The count is at least 7 murders, but according to experts it could be much higher. He is considered one of the most dangerous serial killers of the post-war period, for his ferocious brutality, such as to shock even the most experienced investigators. Thomas Rung He shocked Germany and even after his arrest he continued, or at least tried, to satisfy his obsessions.
Childhood and adolescence
Thomas Rung was born on January 3, 1961 in a small village in Lower Saxony and is the sixth of eight children. fatherKarl, is a very violent alcoholicwhile his mother – tired of abuse and oppression – decides in 1963 to leave the house together with her firstborn. The future serial killer, together with his brothers, becomes the target of his father’s repressed anger and grows up in an unhealthy environment. Already during his childhood he shows antisocial behavior: he skips class, commits his first thefts, is violent.
After obtaining his elementary school diploma, Thomas Rung interrupted his studies and devoted himself to petty thefts. He develops an aggressive and violent character, taking out on other children the violence he suffered at home. Between one misdeed and another, he is hired at a car scrapyard and manages to move away from the family home, but he doesn’t change much. In February 1977, at 16, he steals a gun from a farmer but is immediately caught and sentenced to do community service.
Thomas Rung chooses to move to West Berlin and finds hospitality in the apartment of a friend of one of his brothers. The two begin to collaborate in a series of robberies, but after a few months they end up in trouble and in handcuffs again. The friend manages to place all the blame on Rung, who is sentenced to two years in juvenile prison for theft and assault. As highlighted by the expert Ruben De Luca in his book “Serial killer”, this is yet another betrayal suffered by the future serial killer, mocked by both family and friends. A resentment so strong that it pushes him to commit a massacre.
Released in November 1978, he tries to get back on track but fails and returns to his usual life, between thefts and alcohol. He becomes increasingly attracted to the world of crime and together with two friends tries to enter the world of cigarette smuggling. This also ends badly: the police catches them but arrests only him, sentenced to 14 months in prison. When he is released, as an adult, despite his efforts to behave well, he begins to drive again. an existence as an outcast.
The first murder
Thomas Rung continues to go in and out of prison, both for robbery and other crimes, until he decides he no longer wants to go back to prison. Willing to do anything to stay free. But the anger for being excluded from society and for the continuous betrayals he has suffered is great, very great. So much so that it transforms him into a murderer rapistThe first murder dates back to October 13, 1983.
That day, shortly after 6:00 p.m., Thomas Rung meets his elderly neighbor Melanie Schärnowwho despite her 77 years of age is sexually attractive to him. The woman is holding a bag of laundry and the man offers to help her. A kindness that hides a desire for blood: once they enter the house, Rung jumps on her and tightens his hands around her neck, until he strangles her. Then he takes the body to the bedroom and undresses it, ready to commit acts of necrophilia. Then he gives up, for fear of leaving traces and ending up in jail again. He leaves the apartment in a hurry after stealing some change. He will manage to get away with it: the police will arrest another neighbor who had a financial dispute with the old woman.
Thomas Rung Becomes a Serial Killer
The desire to kill is always alive, especially because he feels he has gotten away with it. On November 23rd he strikes again and the victim is the student Susanne Matthes. The 22-year-old is attacked on the street and dragged into the lobby of a building. Once she is unconscious, Thomas Rung strips her and rapes her, then kills her by strangulation. In this case too, the police focus on another profile, another acquaintance of the victim. At the beginning of December, he signs the third murder, again an elderly woman: the 85-year-old Frieda Kramer. Different modus operandi than the other two, also because in this case the objective is robbery: to steal her bag, he violently pushes her into a ditch. The injuries are too serious – especially to the head – to survive.
The fourth murder occurs in early 1984. Thomas Rung spots the 62-year-old on the street Josephine Grosserattacks her from behind and rapes her violently. Not satisfied, he throws her into a canal and drowns her. A few hours later, he rapes a newsagent, but does not complete the murder. And he continues to commit robberies, burglaries and assaults. Despite this, the police do not harbor any suspicions against him. Aware that he is lucky to still be free, he leaves Berlin to go to a friend in Lower Saxony.
Back in West Berlin, he continued his criminal activities but without killing. In October 1984 he was arrested for a shop robbery and sentenced, for various other crimes, to over 4 years in prison. He served his entire sentence until October 1989 and once released he found hospitality with a sister in West Berlin, where he began to work as a construction worker. But normality did not last long, until the fall of the Berlin Wall in November of the same year.
The brutal violence
Thomas Rung moves to the former East Germany and continues with his usual life of thefts, robberies and rapes, knowing new prisons. In September 1990 he returns to kill, the victim is the 58 year old Helga Klinner: he enters her house with an excuse, attacks her, tears off her clothes and rapes her. Finally, he drowns her in his bathtub. For the investigators it will be an accidental death. In the meantime he tries to normalize his life: he mends with his family, finds a job and also finds love, which will make him become a father in July 1991.
But Thomas Rung is still thirsty for murder. Having ended up in prison again for an attempted rape, the man finds himself arguing with his father-in-law about his wild lifestyle. It is September 1994. The argument becomes increasingly heated, until it becomes a physical fight: Rung hits the man, Eckard Truttiwith punches and kicks. Then he drags him to the bathroom and drowns him in his bathtub. Again he tries to simulate a robbery, stealing 1000 marks.
But this time he doesn’t get away with it. He is immediately wanted by the police and spends his days between prostitutes and dingy bars. Before being captured, he manages to kill the seventh and final victim: we are talking about the 34-year-old Gabriele Proppe. Thomas Rung meets her on the street and starts talking to her, until he gains her trust. On February 28, 1995, he manages to enter her home and immediately attacks her: he drags her into the bedroom, rapes her and strangles her to death. In order not to leave any traces, he decides to set the apartment on fire.
The arrest and the conviction
Immediately after the murder of Gabriele Proppe, Thomas Rung escapes in a taxi and takes refuge in a bar, where he drinks rum until he passes out. The police have been on his trail for some time, and they locate him and arrest on a park bench. The trial against him began on January 30, 1996 and ended on March 5, 1998 with the conviction of two life sentences.
In prison his murderous instinct does not diminish, on the contrary.
In July 2001, he strangled an inmate unconscious for stealing his Game Boy, and two years later suffocated another man, who survived but suffered permanent brain damage. He is currently being held indefinitely in the maximum security section of a German penitentiary.