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Ludvig TessnovManiac
Country:
 Germany |
Content:
- The Tragedy on Rügen Island
- "That's wood stain, not blood!" Tessnov insisted.
- Source: The Most Dangerous Serial Killers
The Tragedy on Rügen Island
In early July 1901, German newspapers were filled with horrifying headlines about the tragic deaths of two boys. The newspapers screamed: "Savage Murder of Children on Rügen Island!" "Two Boys, Aged Eight and Six, Found Dismembered in the Forest!" "Police Desperately Searching for the Killer!"
The tragedy occurred on the evening of July 1st when the two children failed to return home. Parents, neighbors, and gendarmes searched everywhere, and the following day, the mutilated bodies of the two boys were discovered in the nearby forest. Next to them, in the bushes, a large bloodstained rock was found, which the killer had used to smash their heads. It was undoubtedly a horrific and cruel crime committed out of sexual perversion. All the evidence from the crime scene presented in the report supported this theory.
The community was gripped with panic and outrage, which motivated the police to conduct an intensive investigation. Police officers questioned residents throughout the area, trying to find anyone who had seen the children with a stranger. Just half a day after the gruesome discovery, they found a vegetable vendor who had seen the children the day before the tragedy. She stated, "Yes, I know both boys well, and I saw them talking to Tessnov. Ludwig Tessnov. He's from Baabe, here on Rügen."
This revelation piqued the interest of the police, who continued to gather detailed information about the mentioned individual. Later that evening, one of the interviewed workers reported, "I saw Tessnov yesterday evening on his way home, and I noticed that his clothes were stained with brown spots."
This suspicion turned into an accusation, and a few days later, Tessnov was arrested. He was charged with the murder of the boys, but proving it would not be easy. However, during his arrest, Tessnov was wearing his work clothes. In his wardrobe, the police found a new, nice suit, a hat, a paper collar, and a tie, which were all brought along with the suspect to the investigating judge. Experts soon discovered that certain parts of the suspect's casual clothing had been carefully washed. This caught the attention of the investigator, but Tessnov, playing the role of an offended man, refused to provide any coherent explanations, indignantly exclaiming, "It's unbelievable that you're trying to pin this on me, Mr. Investigating Judge! I couldn't even hurt a fly, let alone commit murder, let alone innocent little children!"
Nevertheless, the investigating judge noticed that Tessnov flinched slightly several times when he looked at the clothes. However, he quickly regained his composure and persisted in insisting, "I have nothing to do with the children's deaths."
Despite Tessnov's denial, he was questioned about the bloodstains on his clothing. Eventually, Tessnov confessed that some of the stains were indeed blood, but not from the murdered children, as they were trying to suggest. He claimed they were from sheep and that the rest were traces of wood stains from his work as a carpenter.
These words caught the attention of the investigating judge, who had heard something similar in connection with another child murder that had occurred almost three years earlier in a village near Osnabrück. Two little girls' dismembered bodies had been found in the forest back then.
The judge had to contact the judicial authorities in Osnabrück to clarify some details about that unsolved crime. It turned out that the suspicion had fallen on a carpenter who had also explained the brown stains on his clothes as a result of contact with wood stains. But the most astonishing fact was that the suspect at that time was none other than Ludwig Tessnov from Baabe.
The investigating judge pondered the possibility that he was not only dealing with the killer of these boys but also the killer of those two girls. However, proving it would be difficult, especially since Tessnov persistently lied and evaded. After another grueling and fruitless interrogation, the investigating judge reported to the prosecutor, "I am confident that he is the killer, but it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to expose him."
It was then that he heard from the prosecutor about a new method that could definitively prove the origin of the stains. The method, developed by the German physician Paul Ulengut, involved using precipitation reactions to determine whether blood belonged to a human or an animal. By using a set of serum samples that precipitated human and various animal proteins, it was possible to determine the species of blood in the examined stain by contacting these sera with extracts from the stain.
"The Ulengut Method? I must admit I haven't heard of it yet," exclaimed the investigating judge.
"It has only been known for a few months. Ulengut published his sensational discovery in February, and I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with it," replied the prosecutor.
"If Ulengut's method is scientifically valid and foolproof, it will revolutionize forensic medicine!" exclaimed the investigating judge.
"Yes, indeed, my colleague. We will no longer be helpless against murderers who calmly claim that the blood on their clothes is from slaughtered animals," the prosecutor agreed.
In the days leading up to this conversation, the investigating judge had been troubled by another report from the gendarmerie on Rügen. A shepherd had gone to the police and reported that on the night of June 11th, he had left his sheep in the field and went to a nearby tavern. When he returned, six or seven sheep had been brutally slaughtered and cut into pieces scattered all over the field. The shepherd had caught a glimpse of the person who had committed this heinous act.
After reading the report about this incident again, the investigating judge called the shepherd to Greifswald for an identification. "It's him, Mr. Investigating Judge, the guy who killed my sheep!" the shepherd exclaimed excitedly. "I recognized him, even though it was dark. His profile, his gait, the way he moved his hands... It's him, Mr. Investigating Judge, it's him!"
Of course, Tessnov once again began to protest his innocence, with an expression of suffering and offense on his face. "As true as I stand before you, Mr. Investigating Judge, it is just as true that I have never laid a finger on any innocent animal."
"And what about the bloodstains on your clothing?" the investigating judge asked.
"That's wood stain, not blood!" Tessnov insisted.
Unable to obtain a confession from the suspect, the only hope left was in Ulengut's new scientific method. The scientist himself was working as an assistant in the medical faculty of the University of Greifswald at the time.
When Paul Ulengut received the packages with Tessnov's clothing and the bloodstained rock, he understood the significance that the results of his research would have in establishing the authority of forensic medicine worldwide.
Together with his assistant, Ulengut conducted an examination of nearly a hundred spots and stains found on Tessnov's clothing, and within a few days, they produced an expert report. Concluding his presentation at the trial, he stated, "Supreme Court, esteemed jurors, ladies and gentlemen of the prosecution! I conclude my findings and would like to emphasize the overall result: the suspect's work clothes do not contain any blood stains! As for his 'good' clothes, which were found in his wardrobe and which he wore during the accused murders, I found a significant amount of human blood on them. Specifically, six spots on the jacket, seven spots on the pants, four spots on the vest, one spot on the shirt, and four spots on the hat. Equally significant is the fact that there is sheep's blood on the jacket and in three places on the pants."
This time, the sadist and murderer could not escape the deserved punishment. Ludwig Tessnov was sentenced to death for the murders of the children and was executed in 1904.
