Im Juni 2018 tötete die 34-jährige Tanja B. ihren Lebensgefährten Martin F. in Steinau an der Straße und verstümmelt seinen Leichnam mit einer Kettensäge. Was sind die Hintergründe dieses grausamen Kriminalfalls?
June 11, 2018, Hesse, Steinau an der Straße: Employees of a funeral home carry a coffin out of an apartment building. After body parts were found in an apartment, the police arrested the victim's 34-year-old partner.
Hans-Hubertus Braune/East Hesse/News /dpa
Im Wahn tötet eine 34-jährige Frau ihren Lebensgefährten und zerstückelt seinen Leichnam mit einer Kettensäge. Die ErmittlerInnen sind sich unsicher über die Glaubwürdigkeit des Tathergangs, obwohl die Beschuldigte vehement behauptet, aus Notwehr gehandelt zu haben.
What happened?
According to the accused Tanja B., her partner, Martin F., came home from work in June 2018 and consumed a special “herb”. After a nap, his behavior changed and he became violent towards the 34-year-old. When he allegedly reached for a knife and threatened her, she stabbed him 31 times.
Fearing that she would not be believed, she decides to take a minimal step: she buys a chainsaw and dismembers the man's body to conceal the crime. To do so, she drags his body into the bathroom and cuts the body into six pieces with a chainsaw.
She deposits the body parts in several garbage bags in the bathroom of their shared apartment.
A letter becomes a confession
On June 11, 2018, a letter reached the police headquarters in Schlüchtern. The contents disturbed the administrative staff and were immediately handed over to the head of the department. The 34-year-old woman described the brutal killing of her partner in a letter: “Good day. I, Tanja B., hereby confess that I stabbed my partner Martin F. to death.”
One week after the crime, she was arrested in Dortmund.
Who is the perpetrator?
At the time of the crime, Tanja B. was 34 years old and the mother of seven children, from whom she lives separately. She met her partner, Martin F., a year before the killing. Between 2015 and 2017, Tanja B. was in prison for various crimes, but was released on parole a year before the crime. New details emerged in court that paint a more complex picture of the events. But what is the motive? Are the events described for this cruelty really true?
Read more in the episode: “On the trail of the chainsaw woman” of the ARD crime podcast
True Crime: ARD Krimizeit Podcast
The true crime podcast “ARD Crime Time – The True Crime Podcast” is published twice a month and is hosted by Anne Eichhorn, Felix Gebhardt and Mattis Kießing.
