In the footsteps of S. – First he killed cats – and finally people?

It was last October when an unpleasant, sweet smell began to spread through a council building in Vienna-Penzing. Some residents initially thought a rat might have entered the house and then died in a hallway or basement. But all searches for an animal carcass were unsuccessful. And the stench kept getting worse and eventually became unbearable. So the tenants decided to call the police. Two uniformed men then searched the building and knocked on every door; asked the women and men who lived behind it.

The strange tenant of door number 3
Just like that – in apartment number 3 – Christian S.; Born 1969, single, disabled pensioner. Sure, he’d noticed the “fug” for a long time, he explained, and had been wondering where it came from for days. Somehow the officers had a strange feeling talking to him, and when they got back to their waiting room, they sat down at the computer to see if there were any reservations for him.

They quickly found what they were looking for: on May 14, 2021, he reported the death of an acquaintance, Manfred K. (50), in his apartment. He had contacted him through a gay site six months earlier – according to his statements at the time – and has met him occasionally since then; finally home again.

An – for the time being – undiscovered act of violence?
“As soon as he arrived,” S. once claimed, K. seemed “ill”: “He asked if he could rest on my couch.” He himself soon went to a friend’s house, and when he returned it was evident to Visitors unmoved: “I thought he was asleep; It wasn’t until hours later that I noticed that he was no longer breathing.” Medical officers found punctures in the victim’s arms and toxicologists found traces of banned substances in his body.

Display of a survivor
Conclusion: Authorities assumed that the 50-year-old had taken a drug overdose. An assumption that the police officers – well, in October – seemed questionable. Especially after they came across a June 2021 ad that lists Christian S. as a suspect.

A Viennese, who had also been “acquired” by him through a dating exchange, had told police about a terrifying experience with S.: He had visited him in his apartment and given him a drink “probably knockout drops” mixed up, after which he dropped out. Cuts to his arms showed that an attempt had been made to administer an unknown fluid to him through a hypodermic needle. And while he was drugged, valuables were stolen from his drawers.

The body in the bedding box
Back to the events of fall 2021: Christian S. suspected a house search was imminent. And turned himself in, when this was already in preparation, to the police. “In the bedding box under my sofa bed,” he confessed on the evening of October 25, “is a dead man.” Packed in a plastic bag, in a state of massive decomposition. S. had also met this victim – Haidar M. (43) – through a relevant internet forum.

On September 30, the native Iraqi – according to Christian S. during interrogation – came to his apartment and consumed a lethal amount of narcotics. And in his panic that the detectives wouldn’t take “such an ‘accident version’ from him a second time,” he had just hidden the body. It’s proven: When M. was long gone, the now 53-year-old filmed him — in humiliating poses; and also gains access to his apartment to steal clothes, money, and a television.

The Bad Suspicion
The police and court psychiatrist Peter Hofmann, who has since examined him extensively, classifies Christian S. as a serial killer. The evidence against him is enough to charge him with attempted murder and two counts of murder. Mega-surveys of his surroundings – searching his laptop and cell phones – are underway. Since there is a strong suspicion that he could have killed more people who “died unexpectedly” after meeting him.

Who is Christian S. and what is his story?
Christian S. was born in desolate circumstances; father an alcoholic, mother schizophrenic. As a child he was taken out of the care of his parents by youth care and from that moment on he lived mainly in orphanages. Because of his remarkably strong antisocial behavior he was sent to a special school. He then trained as a hairdresser, but then went to work in the catering industry.

Horrific crimes against defenseless animals
He became a criminal early on, with acts of vandalism, burglary and theft; At the age of 17, he committed his first major, horrific crime: he tortured a cat to death using the most gruesome methods. And time and again he became a ruthless killer of countless other cats; on dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs and birds. He bought the defenseless creatures in stores, acquired them through newspaper advertisements, sought them out on farms. Only to destroy them.

Christian S. today about these acts: “I bought animals because I wanted love from them. A love that my family and friends have always denied me. And if they didn’t pay attention to me either, I’d get mad at them. But I didn’t do anything bad to them.”

‘He has sadistic tendencies’
The fact is: in 1990 the man was first psychiatrically examined by order of the judiciary. The competent expert found that he had a higher degree of mental and emotional abnormality and testified to a poor prognosis due to his sadistic tendencies. Still, he did not remain in detention for long and relapsed repeatedly. At some point, he also started using cocaine and tranquilizers. “Because I was just unhappy,” he says now. He attempted suicide several times and was often under psychiatric treatment. In 2011, he was finally declared unfit for work and from that moment on he received a pension of almost 1,300 euros.

In recent years he has led ‘a peaceful yet exciting existence’ through the ‘conscious metamorphosis’ he has brought about within himself; with meditation, Qigong and the Five Tibetans. One thing is certain: he opened a YouTube channel where he presented himself – mostly in skimpy clothes; hoping to be discovered as a model. He found numerous sex partners through erotic forums and it is proven that he even welcomed two more into his apartment when Haidar M. was already dead in his bed linen drawer.

Three “disappeared” kittens
Until shortly before his arrest, he owned three baby cats whose fate no one knows. Christian S. claims they escaped him days after he took them home. Appraiser Peter Hofmann stated the 53-year-old was healthy – and a fire hazard. How many animals, how many people has he actually killed? Will this question ever be fully resolved?

“I’ve never killed a living being,” confirms Christian S., smiling devilishly when he says, “I’m just ticking a little different.”

“After my trial I will be a star”
As he regularly tells his lawyer Manfred Arbacher-Stöger and his trainee Lukas Hruby, he “of course expects an acquittal” during his trial, which will take place in the Vienna court next fall. And he assumes he will be an “international star” after his trial: “I’ve always wanted to be famous somewhere. I think I’ve succeeded now.”