A 19-year-old woman is on trial for fatally stabbing her 39-year-old Badoo date in the neck, apparently to emulate American serial killer Richard Ramirez.
Sarah M., full surname not divulged due to strict local privacy laws, is on trial at the Bamberg District Court in the town of the same name in the German state of Bavaria.
The defendant, who hails from the nearby town of Forchheim, is accused of the murder of Zeyed E., 39, from the nearby city of Nuremburg.
The teen is believed to have met her victim through the dating-focused social network Badoo on 1st May last year (2021) and arranged to have sex with him.
The man is believed to have picked the teen up from her home in his car, and when they were travelling along a minor road, she is said to have pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the neck while he was driving.
Despite having his carotid artery ruptured, the man managed to take the knife from the teen, drag himself to the nearby federal highway 470, and draw the attention of passing drivers.
Paramedics were swift to arrive on the scene and take the injured man to hospital. However, he passed away at the University Hospital Erlangen in the nearby city of the same name shy of three weeks later.
According to chief public prosecutor Michael Hoffmann, Sarah M. is believed to have acted in tribute to American serial killer Ricardo ‘Richard’ Leyva Munoz Ramirez, who was convicted of thirteen counts of murder, five attempted murders, eleven sexual assaults, and fourteen burglaries in 1989.
Famously dubbed the ‘Night Stalker’, his crimes took place in the state of California in 1984 and 1985. He spent 28 years on death row before succumbing to liver failure at the age of 53 in 2013.
The public prosecutor believes the defendant wanted to garner the same notoriety as her role model Ramirez, although it is unclear at present if she had planned to commit further murders.
The defendant appeared heavily made-up in court on Friday, 28th January, only to affirm her right to remain silent. The trial continues tomorrow (Tuesday, 1st February).
