Magnus Gäfgen — The Murder of Jakob von Metzler
The 2002 kidnapping that sparked Germany's torture debate
Quick Facts
Abducted from school
Two days after his 11th birthday, Jakob von Metzler was abducted from Otto-Kühne-Schule in Bad Soden am Taunus on September 27, 2002. The perpetrator was 27-year-old Magnus Gäfgen, a law student from Frankfurt who was facing severe financial problems. Gäfgen lured the boy to his car under false pretenses and took him to his apartment in Frankfurt-Niederursel. There he killed Jakob the same day by suffocating him with a plastic bag.
The wealthy Metzler family soon received a ransom demand for one million euros. But they did not know their son was already dead. Gäfgen had coldly planned the crime to pay off his debts and finance a luxury lifestyle. Investigators at Frankfurt police worked under immense pressure to find the child.
The arrest and the fatal threat
On September 30, 2002, Magnus Gäfgen was arrested after he had collected the ransom at Frankfurt's main train station. He confessed to the
