Did Marian Bachmeier go to jail? Details of his crime

Marianne Bachmeier leaves the courtroom on March 2, 1983. | Wulf Pfeiffer/Getty Images

Bachmeyer made no attempt to escape – he dropped his weapon after emptying the Beretta 70’s magazine at Grabowski. Witnesses to the shooting alleged that Marian said he wanted to kill Grabowski.

“He killed my daughter,” Bachmeier complained. “I wanted to shoot him in the face but I shot him in the back. I hope he’s dead.”

Bachmeier was initially tried for murder, but the prosecution dropped the charge before he could be acquitted or convicted. After extensive deliberations, Bachmeier was found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released on parole in June 1985 and spent three years in prison.

Marianne Bachmeier

Marianne Bachmeier  -Getty Images

Bachmeyer made no attempt to escape – he dropped his weapon after emptying the Beretta 70’s magazine at Grabowski. Witnesses to the shooting alleged that Marian said he wanted to kill Grabowski.

“He killed my daughter,” Bachmeier complained. “I wanted to shoot him in the face but I shot him in the back. I hope he’s dead.”

Marianne Bachmeier Klaus Grabowski

Marianne Bachmeier was convicted of murder and sentenced to six years in prison

Bachmeier was initially tried for murder, but the prosecution dropped the charge before he could be acquitted or convicted. After extensive deliberations, Bachmeier was found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released on parole in June 1985 and spent three years in prison.

Bachmeier said during his trial that he shot Klaus to prevent him from spreading more lies about his daughter Anna.

In May 1980, Anna dropped out of school after an argument with her mother. The 7-year-old went to the house of Klaus Grabowski, a 35-year-old neighbor and butcher, to play with his cats. Grabowski kidnapped Anna before strangling her with her fiance’s pantyhose. Grabowski put the body in a box and dumped it by a canal.

Grabowski, a convicted sex offender who underwent chemical castration, alleged that Anna tried to blackmail him. He claimed that Anna threatened to sexually assault him if he did not pay her.

Bachmeier said she couldn’t listen to Grabowski spreading more lies about her daughter. “I heard he wanted to make a statement,” he said. “I thought, now the next lie will come about this victim that I had children.”

marianne bachmeier interview

Under Nazi-era law in West Germany, Bachmeier was guilty of murder. The law states that killing a defenseless person – for example, Grabowski in a courtroom – is murder. Therefore, prosecutors charged Marian with premeditated murder.

Under different circumstances, the court would have found Bachmeier guilty. However, national tensions forced prosecutors to drop the murder charge.

Bachmeier gave up two children for adoption before murdering Anna and had her tube tied

After hearing Bachmeyer’s story, the German public could not sympathize with him.

Bachmeier was born in Saerstedt, West Germany, in June 1950. She gave birth to her first child at 16, who she gave up for adoption as an infant. Two years later, she became pregnant again. She was raped before giving birth. Bachmeier gave up her second child for adoption.

Marianne Bachmeier Father

In 1973, Bachmeyer welcomed Anna and had a tubal ligation, eliminating the possibility of another pregnancy. He raised Anna as a single parent.

Bachmeier must have been very distressed after Anna’s murder. He must have been furious, the murderer for spreading lies about his dead daughter, and at the world, for being so cruel.

She lost her daughter to murder, gave up two children and could not get pregnant again. Bachmeier brought three children into the world but never fully experienced the loss and joy of motherhood.

Marianne Bachmeier Cause of Death

After leaving prison, Bachmeier married in 1985 and moved to Nigeria with her husband. In 1990, Bachmeier moved to Sicily after the couple divorced. He returned to Germany after doctors diagnosed him with pancreatic cancer.

Marianne Bachmeier died in September 1996 in Lübeck, Germany. Lucas Maria Böhmer, a reporter from the NDR, filmed the final stages of Bachmeier’s life. He was buried next to his daughter Anna.

marianne bachmeier youtube

“I did it for you, Anna,” Bachmeier famously wrote when a doctor asked her for a writing sample. He decorated the specimen with seven hearts, perhaps representing the seven years that Anna lived.