"I killed a man, slaughtered him and ate him. Doctors say he is well aware of his fetish, and is no danger to the public as he wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't share his fantasies.
As there was no law in Germany against cannibalism when he was arrested in 2002, and because his victim was a willing partner - as seen in detailed videos the pair took of the grisly slaughter - Meiwes was initially convicted of manslaughter. That these things you dream about could only be a dream."Īrmin Meiwes, 54, a former computer technician and retired German solider, is serving a life sentence for killing and eating a man who shared his cannibal fetish and offered himself as a victim. "The wishes, the fantasies you have, that these could never be fulfilled. "Today I know that what I did was wrong," he told the film crew. In the end, Meiwes said, neither one of them had their fantasies fulfilled. When Meiwes told a young, prospective victim he "wouldn't be the first" the man went to police, who discovered several pounds of Brandes in Meiwes' deep freezer. Hunting down more victims proved to be his undoing. Meiwes referred to the taste as "like pork, but stronger. His first meal - "a piece of rump steak - a piece from his back" - was "a special occasion." Meiwes laid out candles, his good dinnerware and wine. Meiwes then ran Brandes a bath, and read a Star Trek book in another room as his victim bled to death in the water.Īfter finishing him off by slitting his throat, Meiwes cut the body into pieces - as he learned to do online. Unfortunately, he said, it shrivelled to almost nothing. He blanched it, seasoned it with salt, pepper and garlic powder and fried it. "The blood was squirting from the open wound, similar to a fountain." Maybe for 20 to 30 seconds," Meiwes recollects in the documentary, showing no emotion. The first knife was too dull, Meiwes recalled. The sick couple had sex before Brandes demanded Meiwes cut off his penis, so they could eat it together. They agreed to film the entire gruesome slaughter - though the videos, mercifully, have never been released by the court. They discovered each other in a chat room for cannibal fetishists under the ad: "Dinner - or your dinner," in which Brandes offered "the chance to eat me alive." That's where the film crew found him, and where he spoke about his sexual urge to seek out a willing victim - which he found in 43-year-old Bernd Brandes in March 2001. Meiwes is currently serving a life sentence in a German prison. The stunning new documentary, Docs: Interview With A Cannibal, offers insight into "Der Metzgermeister" - the Master Butcher. German cannibal Armin Meiwes has offered a sickening, detailed account of how he killed his willing lover then ate him with potatoes and sprouts. CAUTION: This story includes descriptive sexual and violent details that may not be suitable for all readers