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- [00:02]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Before we get into today's episode, I want to tell you about another show I think you'll love. Hidden history with Dr. Harini Bhat. Every Monday, Dr. Bhat goes where history gets mysterious. Vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still can't fully explain. Dr. Bot treats these moments like open case files. Not myths, not superstition, just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. Hidden History drops every Monday. Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen, so you never miss a mystery. This is crime house. On the night of August 24, 1929, two girls went to the market in Dussel, Germany and never came home. 5 year old Gertrude Hammaker and her 14 year old adopted sister Louisa Lenson had simply vanished. By morning, their parents and the police feared the worst. At 6am on Aug. 25, those fears were confirmed. The girls were found face down in a vegetable patch just a few hundred feet from their front door. Both had been murdered. At the crime scene, investigators found three sets of footprints in the dirt. Two sets were small and light, Gertrude and Louisa's last steps. The third set belonged to an adult man who had led them there and walked away alone. The people of Dusseldorf didn't need to guess who was responsible. They already knew the vampire of Dusseldorf had struck again. From UFO cults and mass suicides to secret CIA experiments, presidential assassinations, and murderous doctors, these aren't just theories. They're real stories that blur the line between fact and fiction. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. A Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'll explore the real people at the center of the world's most shocking events and nefarious organizations. These cases are wild and I want to hear what you think at the end of each episode. Leave a comment wherever you listen. Be sure to rate, review and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes to continue building this community together and for ad free access to all three episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. Please note, this episode contains descriptions of murder and extreme violence, sexual abuse, including the abuse of children and animal cruelty. Please listen with care Today I'm talking about one of the most notorious serial killers in history, Peter Curtin. In the late 1920s, Curtin murdered at least nine people in Germany and attempted to kill many more. He preyed on men, women and children, torturing them, mocking them and drinking their blood. A psychoanalyst who studied him called him the King of the sexual perverts and the people of Dusseldorf had their own name for him, the vampire. All that and more coming up. Lately I've been trying to take the stress out of getting dressed, just focusing on pieces that feel easy, comfortable and still put together without a lot of effort. That's really what's been pulling me toward Quint's. Their stuff just fits that effortless everyday vibe. I love their fabrics, linens, cottons, cashmere. They're all the highest quality and they feel so good. Their design is also simple in the best way. Clean silhouettes, neutral tones, pieces that don't require a ton of styling to feel finished. I've been reaching for their staples a lot because they make it easy to get out the door quickly while still feeling like everything's intentional and the fit feels really natural, like the clothes are made to actually be lived in. I grabbed a few things thinking they'd just be basic fill ins, but they've ended up becoming some of the most worn pieces in my rotation. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com CTCC for free shipping on your order and 365 day return. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com CTCC for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com CTCC this episode is brought to you by Prime Obsession is in session
- [04:57]
Podcast Advertiser/Announcer
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- [05:01]
Vanessa Richardson
Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the
- [05:04]
Podcast Advertiser/Announcer
book to screen favorites you've already read twice off campus L every year after
- [05:10]
Vanessa Richardson
the Love Hypothesis, Sterling Point and more, Slow burns, second chances chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. In the early 1880s, Germany was going through a period of rapid industrialization. The economy was rebounding after a slump in the 1870s, and lots of people were moving to cities to find work in mills and factories. Beyond all that, the country was also making huge leaps in arts and literature. In fact, Germany had produced so many cultural giants, philosophers like Immanuel Kant and composers like Ludwig van Beethoven that it had earned a nickname. It was called the land of poets and thinkers. But Peter Curtin was not a poet, and the only things he thought about were death, violence and cruelty. Born on May 26, 1883, outside the German city of Cologne, Curtin's early life was marked by violence, sadism and sexual abuse. Curtin's father was a violent alcoholic who smashed windows and furniture and beat his wife and 13 children. As the oldest child, Curtin was one of his favorite targets. Because Curtin's father spent most of his money on alcohol, the family lived in extreme poverty. There was never enough food to go around and all 12 of them had to share a one room house. This meant the entire family was always exposed to their father's rage and rampant abuse. Curtin later reported that his father would sexually assault his mother while the children were in the room with them. He also sexually abused Curtin's oldest sister. For many years, Kurtin repeatedly ran away from home as a child to escape all the trauma to sometimes living in the woods for weeks at a time. Eventually, his father was arrested and sent to prison for sexually abusing his daughter. But by then, the damage had been done. This prolonged exposure to sexual violence had warped Curtin's morality and his desires. The results of this became clear while he was still a young boy. At the age of nine, Curtin started spending time with the local dog catcher. It's hard to believe, but this man was an even worse influence than Curtin's own father. He took pleasure in torturing and abusing the animals he captured off the streets. When Curtin showed an interest, the dog catcher let him join in and also encouraged him to perform sexual acts with the animals. This sadistic behavior continued as Curtin got older. At the age of 13, Curtin began prowling the meadows around his town at night and stabbing sheep and goats with a knife in the process. Curtin realized he was fascinated with blood, and soon he developed a sexual obsession with inflicting the wounds and watching the blood flow out. It didn't take long for this sadistic streak to escalate from animals to humans. In his early teens, Curtin and two other boys were playing in the Rhine river on a homemade raft. As they floated down the river, Curtain suddenly felt the urge to push one of the other boys into the water. So he did. The boy wasn't a good swimmer, and Curtain watched as he flailed in the deep water, trying to keep his head above the surface. But the other boy on the raft didn't share Curtain's twisted fascination. He jumped into the water to try to save his friend. But the current was strong and the good Samaritan wasn't able to get to the other boy. He was swept away by the current and drowned. Even then, Curtin wasn't satisfied when the would be rescuer swam back and tried to climb onto the raft. Curtin pushed the boy back into the water, then held his head below the surface until he drowned as well. Curtin later described this experience as giving him a quote, agreeable, feeling better yet? When he got back to town and reported that his friends had fallen off the raft and drowned, everybody believed his story. This experience taught him a lesson he would remember for the rest of his life. All he had to do was act innocent and nobody would know what a monster he really was. In 1899, 16 year old Curtin became more daring. In November of that year, he met a girl in town and invited her to go on a walk. By then, Curtin was growing into the man. He would be handsome and well kept. Seemingly a respectable, trustworthy person. Curtin led the girl down a country road and into the woods outside town. Once they were deep in the forest with nobody around, Curtin dropped his nice guy attitude. He grabbed the girl around the neck with both hands, squeezing and throttling her until she went limp and collapsed. Curtain fled the scene, leaving the girl for dead. When he told this story to police at the end of his life, investigators found no records of a teen girl being murdered or going missing in the colon area at that time. Whether or not this incident actually happened, Curtin clearly had murder on his mind. But those weren't the only crimes he was committing. In 1900, 17 year old Curtin was convicted of petty theft and sentenced to four years in Dusseldorf. And Curtin was released in 1904. But he wasn't free for long. He'd gone stir crazy on the inside and developed a new obsession. Fire. As soon as he was on the streets again, he started following through on this new fantasy. Curtin set four fires around Dusseldorf, Barns, haylofts, anything that would burn. Like his other crimes, these were sexually motivated. But the fire itself was only half the thrill. The the other half was standing nearby and watching the chaos he'd caused. To Curtin, this was the ultimate expression of his power. It also made him very easy to catch. Eventually he was arrested and given a long sentence at a prison in the town of Munster. This time Curtin was locked up for eight years. It was worse than before. Hard labor every day. Sometimes he was in chains, sometimes he was paraded in front of visitors. He there were long stretches in solitary confinement, which he later called barbarous. In solitary, Curtin would lie in his cell and dream up fantasies of revenge. Hurting, torturing and killing his guards, the wardens, and eventually everyone on earth. These fantasies got him through his sentence. They also provided his only source of sexual gratification. By 1913, at the age of 30, Curtin was even more sadistic and depraved than before. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, that was the year that he was released from prison. Shortly after his release, Curtin returned to his hometown outside Cologne. He planned to commit a few burglaries to make some money, but things got out of hand pretty quickly. On the night of May 25, Curtin broke into a bar that was closed for the night. He spent some time prowling around the ground floor in search of valuables, but he couldn't find anything worth stealing. So he climbed the stairs to the second floor, hoping to find something better up there. It turned out the second floor was where the owner of the bar lived with his family. The owner was out that night, but his nine year old daughter, Christine Klein, was asleep in bed. Kurtin hadn't planned to kill anyone that night, but when he saw the girl, he realized he had an opportunity to carry out the fantasies he'd spent the past several years dreaming, screaming about in his prison cell. Curtain pounced on Christine and throttled her for a few minutes until she was unconscious. Then he slit her throat using his pocket knife. Afterwards, he mutilated his victim before fleeing the scene. Peter Curtain had killed before, but never like this. This graphic, brutal murder marked the beginning of a new phase in Curtin's life and laid the groundwork for the arrival of the vampire of D. Dwarf.
- [13:49]
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- [14:52]
Vanessa Richardson
Peter Curtin never had an easy life. From an early age, he was brutally abused by his alcoholic father, who also sexually abused his sister and mother by the age of nine, Curtin was torturing animals for pleasure. By his early teens, he drowned two of his classmates in a river and later strangled a girl in the woods. But in 1913, at the age of 30, he took his sadistic violence to a new level. During a burglary outside the city of Cologne, Curtin stumbled on nine year old Christine Klein asleep in bed. Curtin strangled her and killed her with his pocket knife. Curtin was exhilarated and sexually excited by the murder he'd just committed. He fled the scene minutes later, but he would spend the rest of his life trying to recreate the high he felt that night. Night. The following morning, Curtin returned to the neighborhood to watch the commotion as Klein's family and friends gathered to grieve. The local police were on the scene too, and they were shocked and baffled by the murder. Nobody had ever seen a crime this brutal committed against a child before. Curtin was thrilled by the pain and confusion he'd caused. Eventually, police arrested Klein's uncle for the killing. Shortly before the murder, he had threatened Cline's father during an argument, and investigators believed that may have motivated him to kill his own niece. Curtin couldn't believe his good luck. Someone else had taken the fall for his crime. It was a dream come true, especially for somebody like Curtin, who loved watching other people suffer from the chaos he created. Thankfully, the uncle was later found innocent in court. Curtin eagerly followed the proceedings in the newspapers. Meanwhile, he was already planning his next attack, and he wanted it to be even more gruesome than the others. One month after murdering Christine Klein, Curtin stole a small hand ax from a church in his hometown, which he used in multiple attacks throughout the summer of 1913. In June, Curtin followed a teenage girl as she walked alone down a dark street at night. When she approached the door to her house, Curtin rushed up behind her and hit her on the back of the head with his axe. She crumpled to the ground and Curtin fled the scene. Fortunately, the girl survived the assault, but she had no memory of her attacker. The following month, Curtin prowled a local park at night until he spotted a man sitting alone on a bench. Like before, he snuck up behind the man and hit the back of his head with the axe. The once again, Curtin ran away after a single strike. And once again, his victim was lucky enough to survive. Later in July, Curtin broke into another house in his hometown, looking for things to steal. Inside, he stumbled upon another young girl asleep in bed. Curtin approached her with his hand Axe. But before he could reenact his killing of Christine Klein, the girl's father woke up and chased him out of the house. In his rush to leave, Curtin dropped his hand. Axe. But none of the witnesses got a good look at his face. Curtin had lost his weapon, but he'd kept his freedom. Not for long, though. A few months later, Curtin was drafted into the German army in the lead up to World War I. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't a good fit for military life and deserted his barracks almost immediately. Curtin was quickly caught and sentenced to eight years in a military prison. Curtin was released from prison in 1921 at 38 years old. And this time he was determined not to get locked up again. Once he was back on the streets, Curtin gave up on burglary and moved in with one of his sisters in the town of Altenburg. There, Curtin tried to build a normal life. He got a factory job and started dating a candy shop employee named Augusta Scharf. And they had something in common. Scharf had spent several years in prison herself for shooting her ex fiance when he tried to end their engagement. Maybe she would have understood Curtin's own crimes. But he didn't share his murder spree with her. And for the next few years, Curtin managed to keep his violent urges in check. He and Scharf got married in 1923 and he later joined a local trade union. But even during this period of domestic bliss, Curtin still had his violent fantasies. He later admitted that even when he was in bed with his wife, he could only find sexual pleasure by remembering his previous murders and assaults. Knowing all that, it's not surprising that Curtin's break from crime was short lived. In 1925, he and his wife moved to the city of Dusseldorf. Once they were settled, Curtin soon fell back into his old habits. In the years after moving to Dusseldorf, Curtin began cheating on his wife with multiple young women and sex workers. It was easy for him. He was handsome and could be charming when he wanted to. But he could just as easily unleash the monster within. During sexual encounters with the women he was dating, he would grab them by the throat and begin to choke them. When the women objected, he'd try to claim this was normal behavior, saying, quote, that's what love means, end quote. Thankfully, none of these attacks turned fatal. Some women quit seeing him after he tried to choke them. Others screamed until people nearby came running, forcing Curtin to flee. By 1927, some of these women reported Curtin to the police. While he managed to talk his way out of any serious trouble, getting caught only fueled his lust for violence and chaos. In 1928, Curtin tried to satisfy his desires by going back to arson. In the span of a single year, he set 15 fires around Dusseldorf, targeting barns, farms, haystacks and entire forests. But arson wasn't enough to satisfy him for long. Curtin was still obsessed with the memory of Christine Klein's murder. He wanted to watch people bleed. And In February of 1929, he gave in completely. Just after 9pm on February 3, Maria Kuhn was walking alone down a dark street when Curtin approached her from behind. At first he was polite, wishing her a good evening. Then, once her guard was down, he grabbed her by the coat and began stabbing her with a pair of sharp scissors over and over again. Throughout the attack, he was whispering, don't scream. But Khun did scream, stumbling backwards and falling to the ground. When people got curious and started poking around, Curtain ran. During his brief attack, curtain stabbed Kun 24 times in the head, torso and arms. Miraculously, she survived, but because everything happened so fast in the dark, she wasn't able to remember any details about Curtin's face or general description. Curtin would have more success five days later when he targeted another child. Around dusk on February 8th, Curtin approached 8 year old Rose Olinger, who was standing by herself outside a church. Curtin offered to walk her back home and took the girl by the hand. Then he led her into a wooded area behind the church. Once they were out of sight, Curtin pushed Olinger to the ground, strangled her, then stabbed her to death. As she lay dying, he did something that would give him the nickname the Vampire of Dusseldorf. He drank the blood from her wounds. Once he'd drunk his fill, Curtain wiped the blood off his face and hands, then went to the movies. The following morning, Curtin decided he wasn't done with Rose yet. So he got out of bed, told his wife he was going to the bathroom, then returned to the grove of trees where Rose's undiscovered body was waiting. Once he got there, he poured a bottle of gasoline onto her corpse and set it on fire. Curtin wasn't trying to destroy evidence. He just wanted to cause, in his own words, excitement and indignation. A murdered girl was disturbing enough. A murdered girl on fire was something else entirely. Five days later, on the night of February 12th, curtain hit the streets again. He spent hours prowling the streets in search of a target. His wife was working late, but she would be home soon and he wanted to kill someone so he could go home and get cleaned up before she arrived. At around 11pm Curtin ran into a 45 year old mechanic named Rudolph Shear. Shear was drunkenly stumbling down an empty street. Although he was larger than many of Curtin's other victims, Shear was too drunk and distracted to notice Curtin until he was practically on top of him. Curtin repeatedly stabbed Sheer with his scissors until he collapsed to the ground, bleeding from the more than 20 wounds. Once shear was dead, Curtin grabbed him by the feet and dragged him into a nearby ditch. There he crouched and sucked some of the blood from a wound in Sheer's neck. And then he made a point of wiping his fingerprints off the dead man's boots before he went on his way. At around 8am the following morning, Curtin strolled back to the scene where several police detectives were investigating the murder. Curtin struck up a conversation with one of the investigators and loved every second of hearing his own crime described back to him. In the wake of Curtin's February stabbing spree, police struggled to find a suspect. Investigators assumed the same person had murdered Rose Olinger and Rudolph Shear. The stab wounds across all three attacks were identical in size. Same weapon, same killer. But leads were hard to come by. Curtin picked isolated targets where there were no witnesses. And with the primitive crime scene technology of the time, investigators couldn't find a single useful clue. The newspapers were full of stories about the mysterious killer who they dubbed the Ripper, a nod to the infamous British serial killer, Jack the Ripper. Residents of Dusseldorf were on edge, knowing that anybody could be a victim and any stranger on a dark street could be the murderer. Until finally, the police caught a break. In early April, two different women were attacked on the street at night. A man had come up behind each of them with a noose, attempting to strangle them. Both managed to fight him off and escape. Better yet, in the aftermath of the second attack, witnesses got a good look at the attacker fleeing the scene of the crime. Within a day, police tracked down the suspect and hauled him into the police station. His name was Stousberg. He was an illiterate, developmentally disabled 20 year old who lived in a boarding house with his parents. Stausberg confessed to the noose attacks right away. And when police asked him about the three stabbings in February, Stausberg confessed to those crimes too. The police were relieved. They announced that they'd finally caught the Ripper. At last, the people of Dusseldorf could breathe easy. When he read about this in the newspaper. Curtin had a good laugh and in just a few months he would make fools of the police and the media by launching a killing spree unlike a anything Dusseldorf had ever seen.
- [27:11]
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- [27:41]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi Crime House Community, It's Vanessa. Are you interested in the mysterious parts of history? Like when in 1518 an entire European city couldn't stop dancing? Or in 1908 when something flattened over 800 square miles of Siberian forest in an instant? I'm excited to tell you about a new show, hidden history with Dr. Harini Bhatt. Dr. Bhatt has spent her entire career demanding evidence and asking why? Now, every Monday on Hidden History, she goes where history touches the unknown. Vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still can't fully explain. Dr. Bott treats these moments like open cases. Files. Not myths, not superstition, just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. At the end of every episode, she'll tell you exactly what she thinks happened and ask what if it happened today? Hidden History drops every Monday. Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you never miss. A mystery. Serial killer, Peter Curtin had caught a bunch of lucky breaks. In February 1929, he attacked three people in Dusseldorf, Germany, including an eight year old girl. As two of his victims bled to death, he even took the time to drink blood from their open wounds. Months after the killings, Dusseldorf police arrested a developmentally disabled criminal named Stausberg, who confessed to Curtin's crimes. Since the police were off his trail, Curtin could have quit while he was ahead and gotten away with everything. But he felt invincible now. So In August of 1929, 46 year old Curtin went on a rampage. On August 8th, Curtin met a young servant girl named Maria Hahn near the local zoo. They chatted for a while on a park bench and planned to get together. Three days later, on the 11th, Hawn and Curtin spent the afternoon at a beer garden just outside town and had dinner. Then, as night fell, he invited her to walk along the banks of a nearby river. Once it was dark, Curtain pulled Han into a patch of bushes, held her down and strangled her until she fell unconscious. Then he waited until she woke up just so he could strangle her a second time. After that, he stabbed her repeatedly with his scissors. It took Han more than an hour to die. Curtin sat and watched her the entire time, drinking so much blood from her open wounds that he eventually threw up. Once Han had finally passed, he dug a shallow grave and pushed her into it before covering her with dirt. Curtin took the watch off Han's wrist, which he later gave to another woman he was sleeping with as a gift. When Curtin got home in the early hours of the morning, his wife was furious with him for staying out all night. She suspected he'd been with another woman, but she had no idea how the encounter had actually ended. Ten days later, on the night of August 21, Curtin prowled the streets of a neighborhood in East Dusseldorf with a new weapon. He ditched his scissors for another a dagger. And that night, he found plenty of opportunities to use it. As Anna Goldhausen walked home, Curtin lunged out of the shadows and plunged the dagger into her side. Goldhausen survived, but her injuries left her incapacitated for years. Minutes after the attack, a woman known as Mrs. Mantell was walking past a church. When Curtin approached her, he asked, quote, may I accompany you, Miss? Before Mantell could respond, he stabbed her twice in the back and ran away. Mantell was badly injured, but survived. Less than an hour later, a drunk man named Heinrich Kornblum had stumbled into a ditch on his way home from a night out. As he struggled to climb back up, Curtin rushed over, stabbed him in the back and disappeared into the night. But Curtin didn't go far. He waited in the shadows down the block, watching as the injured man cried out for help. Soon, bystanders called an ambulance and the man was taken away to the hospital where he eventually recovered. Three days after his stabbing spree, Curtin went out again. At around 10pm on August 24th. He spotted 5 year old Gertrude Hammaker and her foster sister, 14 year old Louisa Lenson. The two girls were walking down a wooded path at the edge of the city when Curtin approached them. He introduced himself and asked Luisa to go get him some cigarettes from a nearby shop. He gave her some money and offered to watch Gertrude while she was gone. As soon as Louisa left, Curtin grabbed Gertrude by the throat and dragged her to a nearby vegetable patch. There, hidden among the beanstalks, he cut her throat with his dagger. Then he got up and returned to the spot where Luisa had left them. A minute later, Luisa returned with his cigarettes. Curtin took them from her, then dragged Luisa to the same vegetable patch. The girl started to scream, so Curtin stabbed her repeatedly in the chest. When he was finished, he left the scene, cleaned off his dagger with a rag and refresh returned home to his wife. The people of Dusseldorf were already on edge after the multiple stabbings on August 21st. But when Gertrude and Louise's bodies were discovered on the morning of the 25th, it was clear that the Ripper, who had terrorized the city in February, was still on the loose. As if that wasn't enough, curtains struck again. That afternoon he dragged a 2026 year old woman named Gertrude Schulte into a meadow by the Rhine river, attempted to sexually assault her, then stabbed her. When she fought back. Schulte narrowly survived. As newspapers printed regular updates about the brutal slayings, the people of Dusseldorf grew more and more panicked about the psychopath walking the streets. Police stepped up their efforts to find the killer, but they struggled to come up with a reliable description. Even survivors like Gertrude Schulte had a hard time describing Curtin, beyond saying that he was a handsome man in his 40s. Public opinion also turned sharply against the police for arresting the wrong man for the previous stabbings. Even though Stausberg had been guilty of the noose attacks, locking him up for curtain stabbings had given the killer plenty of time to plan his next attacks. Investigators begged the public to report anybody they believed could be respons responsible for the murders. Panicked residents submitted hundreds of thousands of tips, keeping detectives busy for months chasing dead ends. This public hysteria was like a dream come true for Curtin, and it only motivated him to escalate his attacks in the weeks and months ahead. Curtin attacked two more women in August, throttling one on a riverbank and attacking a bicyclist with a chisel. Both women narrowly escaped. In mid September, Curtin attempted to strangle two women, but fled when they started screaming and attracted bystanders. On September 29, he struck up a conversation with Ida Reuter as she left a train station and led her into a grove of trees near the Rhine river. Once they were out of sight, he beat her to death with a hammer and fled. On October 12, he went for an evening walk with a woman named Elizabeth Dorier. While they were passing by a canal, he attacked her with his hammer. She fell into a coma at the scene and died the following day. On the night of October 25, Curtin attacked two more women with his hammer. Both survived, but during the second attack, the head of the hammer broke off. Curtain needed a new weapon. Just after 5pm on Nov. 7, Curtin took a pair of scissors and went on the prowl for another victim. Before long, he spotted Gertrude Alberman, a five year old girl whose parents had left her briefly unattended on a quiet side street. Curtin approached Gertrude and asked her to come with him. Gertrude agreed and followed Curtin as he led her a few blocks away to a nearby park. Once they were in a deserted corner hidden by a wall and some trees, Curtin strangled Gertrude, then stabbed her dozens of times with his scissors. When he was finished, Curtin wiped his bloody hands on the grass, then left the scene. He didn't know it at the time, but Peter Curtain had just committed his last murder. Curtin didn't strike again for the next three months. There were a few reasons for this. His wife wasn't working late as often, so it was harder for him to go out on the prowl. It was also an extremely cold winter, which meant there were fewer potential targets on the streets. And because of his killing spree, the people who were on the streets after dark were less likely to travel alone. But by February 1930, the conditions were right again and Curtin got back to work. Between February and early May, Curtin attacked seven women and all seven got away. That's because Curtin had a consistent weakness. The moment a victim fought back or screamed, he ran. And in mid May, another would be victim finally brought Curtin's reign of terror to an end. On May 14, Maria Budlich arrived in Dusseldorf from Cologne to visit her sister. After leaving the train station, she got lost on the streets and eventually ran into a strange man. He started following her and asked her to come with him into a dark park nearby. Budlick refused, but the man was getting pushy until a good Samaritan arrived and shooed the man away. That day, Good Samaritan was Peter Curtin. He offered to take her to her sister's house, but led her to his apartment instead. It was early in the night and his wife was at work, so Curtin brought Budlick upstairs. Once they were alone, he tried to have sex with her. Budlick refused and demanded he take her to her sister's instead. Curtin agreed, but when they passed a wooded area at the edge of the city, he pulled her into the trees and sexually assaulted her. Then he let her go. Curtin didn't spare Budlick's life because he'd had a change of heart. It was simple self preservation. Earlier in the Evening, he and Budlick had run into one of his co workers from his factory job while they were on the street together. Curtin assumed that if Budlick turned up dead, his co worker might connect the dots and report him to the police. He figured it was safer to leave Boodlek alive, assuming that she wouldn't report the assault and wouldn't be able to remember how to get to his apartment. Curtin was wrong. A week later, on May 21, Curtin spotted Budlick outside his apartment with a police officer talking to his landlady. For a man who had always believed he was untouchable, it was a shock. Once Budlick and the policeman left, Curtin packed a few things and fled the apartment. First, he visited his wife at her shop, where he had told her he'd be gone for a few days. He confessed that he'd sexually assaulted Budlick and explained that he might have to spend some time in jail if he was caught. His wife was angry, but Curtin didn't stay long to argue. He had to go find a new place to sleep. That night, he. He moved into a rented room where he lay low for a couple of days. On May 23, he walked past his apartment where he saw that police detectives were inside. At this point, Kurt knew he didn't have much time left. Later that day, he went back to his wife and told her everything. Every murder, every attack. She was so horrified that she threatened to take her own life. Curtin talked her out of it. Instead, he encouraged her to turn him in. He later claimed it was so she could collect the reward money. But it's just as likely. He was ready for it to be over and already looking forward to the trial where he'd get to talk about what he'd done. The following day, May 24, Curtin met his wife for lunch outside a local church. As he walked up to her, he was quickly surrounded by undercover police officers holding revolvers. Curtin didn't seem surprised. He just smiled. As he was placed under arrest at the police station, Curtin was extremely talkative. He confessed to 69 crimes, murders, attempted murders and arsons, as well as many other killings that police couldn't confirm. Curtin spent over a year year in jail. While mental health experts determined whether he was sane enough to stand trial. He was happy to cooperate. He gave extensive interviews to psychiatrist Dr. Carl Berg, whose book on the case later gave the public a disturbing window into Curtin's mind. By the end of his evaluation, Dr. Berg determined that Curtin was a psychopath. Someone who was fully in control of his actions, but felt no remorse for anything he did. Curtin agreed with this assessment and even said he'd rather receive the death penalty than life in prison. But he changed his tune after he went to trial. In April of 1931, a jury found 48 year old Peter Curtin guilty of nine counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. From the stand, he expressed regret, but blamed his upbringing and violence in the media. The judge wasn't moved. Curtin was sentenced to death by guillotine. In the three months before his execution, he wrote letters to his wife and to the families of 13 of his victims asking for forgiveness. He petitioned the court for a pardon. He told officials his violent fantasies had vanished, that he had become, quote, an entirely new being. It was the same old curtain. He'd spent his whole life doing exactly this, turning on the charm, saying whatever he needed to say, making people trust him. It had worked since the day he drowned his two childhood friends in the Rhine. It didn't work this time. On July 1, 1931, his his petition for a pardon was denied. In his final hours, Curtin's obsessions were as strong as ever. In his last conversation with Dr. Berg, shortly before being taken to the death chamber, he wondered aloud whether he'd be able to hear his own blood gushing after the blade came down. That, he said, would be, quote, the pleasure of all pleasures. Peter Curtain was beheaded on July 2, 1931. We'll never know if he got that final thrill. Given everything he took from this world. Let's hope he didn't. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Come back next time. We'll decode the episode together and hear another story about the real people at the center of the world's most notorious cults, conspiracies and criminal acts. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Wherever you get your podcasts, your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free. We'll be back on Monday. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson and is a crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios, this episode was brought to life by the Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benidon, Natalie Pertzovsky, Lori Marinelli, Alyssa Fox, Truman Capps, Leah Roesch, Kaylee Pine, and Michael Langsner. Thank you for listening. I'm Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. Each week, I take on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. 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