When a German woman answered a newspaper dating ad she had no idea that she was being lured to her doom. After meeting with a couple, identified only as Wilfried and Angelika W., she was held captive for two months in what media is now calling the “horror house in Hoexter.”
During those two months she was subjected to severe torture and abuse. When Angelika finally called an ambulance to treat the woman there was little doctors could do. She was covered in bruises and bedsores from being forced to sit in the same position for those two months she was held captive, and her toenails had been ripped from her feet. She later died in the hospital, sparking an investigation into the woman’s death.
At the scene investigators found documents indicating that the woman, later identified as Suzanne, wasn’t the couple’s only victim. Like Suzanne, dozens of other victims had been taken in for medical treatment after suffering sadistic abuse at the hands of the couple, but unlike Suzanne, they had all survived the ordeal. The couple somehow convinced their victims to lie to hospital staff and convince them that their injuries were all self-inflicted.
Angelika, who has since divorced Wilfried, says that prior to placing the ads she was the target of her husband’s abuse. He would choke and scald her or perform other more sadistic forms of abuse, such as biting her breasts until they bled or using a blanket to suffocate her until she lost consciousness. When Wilfried had begun to place the newspaper ads, he decided he wanted to experiment with even more severe forms of torture. Angelika was grateful to be spared and coerced into complying with her husband’s wishes.
According to Angelika she did everything she could to keep her husband calm, including covering up the evidence.
One victim never made it out of the home alive. Angelika said that a woman attempted to escape after having been chained for weeks face down in a bathtub. During this escape attempt she had fallen and hit her head. The couple put the woman’s body in the freezer before chopping it up and cooking her in their oven until only portions of teeth and bone fragments remained. These remains were reduced to powder using a hammer.
Angelika has since pleaded guilty to her part in the couple’s horrific scheme, but Wilfried has declared his innocence, claiming it was Angelika who placed the ads and was responsible for the abuse. The couple’s trial is currently underway and is not expected to reach a verdict until March of 2017.