Global InformationLudwig Tessnow information
Ludwig Tessnow | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 February 1872 Prussia |
| Died | 1904 (aged 31/32) Greifswald Prison, Greifswald, German Empire |
| Cause of death | Execution by guillotine |
| Other names | The Monster of Rügen The Mad Carpenter of Rügen |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction(s) | Murder (2 counts) |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 4 |
Span of crimes | 1898–1901 |
| Country | Germany |
| State(s) | Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern |
Date apprehended | 2 July 1901 |
Ludwig Tessnow (15 February 1872 – ca. 1904) was a German serial killer known as the Monster of Rügen and the Mad Carpenter of Rügen, who murdered four prepubescent children in two separate attacks in 1898 and 1901.[1]
Due to advances in forensic science, by 1901, biologists were able to determine whether the origins of stains recovered from crime scenes or upon a suspect's body or clothing were blood, and whether the bloodstains originated from a human or animal source.[2]: 51-52 Consequently, although investigators had been unable to prove extensive staining found upon Tessnow's clothing following his 1898 murders was wood dye, as he had claimed, or human blood, by the time he committed his 1901 murders, pioneering precipitin testing enabled investigators to prove his clothing had been extensively stained with both human and animal blood, despite his claims to the contrary. This forensic testing ultimately proved Tessnow's guilt.[3]: 202
The tests conducted by biologist Paul Uhlenhuth upon Tessnow's clothing proved to be the first instance in which the forensic analysis of bloodstains was used in the conviction of a criminal.[4]
- ^ The Encyclopedia Of Serial Killers ISBN 978-0-747-23731-0 p. 355
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
lloydwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
evanswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Tilstone, William J.; Savage, Kathleen A.; Clark, Leigh A. (2006). Forensic Science: An Encyclopedia of History, Methods, and Techniques. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576071946.