
Before doing so, Brandes swallowed twenty sleeping pills, and a bottle of cough syrup, likely causing an effect of slowed breathing and extreme tiredness.

The video shows Meiwes amputating Brandes's penis (with his agreement) and the two men attempting to eat it together. The two made a videotape when they met on 9 March 2001 in Meiwes's home, in the small town of Wüstefeld, west of Rotenburg an der Fulda. Many other people responded to the advertisement but backed out Meiwes did not attempt to force them to do anything against their will. Meiwes's advertisement stated that he was "looking for a well-built 18- to 25-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed." Bernd-Jürgen Armando Brandes, a 43-year-old engineer from Berlin, answered the advertisement in March 2001. Looking for a willing volunteer, Meiwes posted an advertisement on the then-active website The Cannibal Cafe (a now defunct forum for people with a cannibalism fetish). He had also described himself feeling "very lonesome" after "the family had fallen apart". During sessions with police experts, Meiwes had explained that his desire for cannibalism, related to the fairytale Hansel and Gretel, had developed during his adolescent years. His father abandoned Armin when he was eight, leaving him to be raised by his mother. He had two older half-brothers from his father's previous relationship with another woman. Because of his acts, Meiwes is also known as the Rotenburg Cannibal or Der Metzgermeister (The Master Butcher).Īrmin Meiwes was born on 1 December 1961, the only child of Waltrud Meiwes (1919–1999).

In a retrial in May 2006, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In January 2004, Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison. Armin Meiwes ( German: born 1 December 1961) is a German former computer repair technician who received international attention for murdering and eating a voluntary victim in 2001, whom he had found via the Internet.Īfter Meiwes and the victim jointly attempted to eat the victim's severed penis, Meiwes murdered his victim and proceeded to eat a large amount of his flesh.
