Armin Meiwes fantasized at the “truest form of intimacy”, eating another person. After that, the person would exist inside you, indefinitely. For Meines, this became one of his greatest sexual desires. And he found a consensual partner for his desire.
On March 9, 2001, Meiwes and his consensual partner Bernd Jurgen Armando Brandes enjoyed dinner, after which Meines killed the man and ate him. The two met online on a website called “The Cannibal Café”.
Eventually, Meiwes earned the frightening title “The Rotenburg Cannibal”. He was a real-life Hannibal Lecter, a man who enjoyed culinary preparation of human flesh.
Eventually, Armin was captured by the police. The police uncovered a two-hour video documenting the extremely graphic nature of his endeavor.
Let’s take a look at a couple of facts regarding his cannibalism.
He sautéed and ate the penis of his victim
On Friday night in March 2001, Armin finally got his “dream date”. His “friend” arrived and the two hit it off immediately. They had sex in the upstairs bedroom. After that, Brandes swallowed sleeping pills with a bottle of schnapps.
He instructed Armin to bite his penis off. When that didn’t work, he used a kitchen knife to slice off his member.
He then cooked his penis and ate it. But in his memoir, he wrote “the organ was too chewy”. In the end, he fed it to the dog.
An insane fantasy and fetish
People nowadays have some uniquely weird fetishes and fantasies. But nothing comes close to Armin. He wanted to eat the flesh of a man who he knew and liked. That experience fulfilled his ongoing childhood fantasy. And it created a connection between him and his victim.
Today, psychiatrists describe the condition as “Paraphilia”, an intense sexual arousal resulting from deviant behavior.
Reading Star Trek while his victim bled out
When Meiwes cut of his friend and victim penis, Brandes agreed to soak in a warm bath until he slipped into unconsciousness and eventual death.
Meiwes, for his part, gave his friend sleeping pills and pain killers. While waiting for his friend to bleed out, he patiently read a Star Trek book for three hours.
In the early morning hours, Brandes was still alive. So Arvin kissed him on the forehead and finally killed him by stabbing him in the neck.
Eating 53 pounds of human flesh
Meiwas was not satisfied just with the penis of his friend. He eventually slaughtered him and froze parts of the body. Over a period of 10 months, Armin consumed more than 53 pounds of human flesh before getting caught.
In his memoir, he says, “with every bite, my memory of him grew stronger”. Fun fact: Meiwes even tried to grind Brandes’s bones into flour. He buried leftovers, teeth, and inedible organs in the garden next to his home.
He got caught when he started running out of meat. To increase his supply, Meiwes started asking and looking for another victim online.
Jurors sought therapy after the trial
Police found a four-hour video tape documentary made during the evening with Brandes. During the trial, prosecutors show only 19 minutes of it.
Yet, that was enough for many jurors to seek therapy afterwards. The video was deemed “too disturbing to show”.
His childhood dream
Armin grew up in Essen, Germany. He dreamed of eating his classmates since he was eight years old. Abandoned by his father, he lived alone with his mother. She kept a close eye on him, often accompanying him on dates and even to his Army training excursions.
She died when he was in the teenage years, and Meiwes described his life as lonely without family and company.
And he admitted of dreaming and fantasizing killing and eating another person since he was eight years. Following the death of his mother, the urge grew stronger.
Charged with “Disturbing the peace”
Because cannibalism was not illegal in Germany at the time, prosecutors had to find another way to charge him. So, they charged him with disturbing the peace.
He offered full confession of his crimes, but the case proved problematic. Sadly, the charge did not speak of the depraved nature of his crime.
His lawyers even responded with a unique defense. They claimed the victim had actually agreed to be killed and eaten. They went on to claim “Meiwes was at worst, guilty of killing on demand”.
Where is he Now?
For the past few years, Armin has been leaving prison for day trips in Germany. He receives sunglasses and a hat to protect his identity. He walks with two officers accompanying him. They drive him to another state for security reasons.
There, he can walk around town.
