Akte Südwest: Tödliche Familienbande: Die Kettensäge-Morde von Sontheim

On May 28, 2019, police investigators and forensic experts were literally rummaging through the trash: They were searching for body parts at waste disposal facilities in the Heidenheim district and in containers along the A7 motorway. A 59-year-old man had been missing for weeks; according to a letter, he had allegedly fled to Thailand. But when money was repeatedly withdrawn from his account, a hot lead led investigators to a family in the small town of Sontheim (Heidenheim district) – and into a murderous abyss. The perpetrators not only confessed to the brutal murder of their 59-year-old acquaintance, whom they suffocated and dismembered with a chainsaw. Two other men had already disappeared without a trace years earlier from the family's circle. They, too, were brutally murdered, their bodies never found. It's a glimpse into a seemingly staid family in which the father pronounces death sentences – and the sons obediently help. And the question also arises: Does all this have something to do with the Sicilian mafia? In the latest episode of our true-crime podcast "Akte Südwest," host Roland Müller discusses this with Laura Strahl, editor at the "Heidenheimer Zeitung." Laura followed the case from the beginning to the verdict and says: "It's really bizarre that the perpetrators weren't caught for such a long time, like something out of a bad movie." Why the staid facade of the murderous family ties only crumbled after the third murder, eleven years after the first, is one of the fascinating questions surrounding the case. Akte Südwest S2E17 | Deadly Family Ties: The Chainsaw Murders of Sontheim Presented by: Roland Müller Produced by: Yasmin Nalbantoglu, David Nau Narrator: Laura Liboschik Design by: Beniamino Raiola Some articles on the case: https://www.swp.de/lokales/verteidigu... https://www.swp.de/lokales/dreifachmo... https://www.swp.de/lokales/sontheim-m...