". Then, at his pleasure, he would eat whatever part of the body he desired, storing the rest in his refrigerator in Kysak and burying the bodies in shallow graves on his property.

The full story is told in the book "Die Entscheidung - Begegnung mit einem Kannibalen", which the author Markus Dubach has published on 26 November 2017.

Investigation While examining his backpack, the police discovered a wide variety of items which could be used to kill a person: three bottles of vodka, a folding knife, packs of black pepper (presumably to mask the smell), plastic bags, linen, latex gloves, zip ties, a large knife and a handsaw. Not long after, Čurko's house was searched, where they found several legally-owned weapons, a large number of cartridges, several mobile phones and his computer. If the information is correct, there should be another victim, as the known ones disappeared in 2010.

Curko also mentioned that the 2009 victim was his first, which would mean that Curko killed three people. However, this is doubtful, as he attacked a child at the age of 13.

Connection to Italy The e-mail communication between Curko and Dubach referred to an Italian woman. the rumor spread that one of Curko's victims was from Italy. A connection was made to an unidentified female body discovered in a field near Rome. This connection was never confirmed.

What did the victims know? The media spread the claim that Curko's victims had agreed to a cannibalism pact. The fact is that the contact was made via suicide forums and Curko merely offered to kill the victims painlessly. There is no evidence that the victims knew that parts of their bodies would be eaten after their death. For example, there is not a single reference to cannibalism in the chat protocol with Lucia Uchnárová.

Cannibalism is explicitly mentioned only in the conversation with Dubach. But Markus Dubach was not looking for someone to kill and eat him. The contact came about by chance after Dubach began researching cannibalism in Europe on the basis of an article in GEO magazine and then came across a macabre advertisement on the internet. He thought the "offer" made there was a nasty joke. When he realized how serious it was, he contacted the police.

As things stand, Markus Dubach is the only victim who knew that Curko was a cannibal.