A palliative care doctor in Germany has been charged with the murder of at least 15 people, with prosecutors fearing he may have killed even more patients under his care.
Berlin-based physician Johannes M. was first arrested in August last year on suspicion of killing four people.
But as investigations progressed, the number of suspected victims continued to rise – first to eight, then ten, and now to 15.
The 40-year-old doctor is said to have begun his killing spree in 2021 when he administered a lethal cocktail of drugs to a 25-year-old female patient.
He is believed to have repeated this practice as many as 15 times in the three years leading up to his arrest.
Though the suspected killer worked in a palliative care unit designed to alleviate the pain of severely ill and terminally ill patients, none of the suspected victims were ‘in the acute phase of death’ when the crimes were committed, the prosecutor’s office told German media.
Prosecutors allege the physician administered an anaesthetic to his patients without their knowledge before injecting a lethal concoction of drugs, including a muscle relaxant, to end their lives.
He also stands accused of carrying out arson attacks on the properties of several of his suspected victims to destroy evidence.
Berlin’s prosecutors have scheduled the case to go before the Berlin Regional Court, even as investigators continue to uncover the true extent of his crimes.
He has not admitted to the charges.
German police only became aware of the alleged killing spree during the summer of 2024, when the doctor allegedly began killing patients in their apartments.
They were alerted to the killings after the doctor reportedly set fire to the victims’ properties to cover his tracks, according to Die Welt.
Videos and images obtained by German media showed firefighters tending to the scene of a fire at one suspected victim’s flat.
Detectives were initially probing the cases as death by arson, but in the course of their investigations received tips from the nursing service to which the doctor was attached and decided to dig deeper.
As the nature of the doctor’s alleged crimes became clearer, officials set up a specialist investigative team at the Berlin State Criminal Police Office to uncover the extent of his actions.
Several bodies of his patients were exhumed and examined by forensic pathologists, who quickly discovered many of them had died of unnatural causes.
The investigators will continue to delve into the doctor’s patient records as the case is heard.
Prosecutors are seeking a lifelong professional ban for the 40-year-old suspect in addition to any punitive sentences connected with the alleged murders.
Initially, prosecutors cited the doctor’s ‘lust for murder’ as the motivation for the crimes.
They later rescinded that claim as investigations revealed the doctor only appeared to have killed palliative care patients and is not yet suspected of murdering any other victims.