Jack Unterweger
| Jack Unterweger | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Johann Unterweger 16 August 1950 Judenburg, Styria Austria |
| Died | 29 June 1994 (aged 43) Graz, Austria |
| Cause of death | Suicide by hanging |
| Other names | Jack the Writer, Häfenliterat. Knastpoet (prison poet), The Vienna Strangler |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 10-12+ |
|
Span of killings
|
1974–1992 |
| Country |
Germany Austria Czechoslovakia United States |
|
Date apprehended
|
27 February 1992 |
Johann "Jack" Unterweger (16 August 1950 – 29 June 1994) was an Austrian serial killer who murdered prostitutes in several countries. First convicted of a 1974 murder, he was released in 1990 as an example of rehabilitation. He became a journalist and minor celebrity, but within months started killing again. He committed suicide following a conviction for several murders. Austrian psychiatrist Dr. Reinhard Haller diagnosed him with narcissistic personality disorder in 1994.
Unterweger was born in 1950 to Theresia Unterweger, a Viennese barmaid and waitress, and an unknown American soldier whom she met in Trieste. Some sources describe his mother as a prostitute. His mother was jailed for fraud while pregnant but was released and travelled to Graz, where he was born. After his mother was arrested again in 1953, Unterweger was sent to Carinthia to live with his grandfather, whom he described as a violent alcoholic.
Unterweger was in and out of prison during his youth for petty crimes, and for assaulting a local prostitute. Between 1966 and 1975 he was convicted sixteen times, mostly for sexual assault; he spent most of those nine years in jail.
In 1974, Unterweger murdered 18-year-old German citizen Margaret Schäfer by strangling her with her own bra, and in 1976 was arrested and sentenced to life in prison with no parole option for fifteen years. While in prison, Unterweger became an author of short stories, poems, plays, and an autobiography, Fegefeuer oder die Reise ins Zuchthaus (Purgatory or the trip to prison), which was adapted into a motion picture.
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Wikipedia