Prosecutors in Berlin announced on Wednesday that a palliative care doctor has been formally charged with the murder of 15 patients, claiming he was driven by a “desire to kill.”
The 40-year-old physician is accused of fatally administering a lethal mix of sedatives to 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024. While German media have identified him as Johannes M., authorities have not publicly released his full name.
According to the Berlin prosecutor’s office, the doctor allegedly gave patients an anesthetic combined with a muscle relaxant “without their knowledge or consent.” The relaxant is said to have paralyzed their respiratory muscles, causing them to stop breathing and die within minutes. The victims were under medical care at the time and ranged in age from 25 to 94.
In an attempt to conceal his crimes, the suspect reportedly set fire to the victims’ homes on five separate occasions.
Prosecutors also alleged that on July 8, 2024, he murdered two patients just hours apart. That morning, he allegedly killed a 75-year-old man at his residence in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district. Later that same day, he is believed to have murdered a 76-year-old woman in the neighboring Neukoelln area.
An attempt to destroy the evidence by setting the second crime scene on fire reportedly failed. “When the fire did not ignite, he is said to have contacted a relative of the woman, claiming he was outside her apartment and no one was answering the door,” prosecutors stated.
