Johannes M has been sentenced to life in prison(Image: Getty Images)
A German palliative care doctor has been jailed for life after murdering 15 people using a lethal cocktail of sedatives and setting fire to some of their homes in an attempt to cover up his crimes.
The 41-year-old man - identified only as Johannes M in line with German privacy rules - was convicted by a Berlin court on Wednesday of killing 12 women and three men during home visits between September 2021 and July 2024. His victims were aged between 25 and 94. On at least five occasions, he set fire to the victims' flats to cover up the killings, the court heard.
However, presiding judge Sylvia Busch said the 15 murders may be only the tip of the iceberg. Prosecutors are currently investigating the deaths of 76 other people.
The judge described Johannes M as a "serial killer" at the centre of an "unfathomable" and "extraordinary" case.
The court-appointed defendant's lawyers pictured at the start of the murder trial in the Regional Courtroom in Berlin on July 14, 2025(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Handing down Germany's maximum sentence, the court ruled that the exceptional gravity of the crimes meant he would not be eligible for the usual review after 15 years. It also ordered preventive detention after his prison sentence has been served and banned him from practising medicine.
Prosecutors said the doctor had "a lust for murder" and "no other motive for killing these people than the act of killing itself".
The mum of the youngest victim, a 25-year-old woman killed in 2021, wept as she told the court: "She never said she didn't want to live anymore."
The court found that Johannes M intentionally administered an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant that "paralysed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes".
On the morning of July 8, 2024, he killed a 75-year-old man at his home in the central Berlin district of Kreuzberg. A few hours later, he killed a 76-year-old woman in the neighbouring district of Neukölln. Prosecutors said his attempt to burn the second crime scene failed because the fire did not catch.
On Monday, Johannes M admitted that he had "killed people" and told the court: "I despair at myself." He said he had only now come to understand "the extent of the suffering" he had caused, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported.
Suspicions surrounding Johannes M’s activities were first raised by care services, prompting a police investigation. He was remanded in custody in August 2024.
Investigators initially looked into four cases, but the number of suspicious deaths continued to grow. German media reported that if the additional deaths under investigation are proven to be murders and Johannes M is convicted, he could become one of Germany's most prolific serial killers.
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