Six federal folders with partly unpublished material – files, diary entries, correspondence – form the basis for taking a closer look at what is probably the most sensational criminal case in Swiss history: the deeds of child murderer Werner Ferrari.
In addition, there are charges, interrogation protocols, judgments and psychiatric reports, which allow the conclusion that the police investigations in the various cantons did not proceed optimally. Above all, the exchange of information was inadequate.
Legend:
The child murderer Werner Ferrari in 2003.
key stone
Of course, the investigators have to be given credit for the fact that investigative methods such as cell phone tracking or DNA testing were not yet an issue in the 1980s.
We were amazed that Werner Ferrari was not automatically checked more closely.
And yet: How was it possible that Werner Ferrari was able to murder for nine years, although one should have known him long ago? He had already killed in 1971 and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. When he was released early from prison after eight years, the series of murders began.
“We were amazed that Werner Ferrari wasn’t automatically checked more closely,” says Peter H., who knew Ferrari well. The child killer had been in and out of Peter H.’s family in his youth.
He was almost a little relieved when there was nothing about Ferrari in the newspapers at the time. He then assumed that the serial killer was another perpetrator.
Withdrawal of confessions and new evidence
From 1980 to 1989, 21 children and young people disappeared. Some of these cases remain unsolved to this day. There is no trace of seven victims. Ferrari was held responsible for five cases after his arrest.
The first trial against him fell through because he surprisingly withdrew all his confessions before the Baden District Court in December 1994. In 1995, however, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In the Ruth S. murder case, there were sensational appeals twelve years later, in which it was determined that he was most likely not the perpetrator.
The case in the media
The journalists Peter Holenstein and Viktor Dammann also played an important role in all of these cases. They managed to find new evidence and clues related to the case of the murdered Ruth S.
Again and again, especially on Saturdays, children disappeared.
Their investigations even led to Ferrari being acquitted in this one case. Viktor Dammann, a longtime Blick journalist, remembers the events. He managed to publish an image in Blick that could have exonerated Werner Ferrari.
He impressively describes the prevailing mood in the Swiss population: “Parents no longer let their children play outside carefree. Again and again, especially on Saturdays, children disappeared. There was a mood of fear and uncertainty.”
Poor investigations
Inconsistencies and misjudgments shaped the years of investigations and processes. Information about the perpetrators was either not passed on between the cantonal investigators at all or not adequately considered by the responsible officials.
This is the only way to explain why the perpetrator remained unmolested for almost ten years. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Werner Ferrari was a dangerous and, according to psychiatric experts, an unpredictable, dangerous sex offender.
Contact with Werner Ferrari
He has now been in prison for 32 years. When SRF DOK contacted him by letter, an answer came immediately and a declaration of intent to take part in the film project.
A month-long exchange of letters followed. With filming imminent, Ferrari surprisingly withdrew its participation.
It is on record that Werner Ferrari behaved and behaved contradictorily again and again. Individual reports even consider it possible that he has something split in his personality.
This would be supported by the fact that he once called himself Werner and then Marco Ferrari again. It is amazing that the typeface of his handwriting changes depending on the first name used.
A victim of society?
Peter H., who experienced and remembers Ferrari almost as a big brother, is convinced that Ferrari also became a victim of society.
Although he certainly doesn’t want to put Ferrari’s actions into perspective, he considers Ferrari’s past to be crucial for personal development.
Difficult childhood as a reason?
Werner Ferrari’s life is actually a nasty cliché. From the age of three he spent most of his childhood and youth in homes and institutions. He experienced violence and abuse and became a criminal himself at an early age.
The experience does not justify his actions. And yet his own biography may have influenced his actions. Kurt Schnidrig was one of the kids Ferrari approached back then.
But yes, Ferrari touched me, in return he gave me sweets or let me drive his VW Beetle.
Schnidrig does not want to explicitly describe today what exactly happened during the encounters. “But yes, Ferrari touched me, so he gave me sweets or let me drive his VW Beetle.”
When Schnidrig looks back today, he too is surprised that he didn’t defend himself against the attacks. But: “Maybe that’s exactly what saved my life.”
Schnidrig is convinced that Ferrari’s own childhood made him the person he became. One of the worst murderers in Swiss criminal history.
Only he knows how many children he killed.
“Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Erich Kuhn, the then public prosecutor of the canton of Aargau, asks himself in the film. He was responsible for the charges against Ferrari. “A good indictment!”, as he emphasizes.
Even if he has to admit afterwards that he was also wrong about Ferrari. Because it was Kuhn who was convinced of Ferrari’s guilt in the murder of Ruth S.
And even today he thinks it is possible that Ferrari is also responsible for other murders. “Only he himself knows how many children he killed.” But maybe he suppressed that too. But he is still convinced of the correctness of the verdict.
The sadness remains
33 years have passed since Fabienne Imhof was murdered by Werner Ferrari. Fabienne was Ferrari’s last victim. The nine-year-old girl had visited the Chilbi in her home town of Hägendorf SO with a friend.
Mother Raphaela and father Paul still remember every detail. Her daughter’s death still worries her every day. Many could not believe that they forgave the perpetrator. “What’s the use of hating him?” they ask.
Legend:
Fabienne’s parents are still mourning today.
SRF
Even if they never understood the act and never will. The sadness is still there today, even if the pain has subsided over the years: “You never get over something like that.”
After all, they felt the judgment at the time as satisfaction. And they are glad that the murder of their daughter could be solved. “Many parents never find out what happened to their child. That’s the worst.”
A few days after Fabienne’s murder, Werner Ferrari was arrested on August 30, 1989.