Marianne Bachmeier was born in 1950 in Germany. Her early life was marked by instability and trauma. She later spoke publicly about experiences of abuse and hardship during her youth.
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As a teenager, she became pregnant and gave her first child up for adoption. A second child followed under similar circumstances.
In 1973, she gave birth to a daughter, Anna Bachmeier. This time, she raised the child herself. By the late 1970s, Marianne was living in Lübeck, a historic port city in northern Germany, and working in the hospitality industry.
She ran or worked in a pub and was raising Anna as a single mother. Friends and acquaintances later described Anna as a lively, open, and trusting child.
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Like many children her age, she attended primary school and spent time with neighborhood friends. For Marianne, Anna represented stability and hope after a turbulent early life.
The Crime That Shattered Everything
On May 5, 1980, Anna disappeared. According to court findings, the seven-year-old had left school early that day after an argument with her mother and was on her way to a friend’s house when she encountered Klaus Grabowski.
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Klaus Grabowski was a local butcher with a prior criminal record for sexual offenses against minors. He had previously served time in prison.
During incarceration in the mid-1970s, he had undergone voluntary castration, a measure sometimes used at the time in Germany in cases involving repeat sexual offenders. Later, he received hormone treatment.
Grabowski abducted Anna and took her to his apartment. During the investigation and trial, he admitted to killing the child by strangulation.
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He denied sexually abusing her, although prosecutors argued otherwise. He later claimed that the girl had attempted to blackmail him—an assertion the court rejected as not credible.
After killing Anna, Grabowski concealed her body near a canal. He was arrested later that same day after his fiancée contacted police with suspicions about his involvement. The discovery of Anna’s body devastated the community and intensified public outrage.
The Trial and Escalating Tensions
Grabowski’s trial began in early 1981 at the regional court in Lübeck. The proceedings were highly publicized. For Marianne Bachmeier, the trial was a painful experience.
